Crime, Governance, and Knowledge Production: The “Two-Track Common-Sense Approach” to Juvenile Criminality in the United States

The writer contends that the two-track approach to juvenile criminality legislated by U.S. Congress is emblematic of the ways in which policy decisions become socially and spatially aligned with discrete populations. She examines how congressional authorities conceptualize the youth capable of viole...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Brown, Elizabeth (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2009
In: Social justice
Year: 2009, Volume: 36, Issue: 1, Pages: 102-121
Online Access: Volltext (Publisher)
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Keywords:
Crime Prevention
Racialization
Trial & sentencing of children as adults
Juvenile Delinquency
Juvenile diversion programs
Criminal Justice System
Juvenile justice administration
Juvenile delinquency > United States
Juvenile justice administration > United States
Description
Summary:The writer contends that the two-track approach to juvenile criminality legislated by U.S. Congress is emblematic of the ways in which policy decisions become socially and spatially aligned with discrete populations. She examines how congressional authorities conceptualize the youth capable of violence, and suggests causes for such development by examining their families and communities. The writer highlights moral panics on youth violence during the 1970s and 1990s, gang and school violence, and their construction within congressional hearings. She concludes that the two-track approach is indicative of how the micropolitics of racial differentiation within state policies is produced through the practice of liberal legalism.
ISSN:2327-641X