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Children in the Legal System

6th Edition
Samuel M. Davis | Elizabeth S. Scott | Lois A. Weithorn | Walter Wadlington
ISBN: 9781642426649
Subject: Children And The Law
Format: Print - Hardbound
Page Count: 1350
Copyright: 2020 | Status: In Stock
Other Formats Available

This Edition has been thoroughly updated with the latest cases, statutory references, and scholarly commentary. Moreover, it includes comprehensive references to provisions of the American Law Institute’s Restatement of Children and the Law. This Restatement is so new that some of it is still a work in progress, but Tentative Drafts were approved in 2018 and 2019 and many of these provisions are included in this Edition. The new Edition also includes coverage of recent Supreme Court decisions such as:

  • Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016), in which the Court held that its earlier decision in Miller v. Alabama, which prohibited a mandatory sentence of life without parole for one who, as a juvenile, was convicted of murder, established a new substantive constitutional rule and thus should be applied retroactively.
  • Ohio v. Clark (2015), which addressed the question of whether statements made to a preschool teacher by a 3-year-old victim of child abuse could constitutionally be admitted in the trial of the child’s alleged abuser. This case further interprets the Court’s Confrontation Clause jurisprudence following its 2004 decision in Crawford v. Washington.
  • Virginia v. LeBlanc (2017), in which the Court, in what may be a limited decision, held that a sentence of life without parole imposed on one who was 16 years old at the time did not violate the Eighth Amendment where state law provided for “geriatric release,” which meant that the petitioner would be eligible for parole at age 60.

The 6th edition retains the basic overall organizational structure of the previous edition, with two major exceptions. The field of Children in the Legal System has continued to expand. In response to legal developments within the core subject areas, we eliminated two chapters from prior editions—Chapter 4 (Custody) and Chapter 8 (Adoption of Minors)—which address subject matter typically covered in a Family Law course. This modification in the book’s structure allowed us to focus, to an even greater extent, on the subject areas central to courses on Children and the Legal System and to accommodate the expanding depth and breadth of developments in those subject areas. With the elimination of the chapters on custody and adoption, the remaining chapters in the 6th edition have been renumbered accordingly.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of this book, which the authors have retained in this edition, is its breadth of coverage and degree of flexibility in teaching. It deals with every aspect of how the law relates to minors, from free expression in school and other school-related issues, to private law (e.g.. torts and contracts), to the juvenile justice system (i.e., delinquency and the operation of criminal justice principles to juvenile justice), to abuse and neglect (including medical neglect), to termination of parental rights, to foster care, to the status of children as children (i.e., children’s “rights”). For that reason, the book lends itself to use in any number of courses that might be styled “Juvenile Law,” or “Youth Justice,” or “Youth and Family Law,” or, indeed, “Children in the Legal System” or “Children and the Law.” As mentioned below, the flexibility of the book lends itself to varying numbers of credit hours. The book contains a unique blend of cases, statutory materials, and scholarly commentary, including those from the social sciences in addition to law, in such a way that the teacher can draw on a number of sources in examining and teaching about any subject area covered in the book. No supplementary materials are needed; everything is in one book. The organization of the book is an important pedagogical tool as well. It is organized to flow from one area to the next as it explores the overall relationship between the state, parents, and the child, understanding, of course, that a professor in a given course might choose to skip over some parts of the material in the interest of time and coverage. It lends itself particularly to a 2- or 3-hour course, depending on the nature of the course and what the professor chooses to cover. Each course that is taught around the country using this book, whether in law schools or graduate school or even in the undergraduate classroom, will be tailor-made and suited to the particular professor’s preferences and emphases and the interests of the students.

For those who adopt the book, a Teacher’s Manual is furnished to serve as a helpful guide in using the book in the classroom from day to day. In addition, occasional electronic updates are furnished to teachers, highlighting recent developments and cases, particularly decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court.


Imprint: Foundation Press
Series: University Casebook Series
Publication Date: 05/26/2020
Related Subject(s): Juvenile Justice

Samuel M. Davis, University of Mississippi School of Law

Elizabeth S. Scott, Columbia University Law School

Lois A. Weithorn, UC College of the Law, San Francisco

Walter Wadlington, University of Virginia School of Law

CasebookPlus™

This title is available in our CasebookPlus format. CasebookPlus provides support beyond your classroom lectures and materials by offering additional digital resources to you and your students. Anchored by faculty-authored formative self-assessments keyed to our most popular casebooks, CasebookPlus allows students to test their understanding of core concepts as they are learning them in class – on their own, outside of the classroom, with no extra work on your part. CasebookPlus combines three important elements:

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Multiple-choice self-assessment questions, including:
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Essay and short answer questions with sample answers and expert commentary, in 1L and select upper-level subjects

Leading digital study aids, an outline starter, and audio lectures in select subjects

Students can still utilize CasebookPlus digital resources if they’ve purchased a used book or are renting their text by purchasing the Learning Library at westacademic.com.

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Within each chapter, substantial new material has been incorporated into the treatment of each topic. In Chapter 1 the section on establishing parental status has been expanded to include an issue of growing importance, namely the establishment of parental status for non-biological parents. Chapters 2 and 3 have been expanded to cover access to transition treatment of transgender youth and the rights of transgender students to use gender-aligned restrooms, topics that have produced modest legal reforms, but have generated a great deal of interest. Chapter 3 also examines the tension between students’ free speech rights and efforts by school authorities to manage racial tensions and prevent violence. Chapters 4 and 6 include an in-depth examination of a range of legal issues relevant to involvement of parents with mental disorder or mental disability in the dependency system. In addition, Chapter 4 includes coverage of the 2015 Amendment to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, which requires states to revise statutory definitions of child maltreatment to include victims of sex trafficking. It also includes continued attention to trends, policy responses, and commentary addressing overrepresentation of families of color (particularly African-American and Native American families) in the dependency system. Chapter 5 includes examination of new approaches that have been incorporated into the programs and services of some child welfare agencies, encouraging prevention and early intervention, as well as “differential response,” which avoids adversarial intervention (i.e., formal investigation and court proceedings) in appropriate cases, substituting clinical assessment and voluntary provision of services. It also includes updated examination of trends in courts’ admission of expert testimony on “syndromes” related to child abuse and neglect, including more rigorous scrutiny of the scientific basis of such testimony. Chapter 6 includes in-depth examination of the increasing role that grandparents and other relative caregivers play, both as foster parents through formal placement by the child welfare system and through informal arrangements. These trends have been fueled in part by (1) the opioid epidemic, which has increased the rate of parental absence due to incapacity, death, imprisonment, or residential treatment, and (2) deportations, which have left many citizen children without parental caregivers in the U.S.

Many of the most important developments covered in the 6th edition have been in the domain of youth crime regulation, an area in which lawmakers have undertaken sweeping reforms in the past decade. Chapter 7, the introductory chapter to the juvenile justice system, beginning with the ground-breaking In re Gault decision, has been substantially updated with recent caselaw and scholarly commentary. Numerous references to the Restatement of Children and the Law have been added as well. Chapter 8 includes expanded coverage of cases and scholarly commentary arising out of the Supreme Court’s decisions dealing with the death penalty and life without parole, opinions that have triggered broad youth justice reforms, well beyond their relatively narrow rulings. The notion that “children are different” is prompting courts and legislatures to take a fresh look not only at the sentencing of juveniles, but at the treatment of children in the justice system across a wide spectrum of issues. The Supreme Court’s opinions in this area have influenced the adoption of a developmental model of youth justice that is being embraced around the country.

Learn more about this series.