A place apart: Responding to youth charged as adults in a specialized New York criminal court.
Item
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Title
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A place apart: Responding to youth charged as adults in a specialized New York criminal court.
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Identifier
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AAI3283208
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identifier
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3283208
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Creator
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Barrett, Carla.
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Contributor
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Adviser: William Kornblum
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Date
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2007
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, Criminology and Penology
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Abstract
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This ethnography investigates how the tensions inherent in trying youth as adults are embodied within day to day practices in one specialized criminal court set aside for "adult juveniles." Situated within a specific retributive legal structure, this court has developed unique strategies to respond to both the requirements of criminal law and to the real needs of its young defendants. This ethnography reveals that while legally designated as "adults," most defendants (most of them Black and Hispanic males) are signified as children by paternalistic treatment from the judge, by the importance the court gives to the role of parents, and the use of alternative to incarceration (ATI) programs that privilege staying in school, getting good grades, abiding by curfews and obeying elders. The confusing and often contradictory processes that arise from these tensions are indicative of the court's attempt to deal realistically, and individually, with defendants who are adolescents, revealing an innovative re-conceptualization of a parens patriae style philosophy within the structure of a criminal court.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
