Exception

One of the key premises for creating a separate criminal justicesystem for juveniles was that juveniles were not the same as adults,and could therefore be rehabilitated. Despite this premise, stilllargely held today, the rate of recidivism for juveniles is dismal.The history of a supposedly rehabilitative juvenile justice systemin the United States is a failed history of incarceration, muchlike that of adult corrections. Rehabilitation by incarcerationhas proven to be an ineffective and unsustainable strategy. Arobust amount of research shows that treating juveniles closer tohome, in fact in their communities, is the most effective tool forrehabilitating juvenile offenders.

This book not only makes an argument for juvenile justice withina young person’s community; it provides a model. Tarrant CountyJuvenile Services has been an exception to the national normfrom the beginning. This book will trace the history of Texas’soldest juvenile probation department and the legacy left by theleaders of this agency from its inception. The reader will take awayvivid pictures of the leaders who transformed the system, andreal-life examples of the key concepts underlying an effective andsustainable juvenile justice system, with accountability both forjuvenile offenders and for their communities.