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City of Courts: Socializing Justice in Progressive Era Chicago. By Michael Willrich. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. xl, 332 pp. Cloth, $70.00, ISBN 0-521-79082-4. Paper, $25-00, ISBN 0-521-79403-X.)
Two Chicago innovations, the 1899 juvenile court and the 1906 municipal court, were at the core of Progressive Era reforms in the administration of justice. The juvenile court has been well studied by historians, and now the municipal court has been given a carefully researched treatment that establishes its broader significance and context. Reflecting Roscoe Pound's sociological jurisprudence, the transatlantic revolt against formalism in social and political thought, and the era's deference to expert authority, the Municipal Court of Chicago helped usher in a new era in criminology, court organization, and criminal procedure.
The municipal court replaced the older, decentralized, and often corrupt system of...