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Recriminalizing Delinquency: Violent Juvenile Crimes and Juvenile Justice Reform, by Simon I. Singer. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. 230 pp. $54.95 cloth. ISBN: 0-521-48208-9.
Recriminalizing Delinquency incorporates seven distinct sources of data and a variety of analyses to examine the impact of New York State's juvenile offender law. This law gave New York its first vehicle to waive youth between criminal and juvenile courts, mandated original jurisdiction in criminal court for several felonies, and greatly empowered criminal court prosecutors in decisions over youth where before they had no influence. This law also was among the first signals that juvenile justice in the United States was changing from an emphasis on the "best interests of the child" to a punitive, "get tough" focus. Thus, the experiences in New York are very important to understanding why other states have followed in reforming their juvenile codes in similar ways and whether these trends are a good idea.
Many believe that the case of Willie Bosket, who received leniency from juvenile court after...