Table Of ContentCOURTING KIDS
ALTERNATIVE CRIMINOLOGY SERIES
General Editor: Jeff Ferrell
Pissing on Demand: Workplace Drug Testing and the Rise of the Detox Industry
Ken Tunnell
Empire of Scrounge: Inside the Urban Underground of Dumpster Diving,
Trash Picking, and Street Scavenging
Jeff Ferrell
Prison, Inc.: A Convict Exposes Life inside a Private Prison
by K. C. Carceral, edited by Thomas J. Bernard
The Terrorist Identity: Explaining the Terrorist Threat
Michael P. Arena and Bruce A. Arrigo
Terrorism as Crime: From Oklahoma City to Al-Qaeda and Beyond
Mark S. Hamm
Our Bodies, Our Crimes: The Policing of Women’s Reproduction in America
Jeanne Flavin
Graffiti Lives: Beyond the Tag in New York’s Urban Underground
Gregory J. Snyder
Crimes of Dissent: Civil Disobedience, Criminal Justice, and the Politics of Conscience
Jarret S. Lovell
The Culture of Punishment: Prison, Society, and Spectacle
Michelle Brown
Who You Claim: Performing Gang Identity in School and on the Streets
Robert Garot
5 Grams: Crack Cocaine, Rap Music, and the War on Drugs
Dimitri A. Bogazianos
Judging Addicts: Drug Courts and Coercion in the Justice System
Rebecca Tiger
Courting Kids: Inside an Experimental Youth Court
Carla J. Barrett
Courting Kids
Inside an Experimental Youth Court
Carla J. Barrett
a
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
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NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© 2013 by New York University
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References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs
that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Barrett, Carla J.
Courting kids : inside an experimental youth court / Carla J. Barrett.
p. cm. — (Alternative criminology series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8147-0946-7 (cl : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8147-0945-0 (pb : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8147-6004-8 (ebook)
ISBN 978-0-8147-8946-9 (ebook)
1. Juvenile courts—New York (State)—New York County. 2. New York (State). Supreme Court. 3. Juvenile
courts—New York (State)—New York. 4. Manhattan (New York, N.Y.) I. Title.
KFN6196.B37 2012
345.747’1081—dc23 2012026194
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials
to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For the kids
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: An Experiment in Youth Justice 1
1. Calendar Days in the Youth Part: Mundanity and Drama 21
2. Creating the “Juvenile Offender” 44
3. Rehabilitation, Youth Part Style 61
4. Individualized Justice in a Criminal Court 89
5. Managing Contradictions 130
6. Judging the Court, Judging Transfer 152
Conclusion: Kids Will Be Kids 167
Notes 173
Bibliography 193
Index 205
About the Author 209
vii
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are many people I wish to thank for helping to make this book pos-
sible. My time with two organizations — Save Our Sons and Daughters
(SOSAD) in Detroit and the Harlem Writers Crew in New York — set me on
this path originally. Thanks to Clementine, Terry, Greg, Andy, Avery, and all
the kids for sharing your worlds with me.
This book would not have been possible without the help and generos-
ity of so many people who work in and around the Manhattan criminal
courts. I am truly grateful to the attorneys, the personnel of alternative-
to-incarceration programs, court advocates, and court staff (whom I wish
I could acknowledge here by name) who were overwhelmingly willing to
share their time, expertise, and insights with me. Judge Michael Corriero
opened his court to me for more than five years. He and his staff were
tremendously generous with their time and endlessly patient with my re-
peated questions and requests for still more information. It was an inspi-
ration to spend time with folks who work so tirelessly, and often thank-
lessly, to try and make a difference. Dean Mauro of the New York State
Division of Criminal Justice Services provided much of the quantitative
data on Juvenile Offender indictments (and kindly put up with my re-
peated requests for more).
Numerous colleagues, friends, and mentors read early drafts, helped
work out theoretical and methodological concerns, commiserated, ques-
tioned, and inspired along the way. Thank you to Nina Aledort, Claudio
Benzecry, Avi Brisman, Lynn Chancer, Michael Coyle, Caroline DeBrovner,
Megan Doherty, Celeste Donovan, Joanna Dreby, Trevor Milton, Rafik Mo-
hammed, Jayne Mooney, Richard Ocejo, Elizabeth Perea, Carolyn Pinedo
Turnovsky, Diana Rickard, Michelle Ronda, Austin Sarat, Greg Snyder,
René van Swaaningen, Rebecca Tiger, Jonathan Wynn, and Jock Young. If
I have achieved any level of skill in the craft of ethnography it is because I
had the privilege of being trained by some of the best: Angela Gilliam, Bill
Kornblum, Mitchell Duneier, Alisse Waterston, and Terry Williams. Thank
you — for doing and for teaching.
Special thanks go to Susan Will for being my Sociology of Law guru,
and to Michael Jacobson for talking me out of going to law school and
providing a wealth of other cogent advice. I am especially grateful for the
time I have spent with the Common Studies Programme in Critical Crimi-
nology — m y participation in the common sessions has informed and
ix
