Developmentalists seeking to understand the development of juvenile offending increasingly focus on the effects of race in the etiology of offending behavior as well as in the manner youth respond to efforts to curtail their behaviors (see Chung et al.
2011; Lee et al.
2010). Yet, race has long played an important role in responses to youth, including the development of the juvenile justice system itself. Some states have been particularly harsh on minority youth. For example, although California has been seen as an innovative and enlightened state in its responses to youth deemed problematic, history reveals a different picture. This more complex view is illustrated well in an important book,
States of Delinquency: Race and Science in the Making of California’s Juvenile Justice System, which examines the treatment of minority youth in some of California’s correctional facilities during the nineteenth to twentieth centuries. Using rich case studies and empirical data, the text illustrates well the abusive and unfair treatment endured by Mexican and African American minorities. Equally important, the text highlights the significant role that social science, including pseudo-scientific, research played in the inappropriate classification of minority youth. These two important and intertwined analyses make for indispensable reading for those of us interested in the study of delinquent youth. …
