The Slow March to Justice for Children By Barry Krisberg, The
Crime Report Why has it taken a century for America to mend the
flaws in its juvenile justice system? In an exclusive commentary
for The Crime Report, Barry Krisberg, one of America’s foremost
experts on juvenile justice, calls this month’s Supreme Court
decision on juvenile lifers in Graham v Florida a “small, but
important, step” towards improving the way we deal with our most
troubled children. America’s foremost legal philosopher, Roscoe
Pound (1870-1964), once observed that the American juvenile
court was the greatest step forward in Anglo-American law since
the Magna Carta. He was referring to an ideal of justice that
was individualized, compassionate and infused with the value of
human redemption. This was the vision of Jane Addams, Judge Ben
Lindsey and the youth advocates who lobbied to create the
juvenile court in Illinois and Colorado in 1899. Sadly, this
ennobling model of justice has been honored more in the breach
than in reality. The