Despite the fact that new perspectives, such as restorative justice, have emerged, the debates have largely focused on issues that bring us back to the inception of juvenile justice: namely whether youth justice ought to be more akin to punitive adult criminal justice, or more sensitive to the welfare of youths.

Chapter 1. Introduction: Presentation of the book; Jean Trépanier and Xavier Rousseaux.- PART 1 – An International Overview.- Chapter 2. The roots and development of juvenile justice: An international overview; Jean Trépanier.- PART 2 – Nineteenth Century Responses to Juvenile Delinquincy: Punishment, Reform and Child Protection.-Chapter 3. The origins of informal juvenile court practices and of the juvenile reformatory in England, 1815-1855; Peter King.- Chapter 4: From punishment to reform: Boys in prison and reform institutions, 1853-1923; François Fenchel, Jean Trépanier and Sylvie Ménard.- Chapter 5. “At-Risk” Children and the Montreal Ladies’ Benevolent Society Industrial School, 1883-1921;  Janice Harvey.- Part 3 – A New Institution in the Welfare Era: Juvenile Court Policies and Practice.- Chapter 6. Between great expectations and hard times: the first decade of Geneva’s juvenile court (1914-1925); Joëlle Droux and  Mariama Kaba.- Chapter 7. The role of the juvenile judge in the family supervision order in the Netherlands, 1922-1940; Ingrid van der Bij.- Chapter 8. A ‘wayward’ or ‘incorrigible’ youth? Juvenile crime and correctional education in post-war Germany, 1945-1953; David Meeres.- Chapter 9. Youth crime redefined: The practice of scientific observation and diagnosis within the framework of Belgian Child Protection (1913-1960); Jenneke Christiaens.- Part 4 – Children and Families Before the Juvenile Court.- Chapter 10. Girls' journeys to the juvenile court, Antwerp, 1912-1933; Margo De Koster.- Chapter 11. Juvenile delinquency in wartime and peacetime. The activity of the juvenile court of Namur (1912-1950); Aurore François.- Chapter 12. The price of virtue. Socio-judicial regulation of juvenile sexuality in France during the first half of the 20th Century; David Niget.- Chapter 13. Children and their families in the Montreal Juvenile Delinquents Court (1912-1950): Actors or spectators of their own fate?; Jean Trépanier.- Chapter 14. Conclusion: Towards a transnational history of youth in justice systems; Jean Trépanier and Xavier Rousseaux.- Index.

This book explores the treatment of junevile offenders in modern Western history. The last few decades have witnessed major debates over youth justice policies. Juvenile and youth justice legislation has been reviewed in a number of countries. Despite the fact that new perspectives, such as restorative justice, have emerged, the debates have largely focused on issues that bring us back to the inception of juvenile justice: namely whether youth justice ought to be more akin to punitive adult criminal justice, or more sensitive to the welfare of youths. This issue has been at the core of policy choices that have given juvenile justice its orientations since the beginning of the twentieth century. It also gave shape to the evolution that paved the way for the creation of juvenile courts in the nineteenth century. Understanding those early debates is essential if we are to understand current debates, and place them into perspective. Based on primary archival research, this comprehensive study begins by presenting the roots, birth and evolution of juvenile justice, from the nineteenth century up to the beginning of the twenty-first. The second part deals with nineteenth century responses to juvenile delinquency in England and Canada, while the third focuses on the welfare orientation that characterized juvenile courts in the first half of the twentieth century in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Finally, the fourth part focuses on the perspective of the youths and their families in Belgium, France and Canada.

Aims to reflect the lived experience of juveniles in the justice system and confinement institutions across the Western world Examines a range of cultural, social, political and legal experiences that have shaped responses to juvenile delinquents and deviant youths Offers a collection of case studies that assess the history of practices aimed at children and youth in juvenile institutions and before the courts