This casebook focuses on three themes: legal, administrative, and policy issues associated with regulating children rather than adults; procedural and substantive implications of a justice system that emphasizes treatment rather than punishment; and tensions between discretion and rules that occur when states treat children rather than punish adults. It incorporates empirical evaluations and developmental psychological research on adolescent competence and presents criminological studies of controversial issues such as gender and racial disparities in juvenile justice administration. It also examines pretrial detention and alternative sentencing options available to juvenile courts and discusses how and when states try youths in criminal court.