Fully focused on the important issues, emerging trends, contemporary research, and special challenges facing juvenile justice today, this comprehensive exploration of the American juvenile justice system covers the history and philosophy of juvenile justice, the current practices for processing youthful offenders, the detention of juveniles, and the diversion of youth from the juvenile justice system. Unique in its approach, it gives students an “up-close and personal” view of the fascinating and sometimes tragic world of the juvenile offender—and the personal, psychological and thinking processes that characterize juvenile misbehavior.