Includes bibliographical references and index.

This is a treatise on youth justice which examines the treatment, by the criminal law and the criminal justice system, of children who commit serious crimes. It draws on legal, philosophical and childhood studies literature to look at the interaction between law and childhood and considers a number of cases, noting the difficulties for legal systems, of accommodating individuals who are, simultaneously, both 'child' and 'criminal'. The law's impulse is to protect children and to call to account and punish offenders - aims which sometimes conflict.

Specialized.

Description based on print version record.