"Juvenile Justice: Policies, Programs, and Practices takes a detailed look at the juvenile justice system with a student-friendly focus. With an emphasis on practical application, this text provides comprehensive insight into how the juvenile justice system operates in the United States. The focus of this text is on presenting examples of programs, policies, and current practices in the juvenile justice system to highlight and emphasize the key concepts presented. Numerous changes have been made to the juvenile justice system over the past 25 years in response to issues of juvenile crime and problems in dealing effectively with serious habitual juvenile offenders. This text reviews these laws and discusses changes to the juvenile justice system and its operation that have occurred recently. Regardless of your stance on these issues and what should be done with juvenile offenders, a solid working knowledge of the juvenile justice system is important to understanding the broader issues of juvenile justice in the United States"--