Global perspectives on social issues

by Paola Zalkind

"The Declaration of the Rights of the Child was meant to safeguard rights of children all over the world and to protect the most vulnerable members of society from mistreatment at the hands of their parents, the government, the military, educational institutions, and any establishment capable of exerting power over children. Paola Zalkind and Rita J. Simon begin Global Perspectives on Social Issues: Juvenile Justice Systems with a discussion of this declaration's failure. According to the authors, much of the world - including the most modern industrialized nations - has not lived up to the declaration's tenets. Juvenile Justice Systems discusses both the stated and legal rights of children in many parts of the world, their recognition in the face of criminal proceedings, and the actual experiences of children in different justice systems. This study is explicitly comparative, focusing on such subjects as the age of criminal responsibility, court systems for juvenile offenders, crimina