."..presents new information about the oldest juvenile court in the United States. The book forces its readers to pause and think how daring some of the CCJC's ideas and practices were. This book is a welcome addition to the existing literature and should be read by scholars, students, juvenile court professionals, and the general public."--American Historical Review
."..a very useful and well-written introduction to the complex history of a pioneering institution."--Journal of American History
"A quite brilliant and compelling book. Based on his detailed analysis of some 3,000 case files from the Cook County Juvenile Court between 1899 and 1926 he builds a picture of how the first juvenile court came to be established and uncovers the historic roots of some contemporary questions about young offenders--what is the legal status of a child that commits a crime, especially a horrific one, how should they be punished, and what causes children to commit crimes in the first place?"--Howard Journal of Penal Reform
"This book is most helpful in educating lawyers and political scientists about the findings of delinquency studies from the sister disciplines of sociology and psychology."--The Law and Politics Book Review
"Juvenile Justice in the Making is a must read for anyone concerned with children. David Tanenhaus suggests that our view of childhood has changed quite radically in recent years. With the storytelling skills of an historian and the clearheadedness of a law scholar, Tanenhaus takes us back to the founding of the juvenile court to illustrate how far we've strayed from our faith in childhood as a separate province from adulthood."--Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here