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The gracious spaces of children’s law: Innocence and culpability in the construction of a children’s court

Studies in Law, Politics, and Society

ISBN: 978-1-78350-785-6, eISBN: 978-1-78350-786-3

Publication date: 1 January 2014

Abstract

The Edmund Edelman Children’s Court is a juvenile dependency courthouse in Los Angeles designed with bright murals, open play spaces, and modified courtrooms to be “child-sensitive” and “family-friendly.” Through a recounting of the political and cultural forces at play building up to its construction, I argue that the decisions to build a “child-sensitive” court confirm the carceral containment of the culpable black adult. This article represents an inquiry into the cultural logic of the court’s construction, revealing the relationship between raced constructions of innocence and guilt. This study draws from five months of fieldwork conducted in the Edelman Children’s Court.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was provided by teaching assistantships, research assistantships, grants, and fellowships awarded by the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine. The author would like to thank the various judges, attorneys, building designers and court employees for facilitating this project as well as the following people for commenting on earlier drafts: Susan Bibler Coutin, Lee Douglas, Sora Han, Rohini Khanna, Lilith Mahmud, Vivek Mittal, Jasmine Montgomery, Anjali Nath, Marisa Omori, and Aaron Roussell. Parts of this project were presented at the Law and Society Association Annual Meetings, West Coast Law and Society Retreats, and the Center in Law, Society, and Culture.

Citation

Ananth, A.L. (2014), "The gracious spaces of children’s law: Innocence and culpability in the construction of a children’s court", Studies in Law, Politics, and Society (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 63), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 89-112. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1059-4337(2014)0000063002

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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