Book Review: Campaigning for children: Strategies for advancing children’s rights by J. Becker
| Author | Jodi Miller |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1057567720919903 |
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Book Reviews
Becker, J. (2017). Campaigning for children: Strategies for advancing children’s rights. Stanford University Press.
232 pp. $25.00, ISBN: 9781503603035.
Reviewed by: Jodi Miller, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
DOI: 10.1177/1057567720919903
In Campaigning for Children: Strategies for Advancing Children’s Rights, Becker examines issues
surrounding children’s rights in the United States and globally, specifically focusing on poor and
developing countries. Each chapter addresses a specific topic related to child maltreatment, such
as child marriage, child labor, corporal punishment, child sex tourism, child soldiers, educational
access, and educational inequity. Becker emphasizes the challenges faced by advocates, policy
makers, and other agents involved and provides a section entitled “moving forward,”which
details how individuals can continue making progress for positive changes and potential expectations
for the future of children’s rights. Becker’s detailed illustrations of what children endure make for a
heart-wrenching read that draws awareness to injustices seldom explored.
Becker notes that in countries where families are burdened by poverty, incongruous cultural
norms are present, such as forced marriage. Becker begins with a provocative and compelling
story about a 9-year-old girl from Yemen forced into marriage with a man 3 times her age, who con-
sequently rapes her. Although the family received money from this marriage, their daughter was vio-
lently victimized as a result. This one event, of many, reveals that cultural norms existent in
poverty-stricken countries prioritize the opportunity for money over the well-being and rights of
children.
In continued efforts to highlight the deprivation of children’s rights, Becker provides information
regarding the traditional acceptance of female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C). Becker
included a story about a young girl, Leyla Hussein, who was 7 years old when she endured the trau-
matic FGM/C operation. In the efforts to abolish this tradition or rule, FGM/C was taken under-
ground, and young girls were still undergoing extreme pain and long-lasting injuries. Becker
notes a 2014 study from Wales and England showing that over 137,000 women and girls were sub-
jected to FGM/C. Parents believed in order to avoid social rejection, subjecting their daughters to this
operation was necessary to ensure their acceptance and recognition in the community. Becker uti-
lized this story to spark advocates’interests in educating the perpetrators of this norm, ultimately
encouraging a cultural shift.
Using a 2010 study on 9,000 youth detention centers, Becker emphasizes the global context of
child incarceration. The study found that 12% of victimization incidents occurred during a
12-month period, and 80% were sexual abuse cases perpetrated by facility staff. Not only is this a
problem within countries such as Africa, but it is prevalent within the United States. In addition,
Becker cites Roper v. Simmons to illustrate the unconstitutionality of sentencing juveniles to the
death penalty as well as life without parole, noting that in 2005 prescribing this sentence to a juvenile
was deemed a violation of the eighth amendment of cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S.
Constitution. Further, Becker argues that high recidivism rates are due in part to the lack of education
Book Reviews
International Criminal Justice Review
2022, Vol. 32(3) 346-350
© 2020 Georgia State University
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