Book Review: Courting kids: Inside an experimental youth court

• Date: 01 March 2014
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016813520422
• Published date: 01 March 2014
• Author: Chyna N. Crawford
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

claims Louisiana to be the largest consumer of the justice system by sending more people to jail per

capita than any other state in the country. In the case of indigent defense, the criminal justice system

as a whole ground to a complete stop after Katrina. She details a faulty system which locked people

up and forget about them and their rights. In these cases, she argues that it is not just a lack of

effective counsel but a lack of counsel altogether that violates those rights.

Chapter 4 describes the case of a young man by the name of Rodney Young who was charged

with capital murder in February 2012 in the state of Georgia. This chapter focuses not only on the

defense but also on the selection and makeup of juries in capital cases. Rodney Young, whom the

defense claimed was mentally retarded, was convicted and sentenced to death which caused ques-

tions to arise about the nature of a fair and impartial jury in the court system. Houppert argues that

jury selection is often biased, but it is very hard to prove which can leave indigent clients facing a

court of vengeance rather than a court of justice. She claims within the legal system, being poor,

Black, and accused of a crime in this country always increases a person’s chances of conviction and

this is reflected in the selection of jurors. In the jury selection process, public defenders often get the

short end of the stick because they are inexperienced and their clients are primarily minorities.

Houppert explains that by the time those with a criminal record and those who cannot afford to take

time off work have been excused, the scales have been tipped toward the middle-class Whites since

this disproportionately affects people of color.

Although there is limitations on the generalizability of the research since the scope is somewhat

narrow, the findings are very informative. Throughout the book, Karen Houppert guides us from

case to case explaining the importance of each and what rights are violated and why. Houppert

makes it clear that the U.S. Supreme Court has been consistent on the right to counsel in America;

however, 50 years after the Gideon decision violations continue to pile up. The author shows that as

a country, far too many indigent clients sit in jail for months waiting to see a lawyer or hundreds of

defendants are left to get the attention of a single lawyer. She leaves us with a resounding question of

what can be done to resolve this problem since equal justice still eludes us all.

Overall, this book is easy to read and provides an informative look at the inner workings of our

judicial system asit plays a role in the right to counsel for indigent clients. Houppert documentssome

very creative efforts to fix what she calls a broken system. The author provides an important contri-

bution to the literature that explores the challenges that the poor face in our country when they meet

with the complex nature of our criminal justice system and would be of interest to experienced and

novice legal scholars. I think this bookwould work well as a supplement readingfor college students

that are interested in the American court systems. It could offer a view that is not often taught in

courses but also givesthose that want to practice law a view of the clients theymay one day represent.

Barrett, C. J. (2013).

Courting kids: Inside an experimental youth court. New York: NYU Press. 220 pp. Paperback: $25.00, ISBN: 978-

0814709450.

Reviewed by: Chyna N. Crawford, College of Juvenile Justice and Psychology, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie

View, TX, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0734016813520422

Carla J. Barrett, assistant professor at John Jay College in New York City, has produced her first

book Courting Kids. The book gives readers a glimpse into what approximately 200,000 adjudicated

youths under the age of 18 experience during the course of a year. Barrett details juvenile justice

Book Reviews 105