Book Review: Dilemma of duties: The conflicted role of juvenile defenders

DOI10.1177/0734016819899983
Published date01 September 2022
Date01 September 2022
Subject MatterBook Reviews
the fact that appellate courts have historically been reluctant to take on cases revolving around school
discipline and often err on the side of vagueness or school authority. The unclear responsibility of
schools operating in loco parentiswhile also as a governmental body further complicates judicial deci-
sion-making and adds to the reluctance of an already passive court system.
This book is a must read for any social science or law student who desires a canonical evolution of
punishment policies in schools and the legal remedies available to f‌ix these issues. While the general
topic of the book may be considered bleak and discouraging by a passerby, any insightful reader will
quickly realize that this volume is full of optimism and conf‌idence in the judicial process. Black
delivers multiple examples of previous court decisions that leave the door open to future changes
within institutions, with school punishment policies being no different. In fact, whether on the
federal, state, or local level, pockets of resistance armed with social science data and restorative
ideals have begun to advocate for change within school systems nationally. Although expulsion
and suspension rates have not varied signif‌icantly, awareness and an acknowledgment of the failures
of zero tolerance has begun to shift the tide of public opinion. In conjunction with civil rights advo-
cates and a general consensus by school discipline researchers, judicial intervention may f‌inally serve
as the catalyst necessary to end these arbitrary and harmful punishment policies. Blacks contribution
to this end serves as a rallying cry for the aforementioned in uniting behind a push for judicial anal-
ysis into policies that have historically hurt millions of young people in the past.
ORCID iD
Brandon C. Dulisse https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9733-7907
Corbin, A. M. (2018). Dilemma of duties: The conf‌licted role of juvenile defenders. Carbondale, IL: Southern
University Press, pp. 224. ISBN 9780809336647.
Reviewed by: Joseph B. Sanborn, University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA.
DOI: 10.1177/0734016819899983
Defense attorneys in criminal court serve one role: advocate pursuing the clients legal interests.
Defense attorneys in juvenile court may assume that role or act as a guardian, pursuing the
clients treatment interests. Ethically, defense attorneys are obliged to be zealous in their representa-
tion. In the site of this study, North Carolina mandates juvenile court defense attorneys to abide by
their clients expressed interests.
In Dilemma of Duties, Anne Corbin examined all three aspects of defense attorney behavior.
Corbin employed open-ended interviews of 24 juvenile defenders from two juvenile courts to ascer-
tain whether they operationalized the clientsexpressed wishes, identif‌ied a zealous advocate role,
experienced role conf‌lict (and its impact), departed from their role, and adapted to role conf‌lict.
The sample was mostly male, White, and married/partnered. There were 11 leastexperienced
(09 years) and 13 mostexperienced (10+ years) defenders. Twenty-one defenders self-identif‌ied
advocateor interesttypes: expressed (9), best (5), legal (3), personal-best-person-desired (2),
true (1), or best defense (1). Three participants declined to answerthis question. Corbin noted
that some defenders went off scriptin the identif‌ication process, and there was some inconsistency
with the defendersrole def‌initions, but all recognized the importance of the expressed-interests
component to their zealous advocate role.Nevertheless, 15 defenders did not identify as an
expressed-interests type. Corbin also found eight defenders who said role departures were acceptable
402 Criminal Justice Review 47(3)

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