The Nature, Purpose, and Structure of the Manual

• Author: Anthony G. Amsterdam/Martin Guggenheim/Randy A. Hertz
• Profession: University Professor and Professor of Law at New York University/Fiorello LaGuardia Professor of Clinical Law at New York University School of Law/Professor of Clinical Law at NYU School of Law
• Pages: 1-2

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§ 1.01 The Nature and Purpose of the Ma nual

This M  is a how-to-do-it guidebook for handling juvenile court c ases from begin-

ning to end. It differs f rom most books about juvenile court, wh ich typically begin with

an examination of the history and philosophy of juvenile cour t and thereafter focus

(exclusively or predominantly) upon the aspects of juvenile practice that differ from

adult crimina l procedure. The M pretermits any discussion of purely academic,

historical, or philosophical matters and deals exclusively with the tasks, skills, r ules of

law, and issues of strategic judgment involved in representing clients in juvenile court.

Rather than ignoring those aspects of juven ile proceedings that mirror adult crimina l

practice, the M  exam ines them at every stage.

This M  is, quite consciously, a manual for defense attorneys. Wh ile the M-

 contains some material t hat may also be useful to ot her players in the system, it

does not purport to describe or analyze subjects falli ng outside the purview of a defense

attorney’s obligations to his or her client.

§ 1.02 The Structure of the M anual

The M  proceeds, more or less, according to the chronology of an indiv idual delin-

quency case. Thus the chapters begin with the earliest stages at which defense counsel

enters the case, then advance through the pretrial stage s and trial, and conclude with

disposition and post-dispositional remed ies.

The goal of making t his M easy to use during court hearings has led to the

authors’ abandonment of various conventions of manual-writing. The M deals

with topics as they become relevant at each particular stage of a proceeding, even when

this format requires dispersing material with related subject matters among different

chapters. For example, the topic of suppression motions is covered in five different chap-

ters: a section on draft ing these motions is found in t he chapter on motions that need

to be filed shortly after Initial Hearing ; later there comes a chapter on techniques for

CHAPTER 1

THE NATURE, PURPOSE,

AND STRUCTURE OF

THE MANUAL