Courting Kids: Inside an Experimental Youth Court

Acknowledgments

ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people I wish to thank for helping to make this book possible . My time with two organizations—Save Our Sons and Daughters (SOSAD) in Detroit and the Harlem Writers Crew in New York—set me on this path originally. Thanks to Clementine, Terry, Greg, Andy, Avery, and all the kids for sharing your worlds with me. This book would not have been possible without the help and generosity of so many people who work in and around the Manhattan criminal courts. I am truly grateful to the attorneys, the personnel of alternativeto -incarceration programs, court advocates, and court staff (whom I wish I could acknowledge here by name) who were overwhelmingly willing to share their time, expertise, and insights with me. Judge Michael Corriero opened his court to me for more than five years. He and his staff were tremendously generous with their time and endlessly patient with my repeated questions and requests for still more information. It was an inspiration to spend time with folks who work so tirelessly, and often thanklessly , to try and make a difference. Dean Mauro of the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services provided much of the quantitative data on Juvenile Offender indictments (and kindly put up with my repeated requests for more). Numerous colleagues, friends, and mentors read early drafts, helped work out theoretical and methodological concerns, commiserated, questioned , and inspired along the way. Thank you to Nina Aledort, Claudio Benzecry, Avi Brisman, Lynn Chancer, Michael Coyle, Caroline DeBrovner, Megan Doherty, Celeste Donovan, Joanna Dreby, Trevor Milton, Rafik Mohammed , Jayne Mooney, Richard Ocejo, Elizabeth Perea, Carolyn Pinedo Turnovsky, Diana Rickard, Michelle Ronda, Austin Sarat, Greg Snyder, René van Swaaningen, Rebecca Tiger, Jonathan Wynn, and Jock Young. If I have achieved any level of skill in the craft of ethnography it is because I had the privilege of being trained by some of the best: Angela Gilliam, Bill Kornblum, Mitchell Duneier, Alisse Waterston, and Terry Williams. Thank you—for doing and for teaching. Special thanks go to Susan Will for being my Sociology of Law guru, and to Michael Jacobson for talking me out of going to law school and providing a wealth of other cogent advice. I am especially grateful for the time I have spent with the Common Studies Programme in Critical Criminology —my participation in the common sessions has informed and x Acknowledgments transformed my scholarship and my worldview in powerful ways. Alternative Criminology Series editor Jeff Ferrell’s insistence on the value of this project helped sustain me through the rough spots. NYU Press editor Ilene Kalish provided consistent support, impeccable attention to detail, and gracious good humor. I am especially indebted to my anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful and thorough comments and suggestions, and to David Updike for copyediting the manuscript. On a more personal note, grand thanks to Janan Cargile, Leonard Rosenblum, Cristina Livingstone, Michelle McDaniel, and Jen Adams for being part of my eclectic New York family. To my dear sister Ronda and all my family out west, thank you for your continuous love and support—you are the great heart that stands me by. There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children. —Nelson Mandela This page intentionally left blank ...