NACDL

Raised by the Courts: One Judge’s Insight Into Juvenile Justice

By Irene Sullivan
Kaplan Publishing (2010)
Reviewed by Robert Batey and Judith A.M. Scully

In Raised by the Courts: One Judge’s Insight Into Juvenile Justice, recently retired Florida Circuit Judge Irene Sullivan gives readers a lively and succinct tour of today’s world of juvenile law. As a juvenile court judge for almost a decade in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, Sullivan has seen much, thought deeply about what she has seen, and reached some surprising conclusions. Her highly readable work is well worth the time of anyone who cares about either children or the law.

The book comprises three main sections, and their titles describe the arc of her service in juvenile court: “Awakening,” “Despair,” and “Enlightenment.” The three chapters of “Awakening” give snapshots of the system: a sketch of two typical juveniles, a surprise visit to an awful correctional facility, and the tale of a “crossover kid”