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The Ends of Innocence: Age as a Mode of Inquiry in Sociolegal Studies

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Brewer Holly. 2005. By Birth or Consent: Children, Law, and the Anglo-American Revolution in Authority. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Pp. xi + 390. $45.00 cloth; $24.95 paper.
Robertson Stephen. 2005. Crimes Against Children: Sexual Violence and Legal Culture in New York City, 1880–1960. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Pp. xiv + 337. $59.95 cloth; $22.50 paper.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

James D. Schmidt
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Abstract

This article considers two recent books in the history of childhood, youth, and the law: Holly Brewer, By Birth or Consent and Stephen Robertson, Crimes Against Children. It argues that these works mark the emergence of age as a category of analysis in sociolegal studies. It calls for further investigations in the legal history of childhood and youth, outlines several areas of interest, and suggests that attention to age will alter how scholars look at the law by complicating key concepts such as innocence, authority, and citizenship. Studies of age and the law could benefit from cross-cultural and transnational approaches.

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Type
Review Essay
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Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , Fall 2007 , pp. 1027 - 1057
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2007 

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