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About 1 million
teenagers are locked up each year in the
United States, more than in any other
country. In spite of the best efforts and
positive intentions of juvenile justice
systems across the nation, many young
offenders who are incarcerated repeat their
crimes and end up in overcrowded prisons as
adults. With too many policy-makers
perceiving jail time to be the solution to
fighting crime, the United States has become
the Incarceration Nation.
Irene Sullivan, a
Circuit Court Judge in Florida’s Unified
Family Court says there’s a better way.
In her new book,
Raised by the Courts: One Judge’s Insight
into Juvenile Justice, Judge
Sullivan provides emotionally charged
courtroom cases to build her argument for
reform of the juvenile justice system.
“Alternatives to
imprisoning young people exist that are more
effective, less costly, and more humane,”
she says. “We don’t need to spend money
developing and testing new solutions. We
need to support, adopt, and expand access to
the many cost-effective programs that have
proven to work, such as prevention of child
abuse, parent counseling, family therapy,
youth court and other diversion services,
truancy reduction programs,
and many others.”
“Instead of paying for
failure,” Judge Sullivan says,
“we should invest in success. Our nation’s
children deserve our concern and
conscientious dedication to their futures
and ours.”
Raised by the Courts:
One Judge’s Insight into Juvenile Justice
Judge Irene Sullivan
List
$24.95
Hardcover 260 pages
ISBN
978-1-60714-638-4
Kaplan
Publishing
Raised By the Courts describes a
host of prevention, intervention,
rehabilitation, humanitarian and social
programs that put our nation’s troubled
young people on a path to safe, productive
lives. Visit
www.raisedbythecourts.org.
About the
Author
Irene Sullivan has been
a Circuit Court Judge in Florida’s Unified
Family Court since 1999. A nationally
recognized speaker on child protection,
juvenile justice and truancy matters, she is
a member of the American Bar Association
Commission on Youth at Risk, the National
Truancy Prevention Association, the Florida
Blueprint Commission to reform juvenile
justice, and a statewide taskforce on
Disproportionate Minority Contact. She also
serves on a number of advisory boards for
legal and youth-focused organizations.
In January 2011 she will be developing
and teaching a juvenile justice course at
Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport,
Florida.
Judge Sullivan received
her Juris Doctor degree from Stetson
University College of Law, cum laude, in
1977, and an undergraduate degree in
journalism from Northwestern University in
1964.
She lives in St.
Petersburg, Florida.
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