Guilty?: Crime, Punishment, and the Changing Face of Justice - Hardcover

Kanefield, Teri

3.9

79 ratings by Goodreads

9780544148963: Guilty?: Crime, Punishment, and the Changing Face of Justice

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0544148967 ISBN 13: 9780544148963

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers, 2014

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A Junior Library Guild Selection

"By following the law school model and exploring actual cases, readers are able to ponder abstract ideas via concrete examples." --Kirkus Reviews

"This short book is dense with examples and ideas and makes a complicated, somewhat daunting subject more accessible and interesting to a younger audience." --Booklist

"An easy and informative read, gives basic information about the criminal justice system." -- VOYA

"This book takes a look at the evolution of the American justice system. Kanefield scrutinizes the judicial system by examining current and past crimes." --School Library Journal

"Kanefield not only allows readers to understand how notions of right and wrong change over time and across cultures, helping them begin to understand the complexities of crime and punishment, but she will probably leave them eager to find out more." --Horn Book Magazine

"An extraordinary book...that could well be mind-blowing to the thoughtful young reader who is ready to move beyond the black-and-white notion that a particular act is wrong simply because it is illegal." --Richie Partington, Book Blogger

When does strategy become cheating? Can good luck be theft? Is killing always a crime? Real-world cases show there are often no clear-cut answers in this fascinating look at the ever-evolving world of law and order, and crime and punishment.

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About the Author:

Teri Kanefield, an appellate lawyer and children's book writer, is the author of Rivka's Way and The Girl from the Tar Paper School. Her articles and essays have appeared in publications as diverse as Cricket Magazine, The Iowa Review, Education Week, and The American Literary Review.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 5–8—This book takes a look at the evolution of the American justice system. Kanefield scrutinizes the judicial system by examining current and past crimes. The book opens by defining the word "criminalize" (as "an act that the law makes punishable") and goes on to argue that the American judicial system is flawed. The author offers both famous cases, such as Plessy v. Ferguson and more obscure ones, such as the example of a man accused of bank robbery for taking advantage of a teller's mistake and walking out of the bank with an extra $1,000. The writing is brisk and concise, getting right to the point, but there are few images or charts, which might turn off some younger readers who are used to heavily illustrated books. Though this title provides a solid example of how authors present and build arguments, students would be better served by learning to scrutinize the book for bias, as Kanefield only shows one side of the story, highlighting the flaws of the system without offering any constructive criticism for how to improve the situation.—Esther Keller, I.S. 278, Brooklyn, NY

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