Your World of Legal Intelligence
 United Kingdom | +44 (0) 20 7284 8080

Alexandra Cox, Trapped in a Vice: The Consequences of Confinement for Young People

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Date01 January 2020
AuthorRandy Myers
DOI10.1177/1462474519828686
Published date01 January 2020
Subject MatterBook reviews
untitled Book reviews
Alexandra Cox, Trapped in a Vice: The Consequences of Confinement for Young People,
Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick, NJ, 2018; 234 pp. (including index): ISBN:
978-0813570464, $27.50 (pbk)
Trapped in a Vice uses ethnographic data collected between 2007 and 2011 to explore
the consequences of confinement for young people in New York’s juvenile justice
system. The book supplements ethnographic material with current policy docu-
ments and archival materials on earlier iterations of juvenile justice in New York
State. Relying on actuarial tools and behavioral change programs, today’s system,
Cox argues, ‘traps’ young people in an alienating and frustrating vice-like system
that focuses on their deficiencies while doing little to cultivate their own strengths,
interests and passions—and even less to address the dire material circumstances
most face. While giving us a rare look at the ground-level workings of today’s
juvenile justice system, this engaging work urges us to look beyond the innumerable
veneers of ‘reform’ in juvenile justice by tracing the common threads in focus,
approach and consequence that run through various eras of juvenile justice.
Chapter one sketches the rotating philosophies and rhetoric that have motored
juvenile justice reform in New York State since its inception. Cox’s analysis
uncovers more parallels than divergences between eras. From child-saving to the
child-rights movement, from get-tough measures to current preoccupations with
actuarial justice and behavioral change programs, reform of a ‘broken’ system is
always ongoing. And from the beginning of the juvenile justice system to today’s
most formidable charities and non-profits, relatively privileged reformers have
sought to improve a system that addresses the deficiencies of young people and
families at the bottom of the class hierarchy. Today’s system ensnares racial minor-
ities from families and neighborhoods hit hardest by neoliberal capitalism and the
accompanying expansion of the carceral...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT