Children and the Law - Foreword

As a parent, legislator, and former Chairman of the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, the problems of the youth of our nation are very close to my heart. I think that raising a young person is one of the most difficult and important challenges that a person can ever face. Our collective success or failure in raising young people actually determines the future of the country. Happy, secure and well-educated youth will be effective, productive and useful citizens.

Young people who have been beaten, starved, or deprived of love have accounted for the major portion of the population of our juvenile and adult institu- tions.