Hailed as a definitive analytical and historical study of the juvenile justice system, this 40th anniversary edition of "The Child Savers" features a new essay by Anthony M. Platt that highlights recent directions in the field, as well as a critique of his original text.Focusing on social reformers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Plattas principal argument is that the achild saversa movement was not an effort to liberate and dignify youth but, instead, a punitive and intrusive attempt to control the lives of working-class urban adolescents. This expanded edition provides a renewed and distinguished contribution by placing it in historical context through insightful commentaries from cross-disciplinary academics, along with an essay by Miroslava ChAvez-GarcA-a examining how Plattas influential study has impacted many of the central arguments social scientists and historians face today.