Young people are especially vulnerable under the law because they do not have the full rights or the autonomous status that protect and empower adults. Young people often depend on the law for protection, even when the law denies them legitimacy as full-fledged claimants. At the same time, young people are frequently the most difficult for the law to deal with in the exercise of authority. In looking at youth and justice, the volume is organized according to seven parts. The first part on law and social science perspectives on youth and justice considers definitional issues in victimization and offending and juvenile crime victims. The second part focuses on victimization, with chapters on child abuse and neglect, the victimization of children and youth, and child pornography. The third part covers offending, with emphasis on violence, homicide, female delinquency and violence, and juvenile alcohol abuse. The fourth part examines cross-cultural patterns of juvenile delinquency and includes chapters on deviance in Russia and the United States and juvenile crime in Western Europe. The final three parts look at environmental influences on juvenile crime (family and community issues), behavioral aspects of juvenile crime, and the administration of justice (juvenile courts, family preservation, children's rights, and child custody). References, endnotes, tables, and figures