After Israel established itself in 1948, the government gave lip service to the ideas equality under the law. The government granted full rights to women, Arab citizens, and new immigrants. However, through its unofficial policies, the author claims that Israeli officials discriminated against certain groups of people, most notably females and working-class Orientals and Arabs. In this paper, the author explores the unofficial discrimination process that occurred in Israel during this period by examining historical documents within the juvenile justice system. The author analyzed these documents as social constructs of the hierarchies that were unofficially enforced during this period. The juvenile justice documents revealed that officials distinguished between “normal insider” and “deviant outsider” as they made policy and punishment decisions about the youthful offenders. Middle-class juvenile offenders were classified as “normal insider” and punished less harshly, regardless of crime severity. On the other hand, Arab juvenile delinquents were viewed as “deviant outsiders” and thus received less treatment options and suffered more punitive punishments than did other classes of offenders. Another major finding was the fact that Oriental juvenile offenders were seen as needing socialization–type treatment in order to integrate them into Israeli society. The author concludes that it was through these social constructs of “deserving” and “undeserving” youth, that the government was able to maintain hegemonic control over their emerging society by the subtle discrimination of certain groups of people. References