AbstractThe arguments and policy implications of two recent books on the juvenile justice system are strongly criticised. It is suggested that the attacks on the philosophy and the practice of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 are unjustified. The “Justice” model proposed seems to be the result of a return to a doctrine of classical liberalism. If applied it would remove many of the legal rights of parents and teachers, and would inevitably lead to a retributive and punitive system which would be in nobody's best intere