Children's Rights Under and the Law

InChildren's Rights Under the Law, Professor Samuel M. Davis examines ways in which the law relates to children, from private law (torts, contracts, property, child labor, and emancipation) to public law (First Amendment rights of children in school, abortion decision-making for children, school discipline, compulsory school attendance, and regulation of obscenity). Professor Davis discusses the major Supreme Court decisions involving the parent-child-state relationship. He describes issues of medical decision-making for children, personal freedoms of children, and property entitlements of children, and addresses issues that arise in the educational context, or "school law." Professor Davis also covers child neglect and abuse, and summarizes major Supreme Court cases in the juvenile justice area, discussing the broad jurisdiction of the juvenile court, arrest and search and seizure as they apply to children, and police interrogation of children. Finally, he examines how some cases are prosecuted as criminal cases in adult court, issues related to the adjudicatory process (akin to the trial in adult court), and issues related to disposition in juvenile court (akin to the sentencing phase of criminal proceedings).

Samuel M. Davis is the Jamie L. Whitten Professor of Law and Government at the University of Mississippi. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the Mississippi Bar, and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Mississippi Bar Foundation. He earned a B.A. degree in History and Political Science from the University of Southern Mississippi and his J.D. degree from the University of Mississippi. He holds an LL.M. degree from the University of Virginia. He is the author of numerous books and articles in the area of children and the law.