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From the bestselling and critically acclaimed author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace comes an eyeopening fully humanizing deeply affecting look at the oftenmisunderstood juvenile justice system and its inhabitantsyoung people of earnestness disappointment hope and resilience Booklist starred review

For many kids a mistake made at age thirteen or fourteenoften resulting from external factors coupled with a biologically immature braincan resonate through the rest of their lives making high school difficult college nearly impossible and a middleclass life a mere fantasy In Children of the State Jeff Hobbs challenges any preconceived perceptions about how the juvenile justice system worksand demonstrates in brilliant piercing prose No one so young should ever be considered irredeemable

Writing with great heart and sensitivity Hobbs offers finely wrought portraits of the teenagers in juvenile hall as well as the educators and counselors trying to help them find safe passage back toand throughthe real world Los Angeles Times While serving a yearlong detention in Wilmington Delaware a bright young man considers both the benefits and the immense costs of striving for college acceptance while imprisoned A career juvenile hall English Language Arts teacher struggles to align the small moments of wonder in her work alongside its statistical futility A territorial fistfight in Paterson New Jersey is called a hate crime by the media and the boy held accountable seeks redemption and friendship in a demanding Life amp Professional Skills class in lower Manhattan Through these stories Hobbs creates intimate portraits of these individuals as they struggle to make good decisions amidst the challenges of overcoming their pasts and also asks What should society do with young people who have made terrible mistakes

At turns touching and intimate enraging and honest Matthew Desmond Children of the State masterfully blends personal stories with larger questions about race class prison reform justice and even about the concept of fate