What Is Children's Justice?
Children’s Justice is the idea that the treatment of children is a social justice issue.
Children’s Justice is the idea that the treatment of children is a social justice issue.
- Brendon Marotta, Children’s Justice
Children’s Justice is a social justice approach to children's issues. The term Children’s Justice could apply to any idea or movement that views injustices against children as a social justice issue.
The concept of Children’s Justice was created by Brendon Marotta in a book by the same name. Children’s Justice draws from previous children’s movements, critical social justice theory, and other academic sources to explore how children are oppressed and could be treated more justly.
As the book states in the opening paragraph:
If social justice is about protecting the vulnerable, the minority, and the oppressed, then there is no minority more vulnerable or oppressed than children. Children are the weakest members of society in every society, and any movement based in social justice must eventually face the reality that children are oppressed and have been since the beginning of history. If we want a just world and children are our future, we must begin with Children’s Justice.
The book also argues that many other social justice issues are the result of ways of relating learned in childhood due to the unjust treatment of children.
While Children’s Justice is a first step in this approach to children’s issues, the book recognizes that there is further work to be done from this viewpoint and room for further activists and authors to continue to explore this perspective.
To learn more, read Children’s Justice.