No Place for Children; Voices from Juvenile Detention

Liss, Steve

ISBN 10: 0292701969 / ISBN 13: 9780292701960

Published by Texas Press, Austin, Texas, 2005

About this Item

[18], 131, [3] pages. Oversized book, measuring 11-1/2 inches by 8-1/2 inches. Illustrations. Foreword by Marian Wright Edelman. Introduction by Cecilia Balli. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper; Inscription reads: For Tony, With Thanks, Steve Liss, April 10, 2007. This courageous work of photojournalism goes inside the juvenile justice system to offer an intimate, often disturbing view of children's experiences in juvenile detention. His striking photographs reveal that these are vulnerable children--sometimes as young as ten--coping with a detention environment that most adults would find harsh. In the accompanying text, the author brings in the voices of the young people who describe their already fractured lives and fragile dreams, as well as the words of their parents and juvenile justice workers who express frustration at not having more resources with which to help these kids. Steve Liss is a documentary filmmaker, director of photography and associate professor of media at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass. Prior to that, he was a Time Magazine staff photographer for twenty-three years, where, as a licensed pilot, he flew himself to and from assignments across the United States. He is a filmmaker, producer, cinemetographer and associate professor at Endicott College. Forty-three of his photographs have appeared on the cover of Time and he has produced dozens of award-winning photographic essays and covered six presidential campaigns for the magazine. Steve's work is housed in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. His book, No Place for Children: Voices from Juvenile Detention won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Journalism and the World Understanding Award from Pictures of the Year International. The Chicago Tribune called it "photojournalism of the most moral and galvanizing kind." Steve was the recipient of an Open Society Institute Fellowship for his work on juvenile justice and an Alicia Patterson Fellowship for his work on American poverty. He was a member of the inaugural class of Fellows at the Aspen Institute's Ascend Program, which advances a two-generation approach to poverty alleviation in the United States. Steve produced and directed the Emmy nominated documentary short Finding Fatherhood, which premiered on Rocky Mountain PBS in 2015 and was nominated for a Heartland Emmy, and the feature documentary Sacred Cod, which premiered on the Discovery Channel in April of 2017.

Seller Inventory # 79433

Bibliographic Details

• Title: No Place for Children; Voices from Juvenile Detention
• Publisher: Texas Press, Austin, Texas
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0292701969
• ISBN 13: 9780292701960
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Steve Liss (Photographer)
• Edition: Presumed First Edition, First printing.
• Condition: Very good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Law Enforcement

About this title

Synopsis

Winner, Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, Domestic Photo, 2006

Juvenile crime rates have dropped dramatically since the early 1990s, yet more young people are in juvenile detention today than at any other time in America's history. Most are nonviolent offenders. Many have mental health or substance abuse problems. All have been failed by some combination of their families, schools, churches, and communities. But instead of addressing these young people's needs for treatment, rehabilitation, and basic nurturing, we lock them away in an overburdened juvenile justice system that can do little more than warehouse troubled children.

This courageous work of photojournalism goes inside the system to offer an intimate, often disturbing view of children's experiences in juvenile detention. Steve Liss photographed and interviewed young detainees, their parents, and detention and probation officers in Laredo, Texas. His striking photographs reveal that these are vulnerable children—sometimes as young as ten—coping with a detention environment that most adults would find harsh. In the accompanying text, he brings in the voices of the young people who describe their already fractured lives and fragile dreams, as well as the words of their parents and juvenile justice workers who express frustration at not having more resources with which to help these kids. As Marian Wright Edelman asks in the foreword, "What does it say about us that the only thing our nation will guarantee every child is a costly jail or detention cell, while refusing them a place in Head Start or after-school child care, summer jobs, and other needed supports?" In the best tradition of photojournalism, No Place for Children is a call to action on behalf of America's at-risk youth.

About the Author

Steve Liss is an award-winning photographer for Time magazine, where he has worked since 1976. Forty of his photographs have appeared on the cover of Time, and he has won numerous awards from the World Press Association and the National Press Photographers' Association, including First Place: Magazine Picture Story in 1996 and First Place: Magazine Feature in 2003. In 2004, he was the recipient of the Soros Criminal Justice Journalism Fellowship for his work on No Place for Children.