PUBPOL 5330

Children's Law and Policy

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024.

This class explores the most pressing legal and policy dilemmas in the field of children's rights. We will take a U.S. and international law approach to major topics including: protection from child abuse and neglect; alternative care and adoption; juvenile justice, police and community violence; education rights, including the rights of children with disabilities; internet freedoms and dangers, including cyberbullying and pornography; health and medical decision-making; sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking; the rights of refugee and immigrant children; child poverty; the right to a sustainable environment; and issues of "child voice", including children's rights to participate in the political process and the ethical obligations governing the legal representation of children.

When Offered Spring.

Prerequisites/Corequisites Recommended prerequisite: coursework in U.S. politics, policy, government or law are helpful but not required.

• Develop the legal reasoning tools necessary to analyze and apply U.S. and international legal sources.
• Build a strong foundation regarding the leading children's rights issue facing children and teens in the U.S. and around the world; explore how comparative policy analysis can be helpful in designing effective responses.
• Develop a keen understanding of how children's rights principles and mechanisms are created and how they work in practice, with an emphasis on political factors and empirical evaluation of the efficacy of various mechanisms.
• Design a creative, compelling, and politically viable constitutional, legislative, or administrative solution to a pressing children's rights challenge in a jurisdiction of your choosing, based on in-depth research and analysis of a particular children's rights issue in a particular location.
• Develop communication and political strategy and advocacy skills necessary to persuade relevant (fictional) policymakers to adopt the policy proposal developed in 5 above.

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