"Juvenile documents two years in the lives of a dozen young men and women as they move between incarceration, probation, and release back into society. Photographer Joseph Rodriguez ("East Side Stories, powerHouse Books, HC: 1998, PB: 2000) powerfully depicts the struggle of disenfranchised youth caught in the matrix of the juvenile justice system. The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently reported that youth in the matrix of the juvenile justice system. The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently reported that youth violence in inner cities is declining. However, even as violence declines, incarceration rates rise and prison terms lengthen. For his second powerHouse monograph, "Juvenile, photographer Joseph Rodriguez spent several years following a dozen youths from arrest, counseling, trail adjudication, and incarceration, to release, probation, house arrest, group homes, and the search for employment and meaning in their lives. Additionally, Rodriguez also documented some of the people who work in the juvenile justice system: judges, public defenders, district attorneys, probation officers, and mental health workers. Many of these youth face great obstacles, including a criminal justice system with less and less interest in offering second chances for renewal. Through the power of his photographs, Rodriguez shows us how these youth struggle and how they fight to change their lives.

"A former inmate himself, Rodrguez (East Side Stories: Gang Life in East L.A.) follows a variety of teenagers, judges, public defenders, district attorneys, probation officers and social workers who make up California's juvenile court system. Framed by a searing introduction by the former editor of YO! (Youth Outlook), and by a short account of Rodrguez's own experiences in jail, it's almost impossible to approach these stark and somber photos with them,' providing exactly the kind of humanizing that the present system is fast losing. Certainly one of the most moving photographs in the book is Rodrguez's own 1968 mug shot: rumpled and defiant, he is also very, very young. (Mar.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Youth offenders in Silicon Valley.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently reported that youth violence in inner cities is declining. However, even as violence declines, incarceration rates rise and prison terms lengthen. For his second powerHouse Books monograph, JUVENILE, photographer Joseph Rodriguez spent several years following a dozen youths, from arrest, counseling, trial adjudication, and incarceration, to release, probation, house arrest, group homes, and the search for employment and meaning in their lives. Additionally, Rodriguez documented some of the people who work in the juvenile justice system: judges, public defenders, district attorneys, probation officers, and social workers. Many of these kids face great obstacles, including a criminal justice system with decreasing political interest in offering second chances for renewal. Through the power of his photographs, Rodriguez shows us how these kids struggle and how they fight to change their lives.