Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law covers issues such as parental rights and state intervention in cases of abuse and neglect; the rights of students and the limits of state authority in public schools; the rights and special protections of youth in both the juvenile and criminal justice systems, from police contact to dispositions and sentencing; and children as legal persons, covering free-speech rights and the authority of minors to consent to certain medical decisions, among other things.
“The law’s treatment of children has become very complex over the past several decades and has been in need of clarification and coherence,” said project Reporter Elizabeth Scott at the time of the project's final approval at an Annual Meeting. “While traditionally children were assumed to be dependent, vulnerable and incompetent, today they are rights-bearing legal persons for some purposes—but not others. Meanwhile parental rights continue to be robust, but have been subject to growing criticism. And the past generation has seen remarkable reform of the regulation of youth in the justice system after a period of harsh policies in the late 20th century. The challenge we faced in embarking on this Restatement was to find coherence in this evolving area of law and to capture beneficial law reform. With the assistance of a wonderful Adviser group and the ALI Council, we think we have been successful.”