This is the first history of juvenile justice in Ireland. Utilising a 'governmentality' framework, it charts the emergence of juvenile justice from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present. It unearths the underlying rationalities, technologies and forms of identity that are employed to govern the child and young person within the modern Irish juvenile justice system. By utilising a governmentality approach the book takes the focus away from an analysis of the 'state' and concentrates on an analysis of the 'problematics' of government.