JUVENILE COURT

JUVENILE COURT shows the complex variety of cases before the Memphis Juvenile Court: foster home placement, drug abuse, armed robbery, child abuse, and sexual offenses. The sequences illustrate such issues as community protection vs. the desire for rehabilitation, the range and the limits of the choices available to the court, the psychology of the offender, and the constitutional and procedural questions involved in administering a juvenile court.

RELEASED 1973, 144 MINUTES, B&W

Literally and figuratively, Wiseman opens the doors of perception in the daily routine of a juvenile court… (A) master educator, (he) refuses to preach or even teach, but we learn — and are immeasurably enriched by the experience.

–Jerrold Hickey, The Boston Globe

The film’s chief impact stems from its graphic, often grim glances at the unforgettable subjects who are brought before the court… JUVENILE COURT does not attack the institution it explores, nor does it suggest new or different solutions to age old human problems.

–David Sterritt, The Christian Science Monitor