Based on multi-disciplinary academic research and professional practice, "Childhood" in "Crisis"? is conceived as a response to the current political and policy debates which maintain: that "childhood" is in a state of "crisis"; that there is a breakdown in discipline, parental or professional guidance; and that children and young people lack any sense of social responsibility. On the one hand, there is the reaffirmation of "the family", a commitment to harsher policies and tougher legislation; on the other, children and young people are systematically denied rights and are increasingly marginalized and alienated. Providing the central historical and theoretical foundations of contemporary definitions of "childhood", the authors trace the background to, and justifications of, institutionalised responses. They also examine in detail the expansive media coverage and popular discourses which collectively contextualise legal and policy responses, identifying the James Bulger case as a watershed in UK media coverage