Children & the Law Blog

David B. Thronson, from the William S. Boyd School of Law, UNLV, published an interesting article in the Ohio State Law Journal entitled: Kids Will Be Kids? Reconsidering Conceptions of Children’s Rights Underlying Immigration Law.

The Article’s Abstract:

Deeply ingrained ideas about children’s rights, often unacknowledged and unexamined, shape the way children are perceived and treated in immigration law. This article examines the development of competing conceptions of children’s rights in other areas of the law and demonstrates how critical frameworks of immigration law simultaneously reflect and reinforce discredited approaches to children’s rights. This article explores the manner in which immigration law’s adherence to discredited notions of children’s rights creates barriers to child-centered approaches in immigration law. This exploration then serves as a starting point to suggest an agenda for reform.

In the article, Thronson discusses the evolution of the understanding of children’s rights, noting that children were once considered to be nothing more than the property of their parents. He notes that these ideas still exist to some extent as seen in the “legal language used to define the custody making process. At the most basic level, the very idea of ‘custody’ implies control and possession.” At the other extreme, Thronson discusses that some have viewed children as having exactly the same rights and obligations as adults, ignoring their younger age and lack of maturity. Indeed, this debate over the rights and responsibilities of children is still alive and well today, and it directly affects the United States’ handling of and response to immigrant children.

Source: Thronson, David. Kids Will Be Kids? Reconsidering Conceptions of Children’s Rights Underlying Immigration Law. Ohio State Law Journal, 2002.