Abstract

This essay reconstructs the history of the various editions of The Child Savers by Tony Platt, not limiting itself to a purely philological perspective, but attempting to show the theoretical transformations that the work has undergone in its three different editions (1969, 1977, and 2007). This is an intellectual evolution closely linked to the author’s political biography and to the modulations of his research. Both the layering of meanings that characterizes Platt’s work and the relevance of his perspective on juvenile justice are highlighted. More than fifty years later, his work continues to stimulate discussion among generations of scholars, as the articles published in this section demonstrate