kansas charley

I just finished Joan Jacobs Brumberg's book: Kansas Charley: The story of a nineteenth century boy murderer. Charley is a boy who murders, not a murderer of boys (although he is that, too). It was interesting but I do wish Brumberg had spent more time on a broader discussion of juvenile justice and juvenile death penalty cases/issues. The book really is about Kansas Charley, although oddly enough, there isn't much in there about Charley himself - he ends up being a kind of absence in the middle of the book. He evidently spoke very little during his trials; interviews with him are only excerpted in the book. Charley's voice, speaking for himself, is largely absent.
Otherwise, a fantastic case analysis that helps historicize the current anxieties over kids who kill.