Review of Ya'Ir Ronen, Re-Understanding the Child's Right to Identity: On Belonging, Responsiveness and Hope (2016)

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There exists a robust therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) literature dealing with many areas of juvenile law: on the questions of whether juveniles have a right to counsel in civil commitment hearings, of the extent of rights to be granted to foster children in juvenile and family court proceedings, the civil commitment trial itself, the implications of TJ for juvenile cases involving Miranda issues, the issue of whether juveniles can be “waived up” to adult courts in criminal cases, and on punishment schemes for juveniles. But, with the exception of earlier articles by the author of this volume, there have been no TJ-cased inquiries into the child’s right to an identity. In a thoughtful, provocative and important new work, Ya’ir Ronen has expanded his vistas, and has given us a book-length investigation into this question. And he has done it brilliantly.Ronen states his claim immediately: “[T]he state should have a positive duty to safeguard the child’s right to identity,” and that this right is “derivative of his human dignity,” although he concedes that “current legal protection of the child’s right to human dignity does not guarantee protection of an individualized identity.” In assessing this issue, culture must be explored as a “context of personal meaning,” and that international human rights law “implicitly reaffirm[s]” a commitment to a “dynamic child-constructed identity.” One of the central principles of therapeutic jurisprudence is a commitment to dignity; Ronen’s decision to begin his work by clarifying this important commitment is of inestimable significance to his project. He incorporates this into his consideration of issues of culture; “suppressing distinctness by a dominant or a majority culture [is] the cardinal sin against authenticity;” thus, “protecting a child-constructed identity may be construed as a commitment to dignity.” Other scholars have considered the relationship between TJ and culture, but, to the best of my knowledge, virtually none in this specific context.Ronen looks long and seriously at international human rights law, specifically articulating where he sees existing UN Conventions as providing support for his position and where he feels that those instruments are not comprehensive enough to grant the rights to which he believes all children are entitled. I believe it is absolutely essential that TJ scholars turn to international human rights law as a potential source and future direction of TJ scholarship and Ronen’s consideration of these documents in this context is of great importance, beyond the specific substantive subject on which he has turned his focus.Ronen’s book is brisk and bracing and refreshing. It deserves to be read by all who care about these important topics.