(C) Emerald Group Publishing THE GRACIOUS SPACES OF CHILDREN’S LAW: INNOCENCE AND CULPABILITY IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A CHILDREN’S COURT Akhila L. Ananth ABSTRACT The Edmund Edelman Children’s Court is a juvenile dependency courthouse in Los Angeles designed with bright murals, open play spaces, and modified courtrooms to be “child-sensitive” and “family-friendly.” Through a recounting of the political and cultural forces at play building up to its construction, I argue that the decisions to build a “child- sensitive” court confirm the carceral containment of the culpable black adult. This article represents an inquiry into the cultural logic of the court’s construction, revealing the relationship between raced construc- tions of innocence and guilt. This study draws from five months of fieldwork conducted in the Edelman Children’s Court. Keywords: Juvenile dependency; courthouse design; criminal justice; race; child welfare Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Volume 63, 89À112 Copyright r 2014 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1059-4337/doi:10.1108/S1059-4337(2014)0000063002 89