David S. Tanenhaus

James E. Rogers Professor of History and Law
Expertise: Juvenile justice, Constitutional and legal history

Biography

David S. Tanenhaus is an internationally recognized authority on the history and practice of juvenile justice. 

He is a professor in the UNLV history department and the James E. Rogers Professor of History and Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law. From 2004 to 2012, Tanenhaus served as editor of Law and History Review

Since coming to UNLV in 1997, he has taught courses on American legal and constitutional history, the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, children and society, juvenile law, and introductory surveys of U.S. History. He also teaches a course on the history and theory of jurisprudence for the Judicial Studies program at the University of Nevada, Reno.

He has written extensively about legal and constitutional history. His books include Juvenile Justice in the Making (Oxford University Press, 2004) and The Constitutional Rights of Children: In re Gault and Juvenile Justice (University Press of Kansas, 2011). He has co-edited many books including A Century of Juvenile Justice (University of Chicago, 2002) with Margaret K. Rosenheim, Franklin E. Zimring, and Bernardine Dohrn; and Choosing the Future for American Juvenile Justice (NYU Press, 2014) with Franklin E. Zimring. He also served as the editor-in-chief of The Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States (MacMillan Reference USA, 2008). 

A passionate believer in connecting universities to communities, he has served as a Trustee of Nevada Humanities, participated in teacher institutes sponsored by the Center for Civic Education and the American Institute for History Education, and helped found and coordinate both the Philip Pro Lectureship in Legal History at the Boyd School of Law and the UNLV Constitution Day Public Lectureship.

Education

  • Ph.D., American history, University of Chicago
  • MA, History, University of Chicago
  • BA, Grinnell College

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David S. Tanenhaus In The News

K.L.A.S. T.V. 8 News Now
With the majority of the young men he believes beat and kicked a Rancho High School student to death already behind bars, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson has some decisions to make.
Associated Press
Eight Las Vegas high school students between the ages of 13 and 17 years old were arrested on murder charges in the beating death of a schoolmate that was captured on cellphone video and widely share across social media.
The Nevada Independent
In two weeks, students will return to classes at UNLV.
Cronkite News
One June day in 1964, Gerald Gault and a teenage friend made a bad decision. They made an obscene phone call to Ora Cook, Gault’s neighbor. She called the police, and both boys were arrested and taken to a juvenile detention facility in Gila County.

Articles Featuring David S. Tanenhaus

The Las Vegas skyline (Josh Hawkins, UNLV).
Campus News | December 4, 2023

A collection of news stories highlighting UNLV’s dedication to community and research.

U.N.L.V. signage with Fall leaves in the background
Research | November 1, 2005

A new book examines the history behind the creation of a separate court system for juvenile offenders and the discussions surrounding social and emotional development of adolescents.