Sanford Jacob Fox was born on September 28, 1929 in Brooklyn, New York. He received his education at the University of Illinois and Harvard Law School. Fox was Professor of Law at Boston College from 1959 until his death in 2000. In 1976, Fox received a United States Department of Justice research grant to study the Scottish Children’s Hearings system which led to the report, Children Out of Court (1981), co-authored with Kathleen Murray and Fred Martin.

He chaired the Committee on the Rights of Children for the American Bar Association (ABA) and the United States section of Defense for Children International, and also sat on the Board of Governors of the ABA Center on Children and the Law. In addition, Fox served as Consultant to the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect for the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and as Consultant on Juvenile Court for the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice. He was a member of the Advisory Committee on Juvenile Delinquency of the National Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, and was a visiting Professor at the University of Texas, University of Paris, and Cambridge University. Fox was also an advisor on the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990).

Sanford J. Fox received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Glasgow in 1997 in recognition of his expertise in juvenile law and his work internationally for children’s rights. He died in Brookline, Massachusetts on July 15, 2000.

Sources:

"In Memory of Sanford Jacob Fox." Boston College International and Comparative Law Review (Vol. 24, Iss. 1), 2000. https://lira.bc.edu/work/sc/59a5c59c-296a-4a35-b5e8-62bc68949724

The Kilbrandon Lectures Past Speakers, Professor Sanford J. Fox. University of Strathclyde Glasgow. https://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/socialworksocialpolicy/thekilbrandonlectures/pastspeakers/ (accessed March 14, 2024).