origins of the juvenile justice system

Question 1

what city did the first institution develop in and what was going on in that city at the time?

Answer 1

• New York City (house of refuge)
• industrialization, urbanization, and massive population increases
• large influx of immigration brought in substantial racial and ethnic diversity (immigrant groups looked down on protestant males who were in charge)
• could no longer come together to form voluntary associations and address community problems

Question 2

pauper

Answer 2

a very poor person who is often the recipient of government aid or charitable donations
- viewed by the wealthy quakers of the time as lazy, dirty, criminals undeserving of aid

Question 3

pauperism reports

Answer 3

• report focused on the conditions of NYC’s penitentiary- called attention to the fact that there was no institution for juveniles
• noted that many juveniles were not receiving proper care from parents but juries often refused to convict because of age- concluded that adult penitentiary not ideal for juveniles
• called for the creation of a juvenile penitentiary- focused on prevention rather than punishment

Question 4

causes of pauperism and how the house of refuge addressed it

Answer 4

• poor parents, temptations of the street, and weak morals
• house of refuge removed children from parents and streets and had strict discipline to cure moral weakness
• belief of moral inferiority stemmed from prejudice beliefs about certain ethnic groups

Question 5

placing out

Answer 5

• house of refuge at max capacity- began to send youth to work on farms in the Midwest
• over 50,000 children removed from NYC

Question 6

habeas corpus

Answer 6

a writ of law through which a person can report and unlawful detainment or imprisonment

Question 7

parens patriae

Answer 7

notion that if parents of a child were failing to fulfill duties, the state can take over for the parents

Question 8

why house of refuge was so popular

Answer 8

• offered old wine in a new bottle
• replaced the term potential pauper with juvenile delinquent
  poor laws were facing out of favor, but house of refuge gave a new basis for a similar practice
• maintained the interests of the rich and powerful- who did not want to dress the social conditions associated with delinquency- able to deflect away from social ills that could compromise cosmic interests
• reinforced moral and intellectual superiority