4. the origins of california’s juvenile justice system updated

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© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
1850 - 1894
The Origins of California’s
Juvenile Justice System

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40 Boardman Place
California
becomes
the 31st
State
1850

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• Arrival of the gold seeking
“49ers” increases San
Francisco‟s population from
459 in 1847 to 56,802 by 1860.
• San Francisco quickly
becomes largest American city
West of the Mississippi River
• Lawlessness and disorder
consume the City
• Committees of Vigilance
established in 1852 and 1856
by civic leaders to restore law
and order
The Impact of the Gold Rush

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• San Francisco leaders
look to the East Coast
cities for solutions to
growing population of
vagrant and destitute
children
• 1852 San Francisco
Board of Supervisors
designate plot of land
located in city‟s southern
sector for future House of
Refuge
House of Refuge Movement
Comes to California

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“We should remember that those little boys whom we
see wandering about the streets ragged and dirty,
spending the day time in watching opportunities for theft,
and at night coiling themselves up in barrels, or among
bales and boxes upon the wharves; it should recollected,
we say, that those drinking, swearing, loafing children,
most of them, become so from the force of
circumstances, and that society at large is, to a great
extent, responsible to itself for the amount of evil they
may do in the future, as well as morally responsible to
the children themselves (SF Chronicle 1856).”
The Problem of Vagrant and Destitute
Children in Gold Rush San Francisco

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• California legislature creates first institution on the West
Coast for neglected and delinquent youths.
• Industrial School‟s purpose was “…the detention,
management, reformation, education, and maintenance
of such children as shall be committed or surrendered
thereto…
Industrial School Act of 1858

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Indeed, such an institution is absolutely indispensable at San Francisco. Our
need for it is greater even, than that of more populous cities elsewhere; and for
very obvious reasons. The journey to California from the Atlantic States and
from Europe is long arduous. Many families arrive here sick and destitute, and
in their struggles with poverty and disease, their children are utterly neglected
and left to shift for themselves. The sequel is soon told. They ramble through
the streets, fall into bad company, and quickly become thieves and vagabonds.
Another reason is to be found in the fact that so many families have no
permanent homes, but live at boarding houses, hotels, or in some temporary
manner, by means of which wholesome home influences are destroyed or
impaired, and the children are almost withdrawn for the parental authority….
There is but one remedy for these evils. The offenders must be withdrawn from
evil associations. They must be restrained from all vicious indulgences, and, by
considerate kindness, must be weaned from their ill practices. They must be
taught to labor, and must be elevated in their own esteem…
We have only to follow the example of New York, and Pennsylvania, and
Massachusetts, and Missouri, and the result will not be doubtful.
Colonel J.B. Crockett delivers the Industrial School’s
Inaugural Address

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40 Boardman Place
San Francisco Industrial School
Circa 1910

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The Children of the Industrial School

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Robert Durrkin (left) and John
Ellich: Faces of the Industrial
School
Robert Durkin was the
first youth committed to
the SF Industrial School
upon its opening in
1859

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Bob Durkin alias Frank Russell alias John Reed No.
15252 was the first prisoner sent to the Industrial
School in this city in the early days. Then on Feb 16th
1865 he was sent to San Quentin from Sacramento
County for burglary. On June 21 1869 he was again
sent over to S.Q. from El Dorado Co. for 3 years. July
25th 1874 he broke jail in this city amd [sic] was
afterwards captured and sent to S.Q. for 2 years for
breaking and injuring jail. Jan 29th 1877 was sent over
to S.Q. from Butte County for 5 years Burglary.
Fenruary [sic] 21st 1893 was sent again to S.Q. for 7
years from Kern County for Burglary. After coming out
he was picked up at San Jose in 1897 and charged with
Vagrancy and sent to jail there from whence he made
his escape but was latter [sic] picked up and served out
his time.
Bob Durkin in later years

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James Nanny (committed to the Industrial School for burglary in 1882 and
again in 1884 – later spent time in San Quentin and Folsom – last recorded
arrest was in 1919 for burglary)

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1863
Industrial School Expands

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San Francisco Industrial School (following construction of
the second wing c1863)

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• At 5 1/2 o'clock, A.M., they are called up, and from that time to
half past six they are preparing for breakfast; immediately
after that meal is over, they are taken out to work - not light
mechanical business, forsooth, but to use a pick and shovel in
grading the hill at the back of the building; such labor that is
not only much too heavy for their strength, but in which a
couple of Irishmen would do more in half a day than the entire
corps of twenty-two boys, (the present number in this
institution,) could perform in a whole week. At noon, dinner is
served up; from one o'clock to half past two, they are
employed at picking and shoveling, same as in the morning;
at three o'clock they go to school until half past five; supper is
given at six; at seven o'clock they again go to school until half
past eight; and at nine they are sent to bed.
Life in the Industrial School
Daily Routine

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This strict regimen and prison-like configuration led local
observers to question the veracity of school proponent‟s
claims:
– after passing into the sleeping quarters of the boys, and
looking at the iron-barred windows, and the little brick cells
with small iron gratings in the doors, the first impression
was, „this is more like a prison than an Industrial School.‟ It
is true that several of the youthful inmates have sought to
make their little cells as inviting as possible by pasting
engravings from illustrated papers on the wall – and even
these, on the morning of the day of our visit, some crusty
and self-important personage of the old fogy school
requested that “them things” should be “torn down.”
Commentary on the Industrial School

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“How is it possible that, with such a routine of daily employment, they can
possibly be improved in morals, and which is the great and laudable aim of
the founders of the institution? There is no gymnasium; no workshop; no
suitable play-ground, so that now they are all huddled together in the
basement story, in front of their cells, during the little time allowed them for
leisure. Indeed they are made to feel by far too much that they are juvenile
prisoners, rather than boys and girls who are placed there by a generous
public, for their physical, mental, and moral improvement… How is it possible
that, with such a routine of daily employment, they can possibly be improved
in morals, and which is the great and laudable aim of the founders of the
institution? There is no gymnasium; no workshop; no suitable play-ground,
so that now they are all huddled together in the basement story, in front of
their cells, during the little time allowed them for leisure. Indeed they are
made to feel by far too much that they are juvenile prisoners, rather than
boys and girls who are placed there by a generous public, for their physical,
mental, and moral improvement…”
Commentary on the Industrial School
Visitor Impressions

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Between the jaws of each a stout, short stick, three-fourths of an
inch in diameter, was forced back to the throat and held in place by
cords tied around the neck. This gagged them. Then they were
doubled up in front of their knees as they sat, knees up, arms down.
Over their arms and under knees was placed a stout stick, and their
hands, brought up in front of their knees, were manacled securely.
Thus each was “bucked.” A person “bucked and gagged” must sit
doubled up or roll over on his side. In either position, the pain after a
short time is almost indescribable. The offenders thus fixed, were
left for the night. One of them was obliged to endure his torture; the
other, in his desperation which his agony produced, broke the stick
and wrenched from his wrist the strong steel manacles. Yesterday
they were still in the cells Reform Schools – (The Indus. Sch. of this City – Faults of
Discipline, THE DAILY BULLETIN, July 14, 1869, at 1).
Faults of Discipline:
Industrial School Punishments

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During the 1868 investigation a delegation conducting an inspection
of the isolation cells discovered five boys, whose ages ranged from
fifteen to nineteen, “shut up in close, dark, damp cells, with nothing
to sleep on but the asphaltum floor.” The cell doors were covered to
prevent any light from penetrating and inmates were maintained on
a diet of bread and water. The following is an account of the
incident:
“The door was opened and there lay a boy with his face down a
narrow crack, where he had been stealing a ray or two of sunlight.
The boy was brought out a living skeleton, his face was blanched,
he reeled, and blinked his eyes like a bat in the sunshine. He had
been in the cell two weeks for running away, but the Grand Jurors
declared their opinion that a week‟s confinement in that hole of utter
darkness and breathing stench would make an idiot of an adult.”
(THE DAILY DRAMATIC CHRONICLE, 1-3).
Grand Jury Investigation of 1868

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• Girls were initially
comingled with boys
and housed on one floor
of the Industrial School
• Girls comprised a
smaller percentage of
the Industrial School
population
• Industrial School girls
were consigned to
domestic chores
Girls and Juvenile Justice in Early
California

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• A Catholic institution established in 1868 by the Sisters of
Mercy
• In 1869 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors authorizing
contract with the Sisters of Mercy to house the Industrial
School girls in the Magdalen Asylum
• After 1869, girls continued to be committed to the Industrial
School but housed in the Magdalen Asylum
Magdalen Asylum

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1884 REASON FOR COMMITMENT
Boys Girls
Leading an idle and dissolute life 40 38
Petit larceny 38 1
Misdemeanor, vulgar language, drunkenness, etc 15 13
Surrendered by parents and guardians as
unmanageable
1 16
Malicious mischief 3 0
Attempt to pick pockets 1 0
Total 98 68
Girls were committed for less serious charges than boys

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• Congregate training school design
• Days split between work and school (6:00 am- 9:00
pm)
• Meals served in long tables seating 60 girls each
Life in the Magdalen Asylum

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• In 1906 the Magdalen
Asylum moved to Potrero
Street and was renamed
Saint Catherine Training
School.
• It remained the primary
San Francisco institution
for wayward girls until
1934
Magdalen Asylum becomes the Saint
Catherine’s Training School

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• Under San Francisco‟s
Municipal Corporation Act,
Police Courts were the primary
determiners of Industrial
School Commitments.
• The statute provided greater
discretion to police judges in
non-delinquent matters.
• Youths who committed felonies
were sent to adult jails.
Police Courts and Juvenile Justice

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As a result of anti-Chinese
sentiment in the 1860s a
growing number of Chinese
youth in San Francisco were
targeted by law enforcement
and committed to the
Industrial School.
Chinese youth and the Industrial School

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It is obvious that these provisions of the Constitution have no
application whatever to the case of this minor child. . . .
The purpose in view is not punishment for offenses done,
but reformation and training of the child to habits of
industry, with a view to his future usefulness when he shall
have been reclaimed to society, or shall have attained his
majority. . . . The restraint imposed upon him by public
authority is in its nature and purpose the same which under
other conditions, is habitually imposed by parents,
guardians of the person and other exercising supervision
and control over the conduct of those who are by reason of
infancy, lunacy, or otherwise, incapable of properly
controlling themselves.
Ex Parte Au Peen: Challenging the
Industrial School's Constitutionality (1876)

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Parens Patriae and Child Saving in
San Francisco

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• Housed for six months “to
fit each for an honest and
useful future by the
implanting of decent
personal habits, better
tastes and more wholesome
inclinations.”
• Placed in family homes
throughout California
SF Boys and Girls Aid Society and Placing Out

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• The children were housed by the society for an average
of six weeks in a facility donated by Charles Crocker.
During this phase the society endeavored “to fit each for
an honest and useful future by the implanting of decent
personal habits, better tastes and more wholesome
inclinations.”
• At the end of six weeks a placement in a family home
was sought. Most of these homes were located far from
San Francisco in surrounding rural counties including
Contra Costa, Alameda, Fresno, San Joaquin, Tulare,
and Merced. Once placed, an agent visited the children
three times a year.
SF Boys and Girls Aid Society and Placing Out

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In applauding passage of the act, San Francisco Boys an Girls
Aid Society Superintendent Dooley noted:
In connection with this class I might speak of one
thing that has been accomplished by the society to
prevent the incarceration of delinquent juveniles, who
have not passed the reformation period in the
Industrial School and jail. This was securing the
passage in 1882 of section 1388 of the Penal Code,
providing for the probationary treatment of these
juveniles. Prior to the passage of that act these
children could only be kept in jail and sent to the State
Prison
California’s First Probation Law: An Alternative
to the Industrial School (1883)

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San Francisco
and the USS
Jamestown
Indenturing
Delinquents to
Merchant Ships

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In 1875 the case reached the California Supreme
Court, where it was determined that the city had no authority
to accept the vessel because the state law was in clear
conflict with the federal statute that proscribed the use of the
ship as a penal institution or place of punishment.
Specifically, the court determined that the U.S.S. Jamestown
could not be affiliated with the Industrial School, because it
was mandated as a training program and the Industrial School
was a place of punishment. This ruling occurred one year
prior to the Ex Parte Au Peen decision, where the court took
the opposite view of the Industrial School.
Glass v. Ashbury

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I know that many of our inmates after leaving our care
fall into former bad habits. But this cannot be charged
against the institution. They nearly all come from evil
associations or wretched localities, and when
released is it to be wondered at that they should, in
many cases, resume their former associations and
become part of the people by whom they are
surrounded. Industrial School Superintendent M.A. Smith
The Industrial School’s
Final Years

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The Industrial School Committee submitted an elaborate report
at the meeting of the Board of Supervisors, announcing the
practical abolishment of that institution…
The report contained a brief history of the institution since its
founding the most significant part of which that since 1872 it
had cost the city considerably more than a million dollars, and
utterly failed to accomplish the objects for which it was
established. The judicial department long since denounced it
as a “nursery of crime. (Wiped Out at Last. The Indus. Sch.
Has Passed Into History, S.F. MORNING CALL, Nov. 24,
1891).”
Wiped out at Last

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4. the origins of california’s juvenile justice system updated