Daniel Macallair, Executive Director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) is a practitioner-in-residence at San Francisco State University (SFSU)'s Department of Criminal Justice Studies. These slides are from his Intervention Policies in Juvenile Justice course materials.

1. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
California Progressive Era Policy Reforms: Seeking more Effective and Humane Institution
Issues confronting state leaders: Governor Hiram Johnson (1911-1917)
Ongoing scandals involving violence, abuse, and
mismanagement
Poorly constructed and inadequate facilities
Education programs incapable of meeting diverse
population
Inadequate state funding
Growing institutional population with little means
to segregate by age
No separate facility for girls
Absence of leadership and direction

2. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
The Appointment of Fred G Nelles as Superintendent
of the Whittier State School
Eliminated the use of the Oregon Boot and the use of the
lash
Forbad use of the dark dungeon-like isolation cells
Initiated new construction with an intention of instituting a
cottage system on an “artistically landscaped” campus
Successfully sought the establishment of separate girls
institution
Advocated for legislation designating Whittier as the
institution for the under age 16 and Preston as the institution
for the over age 16
Advocated the removal of youth deemed less intelligent
Fred G Nelles (Superintendent 1912-1924)

3. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
The Oregon Boot: Preventing Runaways at Whittier
 Invented by JC Gardner, the warden of
the Oregon State Penitentiary
 Consisted of a stirrup that attached to a
boot with 20 lb weight the wrapped
around the ankle
 Modified version used at Whittier the
weight rested directly on the youths
foot
 Its use at Whittier was banned by Fred
Nelles who referred to it as a torture
device that inflicted permanent injuries

4. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Diagnosis, Eugenics, and Intelligence Testing : The Dark Side of Progressive
Era Juvenile Justice Reform
 Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, Francis Galton
 California sterilization law (1909)
 Diagnosis, William Healy and the Child Guidance Clinic
Movement
 Growing popularity of Eugenics and the belief that human
condition could be improved by controlling human reproduction
 Louis Terman’s advocacy that his new Stanford-Binet IQ test
could measure innate human intelligence
 Fred Nelles belief that institutional conditions could be improved
by removing youth deemed less intelligent
Louis Terman (1877-1956)

5. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Eugenics
• A social philosophy which advocates the improvement of the
human condition by controlling human reproduction. The goal is
to prevent the passing of undesirable traits to the next generation

6. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
IQ and the “defective delinquent”: Implementing reform school-based
Eugenics practices at Whittier
• California sterilization law amended to allow operation to be carried out with parental or guardian consent (1913)
(later expanded to allow sterilization to be imposed by institutional authorities)
• Nelles commissions Terman and Stanford University to conduct intelligence testing of youth at Whittier using
Stanford-Binet IQ scale (1914)
• Dr. Harold Williams and Stanford team declare that Whittier youth were 15-25 times more likely to be
“feebleminded” than general population youth
• “Feeblemindedness” declared to be more prevalent among females and certain races and ethnicities
• Nelles successfully lobbies for creation of Division of Juvenile Research to administer IQ tests to all Whittier
youth (1915)
• Youth identified as feebleminded were transferred to Sonoma State Hospital or the Pacific Colony to be
sterilized or to Preston to be separated.
• Program gradually lost support following Nelles death in 1917 and the onset of the depression.
• Bureau of Juvenile Research was eliminated at Whittier in 1941 following a series of scandals that fully
discredited its practices and its advocates
• In 2003, Governor Gray Davis issued an apology to the victims of California’s Eugenics and sterilization policies

7. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Where Sterilizations were Performed
Pacific Colony at Spadra Sonoma State Home

8. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
State Issues Apology for Policy of Sterilization
March 12, 2003|Carl Ingram | Times Staff Writer
SACRAMENTO — It was a dark chapter in American history. For more than half a century,
California and other states forcibly sterilized 60,000 mentally ill people as part of a misguided
national campaign to eliminate crime, "feeblemindedness," alcoholism, poverty and other
problems blamed for dragging society down.
On Tuesday, Gov. Gray Davis apologized, placing California in a small group of states that
have issued formal regrets.
"To the victims and their families of this past injustice," Davis said in a statement, "the people
of California are deeply sorry for the suffering you endured over the years. Our hearts are
heavy for the pain caused by eugenics. It was a sad and regrettable chapter ... one that must
never be repeated."