7. evolution of the juvenile justice system updated

The Evolution of the State Role in the
Care and Treatment of Children

40 Boardman Place www.cjcj.org
San Francisco, CA 94103 © Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013

`
`` The doctrine that establishes the right
of the state to act on behalf of the child


In Loco Parentis

When the state or its designated agent
provides care and protection equivalent to
that of the natural parent
(in place of the parents)


mens rea
the Latin term for "guilty mind”

actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea
the act does not make a person guilty unless
the mind be also guilty".


Unwanted Children in Ancient Rome

Infanticide through
exposure.

In Rome a column near
the Velebrum, where
baby Romulus and
Remus were
discovered, was the
unofficial designated
spot.


CHILDREN AND CRIMINAL
RESPONSIBILITY IN ANCIENT ROME
• UNDER AGE 7- NO
RESPONSIBILITY

• 7 TO PUBERTY – SOME
RESPONSIBILITY

• PUBERTY TO 25 –
RESPONSIBILITY WITH AGE
CONSIDERATIONS


Roman Law the Evolution of State
Responsibility for Children
• Guardianship

• Outlawing of infanticide

• Orphanage


Growth of Parens Patriae in the
Middle Ages

Magna Carta 1215 – re-established the
role of the state in ensuring the
protection of orphaned children and
their property through the appointment
of guardians.

CHANCERY COURTS


Growth of Parens Patriae in the Middle Ages

• 1500 Chancery Court – extended role of the English
king in assigning guardianship over orphaned children

• 1562 English Parliament passes the Statute of
Artificers allowing government to involuntarily
separate children from pauper parents

• 1601 English Poor Law Act allows government to
place poor children in bondage to local residents as
apprentices and establishes first workhouses


Origins of Institutional Intervention

Typical Workhouse/Bridewell


Origins of the Modern Juvenile
Justice System


MEHTODS FOR THE CARE OF
CHILDREN IN COLONIAL AMERICA
• ALMSHOUSES
• INDENTURED SERVITUDE
• APPRENTICED OUT
• ORPHANAGES
• JAILS


THE BIRTH OF NEW FORMS OF
INSTITUTIONAL CARE
• PENITENTIARY SYSTEM

• SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF PAUPERISM


1787 Philadelphia Society for Alleviating
the Misery of Public Prisons founded by Dr.
Benjamin Rush


Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia (1790)


Changing Social Conditions in 19th
America
• MASS IMMIGRATION
• RURAL TO URBAN POPULATION TRENDS
• POVERTY AND HOMELESSNESS
• FEAR OF THE DANDEROUS CLASSES


New York Street circa 1860s


Living in Squalor


New York Slum 1800s


New York Street Children 1800s


In 1819 the Society of the Prevention of Pauperism was
formed.
•


New York House of Refuge established 1825


Houses of Refuge Emphasize Work


Commitment to the House of Refuge
• Children committed for vagrancy and petty crimes

• Commitments were indeterminate

• Initially youth from across the state were committed


New York House of Refuge After 1854


Philadelphia House of Refuge


New York House of Refuge: A Model for the
World
• Charles Dickens • The NY House of
Refuge is now in the
• Alexis De extent of its
Tocqueville operations, the
greatest reform
• NY State Senate school in the world
Committee (1857)


Western House of Refuge

Main Building
and Yard


Work in the House of Refuge
• Contract labor system (10-40% of Refuge operating
costs)
• Large congregate workshops
• Brass nails, cheap shoes, cane chairs
• Apprenticeships
• Binding out
• Indentured to ship captains


Girls in the House of Refuge
• Confined until their 18th birthday
• Taught value of maintaining innocence and virtue
• Learned biblical passages
• Trained in domestic servitude and/or marriage
• Limited vocational training


House of Refuge Classroom


Playground
Western House of Refuge


House of Refuge Carpentry Shop


Blacksmith Shop


Bricklaying and Masonry


Segregation and the Houses of Refuge
• 1849 House of
Refuge for Colored
Juvenile Delinquents
opened in
Philadelphia

• Funded by anti
slavery groups


Ex Parte Crouse (1838) and the assertion of
supreme state power

• In 1838, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the
doctrine of Parens Patriae and the right of the state to
confine children in Houses of Refuge without
constitutional due process protections.


Key Events of the19th Century

• Houses of Refuge
• Reform/Training/Industrial Schools
• Cottage System
• Probation
• Placing Out System


Key Terms in 19th Century Juvenile Justice

 Society for the Prevention of Pauperism
 Child Savers
 House of Refuge
 Congregate Institutional Design
 Ex parte Crouse
 Reform/Training/Industrial School
 Cottage System
 Children’s Aid Society
 OConnell v Turner
 Creation of the Juvenile Court

7. evolution of the juvenile justice system updated

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to 7. evolution of the juvenile justice system updated

Similar to 7. evolution of the juvenile justice system updated (20)

More from Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice

More from Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (19)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

7. evolution of the juvenile justice system updated