The early history of the court

Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved

Volumn 7, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 29-39

  Fox, Sanford J ^a,b  

^a BOSTON COLLEGE   (United States)

^b AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; ARTICLE; CHILD; CHILD ADVOCACY; CHILD WELFARE; HISTORY; HUMAN; JURISPRUDENCE; JUVENILE DELINQUENCY; LEGAL ASPECT; UNITED STATES;

ADOLESCENT; CHILD; CHILD ADVOCACY; CHILD WELFARE; HISTORY, 19TH CENTURY; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMANS; JURISPRUDENCE; JUVENILE DELINQUENCY; UNITED STATES;

EID: 0030347285     PISSN: 10492089     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (53)

1. Illinois Juvenile Court Act (1899), Ill. Laws 133.
2. See, for example, Platt, A. The child savers. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1968;
3. Fox, S. The reform of juvenile justice: An historical perspective. Stanford Law Review (1970) 22:1187-1239.
4. Lewis, O. The development of American prisons and prison customs, 1776-1845. Criminology, law enforcement and social problems series. Publication No. 1. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith, 1967, pp. 14-15;
5. see also Morris, N., and Rothman, D., eds. The Oxford history of the prison: The practice of punishment in western society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, pp. 95-97.
6. The critique was accepted by the reformers. In 1821, Mayor Cadwallader D. Golden of New York wrote: "Shall it in future times be said of New York, that she has educated a portion of her native youth with a gang of felons in the penitentiary; and this, too, because these youths have in their infancy been abandoned by the hand that should have protected them? Under the present state of things, the penitentiary cannot but be a fruitful source of pauperism, a nursery of new vices and crimes, a college for the perfection of adepts to guilt." Quoted in Peirce, B. A half-century with juvenile delinquents. Reprint. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith, 1969, p. 40.
7. The law authorized the commitment of convicted youths "as may in the judgment of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace, or the Court of Oyer and Terminer, . . . or of the Jury before whom any such offender shall be tried, or of the Police Magistrates or of the Commissioners of the Aims-House and Bridewell ... be proper objects." See Acts of Mar. 29, 1824, ch. 126 § 4 (1824) N.Y. Laws 111.
8. Pickett, R. House of refuge: Origins of juvenile reform in New York State 1815-1857. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1969.
9. See note no. 6, Pickett, pp. 100-102.
10. See note no. 2, Fox, pp. 1193-95.
11. See note no. 2, Fox, p. 1191, note 29.
12. See note no. 2, Fox, p. 1213.
13. See Fox, S. Responsibility in the juvenile court. William and Mary Law Review (1970) 11:659-84.
14. See note no. 2, Fox, p. 1214.
15. Act of Feb. 22, 1861, 111. Private Laws 149.
16. Laws of Mar. 5, 1867, § 4, 3 111. Private Laws 32.
17. People ex re. O'Connell v. Turner, 55 Ill. 280 (1870).
18. See note no. 6, Pickett, p. 55.
19. Almshouses housed the poor, adults and children alike, who failed to qualify for public assistance in the home. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the poor-law system of child care relied primarily on almshouses, "outdoor relief (public assistance in the home), or apprenticeships, whichever made the least demands on public funds. See Mason, T Child abuse and neglect. Part I: Historical overview, legal matrix, and social perspectives. North Carolina Law Review (1972) 50:302;
20. see also Folks, H. The care of destitute, neglected, and delinquent children. Albany, NY:J.B. Lyons, 1900, pp. 11-18.
21. Thurston, H. The dependent child. New York: Columbia University Press, 1930, p. 87.
22. Hawes, J. Children in urban society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971, p. 134.
23. See, for example, note no. 6, Pickett, p. 191.
24. Ch. 325, § 5 (1875) Wise. Laws 633, quoted in Milwaukee Industrial School v. Supervisors of Milwaukee County, 40 Wis. 328, 334-35 (1876).
25. See 4 Whart. 9 (PA 1838).
26. Chancellor Kent states that, in the exercise of the state's parens patriae power, "the courts of justice may, in their sound discretion, and when the morals, or safety, or interests of the children strongly require it, withdraw the infants from the custody of the father or mother, and place the care and custody of them elsewhere." Kent, J. Commentaries on American law 203-205. 11th ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 1867. Quoted in note no. 17, Mason, p. 300.
27. See Commonwealth v. Fisher, 213 Pa. 48, 62 Atl. 198 (1905).
28. See note no. 17, Mason, p. 310.
29. See note no. 17, Mason, p. 312.
30. See 55 Ill. 280 (1870).
31. Act of May 3, 1873, §§ 12, 17 (1873) 111. Laws 147-48.
32. This is the actual title of the legislation, not the Juvenile Court Act.
33. See note no. 2, Fox, p. 1221.
34. In Illinois conditions in juvenile corrections institutions had deteriorated following the closing of the Chicago Reform School. Institutions were grossly underfinanced, and overcrowded.
35. Illinois Juvenile Court Act § 5 (1899) Ill. Laws 133.
36. See note no. 2, Fox, p. 1191, note 29.
37. Tuthill, R. History of the children's court in Chicago. In Children's courts in the United States: Their origin, development, and results. International Penal and Prison Commission. New York: AMS Press, 1973, p. 3.
38. Mack, J. The juvenile court. Harvard Law Review (1909) 23:104-22.
39. Larsen, C. The good fight: The life and times of Ben B. Lindsey. Chicago, IL: Quadrangle Books, 1972, p. 29.
40. See note no. 36, Larsen, p. 37.
41. See note no. 19, Hawes, p. 245.
42. See Colomy, P., and Frutzmann, M. Projects and institution building: Judge Ben B. Lindsey and the juvenile court movement. Social Problems (1995) 42:191-213.
43. Schramm, G. The judge meets the boy and his family. In 1945 Yearbook. National Probation Association. New York: National Probation Association, 1945, p. 192.
44. Lindsey, E. The juvenile court movement from a lawyer's standpoint. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (1914) 52:140-48.
45. See, for example, note no. 24, Commonwealth v. Fisher; see also Ex parte Sharpe, 15 Idaho 120, 90 Pac. 565 (1908).
46. The parens patriae doctrine was the justification given in these cases for the court's powers, using as precedent Ex parte Crouse. See note no. 18, Kent.
47. Lenroot, K., and Lundberg, E. Juvenile courts at work. United States Children's Bureau Publication No. 141. Washington, DC: United States Children's Bureau, 1925, p. 1.
48. President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice. Task force report: Juvenile delinquency and youth crime. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967, p. 3.
49. Glueck, S., and Glueck, E. Crime and justice. Boston: Little, Brown, 1936, p. 289, note no. 24.
50. Schulz, J.L. The cycle ofjuvenile court history. Crime & Delinquency (October 1973) 19:457-76.
51. See note no. 47, Schulz, pp. 463-66.
52. See note no. 19, Hawes, p. 248.
53. Glueck, S., and Glueck, E. One thousand juvenile delinquents. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1934, p. 151.