Identifying and Treating Serious Juvenile Offenders The View From California and New York in the 1920s (From Intervention S trategies for Chronic Juvenile Offenders, P 7-38, 1986, Peter W Greenwood, ed. - See NCJ-104464)

• NCJ Number: 104465
• Author(s): S Schlossman; A Pisciotta
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 32 pages
• Sale Source: Greenwood Publishing Group
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Data from about 100 youths in each of 2 juvenile institutions in the 1920's form the basis of an analysis of the behavioral characteristics, legal processing, and treatment of the serious juvenile offenders of that period.

Abstract

The Whittier School in California and the House of Refuge in New York were the main juvenile correctional institutions in their States, although both States had other facilities for their most serious late-adolescent offenders. These inmates were generally not as violent or as involved in drugs as those in State training schools today. The inmates of the 1920's also were more varied in age and offense history and included dependent and neglected youths as well as lawbreakers. The two institutions differed in their treatment approaches. Whittier was regarded as an unusually progressive reform school. It emphasized individualization and had small cottage residences staffed by married surrogate parents. It routinely used clinical diagnostic techniques and viewed corrections as basically an educational problem. In contrast, the House of Refuge used a strict military model based on private military schools. It focused on vocational training and discipline. It also regarded aftercare as a responsibility. Data table and 34 reference notes.