In this Episode of Law With Mr. Lafayette, the Juvenile Justice system's philosophy and practice is discussed. A by-product of the Progressive Era, reformers believed that juveniles deserved their own court system and a new approach to deal with delinquent, poor, vagrant youths of both genders who were living in the urban centers that were developing in the rapidly industrialized America of the 19th century. From the New York House of Refuge, established in 1825, following the overwhelmed Houses of Refuge reform, training, and industrial schools were created across America. These all placed an emphasis on education and industrial training programs as the names implied.
In 1899, the Illinois Legislature enacted the Juvenile Court Act of 1899, creating the first in the nation, court system focused exclusively on juveniles. Other states followed. In Massachusetts, juveniles were first addressed in 1847, when the Commonwealth opened the first state-sponsored reform school for boys in Westborough, the Lyman School. The first public training school for girls at Lancaster, Massachusetts followed in 1854. Prior to this, facilities for the punishment and detainment of juveniles consisted mainly of jails and prisons. Over the decades 3 additional institutions were constructed.
By the 1960s however, scandals over the treatment or rather mistreatment of juveniles at these and other institutions led to the eventual deinstitutionalization of training schools.
