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A Historical Look At The Concept Of Juvenile Justice

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1. Chapter 13 is a historical look at the concept of juvenile justice. What did you learn from reading this chapter?

At the beginning of the nineteenth century delinquent, neglected, and runaway children in the United States were left with very little guidance and help from the government and the court system. Unlike today there was no voice for those kids who were neglected and left to find there own ways of survival which most likely ment that they would have to turn to crime to survive. If that wasn’t bad enough if these delquient kids were caught there was no sympathy and they were given punishments to the same extent as adults. Rapid growth of urban areas left more kids at risk, which scared the upper classes of society, that lead…show more content…
Like a small crime such as stealing or vandalism would have a child sent to either a community home or asylums. If a child were to commit something more serious they could be put to death which is extreme incase of a child. The beginning of the juvenile justice system began in 1841 when Massachusetts decided to put kids on probation to help kids avoid imprisonment and make the system more humane for kids. There were multiple events from that point on that lead to what are juvenile justice system is today. First off urbanization was a high factor due to the fact that so many people were moving into cities to find work in factories and so on. Populations in cities were growing massively and overwhelmed the job market. Families could no longer provide for there kids and they would have to fend for themselves which lead to more crime. Because of this issue people became concerned with welfare of these kids and prominent members of society started an organization that was a real start to getting things in line for kids activities such as the drinking, vagrancy, and delquiency. This group of people realized poor children would end up becoming a massive burden on the countries finances which lead legislatures to pass laws to take children and place them in specialized institutions. Many organizaions opended such as reforms schools, children’s aid society, orphan trains, and society for the prevention of cruelty to children.
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