VI Juvenile Delinquency

By 1820 larger urban communities considered juvenile delinquency a threat to public order, but they depended mainly upon private citizens to establish the first institutions intended specifically for young offenders. Boston's City Council founded and controlled the city's House of Reformation (1826). In New York City (1825) and Philadelphia (1828), however, local philanthropists established and managed the two Houses of Refuge which became the country's best known juvenile reformatories. City and state governments in New York and Pennsylvania expressed their concern and gratitude by providing the Refuges with public funds while at the same time exercising minimal supervision over their management.

This flurry of activity resulted from the belief that the prevailing system of criminal justice treated delinquent children cruelly and corrected them unsatisfactorily. A New York Refuge report stated the dilemma: "If acquitted, they were returned destitute, to the same haunts of vice from which they had been taken, more emboldened to the commission of crime, by their escape from present punishment. If convicted, they were cast into a common prison with older culprits to mingle in conversation and intercourse with them, acquire their habits, and by their instruction to be made acquainted with the most artful methods of perpetrating crime." [1a] The children's family life supposedly amplified this injustice. "Their faults are not their own," wrote a visitor to the Boston House of Reformation. "They have never been taught the laws of God or man, or if they have, it has been only that they may despise them." [1b]

The founders of the first juvenile reformatories – men such as Pennsylvania Congressman John Sergeant, Roberts Vaux of the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons, and, in New York City, Mayor Cadwallader D. Colden and John Griscom, the noted philanthropist and educator – conceded that childhood diminished responsibility for crime; nevertheless, pity and sympathy for the young were secondary considerations in their institutional plans. They aimed instead to train youths to become independent moral agents by inculcating them with workshop habits, Protestant pieties, and common school skills. They believed that their mandate was broad enough to cover vagrant and neglected children as well as delinquents. Juvenile reformation assumed, therefore, the proportion of a root and branch operation which implied that these youths needed a long period of confinement in order that respectable values might be inculcated in them.

To undertake a task of such magnitude, the refuges required legal as well as financial aid from the state. They particularly needed protection against the claims of parents who regarded reform schools as usurpers of family government. State courts provided this help by rejecting the pleas of parents whose children had been taken from them. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania asked the self-answered question: "May not the natural parents, when unequal to the task of education, or unworthy of it, be superseded by the parens patriae or common guardian of the community?" [1c]

To carry out "the task of education," the refuges established and supervised large workshops where the boys, whose labor was contracted to local entrepreneurs, made brass nails, cane chairs, and cheap shoes; delinquent girls were occupied with domestic chores in a separate part of the building. The children labored approximately eight hours a day and spent most of the remainder of their waking hours in the refuge classroom learning how to read, write, and cipher. After delinquents had been trained "for usefulness," the institutions often apprenticed them to local artisans and farmers. Girls were bound out as housemaids and older, more intractable boys were indentured to ship captains in the whaling or merchant service. Those who rebelled against the authority of their foster family were either returned to the refuge or sent to jail.

The rapid proliferation of both municipal refuges and state reform schools at mid-century suggests that the original institutions were considered successful. Enoch C. Wines and Theodore W. Dwight, in their comprehensive survey, Report on the Prisons and Reformatories of the United States and Canada (1867), noted seven state reform schools outside of New York and local reform schools in Providence, Cincinnati, Louisville, Baltimore, St. Louis, and Chicago. The first state reform schools, like the refuges, resulted from a mixture of public and private efforts. The State Reform School for Boys at Westborough, Massachusetts (1847) owed its existence to the donations of former Boston Mayor Theodore Lyman. Other state schools were also aided by private citizens although, in time, public institutions had to depend upon revenue derived primarily from contract labor and legislative appropriations. In physical features, such as large congregate dormitories and workshops, most state reform schools resembled the refuges.

Despite or perhaps because of the spread of traditional reform schools, organizations such as the New York Children's Aid Society (1853) were founded to prevent juvenile delinquency rather than to correct juvenile delinquents. Charles Loring Brace, secretary of the Society, reflected its anti-institutional bias when he warned, "We have crowded asylums and reformatories with young paupers and vagrants and petty criminals not yet inured in crime." [1d] Brace disparaged the "institutional child" as one who "is lighted, warmed and watered by machinery. . . he is found to lie easily, and to be very weak under temptation . . . and. . . the longer he is in the asylum, the less likely he is to do well in outside life." [1e] Regarding the chaotic urban environment itself as the major cause of delinquency, the Children's Aid Society collected destitute and delinquent street waifs and railroaded them west in wholesale lots to "the best of all asylums . . . the farmer's home." The Society distributed children to individual farms where they supposedly were reformed by receiving affectionate familial care and by learning the agrarian routine.

The New York Juvenile Asylum (1851) and the Boston Children's Aid Society (1864) also believed that the essence of juvenile reformation lay in rural placement. Prior to transportation, however, these institutions trained children in a manner similar to that of the reform schools. Like the refuges, preventive societies were incorporated by private citizens who cooperated with state and local governments in return for financial and legal assistance. The Juvenile Asylum received public money while the Boston Children's Aid Society admitted children to its farm from Suffolk county court through a rudimentary system of probation.

Two state reform schools, the Massachusetts State Industrial School for Girls (1856) and the Ohio Reform School (1857), internalized the ideal of family placement by dividing their inmates into physically separated "cottage families." In Ohio boys lived on a farm with "elder brothers" chosen specially for their ability to inspire good behavior and love of the country. "Habituate him [the delinquent] to the life and labor of the farm," advised the commissioners of the Ohio School, "and he will, in nearly every case, continue so to live and labor when restored to society." [1f]

The cottage and agrarian concepts of juvenile reform never lacked opponents. Leaders of congregate reform schools resented the accusation that their institutions corrupted innocent children by confining them indiscriminately with older, presumably hardened offenders. Orlando Hastings of the Western House of Refuge in Rochester, New York, spoke for the schools when he said, "you may divide these boys into classes, and the vicious will grow more vicious . . . but when mixed with the rest, and when they see a public opinion in favor of reform, they will reflect, improve, and in the end be reformed." [1g] The liberal placement policy of the New York Children's Aid Society was condemned both by reform schools and other preventive agencies. "Shall we take these children as they are brought to us, thieves, liars, profane swearers, licentious, polluted in body and soul, and put them into your families in that condition?" asked R. N. Havens of the New York Juvenile Asylum. [1h]

Under all reformatory schemes, delinquent children of Catholics or free Negroes suffered added discrimination because of their religious faith or race. Catholic youths were subjected to the proselytizing of Protestant ministers who dominated both the reform schools and the child-saving societies while Negro children, when they were accepted at all, were rigidly segregated. "It would be degrading to the white children to associate them with beings given up to public scorn," said the director of the Philadelphia Refuge. [1i] By the time of the Civil War, Catholic philanthropists and religious orders were forming institutions to reform and protect the vagrant and delinquent children of their faith.

The war revealed and contributed to the inadequacy of existing reformatory efforts. Public and private investigations discovered numerous children, many of whom had fathers in the army, suffering degradation and cruelty in local jails. Reform schools and preventive societies sent many older boys to fight for the Union, but received even more of their younger brothers and sisters than they could care for. Wines and Dwight recommended more public nurseries and preventive agencies for "unfallen street children," but they proposed no new solution to the problem of juvenile reformation. In 1865 few could foresee the full impact of urbanization and industrialization which would transform America in the late nineteenth century and force state governments into an increasingly active role in devising new methods of social control.

1a. New York Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, Annual Report, 1826 (New York, 1827), p. 4.

1b. Boston Prison Discipline Society, Third Annual Report, 1828 (Boston, 1828), p. 25.

1c. Ex parte Crouse, 4 Wharton (pa.) 9 (1838).

1d. Charles Loring Brace, The Best Method of Disposing of Our Pauper and Vagrant Children (New York, 1859), pp. 5-6.

1e. Charles Loring Brace, The Dangerous Classes of New York (New York, 1880), p. 235.

1f. Ohio, Commissioners of the Ohio Reform School, Annual Report, 1856 (Columbus, 1857), p. 619.

1g. Proceedings of the First Convention of Managers and Superintendents of Houses of Refuge and Schools of Reform, 1857 (1858), p. 29

1h. Proceedings of the Second Convention of Managers and Superintendents of Houses of Refuge and Schools of Reform, 1859 (1860), p. 29.

1i. Quoted in George Wilson Pierson, Tocqueville and Beaumont in America (New York, 1938), p. 512.

A. THE REFUGE MOVEMENT

Edward Livingston proposes a "School of Reform" for juvenile delinquents, Louisiana, 1824

Edward Livingston, A System of Penal Law for the State of Louisiana (Philadelphia, 1833), pp.714-722.

The school of reform was part of the revised code of penal law which Edward Livingston (1764-1836), a follower of Jeremy Bentham, prepared for the legislature of Louisiana. The "Livingston code," although not adopted in Louisiana, was widely discussed in Europe and America and exercised strong influence on the reform of criminal and penal law. See William B. Hatcher, Edward Livingston (Baton Rouge, 1940), pp.245-288.

Of the School of Reform.

Of the persons to be admitted into the school of reform.

Art. 191. All persons under the age of eighteen sentenced to imprisonment and labour (unless for life), and all vagrants under that age and above six years, shall be sent to the School of Reform.

Art. 192. All minors above six and under eighteen years of age, who have no visible means of honest subsistence and are not supported by any friend or relation; all common beggars within the said age of eighteen; all females under seventeen years of age, who live by prostitution in a disorderly house, shall be considered as vagrants under the last article, and may, by order of the mayor of New Orleans, or the parish judge and two other magistrates, be committed to the School of Reform.

Art. 193. All minors above nine and under the age of fifteen, who shall commit an offence of which they shall be acquitted on account of the want of sufficient discretion to know the nature of the offence, may, at the discretion of the court, be committed to the School of Reform.

Art. 194. In like manner a minor, who being accused of a crime and shall be acquitted by showing that at the time of the commission thereof he was under the age of nine years, may, at the discretion of the court, be sent to the School of Reform.

Art. 195. In cases of misdemeanor, committed by a minor under eighteen years of age, and punishable by simple imprisonment in close custody, the court may also, at their discretion, send the defendant to the School of Reform.

Art. 196. In exercising the discretion given by the three last preceding articles, the court must consider that the object of the School of Reform is not only to punish by restraint, but to separate the juvenile offender from the association of vice, to afford him the means of education, religious and moral instruction, and instruction in some mechanic art, so as to make him a useful member of society; and that where, from the circumstances of the case, these objects will probably be attained without committing the defendant to the School of Reform, that this public institution ought not to be so burthened.

Of the instruction in the School of Reform. Art. 201. The time of school instruction shall be one hour, to commence at sunrise, and one hour after labour in the afternoon.

Art. 202. The children shall be taught reading and writing in the French and English language, and arithmetic; and such of the boys as show an aptitude for learning, in the opinion of the teacher and warden, shall be taught geography, land surveying, and navigation.

Art. 203. Before the instruction begins, select portions of the scriptures shall be read morning and evening.

Art. 204. Premiums of books and badges of merit shall be given to the scholars by the warden, on the recommendation of the teachers, to the children who shall show the most diligence and be distinguished for orderly conduct.

Art. 205. A small collection of entertaining and instructive books shall also be provided for the use of those who have badges of merit.

Art. 206. The teacher has no greater power of correction than is given by law in ordinary schools, and it extends only to faults committed in relation to the literary instruction.

Art. 207. No punishment shall be inflicted on any of the females for faults committed in school but by the matron, or in her presence.

Art. 208. The boys and girls shall be taught separately, and the matron, or her assistant, shall always be present during the instruction of the girls.

Art. 209. Examinations of the scholars shall be had once every three months, in the presence of the inspectors and such of the visitors as choose to attend.

Art. 210. The teacher shall use the system of mutual instruction, and shall endeavour to qualify such of the children, of both sexes, as show a particular aptitude, to be themselves teachers according to the same method.

Of employment in the School of Reform.

Art. 211. All the hours between sunrise and sunset that are not hereby appropriated to instruction, to meals, or to relaxation and exercise, must be employed in labour.

Art. 212. The labour to be performed shall be such as, in the opinion of the inspectors, shall be best calculated to procure a subsistence for the prisoners when they shall be restored to liberty.

Art. 213. Each of the boys shall be taught a mechanic art, and for this purpose the warden shall, with the approbation of the inspectors, contract with mechanics to find materials, to send foremen to the prison to superintend their work and teach them the different trades, paying a reasonable sum for the value of their labour. The necessary tools and implements shall be provided by the institution.

Art. 214. The foremen so employed by the mechanics shall be men of good characters, approved by the inspectors; they shall remain in their respective workshops during the hours of labour, preserve order therein, and keep the boys at work, teaching them carefully all the branches of the trade; but they shall inflict no punishment, unless by direction of the warden and in his presence, and such punishment shall be such moderate correction as a master is authorized by law to inflict on an apprentice.

Art. 215. The foremen shall make daily reports to the warden of each boy under his care, for which purpose he shall keep a calendar containing the names of each of them, on which he shall make marks, denoting offences, or extraordinary diligence, or good conduct, which shall be shown daily to the warden.

Art. 216. Great care shall be taken to suit the employment to the physical force and constitution of each boy; and the warden shall frequently visit the workshops, and see that unreasonable tasks are not imposed by the foremen.

Art. 217. If no such contract should be offered for the labour of the boys as the warden and inspectors shall deem advantageous, proper persons may be employed by the inspectors to instruct them in some mechanic art.

Art. 218. Besides the mechanic arts the boys shall be exercised for two periods in each day (not exceeding half an hour each time) in some laborious employment, that shall require as much as possible the exercise of all the muscular powers, to strengthen and fit them for any hard labour to which they may afterwards be called; for this purpose a hydraulic or other machine, to be moved by manual labour, shall be constructed in the enclosure of the School of Reform, and a mast, with yards and standing and running rigging, shall be erected, on which they shall be taught to climb, and prepare themselves for a seafaring life.

Art. 219. The tread-mill shall not be introduced into this or any other of the places of confinement established by this Code.

Art. 220. The girls shall be taught needlework, and be employed in washing, ironing, baking, and other works of housewifery; and they may also be taught such trades as women are usually employed in, at the time and place in which they are confined. The matron shall superintend this part of their employment, and none but female instructors in any branch, except the school-master, shall be admitted into their department.

Art. 221. The children of both sexes shall, by turns, be employed in the menial service of the establishment to which they belong – waiting at the table, cleaning the workshops and eating-rooms, and other places for the common resort of the persons confined; but each one is bound to sweep and clean his own cell.

Of the discharge from the School of Reform.

Art. 247. Discharges from the School of Reform may be either by the expiration of the term of service or by apprenticeship.

Art. 248. Whatever may be the term of imprisonment designated by law for the offence of which the party sent to the School of Reform is convicted, such party cannot be discharged (unless by apprenticeship), if a female, before she has attained the age of nineteen, or if a male, before twenty-one.

Art. 249. Those who are sentenced for a term that will not expire until after they have respectively attained the ages mentioned in the last preceding article, and whose conduct has not entitled them to the recommendation hereinafter mentioned for apprenticeship, shall, within six months after attaining the ages aforesaid, be transferred to the Penitentiary to serve out the remainder of the term.

Art. 250. Those who are entitled to the recommendation, and who have not been apprenticed for some other cause, shall be discharged after having attained the age of twenty-two if a male, or twenty if a female, although the term of imprisonment in the sentence be for a longer time.

Art. 251. The warden is authorized to bind out, by indentures of apprenticeship, such of the prisoners confined as come within the description contained in the next succeeding article; and the indentures shall impose the same obligations and give the same rights and remedies as indentures of apprenticeship made by a parent or guardian, with the assent of the minors, under the civil law of the state.

Art. 252. In order to be legally bound, pursuant to the last article, the apprentice must have been two years in the School of Reform; he must have learned to read, write, and understand the first three rules in arithmetic; and must have obtained a certificate signed by the warden (and if a female by the matron), approved by the inspectors, declaring that the moral conduct and diligence of the party has evinced such a reformation as, in their opinion, will render it safe to receive him as an apprentice.

Art. 253. The duration of the apprenticeship shall be until the party bound shall attain the age of twenty-one if a male, or nineteen if a female, unless, at the time of making the indenture, the male apprentice shall have attained nineteen years of age, or the female seventeen; in which case the indenture may be for three years, if the term of the sentence does not expire before; but if the term should expire before, the apprentice cannot be bound for a longer term than the attainment of twenty-one years for a male, or nineteen for a female, without his or her consent, and then only for the said term of three years.

Art. 254. The male apprentices shall be put out, if possible, to mechanics of the same trade they have been taught in the School of Reform; if no mechanic pursuing the same profession offers, some other demanding, as near as may be the same species of labour, shall be preferred; but whatever trade may have been taught to the apprentice, he may, by his own consent, be apprenticed to a farmer or a mariner.

Art. 255. The conditions of the articles of apprenticeship shall be, on the part of the apprentice, obedience to lawful commands, and diligence, sobriety, and honesty; on the part of the master, that he will perfect the apprentice in the trade he has been taught, or teach him the new business if such be the case, that he will continue his schooling at least one day in the week, that he will provide him necessary food, clothing, lodging, medical assistance, and that, at the end of the period, he will give him new clothing and a sum of money to be specified in the indenture, and such as the warden and the master shall think reasonable.

Art. 256. No one shall be apprenticed to any one residing out of the state, nor shall the indenture be assignable without the assent of the apprentice.

Art. 257. The clause relating to the teaching and perfecting in a trade or business, is not indispensable in the indenture of a female.

Art. 258. No female shall be indented to an unmarried man, or to a married man living apart from his wife.

Art. 259. It shall be a condition in the indenture between the warden and the master, that a report shall be made once in every year of the conduct of the apprentice to the warden; and if he has reason to believe that his reformation is complete, that he will permit him, if within the city of New Orleans or its suburbs, to visit the school and converse with the others still there.

Art. 260. The convict at the time of his discharge, whether apprenticed or not, shall be comfortably clad, and the inspectors, at their discretion, may make him an allowance in money, or deliver him books or tools, if they are satisfied with his conduct.

1. Boy offenders in the Bellevue prison, 1822

New York Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, Memorial to the Legislature of New York. . . with an abstract from a report of a committee appointed by the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism. . . on the subject of erecting a House of Refuge, for Vagrant and Depraved Young People (New York, 1824), pp. 16-18.

The New York Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents was a more specialized successor institution to the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism. Both groups were guided by such distinguished philanthropists as Thomas Eddy, John Griscom, and John Pintard.

The most important facts relative to the Bellevue prison, as connected with the objects of this report, will be best understood from the following answers of Arthur Burtis, Esq., superintendent of that extensive establishment, to questions sent to him from this committee.

Ques. 1. What number of boys are sent to the Penitentiary in the course of a year, and of what ages; and what is the average number at one time in the prison?

Ans. The average number of boys sent to the Penitentiary for the last three years, has been seventy-five per year, from twelve to sixteen years old. The average at one time in the house is about thirty-five.

Ques. 2. For what offences generally are they imprisoned?

Ans. Most generally for petit larceny and vagrancy.

Ques. 3. What proportion of them are sent there for the second or third time?

Ans. About one-half are in for the second and third time; but it is impossible to be exact, as the same boys come in by so many different names.

Ques. 4. How far are the boys instructed?

Ans. They are taught the catechism, and to read and write.

Ques. 5. How far are they put to labour, in the Penitentiary?

Aus. We have not put them to labour, except a part in the Pin Factory.

Ques. 6. What effect has the present treatment upon them, in reference to their reformation and future usefulness?

Ans. The effect of their present condition is deplorable. Instead of reformation, they must become worse, as we are compelled to put a boy for his first, perhaps small crime, with the old offender, if not in years, in crime, in the same room.

Ques. 7. What proportion of them are destitute of parents, or other persons to take charge of them?

Ans. About two-thirds have one or more parents, but in almost every case their parents have taken very little or no care of them.

Ques. 9. What proportion of them can read and write, at the time of their committal?

Ans. About one in eight.

Ques. 10. How far are the boys separate from old offenders by day and by night?

Ans. They are kept entirely separate, except a few who are in the Pin Factory, and they are under the care of a keeper.

2. Children in jail, Boston, 1827

Boston Prison Discipline Society, Second Annual Report, 1827 (Boston, 1827), pp. 28-29.

The Society, established in 1825 under the leadership of Reverend Louis Dwight (1793-1854), became the leading advocate of the Auburn or congregate system of prison discipline.

Imprisonment of Youth and Children. The following table shows the proportion in different Prisons, under 21 years of age.

From the above table it appears, that the proportion of those committed to Prison under 21 years of age, in all the prisons mentioned, is one-seventh part at least, and in some much more. It is sufficiently apparent, from the disclosure of the vices existing in Prisons, how great is the evil of bringing so great a proportion of young offenders within the corrupting influence of this wretched community. About three hundred youth are continually in a course of education in these high schools of iniquity.

The evil is not only apparent from the great proportion under 21 years of age; but from the tender years of a considerable proportion of this number. Children have been found in some of our Prisons under twelve years of age, who have been many months, and some of them more than a year, intimately associated with the most profligate and vile of the human race. The loathsome skin, the distorted features, the unnatural eyes of some of these boys, indicate, with a clearness not to be misapprehended, the existence of unutterable abominations, which it were better for the world if they had been foreseen and avoided. The greatness of the evil, if there is no injustice and criminality in it, of placing a child, and confining him there with strong bolts and bars, among a den of thieves, where he may be subject to any violence, and not be permitted to enter a complaint without the hazard of his life, has surely not been sufficiently contemplated.

1. Proposal for the creation of the first house of refuge, New York, 1824

New York Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, Memorial to the Legislature of New York. . . on the subject of erecting a House of Refuge, pp. 22-26.

The design of the proposed institution is, to furnish, in the first place, an asylum, in which boys under a certain age, who become subject to the notice of our Police, either as vagrants, or houseless, or charged with petty crimes, may be received, judiciously classed according to their degrees of depravity or innocence, put to work at such employments as will tend to encourage industry and ingenuity, taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, and most carefully instructed in the nature of their moral and religious obligations, while at the same time, they are subjected to a course of treatment, that will afford a prompt and energetic corrective of their vicious propensities, and hold out every possible inducement to reformation and good conduct. It will undoubtedly happen, that among boys collected from such sources, there will be some, whose habits and propensities are of the most unpromising description. Such boys, when left to run at large in the city, become the pests of society, and spread corruption wherever they go. To expect the reformation of such, by the ordinary chances of Sunday schools, churches, or admonitions from Magistrates, would be vain and fruitless. There may be some, who, in the best regulated institution, would prove altogether incorrigible. But if placed in a situation in which their dress, their food, their labour, their privations, and enjoyments, are all made to depend on their conduct; and in which every important step in the progress of improvements, advances them into a better class, and greater comforts, – when they learn to know that a daily register is made of their conduct, that this register is inspected by the governors of the institution, and by respectable visitors, – that the public eye is thus fixed upon them, and their future welfare has become the subject of public concern – is it not probable that in a majority of cases, the latent sparks of emulation may be elicited, and fanned into a goodly desire that they may yet live to honour their country, and to reward the assiduity which thus labours to save them? Such an institution would, in time, exhibit scarcely any other than the character of a decent school and manufactory. It need not be invested with the insignia of a prison. It should be surrounded only with a high fence, like many factories in the neighbourhood of cities, and carefully closed in front. Second. – In addition to the class of boys just mentioned, the committee have no doubt that were such an institution once well established, and put under good regulation, the Magistrates would very often deem it expedient to place offenders in the hands of its Managers, rather than to sentence them to the City Penitentiary. The gradations of crime are almost infinite; and so minute are the shades of guilt, so remote, or so intimate the connexion between legal criminality, and previous character, it would often be judged reasonable to use all the discretion which the law would possibly admit, in deciding upon the offence and the destination of juvenile delinquents; and every principle of justice and mercy, would point, in numerous cases of conviction for crime to such a refuge and reformatory, rather than to the Bridewell or City Prison.

A third class which it might be very proper to transplant to such an establishment, and to distribute through its better divisions, are boys (some of whom are of tender age) whose parents, either from vice or indolence, are careless of their minds and morals, and leave them exposed in rags and filth, to miserable and scanty fare, destitute of education, and liable to become the prey of criminal associates. Many of such parents would probably be willing to indenture their children to the managers of a House of Refuge; and far better would it be for these juvenile sufferers, that they should be thus rescued from impending ruin. The laws of this state, do not, as in Massachusetts and some other places, authorize magistrates to use compulsory measures with parents who thus grossly abuse their charge, and, at the same time, absolutely refuse to resign their children to the hands of the guardians of the poor; but it is surely presumable, that were suitable provision made for the economical support and instruction of such children, a law for this purpose might readily be obtained.

There remains to be noticed but one more class, for whom a House of Industry and Correction, under the management we contemplate, would be an appropriate place for reformation and improvement. We allude to that class of delinquent females, who are either too young to have acquired habits of fixed depravity, or those whose lives have in general been virtuous, but who, having yielded to the seductive influence of corrupt associates, have suddenly to endure the bitterness of lost reputation, and are cast forlorn and destitute upon a cold and unfeeling public, full of compunction for their errors, and anxious to be restored to the paths of innocence and usefulness. That there are many females of tender age just in those predicaments in this city, none can doubt who surveys the list of last year's culprits, furnished by the District Attorney. In this list, are the names of thirteen females, of 14 years of age, fourteen others of 15 and 16, and about forty of 17 and 18. The ages of a considerable number in this appalling catalogue have not been inserted, and it is by no means to be supposed that even a majority of those unhappy females who are in the predicament we have alluded to, have become the subjects of police investigation.

It is very far from the intention of the Committee, to propose, that the contemplated Refuge should become the receptacle of females whose ages and habitudes in the paths of guilt, render their restoration to society a question of dubious result. However desirable it may be, that an institution should be formed for the special purpose of affording the means of reformation, to those who are sincerely desirous to abandon a life of such debasement and wretchedness, we have no hesitation in expressing the belief, that it ought to be altogether detached from every other concern, and conducted by a separate association, and with the most prudent attention to delicacy and retirement. But within the ages and under the circumstances we have alluded to, it is our decided opinion, – an opinion founded not only upon the reasonableness of the proposition, but upon the result of similar institutions in Europe, that destitute females might form one department of the establishment, with the greatest benefit to themselves, and with advantage to the institution. Occupying apartments entirely distinct from those of the other sex and separated from them by impassable barriers, the females might contribute, by their labour, to promote the interests of the establishment, and at the same time, derive from it their full and appropriate share of benefit. On this point, however, the Committee only mean to express their opinion, without urging it as an indispensable part of the concern.

2. The establishment of the Boston House of Reformation, 1826

"An Act Concerning Juvenile Offenders in the City of Boston," 1826 – ch. 30, Boston, Common Council, Charter and Ordinances (Boston, 1827), pp. 195-197.

This was the first strictly public institution for juvenile delinquents. The houses of refuge in New York (1824) and Philadelphia (1826) were private corporations which received public funds.

The City Council of the City of Boston. . . are authorized to erect a building in said city, for the reception, instruction, employment and reformation of such Juvenile Offenders, as are hereinafter named; or to use for these purposes the House of Industry, or Correction, at South Boston, or any other House or building belonging to said city, that the City Council may appropriate to these uses.

The Directors of the said House of Industry, or such other persons as said City Council shall appoint Directors of said house, for the employment and reformation of Juvenile Offenders, shall have power, at their discretion, to receive and take into said house all such children who shall be convicted of criminal offences or taken up and committed under and by virtue of an act of this Commonwealth, "for suppressing and punishing of rogues, vagabonds, common beggars, and other idle, disorderly and lewd persons," and who may, in the judgment of any Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, sitting within 'and for the County of Suffolk, or of the Judge of the Municipal Court of the City of Boston, or of any Justice of the Police Court, within and for the City of Boston, be proper objects therefore; and upon the conviction or commitment aforesaid, of any child, in the judgment of such Judge or Justice a proper object for the said house of employment and reformation, the said Judge or Justice, previous to declaring the sentence of the law on such child, shall cause notice to be given to the Directors of the said house; and in case the said Directors shall declare their assent to the admission of such child into said house, the said Judge or Justice shall sentence him or her to be committed to said house of employment and reformation. . .

Any Justice or Judge of either of the said Courts respectively, on the application of the Mayor, or of any Alderman of the City of Boston, or of any Director of the House of Industry, or house of Reformation, or of any Overseer of the Poor, of said city, shall have power to sentence to said house of employment and reformation all children who live an idle or dissolute life, whose parents are dead, or if living, from drunkenness, or other vices, neglect to provide any suitable employment, or exercise any salutary control over said children. And the persons thus committed, shall be kept governed and disposed of, as hereinafter provided, the males till they are of the age of twenty-one years, and the females of eighteen years.

The Directors of said House of Industry, or such other persons as said City Council shall appoint Directors of the institution, authorized by this act, may receive the persons sentenced and committed as aforesaid, into said institution; and they shall have power to place the persons committed to their care, the males until they arrive at the age of twenty-one years, and the females until they arrive at the age of eighteen years, at such employments, and to cause them to be instructed in such branches of useful knowledge, as shall be suitable to their years and capacity; and they shall have power to bind out said minors as apprentices or servants, until they arrive at the ages aforesaid, to such persons, and at such places, to learn such arts, trades, and employments, as in their judgment will be most for the reformation, amendment, and future benefit and advantage of such minor...

Whenever said Directors, Overseers, or Managers, shall deem it expedient to discharge any minor, committed to their charge as aforesaid, and not bound out as a servant or apprentice, and shall recommend the same in writing to the court by whom such minor was committed, said court shall have power to discharge him or her from the imprisonment or custody aforesaid.

The said Judge or either of the said Justices . . . shall have power to order the transfer of any child committed to the common gaol, or the House of Correction, and inmates of the same at the time of passing this act, to the said house for the employment and reformation of Juvenile Offenders, to be received, kept, or bound out by the Directors thereof in conformity with the provisions of this act.

3. Private philanthropists and public officials share control and support of the Baltimore House of Refuge, 1830

"An Act to establish a House of Refuge for Juvenile Delinquents," 1830 – ch. 64, Laws Made and Passed by the General Assembly of the State of Maryland, 1830 (Annapolis, 1831), pp. 61-64.

Because the managers of the Baltimore Refuge were unable to raise sufficient funds, the institution did not open unti11851. According to article 78 of the Maryland Code of 1860 (I, 548-549), only white children could be committed to the House of Refuge.

The estate and concerns of said corporation [House of Refuge] shall be managed and conducted by twenty-four managers, of whom sixteen shall be residents of the city of Baltimore, and who shall be annually appointed in the month of February in the following manner, viz.: eight by the governor and council of this state, eight by the members of the association, and eight by the mayor and city council of Baltimore, seven of which said managers shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; and the said managers shall appoint from their own body a president, a secretary and a treasurer, and prescribe the duties of each;

The managers of the House of Refuge, under this act, may from time to time make bylaws, ordinances and regulations, relative to the management, government, instruction, discipline, employment and disposition of the said minors, while in the said House of Refuge, not contrary to law, as they may deem proper, and may appoint such officers, agents, and servants, as they may deem necessary to transact the business of the said corporation, and may designate their duties; and further, that the said managers shall make annual report to the legislature of Maryland, of the number of minors received by them into the House of Refuge, the disposition which shall be made of the said children, by instructing or employing them in the said House of Refuge, or by binding them out as apprentices, the receipts and expenditures of the said managers, and generally all such facts and particulars as may tend to exhibit the effects, whether beneficial or otherwise, of the said association.

The ground and the buildings which may be erected thereon for said House of Refuge shall be free of tax.

And, as the means of said association are insufficient, without legislative assistance, to carry its benevolent and useful objects and intentions into efficient operation, and as the diminution of crime, and the reformation of juvenile delinquents are subjects of paramount importance, therefore, Be it enacted, That in addition to the funds to be furnished by the members of the association hereby incorporated, the whole net balance of the annual profit accruing from the state penitentiary, after payment of all expenses and appropriations for interest, and in aid of the sinking fund, shall be and the same is hereby appropriated for the next five years to the use of the said House of Refuge; Provided, they shall not exceed five thousand dollars in anyone year, nor in the whole exceed the sum of twenty thousand dollars; and it shall be the duty of the directors of the penitentiary annually in the month of December to cause a statement of the said profits to be made out and delivered to the president of the House of Refuge, and within thirty days thereafter to pay the amount of the net profits to the treasurer of the said House of Refuge.

1. The Duke of Saxe-Weimar visits the New York Refuge

Bernhard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar Eisenach, Travels through North America during the years of 1825 and 1826 (Philadelphia, 1828), I, 131.

The institution for juvenile offenders is situated out of town; it is for children condemned by the court to imprisonment, and are thus confined in a separate prison to improve their principles by education. When they are improved, and have some education, they are then bound out to a farmer in the country, but if they are of an untameable disposition, and need stronger control, they are then disposed of as sailors. The girls are bound out as servants in the country. In order to have a good location for this institution, the society bought, of the United States government, a building, heretofore used as an arsenal, but become useless to the government on account of its distance from the water. It has existed but one year, and has at present forty-four juvenile delinquents. The sexes are separated, and each child occupies a distinct chamber. During the day they are mostly employed in learning, and in domestic occupations. As the building was not sufficiently large to receive all the offenders, a new one was built in the rear of the first, which the boys were employed in erecting. One of the boys who had escaped twice, walked about with an iron chain and heavy iron ball secured to his leg. A young man of respectable family, sixteen years old, who was imprisoned for his great propensity to stealing, was employed as a sub-instructor, account-keeper, and sub-overseer of the institution. Hopes are still entertained that he may be reclaimed.

2. Beaumont and Tocqueville appraise early American refuges

Gustave de Beaumont and Alexis de Tocqueville, On the Penitentiary System in the United States and its Application in France; with an Appendix on Penal Colonies and also Statistical Notes, trans. Francis Lieber (Philadelphia, 1833), pp. 111, 117-119, 122.

Three refuges – New York in 1825, Boston in 1826, and Philadelphia in 1828 – had been established at the time of this famous investigation. No other institutions strictly for juvenile delinquents were opened until 1847.

The houses of refuge are composed of two distinct elements: there are received into them young people of both sexes under the age of twenty, condemned for crime; and also those who are sent there by way of precaution, not having incurred any condemnation or judgment.

Nobody contests the necessity of houses of refuge for young convicts. In all ages and in all countries, the disadvantage has been acknowledged which results from placing in the same room, and submitting to the same discipline, the young delinquents and the guilty offenders whom age has hardened in crime: the prisoner, yet of tender age, has often committed but a slight offence: how can we justly make him the associate in prison of another, who is doomed to expiate heavy crimes? This defect is so serious, that magistrates hesitate to pursue young delinquents, and the jury to condemn them. But there another danger presents itself. Encouraged by impunity, they give themselves up to new disorders, which a punishment proportionate to their offence would perhaps have prevented them from committing.

The house of refuge, the discipline of which is neither too severe for youth, nor too mild for the guilty, has therefore for its object both the withdrawal of the young delinquent from a too rigorous punishment and from the dangers of impunity.

The individuals, who are sent to the houses of refuge without having been convicted of some offence, are boys and girls who are in a position dangerous to society and to themselves: orphans, who have been led by misery to vagrancy; children, abandoned by their parents and who lead a disordered life; all those, in one word, who, by their own fault or that of their parents, have fallen into a state so bordering on crime, that they would become infallibly guilty were they to retain their liberty.

Though, on the whole, the subsistence of the young prisoners is expensive, every thing seems to be calculated to avoid unnecessary expense. The houses of refuge contain both boys and girls, who, though under the same roof, are perfectly separated from each other. But this circumstance permits some labour to be done by the girls, which, if it were performed by others, would be a charge to the house. Thus they do the washing, mend the clothes, and make the greater part of their own dresses, and those worn by the boys; they also do all business in the kitchen for the whole house; thus they are employed in a way useful for themselves, and for the house, whilst it would be difficult to give them any other productive work.

This order of things is established and maintained by disciplinary means, which we ought to examine. Two principal means are employed: punishments and rewards; but we must make a distinction upon this point, between the houses of refuge of New York and Philadelphia, and that of Boston.

In the two first establishments, the punishments inflicted for disobeying the discipline, are:

1. Privation of recreation;

2. Solitary confinement in a cell;

3. Reduction of food to bread and water;

4. In important cases, corporal punishment – that is to say, stripes.

In New York, the house is expressly authorized to apply stripes. In Philadelphia, the regulations do not permit them expressly, but merely do not prohibit them. The distribution of punishments belongs to the superintendent, who has a discretionary power in the establishment.

Whilst the refractory children are subjected to these various punishments, according to the character of their offence, distinctions of honour are accorded to the children whose conduct is good. Besides the honour of belonging to the first class, those who distinguish themselves in this, wear badges of honour; lastly, the superintendent designates among the best, a certain number of monitors, to whom he confides part of the surveillance with which he is charged himself: and this testimony of confidence is for those whom he has chosen – a distinction to which they attach great value.

In Boston, corporal chastisements are excluded from the house of refuge; the discipline of this establishment is entirely of a moral character, and rests on principles which belong to the highest philosophy.

Every thing there tends to elevate the soul of the young prisoners, and to render them jealous of their own esteem and that of their comrades: to arrive at this end, they are treated as if they were men and members of a free society.

We treat of this theory with reference to discipline, because it has appeared to us, that the high opinion instilled into the child, of his own morality and social condition, is not only fit to effect his reformation, but also, the best means to obtain from him entire submission.

We have seen how the youth enters the house of refuge, and what discipline he is subjected to.

Let us at present examine by what means he may obtain the restoration of liberty, and let us follow him into the society which he reenters.

The principle above laid down, that the inmate of a house of refuge does not undergo a punishment, finds here, again, its application. As he has been sent to the house for his own interest only, he is allowed to leave it as soon as his interest requires it.

. . . Yet absolute and complete liberty is not restored to him; because, what would become of him in the world, alone, without support, unknown by any body? – He would find himself precisely in the same situation in which he was, before he entered the house. This great danger is avoided: the superintendent waits for a good opportunity to bind him out as apprentice with some mechanic, or to place him as a servant in some respectable family; he avoids sending him into a city, where he would relapse into his bad habits, and find again the companions of his disorderly life; and every time an opportunity offers, employment for him, with farmers, is preferred. At the moment he leaves the establishment, a writing is given to him, which, in kind words, contains advice for his future conduct; the present of a Bible is added.

In general, it has been found inconvenient to restore liberty to these juvenile offenders, before they have been in the house at least one year, in order to acquire habits of order.

3. Charles Dickens comments on two Boston institutions, one for neglected boys, the other for delinquents

Dickens, American Notes, pp. 58-59.

There are two establishments for boys. . . One is called the Boylston school, and is an asylum for neglected and indigent boys who have committed no crime, but who in the ordinary course of things would very soon be purged of that distinction if they were not taken from the hungry streets and sent here. The other is a House of Reformation for Juvenile Offenders. They are both under the same roof, but the two classes of boys never come in contact.

The Boylston boys, as may be readily supposed, have very much the advantage of the others in point of personal appearance. They were in their school-room when I came upon them, and answered correctly, without book, such questions as where was England; how far was it; what was its population; its capital city; its form of government; and so forth. They sang a song too, about a farmer sowing his seed: with corresponding action at such parts as " 'tis thus he sows," "he turns him round," "he claps his hands"; which gave it greater interest for them, and accustomed them to act together, in an orderly manner. They appeared exceedingly well taught, and not better taught than fed; for a more chubby-looking, full-waist-coated set of boys, I never saw.

The juvenile offenders had not such pleasant faces by a great deal, and in this establishment there were many boys of colour. I saw them first at their work (basket-making, and the manufacture of palm-leaf hats), afterwards in their school, where they sang a chorus in praise of Liberty: an odd, one would think, rather aggravating, theme for prisoners. These boys are divided into four classes, each denoted by a numeral, worn on a badge upon the arm. On the arrival of a newcomer, he is put into the fourth or lowest class, and left, by good behaviour, to work his way up into the first. The design and object of this Institution is to reclaim the youthful criminal by firm but kind and judicious treatment; to make his prison a place of purification and improvement, not of demoralisation and corruption; to impress upon him that there is but one path, and that one sober industry, which can ever lead him to happiness; to teach him how it may be trodden, if his footsteps have never yet been led that way; and to lure him back to it if they have strayed: in a word, to snatch him from destruction, and restore him to society a penitent and useful member.

1. Joseph Curtis, the first superintendent of the New York House of Refuge, records the case histories of the first refuge children, 1825

New York Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, Examination of Subjects who are in the House of Refuge in the City of New York (Albany, 1825), pp. 3, 5, 11, 15-17.

M.A.P., aged 14 years 28th August, 1824. Her father has been dead two years. He put her to live with a Mr. Ayres, near Goshen, who in July, 1823, removed from there to the new countries. She then returned to the city, and lived one year with her aunt Coddington, on the corner of Broome and Thompson-streets. She kept boarders – had two female one's at the time, who were not good characters. Mr. Hunter (at the request of her mother, who lived out at service) had her sent to the almshouse about the 1st July, 1824, where she remained till about the 30th October following, when, at the request of Mr. A. Burtis, she was taken in my kitchen. She is large for her age

has the appearance of a woman; unacquainted with house-work; quite sluttish, and wanting of ambition. She was seduced one month before she went to the alms-house. 1825, January 1st. – She has improved; has some ambition; think the prospects are flattering. She reads well, and much. She enters 5th [lowest] class. [2a]

M.S., from the police, aged 13 years – born in New-York. Her father has been dead seven years. Her mother has since married a Mr. Smith, who left her mother last spring. . . Her mother now lives in Banker-street; has lived there nearly two years; takes in washing, and goes out to work. Margaret has lived with Caleb Coggeshall five years; left there more than a year since, because they were not able to keep two persons, and she was too small to do all their work. She then lived seven months with Capt. Morgan, when they gave up house-keeping, and she then returned to her mother. She used to pick chips, and play in the streets; – was taken up at the theatre, with others. She has been at school to Mrs. Coggeshall. Enters 5th class.

J.B., aged 15 years July, 1824 – born in New-York. His father, John, lives in Pike-street; is ship-rigger. His mother died nine years since. Father married twice since. He was put to live with Mr. Bull at Newburgh, where he stayed two weeks; then on board the sloop Sportsman two months; then through part of Pennsylvania; to Baltimore, to Harrisburgh, to Carlisle, to Philadelphia, Trenton, New-Brunswick, to New York; all of which places he worked some time. He had no particular home; strayed about the streets; was taken up for stealing a pistol, and sent here. He has been in the alms-house; was bound out from there, but did not stay over four months; has been to school; enters the 3d class.

Joseph _____ , mulatto, aged 13 years 4^th July, 1824 – born at Mount Pleasant, where he lived with Mr. Jacob Arthur, Mr. Williamson and Aaron Ward, who he left last spring, and came to New-York in the stage, and run about the streets, and slept under stoops for about one week, when he was sent to the almshouse, where he stayed two or three weeks, when he was put to live with Mr. Pell in Broadway, where he stayed one month; then about the streets for a few days; then with J. Brooks in Greenwich-street, two months; then about the streets; then out of town to Davis Mertan's, three months; then again about the streets, until taken up by the watch, and sent here. He enters the 3d class. He never knew his father; his mother, Diana, is in the alms-house.

S.S., from the police, aged 16 years 9th May, 1824 – born at Fishkill; moved to New-York quite young. Father has been dead ten years. His mother has been dead five years. He has lived with Richard Whittemore, at Manhattan Island, seven months; then with Israel Hunt, at East-Chester, eighteen months; then with his brother James, in this neighborhood, seven months; then about the streets, having no particular place of residence, for three months; then to the alms-house; from there to a Mr. Thompson's, where he stayed two weeks; then to the alms-house; then to his brother's, who took him away; then ran about the streets for three weeks, when he was taken up and sent to the penitentiary for six months; which time expired four weeks ago this day; has been to school about two years. . . He played truant most of the time. He enters 3d class.

J.M., from the police, aged 14 years 17th March, 1824 – born in Philadelphia. Father has been dead four years. His mother since married to Moses Isaacs, who has gone to London. His mother lives in North Fourth Street, Philadelphia. . . his mother put him to live with Peter Snyder, a tailor, where he lived from six to eight months, and then returned home. A few weeks after, he went to live with Mr. Duncan, an iron-monger, where he lived about six weeks, when he ran away and came to New-York about two months since; has been in prison in Philadelphia twice, for, as they say, stealing shoes, which he says he did not take. His motive in coming to New York was to get a situation to go to sea. On his arrival, he took lodgings wherever they might be found. The first money that he got in New York was at the theatre, when he picked a gentleman's pockets of $27. He says that was the only theft he committed in New-York. He continued to walk about the streets, boarded at any tavern, had no particular one; was taken up by Mr. Hays without any cause, and sent to Bridewell, where he was three or four days before he was sent here. He enters 5th class.

2a. Refuge and reformatory children were classified according to their behavior. By staying out of trouble, the child gained not only minor privileges within the institution, but also opportunity for early placement or release. Children who misbehaved repeatedly were often sent to jail or to the almshouse.

2. Segregation of Negroes in New York House of Refuge, 1834

Nathaniel C. Hart to Stephen Allen, Dec. 17, 1834, Allen Papers, New York Historical Society.

The board of Managers have heretofore called the attention of the Legislature and the Public, to the unprovided state of the delinquent coloured children, found in great numbers in our city – the proportion of delinquent children among the blacks being much greater than in our white population. This disparity arises in part, from the broad line of separation between the whites and the blacks, being so strikingly drawn, as often to deprive the latter of many employments which are open to the whites. And the number has also been increased by the Policy of several of the Southern States which forbids the free blacks from continuing to reside among them.

Our prisons and alms-houses, from this and other causes are crowded with this description of persons; their children being in numerous cases left unprovided for, soon become delinquent, and proper subjects for the Refuge; but our arrangements have not enabled us to receive them, except by placing them with the white children, which it is apprehended would be injurious to our institution. Under such circumstances we applied to the corporation of our city, which promptly tendered us the permanent use of a lot of ground, and also a donation of $3000 – which amount, with our other resources, and the expectation that the Manumission Society of the City of New York, would furnish us with from 5,000 to 10,000 dollars, would have enabled us to have gone on with, and completed a building adjoining our present enclosure, sufficient to have accommodated from 150 to 200 coloured children.

The Manumission Society, have the resources & are enabled to transfer the same to us, having no longer to support their African Schools; their Schools having been received by the Trustees of the Public School Society. . .

The building is in a good state of forwardness, the roof is on, the rooms on the first floor are studded off, lathed and the first coat of plastering on – the carpenters are now at work preparing for the dormitories, – there is a good dry cellar under the whole building, which is 150 feet long & 200 wide; and the wall which is to enclose I should judge 1/2 acres of ground has been commenced, and we anticipate occupying it, by the first of May next. .

3. A routine day in the New York House of Refuge, 1835

New York Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, Tenth Annual Report (New York, 1835), pp. 6-7.

At sunrise, the children are warned, by the ringing of a bell, to rise from their beds. Each child makes his own bed, and steps forth, on a signal, into the Hall. They then proceed, in perfect order, to the Wash Room. Thence they are marched to parade in the yard, and undergo an examination as to their dress and cleanliness; after which, they attend morning prayer. The morning school then commences, where they are occupied in summer, until 7 o'clock. A short intermission is allowed, when the bell rings for breakfast; after which, they proceed to their respective workshops, where they labor until 12 o'clock, when they are called from work, and one hour allowed them for washing and eating their dinner. At one, they again commence work, and continue at it until five in the afternoon, when the labors of the day terminates. Half an hour is allowed for washing and eating their supper, and at half-past five, they are conducted to the school room, where they continue at their studies until 8 o'clock. Evening Prayer is performed by the Superintendent; after which, the children are conducted to their dormitories, which they enter, and are locked up for the night, when perfect silence reigns throughout the establishment. The foregoing is the history of a single day, and will answer for every day in the year, except Sundays, with slight variations during stormy weather, and the short days in winter.

4. Superintendent's report on discipline in the Boston House of Reformation, 1841

Boston, Doc. 18, City Documents (Boston, 1841), pp. 39-41.

The system of discipline, as to punishments and privileges for moral effect, is substantially, as last reported, slightly modified, as I have further matured it. Each Officer and monitor is required to keep an account daily of the conduct and particularly of the faults of the boys, falling under their notice in the discharge of duty. A Court is held every night by the Superintendent, the officers all being present. All the faults recorded, during the day, are called, and the cases are silently admitted, or investigated and settled. If the fault be aggravated and such, as indicates, that the boy is in a bad state of feeling and dangerous to the good order of the other boys, his punishment is awarded on the spot at the time. For such cases the solitary is used. The boy is locked up, that he may not injure the others, and to give him time for reflection and penitence. I seldom assign any definite period of solitude, at the time of locking up; but attending on him daily, once at least, to see how he feels, and to cut him off from all sympathy from others. He is never taken out, until he asks to be taken out. I have, in one instance, kept a boy thus, seven days, and in another, six days; often, three days. They are, however, led out to be washed, &c. if necessary. They, in such cases, know, that they can be sooner released, if they manifest the proper feelings and wishes. I sometimes apply the shower bath, effectually. This mode of punishment is objected to by some, and much applauded by others. I find it of little use, if frequently resorted to. But, as a mode of punishment to adopt for variety, and to be used with discretion, with those, not of the most stubborn character, I find it very useful. It is a severe punishment, in cold weather, and much dreaded. But nothing subdues, humbles and leads to penitent reflection, those of a quiet, stubborn, sullen cast of mind so effectually, as a solitary cell. Yet this I regard, as injurious to health, especially in the warm season. I am not so entirely modern, as to lay aside, entirely and under all circumstances, the use of stripes. Nor will I shun the responsibility of so doing, by avoiding to report the fact. But I do mean carefully to avoid the frequent or severe use of this punishment. And when I resort to it, I endeavor to do it after cool deliberation and with the expression of regret. If its effects be not favorable and only excite temper, I desist and substitute solitude. Slight faults, occurring daily, are entered in a book, kept and settled at the end of the week. In the same book, meritorious conduct is recorded; adopting numerals to designate degrees of each, one being the smallest. For the weekly settlement of this class of cases, a system of punishment, consisting of restraint and deprivation of play, is adopted. Those sentenced to it are required to stand during play hours in line, in charge of an officer. If they are in need of exercise for health, they are required to run, under the restraint of perfect regularity of movement, distance, &c. In addition to all this, I have, for moral effect, adopted a system awarding written testimonials of character every three months. I make the giving out of them a matter of some ceremony. Those deserving full bills being arranged in line in Chapel in front of the others, and being addressed on the subject. Those, the records against whom are such, as that they cannot get a full clean bill, are allowed as good characters, as they deserved; the rest being erased by black lines. If they decline such an one, they can wait and try for a clean bill at the end of the next three months. The effect of this is further increased, in several ways. Their clean character bill is to be presented to their friends, at the quarterly visit. As all through life a good character is a necessary passport to preferment, so I make their character bill a passport to preferment at the house. Those, who have clean characters, are to be preferred for monitor-ships, and may ask to be allowed to visit their friend on their parole of honor. They are also to be shewn to gentlemen, who visit to select boys for places. Here we see, that on good conduct and the regular certified evidence of it, almost all they most think of and value depends. One of the leading defects of this class of children is, that they have not had opportunities to learn nor been made to regard the value of character, nor have they any proper conceptions, of what particular traits a good character is constituted. The system works beautifully. It is simple, certain, practical and efficient.

5. A dissenting view on the benefits of refuge life

Elijah Devoe, The Refuge System, or Prison Discipline Applied to Juvenile Delinquents (New York, 1848), pp. 24-28.

Elijah Devoe was the assistant superintendent of the New York House of Refuge from 1845 to 1848.

Children are committed to the House of Refuge to be dealt with according to law. They are not sent for any specified term. They are subject to the control and disposition of the managers. But, as the managers seldom remain any length of time in the house, and never participate in the government of its inmates, it is impossible for them to have the requisite knowledge of the merits of any particular child or his fitness for egress. They must therefore depend wholly upon the superintendent for information upon this subject. It is, then, for the superintendent to determine the time, in a large majority of cases, that the children are to remain in the institution.

But the superintendent himself has little to do with the immediate supervision and training of the boys. He, in turn, must rely chiefly upon the assistant, who, in fact, really makes the greatest number of selections. This is well, perhaps, in the main, but where a difference of opinion arises in regard to the qualifications of any particular boy, the superintendent, who, in the nature of things, must be supposed to know the least about it, governs the case. The error here is not that the superintendent should control the selections, but that being superintendent he should be least qualified to judge.

By many it is considered a fine feature in the Refuge system, that the disposition of the children sent to the institution is left entirely in the hands of the managers. [3a] Aside from the extraordinary power vested in the society, the plan of indefinite commitments is productive of mischievous results. The state of suspense and uncertainty in which every boy is held, keeps his mind in constant agitation and disquiet, and however judicious may be the selections, they never fail to give dissatisfaction to many who remain.

In a conversation with a boy who made one of the most desperate attempts to escape that occurred while I was in the institution, he told me that if he knew how long he had to remain, he could reconcile himself to his punishment; but, that he could not endure to have his mind constantly racked by uncertainty and suspense. He would rather by far be in State Prison, he said, for then he would know how long he should have to remain.

My own observation convinced me in numberless instances, that neither positive nor relative justice was the controlling motive in the selection of subjects for apprenticeship.

I remember at this moment an instance of a boy who had been in the Institution nearly three years (the average time that boys are kept in the House is about fourteen months). For upwards of two years he had worn No.1 badge, was a faithful boy to work, and had at no time been corrected for any offence of a worse character than that of having tobacco. Yet this boy was kept in the House on the pretext that he was corrupt, – as if that were an uncommon case; or as if the rights of a corrupt boy should not be held sacred. If he were very corrupt, his influence would be so much the worse among other inmates; and this fact itself becomes another reason why he should not be detained beyond the average time for those boys whose Refuge character was no better than his.

Physical defects in children otherwise well qualified and desirable, become a bar to their obtaining good places. The consequence is, they sometimes remain much longer than they ought, exposed to the corrupting influences of the Institution. A fair face or fine form not unfrequently gives one boy an advantage over others, to whom nature has been less lavish of her gifts. A boy of very repulsive appearance came to me on one occasion, and said in a pathetic manner, "Mr. D., won't you get me a place in the country? I have no father nor mother, nor any friends to look after me. I have been here a long time, and think I ought to go out." "But they say you are a bad boy," I replied. "I am not so bad as they think me," said he, "but I am pock-marked, and every body thinks I am bad. When I 'get a sight to go out,' [3b] no body will take me I am so ugly-looking. If I was handsome, I should not be thought so bad, and plenty of farmers would take me." I was struck by the character of his reply, and resolved to study his disposition, which I found to be generous, forgiving, and grateful.

No treatment, however kind or generous, will serve to make children contented in the Refuge after a certain period has elapsed. A wall is around them. Every moment they are under strict surveillance. The severity of discipline to which every boy, however well-disposed, is subjected – the unceasing and unvaried repetition of duties, fare and employment – breed disgust which degenerates into melancholy and despair. When from careless or purposed neglect, a boy has been suffered to remain longer in the House than the average time in such cases, he grows restless and unhappy – a state of feeling succeeded by that kind of sickness of the heart which comes from "hope deferred." He mopes about, and takes no part nor interest in the sports of the playground. When hope flies, nature relaxes in a degree her firm hold upon the principle of life. The functions of the body are performed with less energy. He droops, and if Liberty do not come to him, Death will. Well do I remember the case of poor J.S. After repeated but fruitless attempts to escape, he fell into a state of hopeless dejection, from which he never revived for, a few months after, Death sent him a reprieve.

Are children happy in the Refuge? There is scarcely any conceivable position in life that would render human beings entirely and uninterruptedly wretched. Complete misery destroys; – elasticity of human nature is so great that any state which is endurable, becomes daily more tolerable, until at length it affords intervals of pleasure. Although to children, life in the Refuge is dark and stormy, still, in general they know how to avail themselves of all facilities that afford present enjoyment; and do not fail to bask in those rays of sunshine which occasionally light up and warm their dreary path. But, nothing short of excessive ignorance can entertain for a moment the idea that the inmates of the Refuge are contented. In summer, they are about fourteen hours under orders daily. On parade, at table, at their work, and in school, they are not allowed to converse. They rise at five o'clock in summer – are hurried into the yard – hurried into the dining-room – hurried at their work and at their studies. For every trifling commission or omission which it is deemed wrong to do or to omit to do, they are "cut" with ratan. Every day they experience a series of painful excitements. The endurance of the whip, or the loss of a meal – deprivation of play or the solitary cell. On every hand their walk is bounded; while Restriction and Constraint are their most intimate companions. Are they contented?

3a. The paternity of the inmates is assumed by the managers of the society. They bind the children to farmers and mechanics; and, as a general thing, parents are not allowed to know where their children are sent. Many mothers have I seen leave the house with streaming eyes, because this information had been withheld from them. In this way there is no doubt that some children are separated from their parents and friends for life; for not unfrequently children are sent to a distance of several hundred miles from the city. [Devoe's note.]

3b. This term describes 'the displaying of eligible children before prospective employers.

1. "The right of parental control is a natural, but not an unalienable one"

Ex parte Crouse, 4 Wharton (Pa.) 9 (1838).

This was a habeas corpus directed to the keeper and managers of the "House of Refuge," in the county of Philadelphia, requiring them to produce before the Court one Mary Ann Crouse, an infant, detained in that institution. The petition for the habeas corpus was in the name of her father.

By the return to the writ it appeared, that the girl had been committed to the custody of the managers by virtue of a warrant under the hand and seal of Morton M'Michael, Esq., a justice of the peace of the county of Philadelphia, which recited that complaint and due proof had been made before him by Mary Crouse, the mother of the said Mary Ann Crouse, "that the said infant by reason of vicious conduct, has rendered her control beyond the power of the said complainant, and made it manifestly requisite that from regard to the moral and future welfare of the said infant she should be placed under 'the guardianship of the managers of the House of Refuge"; and the said alderman certified that in his opinion the said infant was "a proper subject for the said House of Refuge." Appended to the warrant of commitment were the names and places of residence of the witnesses examined, and the substance of the testimony given by them respectively, upon which the adjudication of the magistrate was founded.

The House of Refuge was established in pursuance of an act of assembly passed on the 23rd day of March, 1826. The 6th section of that act declared that the managers should, "at their discretion, receive into the said House of Refuge, such children who shall be taken up or committed as vagrants, or upon any criminal charge, or duly convicted of criminal offences, as may be in the judgment of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, or of the Court of Quarter Sessions of the peace of the county, or of the Mayor's Court of the city of Philadelphia, or of any alderman or justice of the peace, or of the managers of the Alms-house and house of employment, be deemed proper objects." By a supplement to the act passed on the 10th day of April 1835, it was declared, that in lieu of the provisions of the act of 1826, it should be lawful for the managers of the House of Refuge "at their discretion, to receive into their care and guardianship, infants, males under the age of twenty-one years, and females under the age of eighteen years, committed to their custody in either of the following modes, viz. First: infants committed by an alderman or justice of the peace on the complaint and due proof made to him by the parent, guardian or next friend of such infant, that by reason of incorrigible or vicious conduct such infant has rendered his or her control beyond the power of such parent, guardian or next friend, and made it manifestly requisite that from regard for the morals and future welfare of such infant, he or she should be placed under the guardianship of the managers of the House of Refuge. Second: infants committed by the authority aforesaid, where complaint and due proof have been made that such infant is a proper subject for the guardianship of the managers of the House of Refuge, in consequence of vagrancy, or incorrigible or vicious conduct, and that from the moral depravity or otherwise of the parent or next friend in whose custody such infant may be, such parent or next friend is incapable or unwilling to exercise the proper care and discipline over such incorrigible or vicious infant. Third: infants committed by the Courts of this commonwealth in the mode provided by the act to which this is a supplement."

Mr. W. L. Hirst, for the petitioner, now contended, that these provisions so far as they authorised the committal and detention of an infant without a trial by jury, were unconstitutional. He referred to the sixth and ninth sections of the Bill of Rights. . .

Mr. Barclay and Mr. J. R. Ingersoll, for the managers of the House of Refuge.

PER CURIAM. – The House of Refuge is not a prison, but a school. Where reformation, and not punishment, is the end, it may indeed be used as a prison for juvenile convicts who would else be committed to a common gaol; and in respect to these, the constitutionality of the act which incorporated it, stands clear of controversy. It is only in respect of the application of its discipline to subjects admitted on the order of a court, a magistrate, or the managers of the Alms-house, that a doubt is entertained. The object of the charity is reformation, by training its inmates to industry; by imbuing their minds with principles of morality and religion; by furnishing them with means to earn a living; and, above all, by separating them from the corrupting influence of improper associates. To this end, may not the natural parents, when unequal to the task of education, or unworthy of it, be superseded by the parens patria, or common guardian of the community? It is to be remembered that the public has a paramount interest in the virtue and knowledge of its members, and that, of strict right, the business of education belongs to it. That parents are ordinarily entrusted with it, is because it can seldom be put into better hands; but where they are incompetent or corrupt, what is there to prevent the public from withdrawing their faculties, held, as they obviously are, at its sufferance? The right of parental control is a natural, but not an unalienable one. It is not excepted by the declaration of rights out of the subjects of ordinary legislation; and it consequently remains subject to the ordinary legislative power, which, if wantonly or inconveniently used, would soon be constitutionally restricted, but the competency of which, as the government is constituted, cannot be doubted. As to abridgment of indefeasible rights by confinement of the person, it is no more than what is borne, to a greater or less extent, in every school; and we know of no natural right to exemption from restraints which conduce to an infant's welfare. Nor is there a doubt of the propriety of their application in the particular instance. The infant has been snatched from a course which must have ended in confirmed depravity; and, not only is the restraint of her person lawful, but it would be an act of extreme cruelty to release her from it.

2. "The injudicious interference of the parents was prevented"

Proceedings of the First Convention of Managers and Superintendents of Houses of Refuge and Schools of Reform, 1857, pp. 60-61.

Mr. McCobb, of the Maine State Reform School:

We have had great trouble in the State of Maine on account of short commitments, and I fear we are destined to have more. The law of the State allows commitments for a term not less than a year. Our difficulty is with the Legislature and the magistrates. We have not hitherto been able to prevail upon the former to take action upon this subject. . .

Dr. Graves, of the Baltimore House of Refuge:

There is a decision in relation to this matter. Judge Gibson refused an application of habeas corpus to take a child from the Institution, on the ground that the institution stood in loco parentis to the child [see above, Ex parte Crouse]. Profiting by this decision, I drew the amended charter of our House so that the commitments should be during minority, and we have found the advantage of it. Only two weeks ago there were three applications for the discharge of children. We refused it upon this ground; we did not think it proper, under the charter, that the parents should obtain the committal of their children, and after two or three months, upon the application of the same individual who made the commitment, the child should be given up. We had no guarantee that they would not be sent back to us in a month or two. You cannot expect reform under two years. The managers must have complete power over the child until he has attained the age of twenty-one. He finds that there is no hope of speedy discharge, submits to the discipline, and improves. A case recently occurred which may serve to illustrate the advantage of guardianship till majority. Two very interesting children, a girl and a boy, were sent to us last winter. Being extremely destitute, they were committed as vagrants, and we took charge pf them. After we had found a home for the little girl, the mother made an application for her, which we refused. She succeeded in finding where the child was, and demanded it. The man with whom we had placed her was quite firm, and refused to surrender her, but told the mother that if she conducted herself well, and he thought it would do her good, the mother might visit her. She threatened legal proceedings, but our power over the child was superior to hers, and thus the injudicious interference of the parents was prevented. I think it would be judicious to take a vote upon this question. It has been decided, in all cases in our courts, in Maryland, that these Institutions shall stand in the place of the parents during minority. . .

1. Binding out – the hope of reformation

New York Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, Annual Report, 1828 (New York, 1829), pp. 48-50.

In the period 1825-1850 most of the children were indentured to farmers or ship captains; girls were usually bound to families as domestics. A few boys were indentured to skilled tradesmen – carpenters, coopers, saddlemakers, shoemakers – or were bound to business firms. Ship service was the common means of disposing of older boys.

LETTER TO THE MASTERS

Sir,

We have consented to bind one of the children under our care in the House of Refuge, to you as an apprentice, pursuant to powers given to us by an act of the Legislature of this state.

We should not have done this, had not our inquiries, as to your character, induced us to believe, that your example, and your treatment of this young person will be such as may tend to perfect the moral reformation, we have reason to hope, he has experienced since he has been in the asylum under our charge.

Great pains are taken to impress on the children, committed to the House of Refuge, a love of truth, to give them religious instruction, habits of order and industry, and to teach them to be respectful and obedient. We have found from experience, that this may be done by a steady and firm conduct, not incompatible with great kindness. We are persuaded that most children may be more easily, and more effectually, governed by proper appeals to their mental feelings, than by corporal punishments, and that where these are inflicted frequently and with severity, it oftener marks a want of sense or humanity, on the one part, than demerit, on the other.

We hope the system we pursue, will have had an effect on the child you will receive from us, which will render him useful to you, and contribute to make him a worthy member of society, when his connection with you shall cease. But this can not be expected, unless you, to whose care he will now be committed, interest yourself in his welfare.

It has not been concealed from you, and ought not to be forgotten, that this child has been a delinquent. We beg, therefore, to remind you that conduct may require more attention than might be thought necessary to one who had never been led from the paths of virtue. Should your kindness and care redeem this child, and make religious, moral, and industrious, you will participate with us in those feelings, which must result from the reflection that we may have contributed to the temporal and eternal happiness of a fellow-being.

It will be very satisfactory to us, to receive from you, from time to time, an account of the conduct of this young person. This is desirable not only as respects the individual, but should behave, as we hope will, your favorable report will be serviceable to our Institution. We wish you would encourage to write occasionally to our superintendent. We are happy to say, that the accounts we have had of, and from the children, we have bound out, have been, except in a very few instances, highly satisfactory. When the child's service has expired, it is desirable that should receive from you a certificate, which may express your opinion of conduct while was under your care.

With a hope that you may find in your apprentice a worthy and useful servant, and he in you an able instructor and kind master, and with our best wishes for and your happiness and prosperity, we commit to your care.

By order and in behalf of the Board of Managers,

Superintendent.

LETTER TO THE APPRENTICE

You are about to leave the House of Refuge. You will be bound as an apprentice to a person, who, the Managers believe, will provide for you, instruct you, and if you behave well, treat you with kindness.

We should not have consented to part with you at this time, had not your conduct given us reason to hope that the religious and moral instruction you have received since you have been under our care, have disposed you to lead an honest, industrious, and sober life. . .

Do not be discouraged by what has happened from striving to raise yourself to a respectable station in the world. If your life be hereafter exemplary, the errors of your infancy will be forgiven or forgotten. In our happy country, every honest man may claim the rewards he merits. Many of our most distinguished citizens have been the makers of their own fortunes, and in their childhood were as poor and unprotected as you have been.

You well know the evil consequences of bad company: there is nothing as to which you ought to be more on your guard. You ought particularly to avoid those with whom you associated before you was placed in the House of Refuge. That you may not be again tempted by these, you should not be too anxious to return to this city, and put yourself in a situation where you may meet with them. When your time of service is out, and you become your own master you may have a better chance of success in the world, if you will establish yourself where you will have no friends but those you may hereafter make by your good conduct, and where the history of your early life is unknown.

It will always be gratifying to us to hear of your welfare. We shall be pleased to learn that you preserve and often read this letter. We wish you occasionally to write to our superintendent; you will always find in him, and in us, friends ready to advise and to serve you.

Committing you to the protection of Providence, and to the care of your master, and repeating our admonition to you, to be religious, to love the truth, to be sober and industrious, and to avoid bad company, we bid you farewell.

By order and on behalf of the Board of Managers,

Superintendent.

2. Maryland authorizes binding out in lieu of imprisonment for juvenile offenders, 1831

"An act relating to crime and punishments," 1831– ch. 208, Clement Dorsey, comp., The General Public Statutory Law and Public Law of the State of Maryland, 1692-1839, II (Baltimore, 1840), 1025.

. . . When any infant under the age of fifteen years, shall be convicted of any indictable offence, other than some malicious felony, the court before whom such conviction shall take place, shall have full power and authority to suspend sentence upon such convicted party, and bind the same to a master or mistress, whether resident within or without this state, or to procure other employment for tbe same, in or out of this state, and to compel such infant to comply with the terms of their judgment in the premises: Provided however, that no binding as aforesaid, shall be for a term extending beyond the age of sixteen years in females and twenty-one years in males, and that the infant be not bound to any service in the county within which he or she shall have been convicted.