Reform school
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was a term used to define, often somewhat euphemistically
Euphemism
A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...
, what was often essentially a penal institution
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
for boy
Boy
A boy is a young male human , as contrasted to its female counterpart, girl, or an adult male, a man.The term "boy" is primarily used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender role distinctions or both...
s, generally teenagers.
History
Social reformers in America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries almost invariably found fault with the then-usual practice of treating juvenileJuvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency is participation in illegal behavior by minors who fall under a statutory age limit. Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as juvenile detention centers. There are a multitude of different theories on the causes of crime, most if not...
offenders essentially the same as adult
Adult
An adult is a human being or living organism that is of relatively mature age, typically associated with sexual maturity and the attainment of reproductive age....
criminals. It was recognized that the juveniles were often sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
ually and otherwise exploited by the older inmates and that they were often receiving instruction in more advanced and serious ways of crime by hardened criminals with little regard for law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
, society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
's morals, or even human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
life
Life
Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate...
. As a result, rather than their sentences serving as a deterrent to future crimes, many juvenile offenders emerged from incarceration far worse than when they were first sentenced.
The reforms, which were adopted far more readily in some states than others, consisted of a two-pronged approach: a separate juvenile code
Minor (law)
In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...
and juvenile court
Juvenile court
A juvenile court is a tribunal having special authority to try and pass judgments for crimes committed by children or adolescents who have not attained the age of majority...
s for offenders who had not reached the age of majority
Age of majority
The age of majority is the threshold of adulthood as it is conceptualized in law. It is the chronological moment when minors cease to legally be considered children and assume control over their persons, actions, and decisions, thereby terminating the legal control and legal responsibilities of...
, and the building of separate institutions for juvenile "delinquents" (the stigmatizing
Social stigma
Social stigma is the severe disapproval of or discontent with a person on the grounds of characteristics that distinguish them from other members of a society.Almost all stigma is based on a person differing from social or cultural norms...
term "criminal" not being used). Because the primary purpose of these institutions was to be rehabilitative
Rehabilitation (penology)
Rehabilitation means; To restore to useful life, as through therapy and education or To restore to good condition, operation, or capacity....
rather than punitive, they were styled "reform schools". For the most part, these institutions were custodial.
In the 1950s and 1960s, many of the same problems that had occurred with the former system of incarcerating juveniles along with adults began to be noticed in reform school -- older juveniles exploiting the younger ones, sexually and otherwise, and the younger ones taking the more hardened, usually older offenders as role models and mentors. Also, the term "reform school" itself, originally intended as destigmatizing, had developed its own stigma, much as the way "welfare payments" were intended to be the destigmatizing corrective term for "relief" or "the dole", but developed a stigma of its own.
Modern view
Today, no state openly or officially refers to its juvenile correctional institutionsYouth detention center
A youth detention center, also known as a juvenile detention center , juvenile hall or, more colloquially as juvie, is a secure residential facility for young people, often termed juvenile delinquents, awaiting court hearings and/or placement in long-term care facilities and programs...
as "reform schools", although such institutions still exist. The attempt has also been made to reduce the population of such institutions to the maximum extent possible, and to leave all but the most incorrigible youths in a home setting. Also, in an attempt to make the situation more socially normal, and in response to the rising number of young female offenders, many such institutions have been made coeducational.
The current approach involves minimizing the use of custodial institutions and the maximization of the use of less-restrictive settings which allow the youths to remain in their own homes, usually while attending during the daytime an institution called an alternative school
Alternative school
Alternative school is the name used in some parts of the world to describe an institution which provides part of alternative education. It is an educational establishment with a curriculum and methods that are nontraditional...
or something similar, which is usually a more-structured version of a public school. There may be court-monitored probation
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
or other restrictions, such as a strict curfew
Curfew
A curfew is an order specifying a time after which certain regulations apply. Examples:# An order by a government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time...
applied to the clientele of the "Department of Youth Services" or whatever the state terms it, than for other youths the same age.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the most well-known facilities meeting the general criteria for being colloquially labelled "reform schools" include the Lincoln Hills School near Merrill, Wisconsin
Merrill, Wisconsin
Merrill is a city in Lincoln County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 10,728 at the 2010 census. The city is located to the south of and adjacent to the Town of Merrill....
(mentioned in episodes of the once-popular TV series Picket Fences
Picket Fences
Picket Fences is a 60-minute American television drama about the residents of the fictional town of Rome, Wisconsin, created and produced by David E. Kelley. The show initially ran from September 18, 1992, to June 26, 1996, on the CBS television network in the United States...
) and the Preston School of Industry
Preston School of Industry
The Preston School of Industry, also known as Preston Castle, is one of the oldest and best-known reform schools in the United States. It is located in Ione, California, in Amador County....
in Ione, California
Ione, California
Ione is a city in Amador County, California, United States. The population was 7,918 at the 2010 census, up from 7,129 at the 2000 census. Once known as "Bed-Bug" and "Freeze Out," Ione was an important supply center on the main road to the Mother Lode and Southern Mines during the California Gold...
. The first reform school in the United states was the Lyman School in Westborough, Massachusetts
Westborough, Massachusetts
Westborough is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,272 at the 2010 census. The town is governed under the New England open town meeting system, headed by a five member elected Board of Selectmen whose duties include licensing, appointing various...
. It opened in 1848.
In Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, continuation schools continue to be used as reform school. Most important they are much cheaper than Youth detention center
Youth detention center
A youth detention center, also known as a juvenile detention center , juvenile hall or, more colloquially as juvie, is a secure residential facility for young people, often termed juvenile delinquents, awaiting court hearings and/or placement in long-term care facilities and programs...
s while the success rate are much the same.Når børn begår kriminalitet (When Children commits crimes), TV2, September 9 2007 Today there no national guidelines regarding the severity of the crimes with which the children are charged; nor are there any guidelines in place to assist in the decision to send them to reform school in the first place, since each town or jurisdiction has its own bylaws and budgets. Children charged with making bomb threats end up in such places.14-årig sendes på efterskole efter bombetrussel (14 year old being sent to continuation school after bomb threat), By Allan Staal, Jydske Vestkysten, June 17 2005
See also
- Alternative schoolAlternative schoolAlternative school is the name used in some parts of the world to describe an institution which provides part of alternative education. It is an educational establishment with a curriculum and methods that are nontraditional...
- Continuation high schoolContinuation high schoolA continuation high school is an alternative to a comprehensive high school primarily for students who are considered at-risk of not graduating at the normal pace. The requirements to graduate are the same but the scheduling is more flexible to allow students to earn their credits at a quicker...
- George Junior RepublicGeorge Junior RepublicGeorge Junior Republic was an American industrial institution, situated near the small village of Freeville, in Tompkins County, New York, U.S., 9 miles east-north-east of Ithaca, at the junction of the Sayre-Auburn and the Elmira-Cortland branches of the Lehigh Valley railway.- Overview :The...
- Renaissance Home for YouthRenaissance Home for YouthThe Renaissance Home for Youth is a criminal rehabilitation center located near Alexandria, Louisiana, USA at 6177 Bayou Rapides Road in western Rapides Parish co-founded in 1972 by Guy E. Humphries, Jr. , a Ninth Judicial District Court judge, Dr. Glenn Earl Bryant , then the pastor of the large...
in Alexandria, LouisianaAlexandria, LouisianaAlexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes.... - Therapeutic Boarding SchoolTherapeutic boarding schoolA therapeutic boarding school , alternatively known as an emotional growth boarding school, is a boarding school based on the therapeutic community model that offers an educational program together with specialized structure and supervision for students with emotional and behavioral problems,...