Child-Saving Movement

The term child saving has normally been used to describe the work of a group of mostly upper-class women and men who were part of a much larger social movement during a period of U.S. history known as the Progressive Era (roughly between 1890 and 1920), a social movement that resulted in numerous reforms throughout the country. The reform known as the child-saving movement resulted in the creation of the first juvenile court, which opened in Chicago in 1899 and was followed closely by a court opening in Denver in the same year. In fact, however, child saving started much earlier in the 19th century when a group of New York reformers, calling themselves the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, helped pass legislation that established the New York House of Refuge in 1825.

Reformers at both ends of the century were convinced that the adult justice system was a total failure at addressing the newly discovered problem of juvenile delinquency. American society throughout the 19th century could not begin to handle the fundamental contradictions of the new republic, with great wealth on the one hand and utter misery on the other. As thousands began the migration to the “land of opportunity” in the early 1800s, the cities of the northeast were filling up with homeless children. Thousands of children wandered the streets, sleeping in alleys, accosting pedestrians for a few dollars or some food, and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Something had to be done.

Many other cities around the country followed with their own houses of refuge. The statutes contained vague descriptions of behaviors and lifestyles that were synonymous with the characteristics of the urban poor. Being homeless, begging, vagrancy, and coming from an “unfit” home (as defined from a middle-class viewpoint) are examples. Most of the youth rounded up and sent to the refuges were not hardened criminals but those in danger of becoming criminals. Today we call them status offenders—youth charged with truancy, running away from home, incorrigibility, being beyond control, and the like.

There was an assumption that houses of refuge were the ideal places for the reformation of youthful deviants or potential deviants. There was also a naive belief in the “humanitarianism” of those put in charge of the refuges. The lofty aims are illustrated by a statement from the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, an organization in New York responsible for establishing the first house of refuge: “The young should, if possible, be subdued with kindness. His heart should first be addressed, and the language of confidence, although undeserved, be used toward him.” The child should be taught that “his keepers were his best friends and that the object of his confinement was his reform and ultimate good.”

The results were disastrous, to say the least. The actions by these reformers usually did not serve the “best interests of the child.” Children confined in the houses of refuge were subjected to strict discipline and control. Corporal punishments (including hanging children from their thumbs, the use of the “ducking stool” for girls, and severe beatings), solitary confinement, handcuffs, the “ball and chain,” uniform dress, the “silent system,” and other practices were commonly used in houses of refuge.

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