Miller, Jerome G. (1931–)

The “Massachusetts Experiment”

The customary difficulties of providing humane and effective treatment in coercive institutional settings stood in the way of Miller's reforming the juvenile facilities. He also encountered major political and bureaucratic obstacles in his attempts to move the reform schools in the direction of the therapeutic community ideal. He benefited, however, from strong support from Governor Francis Sargent, who very much wanted juvenile correctional reform. In addition, Miller found some talented and supportive staff and a lack of preparation and coordination on the part of his foes. Most of all, he was willing to take risks and to sacrifice his appointment if necessary. Both of these characteristics became necessary after he systematically closed all of the state's reformatories.

In 1970, after a year of thwarted efforts to transform them, Miller abruptly began closing the state's reform schools. In March 1972, he and staff closed the Lyman School for Boys, the seventh and final of these institutions. The previous residents of these institutions were not to be forgotten. Instead Miller had developed networks of community-based services throughout the state that were designed to help those who had been released from the institutions. Meant to address a variety of youth needs and to allow for flexible responsiveness in programming, these community-based services ranged from advocacy and mentoring through alternative education and vocational training to foster care and group homes. A residential psychiatric unit housed the small proportion of youth requiring such intervention.

Contemporaneous and subsequent research indicates the effectiveness and appropriateness of the Massachusetts Experiment. The state experienced no significant increase in serious juvenile delinquency. The most developed local systems of care more adequately met youth need without inflicting the harms associated with incarceration. Today, more than 30 years after this major project in juvenile corrections deinstitutionalization, Massachusetts continues to have one of the nation's lowest levels of juvenile institutionalization.

Career after Leaving Massachusetts

In 1973, Miller accepted an appointment as director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS). At about the same time, Governor Daniel Walker appointed David Fogel, a progressive from California by way of Minnesota, as director of the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). As friends and allies, Miller and Fogel came as a package deal with a plan to reform youth services and juvenile corrections in a significant way. The plan, endorsed by the governor, who viewed it as a centerpiece for his administration, would transfer the juvenile division of IDOC to IDCFS. Miller then would establish something like the Massachusetts Experiment, closing juvenile reformatories while developing networks of community-based services for youth. Fogel would concentrate on ensuring that adult prisons operated constitutionally and that field services focused on effective reintegration of former prisoners into their communities. The plan fell apart when the Illinois Senate defeated Fogel's [Page 606]nomination, due to an unrelated battle between Walker and Chicago's powerful mayor, Richard J. Daley. Subsequently, Miller found himself stymied in intended major reform efforts. As he succeeded in overseeing implementation of the more modest Unified Delinquency Intervention Services (UDIS) project, he became enmeshed in various child welfare controversies and left the state in 1976.

...