Houses of Refuge

The housing of delinquent youth in America has been a major concern throughout history. With the influx of immigrant families entering the United States in the late 1700s and early 1800s, increased juvenile presence and delinquency quickly became a social concern. As the result of increased juvenile presence on the streets, houses of refuge were proposed as a solution to juvenile delinquency. Throughout history, houses of refuge have been consistently defined as care facilities developed by the child savers (reformers who developed programs for troubled and neglected youth). Although houses of refuge existed ostensibly to protect potentially criminal youth from being easily influenced by the negative aspects of society, some critics argue that the use of houses of refuge was discriminatory, affecting only poor White immigrants while excluding Blacks. Particular attention has been given to historical discrimination and segregation of Black and White youth in juvenile facilities, as well as the existence of separate facilities for Blacks. This entry examines the history of the development of houses of refuge in America and consequently reviews the role of social reformers and court decisions in their existence.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, recognition of child rights in England sparked a new era of recognition of childhood as a status to be protected in America. This newfound status was identified as a [Page 356]special stage during which children were considered innocent but also corruptible. During this time, there were no laws governing or protecting children's rights; rather, chancery courts addressed the issue of neglected and poor children.

In the early 1800s, many White immigrant youth came to the United States from England as indentured servants or apprentices. Once these youth were in America, reformers were concerned with the moral training of those who exhibited behaviors such as drinking, vagrancy, delinquency, and running away. The doctrine of parens patriae, the power of the state to act on behalf of the child, was adopted by the courts to address children in need of supervision. This adoption marked a new direction in America, in which parents became second to the state when considering the well-being of children. Reformers believed that juvenile crime was the direct result of exposure to poverty, immigration, and lack of parental guidance. In their attempt to address these conditions, child savers supported removing children from their homes and placing them in houses of refuge to offer them better opportunities.

On January 1, 1825, the first house of refuge opened in New York. The main purpose of the house of refuge was to provide youth with firm discipline and a strong work ethic to compensate for what the family was not doing. Throughout the 18th century, many states followed New York in an attempt to address the newfound social concern surrounding juvenile delinquency. In 1826, Boston opened its first house refuge, and by 1828 many youth were being transported across the country.

Unlike their White counterparts, Black youth continued to be treated as, and housed with, adults in jail for years after the first house of refuge was established. Black youth were often hard to place as apprentices, and they were excluded from the opportunities provided by houses of refuge because of their skin color. Although delinquency concerns were similar for both Black and White youth, arguments surfaced that White child savers were interested only in saving White youth. And while facilities in New York and Boston accepted Blacks, they were segregated from the White youth. In other states, however, Black youth were excluded altogether from the houses of refuge. In 1849, Philadelphia established a separate house of refuge for Black youth. Even so, continued concern surrounding unequal race-based treatment led to the establishment of the Black Child Savers organization in 1907.

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