The Child Savers: The Invention of DelinquencyAnthony Platt's study, a chronicle of the child-saving movement and the juvenile court, explodes myth after myth about the benign character of both. The movement is described not as an effort to liberate and dignify youth but as a punitive, romantic, and intrusive effort to control the lives of lower-class urban adolescents and to maintain their dependent status. In so doing Platt analyzes early views of criminal behavior, the origins of the reformatory system, the social values of middle-class reformers, and the handling of youthful offenders before and after the creation of separate juvenile jurisdictions. In this second, enlarged edition of The Child Savers, the author has added a new introduction and postscript in which he critically reflects upon his original analysis, suggests new ways of thinking about the child-saving movement, and summarizes recent developments in the juvenile justice system. |
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administrators adult American Annual behavior Board of Public boys Brockway Charities and Correction Charles Charles Loring Brace Chicago Woman's Club child savers child-saving movement client Commissioners committed Conference of Charities Congress Cook County county jail crim crime criminal justice criminal law Criminology David Matza deviance economic Frederick Wines girls guilty Hofstadter House human Ibid Illinois Illinois Conference Industrial School inmates institutions interests Jane Addams Journal judge Julia Lathrop jury justice system juvenile court juvenile court system Juvenile Delinquency juvenile justice Juvenile Offenders labor lawyers Louise Bowen ment middle-class moral National Conference National Prison Association nature nineteenth century officers parents Penal Reform penology person PNCCC police political probation Proceedings professional programs Progressive Public Charities public defender punishment Ray Ginger Reform School reformatory Richard Hofstadter sentence Social Darwinism society Superintendent Supreme Court theory tion traditional urban welfare women York youth