Juvenile Justice and the Boys' Farm - Surviving a Court-Created Population Crisis, 1909-1948

• NCJ Number: 94274
• Journal: Social Problems Volume: 31 Issue: 5 Dated: (June 1984) Pages: 500-513
• Author(s): P Rains
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Reform schools for juvenile delinquents have shown remarkable resilience and adaptability in the face of changing public policy about how children who break the law should be treated.

Abstract

This paper is a case study of one Canadian reform school which has survived four serious population crises since 1909: the Boys' Farm and Training School in Shawbridge, Quebec. The article focuses on the first population crises, from 1921 to 1930, showing how it arose and the strategies adopted by the board of directors at The Boys' Farm to deal with it. Then it examines two other strategies which the board used subsequently to deal with the ongoing problem of dwindling population at the reform school. It concludes by discussing the implications of the research to the ongoing debate over juvenile justice policy. Tables, footnotes, and about 30 references are included. (Author abstract modified)