Editing Reform school

{{Short description|19th century juvenile reformatory}}
{{main|reformatory}}
{{Multiple issues|{{original research|date=March 2019}}
{{more citations needed|reason=This essay seems to have no verifiable references except toward the end where the links and citations probably suffice.|date=March 2013}}}}
[[Image:House of Refuge, Randall's Island, New York.jpg|thumb|right|270px|[[New York House of Refuge]], a reform school completed in 1854]]
A '''reform school'''  was a [[Prison|penal institution]], generally for [[teenager]]s, mainly operating between 1830 and 1900. In the [[United Kingdom]] and its colonies, [[reformatory|reformatories]] (commonly called reform schools) were set up from 1854 onward for children who were convicted of a crime, as an alternative to an adult prison. In parallel, [[Industrial school (Great Britain)|industrial schools]] were set up for vagrants and children needing protection. Both were 'certified' by the government from 1857 onward, and in 1932, the systems merged and both were 'approved' and became [[approved school]]s.

Both in the United Kingdom and the United States, they came out of social concerns about cities, poverty, immigration and vagrancy following [[Industrialisation|industrialization]], as well as from a shift in [[penology|society's attitude]] from retribution (punishing the miscreant) to [[Prison reform|reforming]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ploszajska|first=Teresa|title=Moral landscapes and manipulated spaces: gender, class and space in Victorian reformatory schools|journal=Journal of Historical Geography|volume=20|issue=4|pages=413–429|doi=10.1006/jhge.1994.1032|year=1994}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Benevolent repression : social control and the American reformatory-prison movement|last=W.|first=Pisciotta, Alexander|date=1994|publisher=New York University Press|isbn=9780814766231|location=New York|oclc=29358320|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/benevolentrepres0000pisc}}</ref>

They were distinct from [[borstal]]s (UK; 1902–1982), which were enclosed juvenile prisons.<ref>Australian Government, [http://www.cockatooisland.gov.au/about/history/reform-school Cockatoo Island]</ref>

==History==
Social reformers in America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries almost invariably found fault with the then-usual practice of treating [[juvenile delinquency|juvenile]] offenders essentially the same as [[adult]] [[criminal]]s. It was recognized that the juveniles were often sexually and/or otherwise exploited by the older inmates, and that they were often receiving instruction in more advanced and serious ways of crime by hardened criminals. As a result, rather than their sentences serving as a deterrent to future crimes, many juvenile offenders emerged from incarceration far worse than when they were first sentenced.

The reforms, which were adopted more readily in some states than others, consisted of a two-pronged approach – a separate [[Minor (law)|juvenile code]] and [[juvenile court]]s for offenders who had not reached the [[age of majority]], and the building of separate institutions for juvenile "delinquents" (the [[social stigma|stigmatizing]] term "criminal" not being used). Since the primary purpose of these institutions was to be [[Rehabilitation (penology)|rehabilitative]] rather than [[punitive]], they were styled "reform schools". For the most part, these institutions were custodial.

In the United Kingdom, [[reformatory]] schools  were provided for criminal children, whilst [[Industrial Schools Act|industrial schools]] were intended to prevent vulnerable children from becoming criminals.<ref name=gear>{{cite web|url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10006627/7/DX211996_Redacted.pdf|title=Industrial Schools in England, 1857-1933|publisher=University of London Institute of Education|language=en|author=Gillian Carol Gear|date=1999|access-date=20 April 2020}}</ref> There was a perceived rise in juvenile delinquency during the early 19th century; whereas in a rural economy young children could gain paid employment doing tasks such as bird scaring and stone gathering, these opportunities were not available in the cities. Children were very visible on the streets. In 1816, Parliament set up a ‘Committee for Investigating the Alarming Increase in Juvenile Crime in the Metropolis’; in 1837, the writer Charles Dickens published ''[[Oliver Twist]]'', a story about a child involved in a street gang; and it was recognised in the [[Juvenile Offences Act 1846]] that children under 14 should be tried in a special court, not an adult court.<ref>{{cite web|title=Victorian children in trouble with the law - The National Archives|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/victorian-children-in-trouble/|website=The National Archives|access-date=31 March 2017}}</ref> Begging and vagrancy were rife, and it was these low-level misdemeanours that caused the magistrates to send children to industrial schools to learn to be industrious, and learn skills that would make then more employable.

More serious crimes required an element of punishment in an environment away from older prisoners, followed by education to reform their ways. The power to set up such an establishment was given in the [[Youthful Offenders Act 1854]] (the Reformatory Schools Act). This provided financial assistance and support for reformatory schools as an alternative to prison.<ref name=gear/> Industrial schools were regularised three years later by the [[Industrial Schools Act 1857]].<ref name=gear/>

In Australia, reform schools were established by the ''Neglected and Criminal Children Act 1864'', which provided for children who came under state guardianship. In theory, children who were considered 'neglected' were sent to an industrial school, while those who had broken the law were sent to a reformatory. In practice however, older children tended to be sent to reformatories and younger ones to industrial schools, with little regard as to why they had been committed. The over-crowding and insanitary conditions of these schools, combined with poor diets and overwork, caused terrible health problems. Contagious disease was a big problem, particularly measles and eye diseases. The reform school system came to an end on 1887, due to public pressure, and government shifted its focus towards the use of foster homes.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Reformatories and Industrial Schools|url=https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/vic/biogs/E000816b.htm|website=findandconnect}}</ref>

In the 1950s and 1960s, many of the same problems that had occurred with the former system of incarcerating juveniles along with adults began to be noticed in reform school — older juveniles exploiting the younger ones, sexually and otherwise, and the younger ones taking the more hardened, usually older offenders as role models and mentors. Also, the term "reform school" itself, originally intended as [[Euphemism treadmill|destigmatizing]], had developed its own stigma.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}

==Modern view==
Today{{when|date=March 2025}}, no state openly or officially refers to its [[Youth detention center|juvenile correctional institutions]] as "reform schools", although such institutions still exist. The attempt has also been made to reduce the population of such institutions to the maximum extent possible, and to leave all but the most incorrigible youths in a home setting. Also, in an attempt to make the situation more socially normal, and in response to the rising number of young female offenders, many such institutions have been made coeducational.
The current approach involves minimizing the use of custodial institutions and the maximization of the use of less-restrictive settings which allow the youths to remain in their own homes, usually while attending during the daytime an institution called an [[alternative school]] or something similar, which is usually a more-structured version of a [[Public school (government funded)|public school]].  There may be court-monitored [[probation]] or other restrictions, such as a strict [[curfew]] applied to the clientele of the "Department of Youth Services" or whatever the state terms it, than for other youths the same age.

In the [[United States]], the most well-known facilities meeting the general criteria for being colloquially labelled "reform schools" include the Lincoln Hills School near [[Merrill, Wisconsin]] and the [[Preston School of Industry]] in [[Ione, California]]. The first publicly funded reform school in the United States was the [[State Reform School for Boys]] in [[Westborough, Massachusetts]]. It opened in 1848.

In [[Denmark]], [[continuation high school]]s continue to be used as reform schools as they are much cheaper than [[youth detention center]]s, while the success rates are much the same.<ref>[http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/krimi/baggrund/article.php/id-8685744.html Når børn begår kriminalitet] (When Children commits crimes), TV2, September 9, 2007</ref> Today, there are no national guidelines regarding the severity of the crimes with which the children are charged; nor are there any guidelines in place to assist in the decision to send them to reform school in the first place, since each town or jurisdiction has its own bylaws and budgets. Children charged with making bomb threats end up in such places.<ref>Allan Staal (June 17, 2005) [http://www.jv.dk/artikel/196702 14-årig sendes på efterskole efter bombetrussel] (14-year-old being sent to continuation school after bomb threat) Jydske Vestkysten</ref>

==See also==
* [[Alternative school]]
* [[Continuation high school]]
* [[George Junior Republic]]
* [[Therapeutic boarding school]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Reformatory Schools |short=x}}

[[Category:Juvenile law]]
[[Category:School types]]