Discuss the history of juvenile policing in the early American colonies through the 1930s

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• In the American colonies, the local sheriff became the most important police official. By the mid-1800s, city police departments had formed in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.
• Officers patrolled on foot, and conflicts often arose between untrained officers and the public.
• By this time, children began to be treated as a distinguishable group. When children violated the law they were often treated the same as adult offenders.
• But even at this stage a belief existed that the enforcement of criminal law should be applied differently to children.
• During the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth, the problems associated with growing numbers of unemployed and homeless youths increased. Groups such as the Wickersham Commission of 1931 and the International Association of Chiefs of Police became the leading voices for police reform.
• Their efforts resulted in creation of specialized police units, known as delinquency control squads.
• The most famous police reformer of the 1930s was August Vollmer. As the police chief of Berkeley, California, Vollmer instituted numerous reforms, including university training, modern management techniques, prevention programs, and juvenile aid bureaus.
• These bureaus were the first organized police services for juvenile offenders.