Its Evolution in Late 19th Century England
The notion that juvenile delinquency in particular and crimes committed by child and adolescents in general were separate from crimes committed by adults is considered a recent construct. In fact, it was not until the first half of the 19th century in England that such a notion first came about. A corollary to this was the idea that these types of crimes and criminals should be treated differently from hardened adult criminals.
This is not to say that juvenile crimes did not exist before this or that juvenile crime was an invention of the 19th century. As Shore (2000) points out ôjuvenile crime and the petty, or not so petty, delinquencies of youth have been a central concern in society from time immemorialö (21). However, most scholars and historians admit that there was what might be called a ôre-conceptualizationö of the concept at this time, a new way of looking at it that went on to serve as the foundation for the treatment of these crimes in late 19th century England and indeed in our own juvenile justice systems in the early 21st centuryùalthough it can now be argued that such a system, especially in the United States, has begun to revert to pre-reform days.
In general, there were three key components to the new system that made it quantitatively different from what had taken place previously:
Built-in tension leading to a seesaw battle between ideas of punishment and reformation;
The idea that juveniles who committed crimes should be kept separate from adults throughout the criminal justice process (including trials as well as incarceration or other punishment);
The idea that the law had the right to step in and remove children from domestic situations where it was felt that the environment itself was leading to a life of criminality.
At the same time, and perhaps not coincidentally, other developments at the state and societal level helped consolidate the...