After the Doors Were Locked, A History of Youth Corrections in California and the Origins of Twenty-First Century Reform

The California youth corrections system is going through the most sweeping change in its 154- year history. The amazing nature of this modification is exposed by the striking decrease in the state’s youth imprisonment rate.

In 1996, with 10,000 youth restricted in 11 state-run reformatories, California boasted the country’s 3rd greatest youth imprisonment rate. Now, with just 800 youth staying in a system consisted of simply 3 organizations, California has among the country’s most affordable youth imprisonment rate.

How did such unmatched modifications take place and what were the vital conditions that produced them? Daniel E. Macallair addresses these concerns through an assessment of the California youth corrections system’s origins and development, and the patterns and practices that eventually caused its death.

Starting in the 19 th century, California followed nationwide juvenile justice patterns by consigning mistreated, disregarded, and overdue youth to gather care organizations referred to as reform schools. These organizations were identified by their focus on regimentation, stiff structure, and severe discipline.

Behind the walls of these organizations, kids and youth, who varied in age from 8 to 21, went through offensive ruthlessness. Regardless of regular public protest, life in California reform schools altered little bit from the opening of the San Francisco Industrial School in 1859 to the dissolution of the California Youth Authority (CYA) in 2005.

By welcoming popular nationwide patterns at numerous times, California encapsulates much of the history of youth corrections in the United States. The California story is extraordinary because the state typically presumed a management function in embracing ingenious policies meant to enhance institutional treatment.

The California juvenile justice system stands at the limit of a brand-new age as it shifts from a 19 th century state-centered institutional design to a decentralized structure developed around localized services provided at the county level.

After the Doors Were Locked is the very first to chronicle the special history of youth corrections and institutional care in California and evaluate the origins these days’s reform efforts. This book uses important details and assistance to existing and future generations of policy makers, administrators, judges, supporters, trainees and scholars.

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