Silence and Erasure: Life Histories of Mexican-Origin Girls in California Reformatory Schools, 1942–1955

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding Carceral Histories of Youth to Interrogate Identities Positioned in Deficit Discourses

Abstract

The Ventura School for Girls (1913-1962) operated during California’s formation of its juvenile justice system. This oral history and archival study center the experiences of Mexican-origin girls referred to reformatories due to “status” or “sex-related” crimes. This study seeks to understand the construction of pathological colonial discourses of how non-dominant femininities become criminalized in educational and juvenile justice discourse, policy, and practice.

Author

• Maria C. Malagon, California State University - Fullerton