Fighting Juvenile Delinquency in Late Victorian England

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

The study reviews the recognition by Victorians that youth offenders were problem that needed to be addressed. Starting in the last third of the nineteenth century, local authorities created a new institution, the Industrial School, which attempted to reform children that had run afoul of the law. Males and females were sentenced to these facilities, and while there, the youth were to learn non-criminal ways and a trade that they could pursue to be virtuous Victorians. These schools were run by local authorities and great care was taken to ensure that students were well treated and that the training programs were turning out successful candidates for jobs. Some local educational authorities ran their own Industrial Schools and oversaw those under independent control.

The results indicated that, although problems existed in individual schools, the program was a success. Year after year these graduates, no longer turned to crime, left for jobs that put them on the path to success in their station in life. This study is based on the archival holdings in the London Metropolitan Archives in Britain.

Authors

• Lily Chi-Fang Tsai, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

• Timothy H. Baughman, University of Maryland Eastern Shore