Child Savers Essay

The child savers were an organization that tried to prevent juveniles from being delinquent and tried to change the justice system they were involved in. The child savers focused on minority and poor children; they wanted to rehabilitate children instead of sentencing them to jail time. They also wanted to separate young kids in prison from actual criminal, adult offenders. Colonization was a major factor in the way juveniles developed. The concept of Colonization is as America became more industrial, children were forced from rural to urban communities. This change impacted children in a way that an organization was forced to step in and take charge in a movement that would take many years of dedication, policies, and numerous reforms. This adjustment was consequential towards the development of juvenile delinquency. This made the idea of social disorganization; the theory that the characteristics of a city are linked to crime rates. Cities built up rather than out which caused the increase in the number of city …show more content…
They started helping the youth in the early 1900’s. As Platt states in the book, “It was through the reformatory system that the child savers hoped to demonstrate that delinquents were capable of being converted into law-abiding citizens” (Platt 46). The reformatory system brought about detention centers for kids that misbehaved. Platt explains, “It’s administrators assumed that abnormal and troublesome individuals could be trained to become useful and productive citizens” (47). This idea forced children that misbehaved to try and turn over a new leaf. Their fate was put into their own hands as much as possible. The concept of colonization lead to the child savers stepping in to resolve the issue of childhood delinquency and slowing down the rate at which children were being locked