In tracing the history of the juvenile court through the nearly century and a quarter since its beginning, it’s important to view how the inventors of the court viewed their own efforts. First of all, according to scholars who studied the early years of the juvenile court, the individuals who lobbied for a juvenile court saw themselves as part of a humanitarian vanguard transforming the status of children (Tannehaus, 2008). This transformation involved moving children from a state of being the property of their fathers to a dependent class requiring the protection of the state. The welfare of children, therefore, was no longer strictly the obligation of the father or the parents, but was now the responsibility of the state. And not only were
