ABSTRACT
Some twentieth-century writers give the impression that the idea of a juvenile court was something which, by serendipity or mutation in the minds of lawyers and social reformers, had arisen in Cook County, Illinois, in 1898. At the beginning of the nineteenth century few special provisions were made for children, either by the criminal laws of the States or by the Poor Laws. The nineteenth century saw the growth of an alternative to institutions in the form of foster homes and apprenticeship schemes. Some children were fostered after a period in an institution, but many others were placed direct from their own families by agencies like the Children's Aid Society and the New York Juvenile Asylum. The tension between a criminal justice and a welfare approach is apparent in other aspects of juvenile justice development. By the end of the century, the general attitude towards children was reflected by the decisions in the State Supreme Courts.
