ABSTRACT
In the absence of reliable statistics from the early part of the century, it would be difficult to state categorically that a dramatic increase in juvenile crime had occurred, but there is no doubt that, from about 1840 onwards, contemporaries were convinced that a large proportion of crime was committed by the younger generation. The 1840s and 1850s were the critical decades in the formation of a new approach to juvenile crime. The background to this was the widespread investigation of social abuses by Parliamentary Select Committees and Royal Commissions which had already led to reforms such as the 1833 Factory Act and the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act.
