ABSTRACT
The concept of deinstitutionalization, also known as decarceration, is recent; 1969 is considered its inception. In that year, Jerome Miller began deinstitutionalization of incarcerated juvenile offenders in Massachusetts. Asserting that the era of confinement of children in larger correctional facilities was over and that an era of more humane, decent, and community-based care for delinquents had begun, Miller closed the major juvenile institutions. Confined charges were placed in small homes, using other, already existing community-based correctional programs and services ( Sherrill, 1975a, 1975b ).
