ABSTRACT
Historical contingencies, social forces and punishment discourses have shaped the birth and development of juvenile institutions in the U.S. The contours that converge in the institutionalization of juveniles begin in the colonial period between 1607 and 1775 when imported English laws were applied prescribing the death penalty for a wide range of crimes. However, many colonies adopted a more flexible approach to punishment based on the pace of social change, economic growth and population changes (Preyer 1982: 327). Colonies shared a common belief in the value of the family, the community and the church as key resources in the fight against sin and criminality (Rothman 1990: 16). The family was the central mode of juvenile social control to the extent that early laws even provided the penalty of death for children who disobeyed their parents (Krisberg 2005: 23, 24).1 However, harsh laws imposing the death penalty or other punishments were often unenforced by magistrates uneasy about sending children to adult jails (Schlossman 1995: 326). The close-knit community life of this period enabled easy identification of criminals and promoted a wariness of strangers. Two critical social issues were maintaining community cohesion and order and obedience to God. Crime was seen as a sin and a crime against God because it violated community norms. Like sin, crime was thought to be the outcome of a depraved human condition and because all 43men were born to corruption, the causes of crime did not need investigation (Rothman 1990: 15, 17).
