Alternatives to the Juvenile Justice System: Their Development and the Current “State of the Art” z by DR. FREDERIC G. REAMER AND PROFESSOR CHARLES H. SHIREMAN zy Aurhors’ note: Funding for this research was provided by Grant No. 79-JN-AX- 00 18 from the Law Enforcement Assist- ance Administration, Department of Jus- tice. Points of view or opinions stated in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the offical posi- tion or policies of the Department of Just ice. INTRODUCTION The past 150 years’history of the Ameri- canjuvenilejustice system can be viewed as the chronicle of a series of endeavors to devise alternatives to the processing of juveniles as criminals. The founding of the New York House of Refuge in 1824 pro- vided a model for what became a consider- able number of institutions designed to se- zyxwvu ~ ~~ zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFED Author’s oddresses: Dr. Frederick G. Reamer, Assistant Professor Professor Charles H. Shireman School of Social Service Administration University of Chicago 969 E. 60th St. Chicago, I L 60637 gregate the child offender from adult criminals. An equally important step was the development of probation services. In 1869, Massachusetts enacted a statute re- quiring the presence of a state agent in court in cases in which juveniles were ac- cused of a crime and might be placed in a reformatory. This agent was to search for alternatives such as foster placement or indenture and zyxw to otherwise protect the in- terest of and provide for such children.’ The reform movement next reached to- ward separate detention facilities for juve- niles, with an 1877 New York statute, for example, prohibiting placinga child under 16 years “in any prison, place of confine- ment, or in any vehicle for transport in company with adults charged with or con- victed of crime, except in the presence of proper officials.’? The long stream of reform seemed for many years to have achieved its optimal form in Illinois in 1899 with the passage of legistation establishing the first statewide juvenile court - a model which rapidly spread throughout the United States and, indeed, throughout the Western world. No May, 198 1 /Juvenile & Family Court Journal 25