reasingly unsupervised. These youths were largely unemployed and without supervision, and with movable goods easily available, stealing became a way of life. The huge influx of people to these urban areas overwhelmed society (1995). The factories could not keep up, and unemployment became a factor, which led to widespread poverty.Poorhouses were created to keep youthful offenders away from trouble. The idea behind them was to take the children of the “dangerous (1995) ” classes out of their “dangerous environment (1995).” Kids who were thought to be salvageable needed to be saved. The majority of these children were rounded up for the crime of being poor, not because they committed a crime. These houses, sometimes referred to as reform schools, were very harsh. This was contradictory to the ideas that they needed nurturing and love. In New York, houses of refuge were created to do the same. The houses eventually became overfilled, and children were sent out West as indentured servants. As many as 50,000 children were shipped out (1995). Some of the children were never allowed to have contact with their parents again.Industrialization and urbanization played a tremendous role in the modern era of juvenile delinquency. A lot of these factors are true today. Many more farms are going bankrupt. Unemployment is still a factor with the youth of today. We are a culture that values material wealth over and above all (1995). Youth who have no money to live the way they want will often turn to crime as a way to satisfy themselves. As our nation changes, the way in which juveniles are treated will also have to change. The current trends in juvenile delinquency have an impact on how we view the problem. Juvenile Delinquency 7The number of juvenile arrests has been declining. In 1971, 21% of all arrests we...
