States of Delinquency: Race and Science in the Making of California's Juvenile Justice System (Volume 35) (American Crossroads)

This unique analysis of the rise of the juvenile justice system from the nineteenth to twentieth centuries uses one of the harshest states—California—as a case study for examining racism in the treatment of incarcerated young people of color. Using rich new untapped archives, States of Delinquency is the first book to explore the experiences of young Mexican Americans, African Americans, and ethnic Euro-Americans in California correctional facilities including Whittier State School for Boys and the Preston School of Industry. Miroslava Chávez-García examines the ideologies and practices used by state institutions as they began to replace families and communities in punishing youth, and explores the application of science and pseudo-scientific research in the disproportionate classification of youths of color as degenerate. She also shows how these boys and girls, and their families, resisted increasingly harsh treatment and various kinds of abuse, including sterilization. This analysis of the rise of the juvenile justice system from the nineteenth to twentieth centuries uses one of the harshest states, California, as a case study for examining racism in the treatment of incarcerated young people of color. Using untapped archives, this book explores the experiences of young Mexican Americans, African Americans, and ethnic Euro-Americans in California correctional facilities including Whittier State School for Boys and the Preston School of Industry. The author examines the ideologies and practices used by state institutions as they began to replace families and communities in punishing youth, and explores the application of science and pseudo-scientific research in the disproportionate classification of youths of color as degenerate. She also shows how these boys and girls, and their families, resisted increasingly harsh treatment and various kinds of abuse, including sterilization This unique analysis of the rise of the juvenile justice system from the nineteenth to the twentieth century uses one of the harshest states-California-as a case study for examining racism in the treatment of incarcerated young people of color. Using rich untapped archives, States of Delinquency is the first book to explore the experiences of young Mexican Americans, African Americans, and ethnic Euro-Americans in California correctional facilities. Miroslava Chávez-García examines the ideologies and practices employed by state institutions as they began to replace families and communities in punishing youth, and explores the application of science and pseudoscientific research in the disproportionate classification of youths of color as degenerate. She also shows how these boys and girls, and their families, resisted increasingly harsh treatment and various kinds of abuse, including sterilization. Book jacket Building juvenile justice institutions in California Fred C. Nelles : innovative reformer, conservative eugenicist Mildred S. Covert : eugenics field worker, racial pathologist Cristobal, Fred, Tony, and Albert M. : specimens in scientific research and race betterment Otto H. Close : promising leader, complacent bureaucrat The legacy of Benny Moreno and Edward Leiva : "defective delinquents" or Tragic heroes? Epilogue: recovering youths' voices Notes Bibliography Index.