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“Granting” Justice, Debating Delinquency: The Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Offenses Control Act and the UNC Training Center on Delinquency and Youth Crime, 1961–1967

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2024

Julia Short Open the ORCID record for Julia Short [Opens in a new window]
Julia Short*
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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Abstract

This article argues that 1961 to 1967 was a critical period when federal, state, and academic institutions looked with hope toward emerging methods in behavioral and social psychology to train juvenile justice officials and to treat delinquent children. Reflecting liberal optimism regarding the possibility of reforming individual behavior without structural change, the Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Offenses Control Act of 1961 provided project funding to cities, nonprofits, and universities. Using the University of North Carolina’s Training Center on Delinquency and Youth Crime as a case study, this article examines how federal funding was used for “experiments” with group therapy, youth incarceration, and cocreation of juvenile justice. Though largely inconclusive, these experiments demonstrated the existence of alternatives to the hyperinstitutionalization of juvenile offenders that accelerated after the Supreme Court’s 1967 decision of In re Gault.

Keywords

Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Offenses Control ActJuvenile delinquencyuniversity of North Carolina Chapel Hill Youth Research and Development UnitProgressivism
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Policy History , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , July 2024 , pp. 308 - 323
Copyright
© Donald Critchlow and Cambridge University Press, 2024

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References

Notes

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21 Goldberg and Kennedy, “Report to the President,” 4–6.

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