Law's child: Juvenile court reform and the redefinition of childhood

The dissertation presented here is a study of the reform initiative on behalf of children that brought into existence the first statutory juvenile court in the United States, the Cook County Juvenile Court. The Illinois Juvenile Court Act, passed by the Illinois legislature in 1899, served as model legislation for similar statutes in other states, and the Cook County Juvenile Court was the object of international attention for its innovative approach to the problems of children.;The context for this study is the reform movement which American historians have called the Progressive Period. The child advocates identified herein saw the juvenile court as one of a wide range of reforms that they hoped would improve the condition of children in modern society. Their description of childhood drew upon the theories of the disciplines of the social sciences which were then being organized within American universities. The paradigm of development in childhood that informed the child study movement as well as the new practices of pediatrics and child psychology provided a convincing argument for the creation of new social practices toward children. This study seeks to identify the description of childhood that was formalized in the juvenile court law.;This dissertation goes on to argue that whatever the intentions of the juvenile court reformers might have been, the effect of their effort must be appraised with respect to the legal practice that resulted from the reform. The conclusion of this study rests on a consideration of the legal category of the best interests of children, which came into being with the creation of the juvenile court and is fundamental to the court's practice.