Juvenile Practices
Through most of the 20th Century, juvenile offenders, on the other hand, avoided prison sentences, though their circumstances may not have just as punitive. They were directed by the philosophy of the time that youth could still be rehabilitated with the right direction. “Since the inception of written law, juveniles who have committed a crime have been treated differently than adult-age criminals,” and this was the case in Oklahoma.5 Even more than a hundred years ago, young people in trouble were not seen as criminals, but as misdirected, in need of assistance or guidance, and able to be rehabilitated.6 Youth who were tried in courts were done so in adult courts. Unfortunately, from before Oklahoma statehood in 1907, juveniles in trouble tended often to face dangerous and inhospitable supervision. Still, in 1907, there were a few institutions for “wayward, abandoned, orphaned, and hooligan youth.”7 Their care and treatment were arbitrary, depending on the values and ethics of the missionary, private, or philanthropic group who provided it. These institutions were well-intentioned, if often misguided. Despite their names, Oklahoma institutions continued to at least try to provide guidance and education. The Central Oklahoma Juvenile Center (its current name) opened in 1917 and has had many names, including the Oklahoma State Industrial School for Incorrigible Girls and the State Industrial School for White Girls.8The Tulsa Boys Home was founded in 1918 and is still in existence under that name today. Our state started one of the first juvenile courts in 1909, directing youth to appropriate treatment rather than incarceration.9
Still mostly maintaining the differences between adult and juvenile systems, in the 1930s Oklahoma state associations started to unify the public and private institutions until the Department of Public Welfare was created by an amendment to the state constitution in 1936. At this time, children who were dependent, delinquent, or neglected had been housed together indiscriminately. They were institutionalized at sites “which were not only segregated, but the care of the children was purely custodial and at times brutal.”10 As their oversight and federal funding increased, the DPW was able to funnel youth to the institution or site which best suited their needs. The Tulsa County Juvenile Court was established in 1950 in its own facility with its own judge. A key improvement in 1959 was the establishment of the Oklahoma Merit System, dictating that employees of these systems were hired for qualifications and competency rather than political patronage, as had been the case. Despite these efforts to make things better, by 1961 the state institutions were in a poor state, littered with trash and human waste. The children were insufficiently clothed and fed, often with only two meals a day.
Nationally in the 1950s and ‘60s, the effectiveness of the juvenile justice system came under scrutiny as the public became concerned by disparities in treatment. Juvenile court judges, with their differing philosophies or moods, had absolute discretion. For the same offence youth could receive extremely different sentences—or lack thereof.
Tulsa County began its more progressive departure in the late Sixties. In 1968, a center was built to house the courts and the programs for the juvenile justice system. Since then, the center, now about to be replaced, has provided services for stabilizing families and fostering families, for intervention, and for access to services and resources, in addition to its administering juvenile justice. The approach was more holistic and recalled earlier ideas about youth deserving restoration and second chances, but we were about to fall in line with the rest of the country in some ways.
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