States of delinquency : race and science in the making of California's juvenile justice system / Miroslava Chavez-Garcia.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chávez-García, Miroslava, 1968-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Juvenile justice, Administration of--California--History.

Juvenile justice, Administration of.

Minority youth--California--History.

Minority youth.

Juvenile delinquents--California--History.

Juvenile delinquents.

Crime and race--California--History.

Crime and race.

Eugenics--California--History.

Eugenics.

Whittier State School (Whittier, Calif.).

Preston School of Industry (Ione, Calif.).

History.

California.

Physical Description:

xiv, 290 pages ; 18 cm

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2012]

Summary:

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.

Contents:

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.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780520271715

0520271718

9780520271722

0520271726

OCLC:

747331902