1824: New York opens House of Refuge for young offenders deemed to be reformable. The facility was seen as "an asylum in which boys under a certain age, who become subject to the notice of the Police, either a vagrants or houseless or charged with petty crimes, may be received."
1828: 12 yr old James Guild, a black child in Hopewell, N.J., is hanged for murder. At least 10 youths under the age of 14 are executed in the U.S. during the 19th century.
1855: Michigan opens a House of Corrections for Juvenile Offenders in Lansing, housing 96 students-22 of whom had to sleep in the hallways due to lack of space.
1870: The Illinois Supreme Court rules that youth were being illegally confined to the Chicago Reform School. The youth had not been convicted of criminal offenses. Most were sent there as homeless orphans by judges who wanted to keep them off the streets and out of mischief.
1872: The Chicago Reform School closes; convicted juveniles sent to an adult prison in Pontiac, Ill.
1875: Wisconsin allows commitment to its industrial schools of any boy under age 12 and any girl under age 16 who begs, wanders the streets without a home or proper guardianship, is an orphan or abandoned, or has parents in prison.
1875: The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is organized and assists courts in placing thousands of poor and neglected children.
1888: The Illinois legislature passes "An act to Regulate the Treatment and Control of Dependent, Neglected and Delinquent Children" establishing the nation's first Juvenile Court.
1900: The first juvenile court judge, Richard Tuthill, sends 37 boys to a Chicago grand jury because they are not fit subjects for juvenile court.
1901: Denver, Colorado, Judge Ben B. Lindsey takes office and begins a revolutionary approach to helping abused and neglected children without a formal Juvenile Court.
1915: By now, 46 states, 3 Territories and the District of Columbia have established Juvenile Courts.
1927: Denver Judge Lindsey loses re-election to a candidate backed by the Ku Klux Klan. He burns juvenile records to protect children from the Klan.
1937: The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges is formed, "dedicated to improving the juvenile justice system" in the U.S.
1930-60: Youth charged with crimes in Juvenile Court are treated as wayward children, with the exception of many charged with serious crimes who are transferred to adult courts by Juvenile Court Judges.
1967: In an Arizona case called In Re: Gault, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that juvenile suspects are entitled to the same due process rights as adult defendants. Justice Abe Fortas likens Arizona's Juvenile Court system to a "kangaroo court".
1969: The New Jersey Juvenile Detention Association is started.
1971: The National Juvenile Detention Association is formed in Edwardsville, Ill. To promote adequate detention services for children.
1974: The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act is passed by Congress, mandating the separation of institutionalized juveniles from adult criminals.
1980: Congress outlaws the jailing of status offenders (for acts that are only offenses because of their juvenile status, such as truancy).
1988: Congress orders efforts to halt the disproportionate jailing of minority youth.
1988-94: State legislators, responding to public fears over highly publicized crimes by juveniles, begin excluding youths accused of serious crimes from Juvenile Court and allowing more juveniles to be sent to adult prisons.
1996: Harvard Law School Dean Roscoe Pound likens Juvenile Court to "the illegitimate issue of an illicit relationship between the legal profession and the social work profession, and now no one wants to claim the little bastard."
1998: No action is taken on Senate Bill 10, which would encourage states to try more juveniles in adult courts and allow juveniles to be jailed with adult prisoners. Conservative vow to press a new version of S. 10 in 1999.