The Department of Child Helping of the Russell Sage Foundation completed a detailed study of 151 public institutions for delinquent youth in the United States in 1924, including a few private institutions supported chiefly by public funds. The work of such schools is unique, technical, and vitally important, but up to the time that this study was undertaken no complete and detailed information regarding these institutions was available. The department undertook the study with the goal of informing the public and awakening its interest in these schools, and of assisting trustees and superintendents to improve the methods, standards, and conditions of their work. This book examines academics, physical care, and parole for delinquent girls, as well as building conditions, salaries in training schools, record-keeping, and community aspects of institutional life.

Margaret Reeves was field agent of the Russell Sage Foundation and director of the State Bureau of Child Welfare, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Part of a series documenting annual research and activity in the field of social work. It is a record of organized efforts in the United States to deal with social problems and social conditions. Topics include adult education, health, mental hygiene, crime and penal conditions, children, community organization, the disabled, and religious social work.

Fred S. Hall was joint author of American Marriage Laws.

Written for the 1910 meeting of the International Prison Commission, this report details, from a penological point of view, certain distinctive and characteristic phases of the criminal law in the United States and especially those that arise from the relations of the states to each other and to the federal government.

Eugene Smith was president of the Prison Association of New York.

This 1951 monograph presents the results of study and experiment of Illinois corrections, designed to bring about the best results in the selection of candidates for parole. It aimed to improve the conditions of parole selection and develop a parole system as a release procedure.

Lloyd E. Ohlin was research sociologist, Illinois Division of Correction.

This 1932 report presents model architectural plans for the police stations for a metropolitan city (based on the Milwaukee Public Safety Building of 1929), a medium-sized city, and a small city, as well as a fireproof jail for a small village.

Hastings H. Hart was director of the Department of Child-Helping of the Russell Sage Foundation.

A 1966 review of major problems, issues, and developments in the field of juvenile delinquency in the United States. It was written at the request of John W. Gardner, Secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, to provide a review of the field of delinquency which might be useful to the department in its planning. With the assistance of Anne Romasco.

Published in 1962, Cottage Six documents the implementation of more effective use of the social sciences in the therapeutic program of an institution for children, particularly its Cottage 6, inhabited by adolescent boys. It analyzes the problems that confront any institution that wishes to develop an integrated clinical and therapeutic community program.

Howard W. Polsky was professor at the New York School of Social Work, Columbia University.

This 1924 book documents a study on child welfare work in the District of Columbia begun in 1918 and revisited in 1922 by the Department of Child-Helping of the Russell Sage Foundation. It aimed to develop a plan of action to improve the conditions of children in foster homes and institutions. Topics include training schools, the juvenile court, and the care of mothers with children.

Hastings H. Hart was director of the Department of Child-Helping of the Russell Sage Foundation.

From the preface: “The present work and a simultaneously published companion volume, Theory and Practice of Social Planning, share an overall goal. They would conceptualize and illustrate both specialized planning for social programs or fields and the social aspects of more general planning endeavors. Of particular concern here is the demonstration through use of a number of critical planning concepts often discussed only in the abstract. Author and reader, of course, are concerned with specific policies and with programs in specific fields. The studies presented – they are short monographs rather than true chapters – introduce issues and problems in a variety of high-priority areas. The specific rationale for selection and the manner in which each study is employed are discussed in the first chapter.” Topics include: the anti-poverty war, child delinquency, income security, city renewal, community psychiatry, and the delivery of social services at the local level.

ALFRED J. KAHN was professor of Social Policy and Planning at the Columbia University School of Social Work.

A collaboration with the Russell Sage Foundation and the American Sociological Society, this report assesses sociologists’ contributions to the field of corrections and the study of crime and examines how sociological training and theory can be carried over into practical professional application in the field. Topics include the organizational aspects of the prison system, social-psychological aspects of prison life, probation and parole, and correctional career opportunities for sociologists.

Lloyd E. Ohlin was director of the Center for Education and Research in Corrections, University of Chicago.