In-Class Presentation: The Delinquent Girl And Progressivem Reform

For the in-class presentation I read and presented on chapters four and five. Before the in-class presentation our group met twice, and I attended both meetings. The whole group organized the meeting times in class. While we were in class we also agreed to have our class activity be a game, which I suggested. Everyone in the group showed up to both meetings and our meetings were efficient. We worked as a group during the meetings to ensure everyone was on the same page and that everyone had to work done that they needed to. I took notes during our meetings so I could remember what we discussed although there was not a great need for notes since there was not an abundance of information we needed to remember from the meetings. The notes consisted

Progressive reformers "looked to societal and family environments to explain sexual delinquency"(158) of working class adolescent girls. Progressive reformers were concerned about adolescent female sexuality because "such behavior posed serious moral, social, and health threats to the rest of society"(159). Sexually delinquent women were thought to be the source of STI's and the reason that STIs were spreading across the United States. Reformers identified the major moral dangers, to adolescent girls, as: entering the workforce, commercialized amusements, economic hardships, and home life. Of the major moral dangers the largest focus was on home life. Within home life there were other moral dangers to adolescent girls such as the overworked mother and the overcrowded house. The overworked mother was a moral danger because she was unable to guide and supervise her daughter properly through adolescence. The overworked mother was unable to supervise her daughters through adolescence because she had to work for a wage and then after that the overworked mother had to come home and take care of the house. She simply did not have the time and energy to also supervise her daughters through adolescence. Another moral danger reformers found in the household was that many working-class households were overcrowded.

The aims of the reformers’ actions were to protect girls from "sexual exploitation, unfit homes, and dangerous forms of work and recreation"(179). One of the ways in which reformers altered the criminal justice system is through the creation of detention homes. Detention homes were meant to be a place where delinquent girls would go to, instead of jail, in order to reform and rehabilitate. Another way that reformers altered the criminal justice system is that they pushed for the installment of women in authority positions in the criminal justice systems. Reformers thought that in order for delinquent girls to be reformed they need maternal figures who would understand their feminine needs. While reformers were successful in establishing detention homes and placing women in authority positions the advancements made were only for white