The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Reformatory Schools

REFORMATORY SCHOOLS, schools instituted for the training of juvenile offenders who have been convicted of an offense punishable by imprisonment. The first reformatory managed under legislative control was the one established in New York in 1824, known as the New York House of Refuge. Its success was so marked that at present there are 56 institutions in the United States for the reformation of juvenile offenders. Among them are a number of admirably conducted establishments under the control of religious denominations, to which children are sent, according to the religious creed of their parents, when the same can be ascertained.