House of Refuge: Origins of Juvenile Reform in New York State, 1815-1857The New York House of Refuge, the first institution in America to deal with the juvenile delinquent as a special problem, opened its doors in 1825. Deeply concerned with the plight of the thousands of children who roamed the New York City streets, many of them becoming professional criminals, a volunteer group called the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, founded the institution to rehabilitate "deviant" adolescents. This is the