On this date 100 years ago Judge James C Riley expressed his belief in the power of science to correct the problems of delinquency among the young. He was calling on the McLean County Medical Association to investigate and find the causes of delinquency among the young people of McLean County.
He expressed his conviction that "Investigations have already shown that children complained of for truancy, for running away from home, for half a dozen things that lead to criminality, have been found to be suffering with some form of illness, some form of mal-formation of the brain, some physical reason why he may not be directed into the channels in which the normal child moves." Men like Judge Riley wished to avoid the dangers of exposing young delinquents to the school of crime in the jails and prisons. He recognized that juveniles would learn a great deal that they should not know when incarcerated. He believed that some sort of physical intervention, medical or surgical, could alter the trajectory of these criminals' lives. This was not only the conviction of Judge Riley but of the educated public that was attempting to address social problems.
The prevailing beliefs of social workers only allowed for the assistance of "deserving" poor, the removal of children to orphanages, and the supplementation of income to the poverty level. Judge Riley makes no mention of the evils of lack of education or child employment which fixed such children in dead end occupations that would perpetuate the cycle of poverty and popularize crime as a more profitable occupation.