Wayward Girls and Virtuous Women: Social Workers and Female Juvenile Delinquency in the Progressive Era

Abstract

In the Progressive Era, many immigrant and working-class girls were tried for crimes of immorality, were confined to reformatories, and were sometimes forced to undergo sterilization. This article discusses social workers' relationship to these practices that criminalized adolescent female sexuality by examining two branches of the burgeoning profession: the social reformers and the caseworkers.