Historical Overview

The Crime and Justice Foundation:
A HISTORY

A SPRING DAY, BOSTON, 1878

The resolutions needed to form The New England Society for the Suppression of Vice were passed unanimously, and an Executive Committee met on May 31, at 4:00 p.m. at Boston's Park Street Church and called for the first Annual Meeting to be held March 27, 1879. The objectives of the organization: to suppress vile publications and manufacturers, and to promote public morality.

The Crime and Justice Foundation:
A HISTORY

New England Watch and Ward Society 1891

Without notice or explanation the cover of the 1890-1891 annual report read, New England Watch and Ward Society formerly New England Society for the Suppression of Vice. According to the notes of the twentieth anniversary meeting, the new name was chosen because the "old Watch and Ward Society was a volunteer police force which, here in Boston, patrolled the streets at night protecting citizens from peril, from disorder, and from vice." The organization would bear the honored name and the "watchward" would be prevention. There were advisory committees in each New England state.

The Crime and Justice Foundation:
A HISTORY

The John Howard Industrial Home 1890

According to the minutes of the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons, dated October 8, 1787, british reformer John Howard promised five hundred pounds to the permanent charity, if it was formed during his lifetime or within three years of his death. (There is no record to show if he kept his promise.) This very first American prison reform group inspired by John Howard and his work changed its name to Pennsylvania Prison Society in 1887. Boston established its ownJohn Howard Industrial Home in 1890. The John Howard idea spread to Chicago in 1901.

The Crime and Justice Foundation: A HISTORY

The John Howard Society 1938

A special meeting was held on November 18, 1937; it was resolved to change the name of the Industrial Home to The John Howard Society. Among the incorporators were Samuel A. Eliot, Eldredge K. Newhall and Charles G. Winslow. In 1938 Henry Mascarello reported on the services provided to offenders and requested a contribution of $4,000 (an increase from the amount of $3,520 given the previous year).
His study of a delinquent group of 775 men who had received aid from the Industrial Aid Society, showed the following: The greatest number of the men were between the ages of 30 and 39. Crimes of acquisitive nature were the most numerous at 72.1%, followed by drunkenness at 55.3%. Financial aid was given to 72.8% and, of all aid given, 60% came from the John Howard Society contribution.

The Crime and Jusitce Foundation
A HISTORY

The Massachusetts Prison Association 1889

The first public notice of the birth of a new organization was found in the proceeding of the Annual Congress of the National Prison Association, held at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1889. "For a long time, need has been felt in Massachusetts for a prison society with a broader scope, and a strong movement is now afoot for the establishment of such a society; fifty prominent men and women having already promised to join." And so the Massachusetts Prison Association was organized, December 9, 1889, opened an office in February, 1890 at No. 1 Pemberton Square. Edmund A. Whitman was secretary until he resigned in May and Warren F. Spaulding assumed the duties of secretary.

The Crime and Jusitce Foundation
A HISTORY

THE MASSACHUSETTS COUNCIL ON CRIME AND CORRECTION 1967

A press release dated September 27, 1968, read, "The Massachusetts Council on Crime and Delinquency has joined forces with the New England Citizen's Crime Commission. The merged organization will act as the state action arm of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency." The announcement was made by Attorney General Elliot Richardson, who had urged the two groups to merge. He termed the action, "a historic advance in crime control in our Commonwealth which will enlist maximum private citizen participation and interest." Headquartered at 3 Joy Street the MCCC establishmed task forces to work on legislation, law enforcement, corrections, youth and public education.

The Crime and Jusitce Foundation
A HISTORY

THE UNITED PRISON ASSOCIATION 1940

In 1938-1939 the Boston Council of Social Agencies made a survey of agencies providing services to the ex-prisoner and found none devoted exclusively to providing casework service, while working for penal reform. This study provided the final impetus for merger of the John Howard Society, Friends of Prisoners, Inc,. and the Massachusetts Prison Association, to create the United prison Association, incorporated January 1, 1940, with offices at 51 Cornhill.

The Crime and Jusitce Foundation A HISTORY
New England Citizens Crime Commission 1957
The organization joined a National Association of Citizens Crime Commissions made up of member organizations in sixteen other cities. labor racketeering driven by the U.S. Senate Select "McClellen Commitee" in the late 50's.
By 1961, the New England Citizens Crime Commission, although still claiming to work on the promotion of public morality, defined this to mean: 1) respect for law and order,
2) integrity in business and the professions,
3) wholesome social life, and
4) constructive responsibility in civic affairs.
This was the year the Citizens Commission became a "key" player in the TV documentary, "Biography of a Bookie Joint," shown on CBS on November 30, 1961, narrated by Walter Cronkite.

The Crime and Jusitce Foundation A HISTORY

A halfway house seeks to assist in a successful transition from incarceration to freedom, sparing both the offender and the community needless trauma.

Beginnings in 1964

It is not surprising that Massachusetts Half-Way Houses, Inc. resulted from conversations among an inmate at Walpole (Cedar Junction), Murdock W. McDonald; the prison chaplain, Robert E. Burt; and a visiting clergyman, Rev. Sidney J. Menk, Executive Secretary of the Missionary Society of Boston.

Rev Menk met with George F. McGrath, Massachusetts Commissioner of Corrections; William A. Coolidge, National Research Foundation; and Daniel J. Finn, Director of Massachusetts Civil Defense, to form a halfway house provisional committee in February 1963. Frederick Nader, a doctoral candidate at Boston University�s School of Education, was hired to design a research component to develop criteria for selection of offender residents and later, a continuing study of the effectiveness of the project.

Massachusetts Half-Way Houses was incorporated on September 28th, 1964.

The Crime and Jusitce Foundation A HISTORY

The Crime and Justice Foundation 1975

Many people came to know crime and justice through one of it's programs. CJF's efforts begin with a vision of a fair and effective criminal justice system: A system which seeks to hold offenders accountable instead of inflicting revenge, and to restore an offender's membership in community rather than destroying it. CJF's stated mission: 1. To secure peace and reconciliation in our communities by improving the quality and effectiveness of our justice system. 2. To aid offenders (adults and juveniles) in re-establishing themselves as contributing members of the community. 3. To advance improvements in the administration of prisons and jails. 4. To develop support for enlightened and progressive approaches to the problems of crime and delinquency.

The Crime and Jusitce Foundation A HISTORY

Friends of Prisoners

Among the records of the Friends of Prisoners was a description written by a member of long standing, Gertrude Hooper. Because it is so reflective of the character of the agency, her narrative will be used to explain, in part, the activities of the organization. "One autumn afternoon in 1935, a group of about twelve women were invited to a meeting at his home by Dean Sturges of St. Paul's Cathedral. The idea for the meeting had originated with the Reverend Howard P. Kellett, then chaplain at Deer Island (House of Correction) and also on the Cathedral staff. He had seen at first hand the needs of prisoners and felt that here was a real piece of work which could be done only by laymen."

The Crime and Jusitce Foundation A HISTORY

The Massachusetts Correctional Association

Another year, another change, one reflecting the times, a new name. As the American Prison Association became the American Correctional Association, the United Prison Association became a "correctional" association. There was emphasis in policy away from direct assistance (financial, in particular) to offenders. The reform emphasis was on rehabilitation. Institutions and work titles were changed, penology became corrections. President Morris sought the opinion of the membership in a survey he devised. One of the questions asked about a name change; responses were favorable. With the growth and revitalization of national, state and city bureaucracies, came a shift in focus for the newly named Massachusetts Correctional Association.