New York Society For The Prevention of Cruelty To Children - Initial Impact

Initial Impact

Following its inception, the Society quickly became an integral part of the New York legal system, acting as representatives of the State and City in child abuse court cases, and with a hotline from the Society to the police. According to one analysis, the Society effectively brought state law "into line with its understanding of childhood". The organisation itself claims that "the entire body of modern child protective legislation is rooted in laws advocated by the NYSPCC". This includes:

• acts requiring custodians to provide food, clothing, medical care and supervision, prohibiting child endangerment and regulating child employment (1876);
• acts prohibiting the sale of intoxicants to minors and mandating their separation from adults when arrested (1877);
• acts providing juvenile parole for those under 16, prohibiting children in saloons unless accompanied by a parent or guardian and prohibiting gun dealers from selling or giving weapons to minors (1884);
• acts prohibiting the employment of children in sweatshops and factories and limiting child employment to 60 hours a week (1886);
• acts regulating obscene material with respect to children (1887) and providing protections for messenger and telegraph boys (1888);
• acts prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors and prohibiting them from living in drug dens and houses of prostitution (1889).

The founding of the NYSPCC prompted the rapid formation of other societies around the United States. By 1880 there were 37 societies; 162 in 1901, and by 1910 there were 250 societies in operation.

One impact of the NYSPCC's activities was an increase in the number of men in the legal system being prosecuted for sexual crimes against children; the Society campaigned successfully for a reassessment of the sexuality of children and their difference to adult women.

It has been argued, however, that these initial years were not a campaign for children's rights, but partly motivated by a desire to control the working classes and instil conservative values. Bergh himself spoke in favour of flogging children as a form of discipline at the first meeting of the NYSPCC. However it is certain that the NYSPCC helped to establish a more humanitarian definition of child cruelty.

A notable feature of the NYSPCC's initial activities was Gerry's view that the proper role of the Society was as a law enforcement agency rather than a provider of social services, with its main focus on child rescue. This position arguably made the society seem less progressive in later years as other organisations moved away from legal enforcement towards family support and cruelty prevention rather than prosecution. In particular, the Massachusetts and Brooklyn SPCCs criticised an approach which made "no attempt to discover the cause of the conditions which make action by the society necessary, and therefore no endeavor to prevent a recurrence of these conditions".