People ex rel. O'Connell v. Turner
Illinois Supreme Court
55 Ill. 280 (1870)
- Written by Meredith Hamilton Alley, JD
Facts
In 1863, the City of Chicago established a reform school to care for, educate, employ, and reform children between the ages of six and 16. Children who were living in “vagrancy, destitution of proper parental care, mendicancy, ignorance, idleness, or vice” were found to be living in “misfortune” and could be committed to the school without a trial, if the court found that the child was suited to reform school and that the welfare of the child and the good of society required it. A child was discharged from the school upon reaching the age of 21 or once the reform school’s board determined that the child had been reformed. The state arrested Daniel O’Connell (defendant), a 14-year-old boy, for misfortune, and his father, Michael O’Connell, sought a writ of habeas corpus. The court issued the writ, requiring the school superintendent to appear before the court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Thornton, J.)
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