Youth, Division for

In 1944 Governor Thomas E. Dewey appointed an interdepartmental committee to study the problem of juvenile delinquency. Upon the recommendation of this committee, the New York State Youth Commission, a temporary state commission comprised of a chairperson appointed by the governor and the commissioners of the departments of Correction, Education, Health, Mental Hygiene, and Social Welfare, the industrial commissioner, and the chairperson of the Board of Parole, was established in 1945 (Chapter 556). The commission, which was extended until 1956, studied and made recommendations on the problems of youth guidance, prevention of juvenile delinquency, and treatment of youthful offenders and provided local municipalities with financial and technical aid for delinquency prevention projects. In 1955 (Chapter 603), a year before the temporary state commission was scheduled to terminate, the Temporary State Commission on Youth and Delinquency--a bipartisan group of legislators, public officials, and laymen--was established to review public policy in this area. As a result of this commission's analysis, the State Youth Commission was reestablished as a permanent Executive Department agency in 1956 (Chapter 636). Commission membership was nine persons appointed by the governor for five-year terms. Three years later, Governor Rockefeller appointed a Task Force on Youth and Juvenile Delinquency to again study state youth policy. Based on legislation drafted by this task force, the Division for Youth was created in 1960 (Chapter 881) to supersede the Youth Commission. This Division assumed all the functions of the former commission and was also authorized to establish and operate centers for the rehabilitation of delinquent adolescents. The Youth Commission was renamed the Council on Youth and continued to exist as an advisory body to the director of the division. Youth-care facilities operated by the Department of Social Services were transferred to the division in 1971 (Chapter 947).