Discover the activities and work carried on inside the Elmira Reformatory and the evolution of the criminal reform model through the lens of vintage images. The Elmira Reformatory, established in 1876 in Elmira, New York, was a testament to the most interesting, most scientific, and most hopeful treatment of the convicted criminal that has ever been tried in the United States. It conformed to what were considered sound theories, and the results were good beyond all expectations. Its inception was due to the genius and experience of Zebulon R. Brockway, who had practical training in prison management and was profoundly acquainted with the nature of the lawbreaking class of the 19th century. Elmira Reformatory contains images of the work done at Elmira in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is a compelling view of the activities carried on inside the reformatory and the evolution of the criminal reform model.

But Creating Born Criminals is much more than a look at the past. It is an exploration of the role of biological explanation as a form of discourse and of its impact upon society. While The Bell Curve and other recent books have stopped short of making eugenic recommendations, their contentions point toward eugenic conclusions, and people familiar with the history of eugenics can hear in them its echoes. Rafter demonstrates that we need to know how eugenic reasoning worked in the past and that we must recognize the dangers posed by the dominance of a theory that interprets social problems in biological terms and difference as biological inferiority.