In the early 1870s, Wandsworth Prison in London produced haunting photographs of child offenders at a time when photography itself was still a novelty.

Many of these children were harshly punished for petty thefts that today would barely merit a warning. In Victorian society, no distinction was made between adult and juvenile criminals, so even very young offenders were sent to adult prisons, and in extreme cases, executed. Authorities, fearful of rising crime, began using cameras to document repeat offenders and circulated their images much like modern-day public warnings. It was only with the 1908 Children’s Act that juvenile courts were established, ending the practice of placing children in adult prisons or sentencing them to death, though corporal punishment remained.