Quest
the california youth authority's golden years
by
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QUEST is a history and memoir of thirty-five years of youth correctional progress, of an institution that achieved a reputation of being the best in practice, and in utilizing a "strategy of search" to guide its decisions. It is a history, a memoir, and vignettes of people with whom I worked, and who were major contributors, or distracters from the goals and objectives that made the agency effective in it programs, albeit prevention, rehabilitation, training or innovative parole programs. It is the story of the "Golden Years of the California Youth Authority."
QUEST tells the story of this once premier youth correctional agency's fall from grace by disinterested political and administrative leaders without belief, vision, or leadership who set in motion a series of management decisions that lead to the agency's demise, and later destruction. It is a story of those who tried and failed, and others that failed without even trying.
QUEST will be of interest to a public that wants to be informed about the real costs and ineffectiveness of current correctional policy. And, if any serious politician is interested in developing alternatives, it is worth his, or her attention. It is of value to students and academics from many fields, in particular: the field of youth corrections, psychology, criminology, sociology, social welfare, and both public and business administration.
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In Praise of Quest
QUEST is a must read for everyone concerned with youth corrections programs. It chronicles the rise and fall of the California Youth Authority, and tells of those who strove to make better a vital social system in a fatally politicized government structure. The author combines historical details about evolving corrections' theory, research, strategic events and most important the people, delivered with the spot-on wit of an accomplished storyteller. Set during several of the most turbulent decades in our nation's history, he describes how the youth corrections system works, or not, from the bottom up, and concludes his exposition with a series of insightful propositions for citizens, correctional administrators, and politicians wanting to avoid repeating past mistakes. Dale R. Brown, PhD, Colonel (ret), U.S. Army
QUEST is the history of the California Youth Authority and the career of the author from 1941 -1976, from trainee to deputy director. The story he shares is about the strong and interesting people he met along the way, individuals, and leaders, who took an abstract idea about administering a program for troubled youth and its subsequent development into a premier youth correctional agency recognized and admired nationally and internationally. Having worked with him during the "Golden Years," I can assure the reader that his unique writing style lets you share the Quest in triumph and failure. It is an important book for anyone interested in improving the administration of criminal and juvenile justice. Ronald W. Hayes, Deputy Director (ret), California Youth Authority
QUEST is graphic review by an insider of the "rise and fall" of the California Youth Authority. From its beginning, the Youth Authority was recognized, nationally and internationally, for the extensive innovative, progressive programs for youthful offenders. Smith's recollections of this period offer valuable personal insights into its growth and equally valuable observations as to why the agency would later experience a downward spiral to extinction. It is well written and documented, and a major contribution to corrections, criminology, and an informed public. Robert E Keldgord, Chief Probation Officer, Sacramento (ret), Criminologist
About the Author
Robert L. Smith was born in San Diego, California in 1924, graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School in 1942, and inducted into the United States army in 1943. He trained as a surgical technician and shipped to Normandy, France in July 1944, where he served as a companty aid man with the 28th Infantry Division from July 16 until wounded in Wallendorf, Germany in September. Returning to combat, just before the Battle of the Ardennes in December, he promoted from private to staff sergeant. His military decorations include the Purple Heart, The Bronze Star, and five Battle Stars for the European Theater of Operations, Combat Medical Badge, and the Good Conduct Medal.
Attending college under the GI Bill of Rights he matriculated at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Berkeley where he received his BA in 1949 and MA in Sociology and Social Institutions in 1955.
His fifty plus year professional career was dedicated to the administration and reform of juvenile and criminal justice at the local, state, and federal levels of government. He held positions as Trainee, Probation Officer, Parole Officer, Supervising Parole Officer, Senior Prevention Consultant, Chief of Planning, Assistant Chief of Research, and Deputy Director with the California Youth Authority, and Assistant Director with the National Institute of Corrections before his second retirement in 1983.
Special awards include a Fulbright Scholarship to Britain in 1961, Winston Churchill Fellowship Grant to England in 1969, selection as Visiting Expert to the United nations Asian Far Eastern Institute in fuchu, Japan, in 1971, and Leader for six professional visits of Criminal justice Experts to China from 1979-1990, and one to the Soviet Union in 1989.
He retired for a third time in2000 to devote time to his new found interest, "being a story teller," which resulted in "Medic!", The Carnival of Animals, Time Out, Never Waste the Flowers, Desires of the Heart, and Quest, his sixth book.
Robert and Fran Williams married in 1950, and made their home in Berkeley, California in 1951, where they continue to live.