The Victorian Crimes Act of 1890, No. 1079, included two sections, 333 and 334, which related to the treatment of young prisoners. There was provision for them to be transferred from gaol to the Department of Reformatory Schools, from where they were placed either in private reformatories or ‘service’. Section 334 gave the authorities the right to transfer an offender back to gaol for bad behaviour. Section 33 was used to perform a second punishment in certain instances, when boys who had served their full fixed term less a day or two, were then transferred to a reformatory to begin a further, indeterminate sentence. It was also used to transfer boys back to a reformatory from a foster home for bad behaviour.
This Act was amended by Act No. 1198, Act No. 1231, Act No. 1236 and Act No. 1478. It was repealed by Crimes Act 1915, No. 2737.