IT IS WISER AND LESS EXPENSIVE TO SAVE GHILDREN THAN TO PUNISH GRIMINALS TJUVENILE OURT RECORD ANDRO PRINTING OBJECTS OF THE JUVENILE COURT RECORD The object of the JUVENILE COURT RECORD is to disseminate the principles of the Juvenile Court throughout the United States, and, in fact, the entire world. When the Juvenile Court was first established the sociologists of the entire country stood by watching anxiously the outcome of this new departure in child-saving methods. It was realized that a medium was needed whereby the results accomplished by the Juvenile Court might be set forth in an intelligent manner. The JUVENILE COURT RECORD stepped into the breach and has devoted its pages exclusively to news of the various juvenile courts. As a result of the publicity thus given to the foundation principles and routine work of the Cook County Juvenile Court other States have passed juvenile court laws, and bills are being prepared in nearly every State in the Union to be presented at the next sessions of the Legislatures of the various States providing for similar legislation. The foundation thought and idea of the Juvenile Court law is that children should be kept in the home to the greatest extent possible. The child's own home is preferred by the Court, but in lieu of that it is intended that any good home where proper care and training will be given shall be provided for the child. The State, in assuming its relationship as the guardian of the rights of the child, assumes a serious responsibility. Every child has a right to education and physical care. Primarily, this duty lies with the parents. This obligation should be enforced wherever possible. The family is the unit of society, and most of the evils of society arise from demoralized homes. It is the duty of the State to co-operate with the family as long as possible and help hold it up. If, however, for any reason the family fails, then a new home is necessary until such time as the family may again be brought together. If the family proves recreant and abdicates its functions altogether, it is the duty of the State to secure as nearly normal conditions for the children under its care and custody as may be in its power. The home is the normal place for a child's education and training. The fact that children are to be placed in homes presupposes the idea that some agency will be at hand to find a childless home for a homeless child. To the limit of its resources the JUVENILE COURT RECORD assists in finding homes for the homeless, helpless little waifs drifting about the country. These little unfortunates need an advocate, and the JUVENILE COURT RECORD acts in this capacity, standing side by side with them, pointing the way to a brighter, happier life, where the weeds of evil will be choked out of existence and the flowers of hope will bloom in their place. There are busy people just now in the Juvenile Court committee of the department of civics of the California Club, of San Francisco, which takes the initiative in all matters pertaining to this important feature of the municipality. It is quite fitting that the greater part of the responsibility should rest as it does, because the idea of the Juvenile Court for California originated in the California Club, with Dr. Dorothea Moore, who is chairman of the committee. Anxiety just now has to do with financial matters, as the demands of the situation call for more money for administration purposes. An assistant is needed for the probation officer, Miss Londa Stebbins. She has more to do now than one person's work and it is increasing weekly. Each Juvenile Court day brings an average of twenty delinquent children before Judge Murasky. It is easy to see how that accummulates responsibilities for the probation officer, whose duties are not only to be in court to look after the cases, but to follow them afterward that she may watch the children and help to remove the cause of their trouble. Miss Stebbins has now more than 100 children to visit and care for. The hope of the California Club is to raise money enough through the different interested organizations to put a second probation officer in the field. In addition to that the committee has always in mind the establishment of a detention home where the children may be kept between the time of their arrest and the disposition of their cases. Los Angeles already has its detention home in connection with the administration of the Juvenile Court. Another charge upon the civic department is to do everything possible toward the establishment of a parental school, one in which the truant children will have the individual care they require. The new law makes such a school possible. Mhs. E. E. Baldwin, chairman of the department, reports that everything will be done to bring about its establishment, both because it is needed and because it will greatly aid in making the work of the Juvenile Court efficient. Judge Lindsey 's boys of the Denver Juvenile Court will camp out this summer. It will, however, not be an outing of mountain climbing and tennis playing by day and dancing parties by night. Their camping grounds will be sugar beet fields of Northern Colorado and their exercise will be pulling weeds. Tents and camping outfits will be purchased and the boys will be divided into parties of twenty-five, each in charge of a probation officer. The beet growers have advised Judge Lindsey that they can use 300 boys and that the season will last from June 1 to September. The boys may earn from $1,25 to $2 a day, according to their ability. The beet workers will not be confined to those on the probation lists of the Juvenile Court. Any boy between the ages of 12 and 16 years will be received. More than $1,000 was cleared at the benefit given in Broadway theater for the benefit of the Denver Juvenile Court. "Are you working for a juvenile court law for the state of Washington?" is the interrogation on a small circular that is being circulated in Tacoma, Washington. The circular was given circulation around the hotel lobbies in Tacoma and in the Tacoma theater on the day that the republican state convention opened, and it is reported to be the intention of the persons and institutions interested in the enactment of such a measure to put literature advocating the measure into every county in the state. Manager William Hover, of the Associated Charities, is working in the interests of the proposed legislation. At the conference of Associated Charities held in Seattle several months ago the matter was brought up and discussed at length. It is stated to have been unanimously agreed that the state of Washington is not too young to have a juvenile court law on the statute books, the youthful element that falls under the ban of the law being in need of as strict discipline, administered through the agency of the courts, as the hardened criminal who is a constant habitue thereof. Police Judge Griffin of Tacoma, it is stated, maintains a juvenile court at the city hall to the extent of his limited powers and never allows a child to be arraigned for trial in the court room, but always hears such cases in his private office. The state of Washington has not a juvenile court law, however, and the police judge can not take measures that would be more effective than the fining system in many of the cases in which boys are found guilty of serious depredations. "We intend to have a lobby at the next session of the legislature to work for the passage of a juvenile court bill," Manager Hover is quoted as saying in the Tacoma Ledger, "and I feel sure that our efforts will prove successful. Literature will be placed in the hands of the stump speakers in the approaching campaign setting forth the advantages of such a court, and other work will be done to advance the cause. "" Judge Tuthill's long service as sole presiding officer of the Chicago Juvenile Court ended as the result of a new rule issued recently. Hereafter three judges of the circuit court, Judges Tuthill, Dunne and Mack, are to decide the destinies of youthful offenders and of the destitute children of Chicago. In addition to extending the work of the Juvenile Court to the associates of Judge Tuthill it has also been decided that three sessions of the court shall be held each week instead of two. In the future Judge Mack will preside Tuesday mornings, Judge Tuthill three afternoons and Judge Dunne Saturday mornings. The change in juvenile court methods is necessary, it has been announced, because the juvenile matters have so heavily infringed on Judge Tuthill's time as a chancellor. Judge Callaghan on May 7 appointed W. A. Greenlund probation officer of the Cleveland Juvenile Court to serve one year. Mr. Greenlund has held that position and accomplished conspicuous results ever since the Cleveland court has been in existence, and to him in large measure much of the success of the court is due. At present he is acting as secretary to the school director, having resigned from the Juvenile Court to take that position. He will remain at school headquarters until the close of the school year allows him an opportunity to leave the office. Until the permanent probation officer can assume charge of his duties, Mr. George B. Kennerdell will act temporarily. Kennerdell is a recent graduate of Yale law school and is in the city waiting to take his bar examinations next December. Miss Vraney, who has been acting as intepreter in the Juvenile Court for some time, has been appointed to serve until the first of July. Governor Herrick of Ohio on May 5 affixed his signature to the Austin Juvenile Court bill, making it a law. The Juvenile Court bill provides that a court for trying children may be established in any county in which there are three or more Common Pleas judges sitting continuously. Club women of Toledo are jubilant because the battle for a Juvenile Court law has been won. It will now be incumbent upon the Common Pleas judges and the probate judge to select one of their number to preside over the judicial department in Toledo. Judge Waite, in probate court now conducts a juvenile court, much after the plans outlined in the bill. The bill was amended in the senate in only one important respect that it apply to the five large cities of the state onlyToledo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton. Representatives of the women's clubs have worked hard for the passage of the bill. Dr. G. P. Sprague, of Lexington, Ky., who had been appointed by the Civic League a committee to ascertain the legality of the establishment of a juvenile court in that city, reported to a meeting of that body that he had taken up the matter with an attorney who had invesigated the situation and reported that such a court would be unconstitutional in Kentucky, the law providing that all misdomeanors must be tried by the judge of the court in whose province the offense was committed. "Oh, ma! please stop and I'll never do it again! no, never!' cried Richard Lavoie, 14 years old, as his mother "laid on" the strap in the judges' chambers in the municipal building at Detroit, Mich. But mother didn't stop until she got good and ready. She had been ordered by Judge Phelan to punish Richard for throwing stones at a street car as it passed Clinton and Chene streets, and Sergt. Schmelzer was with her to see that Richard got all that was coming to him. With every whack the lad yelled as if he was being murdered, and people rushed to see what 'twas all about. "I ordered the lad punished with the strap," said the judge, "because his parents are poor and unable to pay a fine. Anyway, the laying on of the strap or rod always has a good effect." A hundred homeless boys of Chicago are to be sheltered in the Junior Business Club, which has been opened at 428 Washington boulevard. Judge Tuthill, presiding justice of the Juvenile Court, for two months has been actively working for the club, which will be directed by J. J. McManaman, chief probation officer of the court. Two labor unions have shown their friendship for the poor boys of the city, the paperhangers decorating the club free and the plumbers standing ready to do all the work necessary to put the building in perfect sanitary condition. Meals for the waifs will be prepared on a big gas range installed free by the Peoples Gas and Coke Company. Features of the new club will be a library, music room and gymnasium. The boys to live there will be those paroled from the John Worthy school as honor students and dependent boys under 16 years of age. They will be employed in stores and factories, the club being provided for their entertainment evenings to keep them from the streets. NEW YORK JUVENILE COURT James Shanley, eleven years old, has only one front tooth in his head, and when he was arraigned in the Children's Court at New York charged with being a truant he pleaded that his remaining tooth "ached him so much" that he simply could not study. "It aches me all the time, judge," said the boy, "and I can't study, nor sit still, nor nothin'; so what's the use of going to school?'' "That certainly must be the longest toothache on record," said the justice. "You have been absent from school 49 weeks. Don't you think you had better give up that last tooth?'' "Judge, I'll go right away and have it pulled if you'll let me off this time," was the answer, and the case was dismissed. John Henry Seals, black as a hearse and 12 years old, told some interesting things to Judge Olmsted. John Henry is still in the custody of the Gerry society, and "I doan lak it fur soap grease, he announced. John Henry is a Kentuckian by birth and a globe trotter by career. Officer Schoell arrested the boy on the charge of "lost boy"; later he was charged with vagrancy. "I is a hoss trainer, I is, mister, an' I ain't no vagrant. I reckon I got five dollah and fohty cents, whut's mor'n lots of white folks is," defended John Henry. "You say you are a horse trainer. What do you mean by that, and where do you work?" asked the court. "I gallops hosses, mister. Why, squire, I kin do anything wid any hoss. I been working fur Squire Tony Aste up to the Aqueduct race tract," said John Henry, standing straight. "Where did you come from?" asked the court. "Ah wus born in Newpo't, squire.'' very "Newport?" repeated the Judge. "You don't talk like a Newporter." "Yassir, I reckon mos' eberybody in Newpo't talks lak me." "What Newport did you come from?" "Newpo't, Kentucky, squire. That's de only Newpo't." "Do you ever gamble?" asked the court. John Henry rolled his eyes heavenward. "Nawsir, nawsir. 'Deed, boss, I wouldn't tell yer ef I had. But I hain't. But Squire Aste he could tell yer things ef he wanted ter. An' I reckon he doan make no mistake. Say, squire, yer goin' ter lemme go back ter de track, ain't yer? Why, I is jest lak' a fish outter water, I is, when I ain't wid de ponies. I'se trainin' ter keep ter de size. I's goin' ter be a jockey some day, I is. An' when I is, it 'ull be Blackie in de lead. But, 'fore Gawd, I sho' will come back an' hant somebody ef I goes back ter dat white trash gang." John Henry sobbed long and loud when he was told that he would have to return to the Gerry rooms, because he was not old enough to work and has no proper guardian. “I kin take keah of my own self," he sobbed as he was remanded for further investigation. Mabel Murray, a well dressed and prepossessing little person of 9 years, was sent to the Juvenile Asylum by Justice Olmsted, on the testimony of her father, Clarence Murray, of 340 East 12th street. Mabel has figured as a lost child in many a newspaper story, for she usually has been picked up, always late at night, in hallways, where she is in the habit of sleeping when she has grown tired of staying at home. Her name appears on the blotters of seven police stations besides having been registered twice as a guest of the Children's Society. The other times that she has run away from home, her father says, he or his friends have found her before she fell into the custody of the police. He told Justice Olmsted that he was at a loss to know what to do with the girl. He had whipped her twice for running away, but he said he was afraid that those whippings injured the child rather than did her any good. He doesn't believe in corporal punishment, for he said the proceeding hurt him more than any whipping that he ever received as a boy. Mr. Murray told the justice that he thought it would be a good experience for the child to be sent to an institution for a month or so on the possibility that she then would be able to appreciate her own home. He said he was willing to pay for her support while she was incarcerated. In court Mabel stolidly refused to say a word to all the questions of the justice. At home, her father said, her prattle was the life of the family. She had told him, he said, that she just simply couldn't help running away when the impulse seized her. Each time she is brought back she readily promises never to run away again if she can help it, but she is an adept, the father says, in accomplishing her purpose when she is determined to run away. For a while he hired a woman whose duty it was to take Mabel to and from school. After Mabel had eluded this person three times he gave up and decided to have the child put away. COULDN'T TELL 'EM APART. A man of haggard expression, with a bunch of papers in his hand, took the stand in the children's court. He said he was David Friedman. "I can't do anything with those boys," said he. Judge Wyatt looked at the names. Come up here, Louis," he ordered. A bright-eyed urchin in a blue sailor suit stepped forward. "Now, what is the matter with you? Why don't you tell your father the truth?'' demanded the court. "Tain't me' mister. It's me brudder," said Louis. "Well, let's see what Harry has to say about that. Come up here, Harry." Judge Wyatt glanced down at the papers and then at the boy before him. "I called for Harry," he said, motioning the bright-eyed sailor boy away. "I'm Harry, ," said the sailor lad. "What did you tell me you were Louis for?" demanded the court sternly. "I didn't. It was me brudder." "Bring the other boy up here," said the court to Clerk Coulter. This is the other boy, your honor," said Mr. Coulter. "They are twins.' "Bring both of them here at once, then. Now which of you is Harry?" questioned the court behind a smile. "Me brudder," said both of the boys. Then both admitted being Louis. Mr. Friedman in his complaint said the boys were truants, that they had the habit of running away from home and of staying out late at night, although only 9 years old. Neither teachers nor parents could fasten their offenses on either one. The boys were remanded until Tuesday. They were still grinning when they left the court room. People around the court are wondering which twin will be Louis, or if both will be Harry, when they next appear. PARENTS TRY TO GET RID OF CHILDREN. Cararre Klubowitz recently made charges against his twelveyear-old son, David, and asked the Court to send his child to an institution. After hearing the case, Judge Olmstead discharged the boy, and he left the court in the protection of his sister, Marie. This is the third attempt Cararre Klubowitz has made to rid himself of the burden of his son's support, say court officers. The sister, who works in a cloak factory, heard by chance of the present effort, and appeared unexpectedly at court to circumvent Klubowitz's plans. He is the stepfather of both, although they use his name. The appearance of the sister greatly modified the father's charges. "He is a bad boy," said he, and he runs away from school."' These are both old charges that have been made on other occasions. In his deposition the father said that David had tried to kill him by throwing a carving knife at him; that he was afraid of the boy, and that the boy frequented the company of the dissolute and vicious. None of these accusations did he make in the stand. "The boy has been sleeping in the synagogue for lack of a better place being provided for him," said a court official. "He has eaten wherever he could. It is because of objections on the part of the congregation to David's making the synagogue his sleeping place that the father is here to-day." Speaking with regard to the misfortunes of David, Justice Olmstead said: "I had one case some time ago in which a stepmother caused a father to appear in this court and make charges against his blameless child, in the hope that the child would be removed to some institution, and they thus be relieved of the expense of caring for him. "Charges, nowadays, are rarely made against innocent children by any but persons of socialistic tendencies. I do not know that socialistic beliefs are the cause of this, but the fact is as I have stated it. There are fewer of such charges made than formerly. It used to be common among Italians, especially, to try to rid themselves of whole families of children in this way. Men coming to this country would marry wife after wife and as each died would try to shift the children of the previous marriage. They seemed to have no parental love for them and to feel that the State ought to support the superfluous members of their family." HOW DETROIT CARES FOR BAD BOYS During the past year more than 5,000 Detroit families have become acquainted with the police department through the misdemeanors of their children, or as witnesses in children's cases. From these families 676 boys and girls under 16 years of age have been brought into the police court. Scattered from one end of Detroit to the other is an army of 40,000 boys and girls. This almost irresponsible, irrepressible element is constantly seeking amusement, and its members are as constantly getting into trouble of one kind and another. They are children of almost all nationalities, and whose parents represent every station in life. Very few of them have ever been inside of a prison, even on a visit, and to most of them the very name of it brings up a vision of horror. Yet, in their way, nearly all of the boys among these children, at some time or another, commit acts which, were the law enforced, would bring them into the police court. Each member of this juvenile element is planning constantly some kind of sport with his fellows. Perhaps a pair of youngsters plot to "skip" school a day. Then they follow it up a little later with another "hookey,' ," and continue until the truant officers hear of them. Others love mischief with more adventure in it. Perhaps with growing fruit in their own yards they eagerly watch a neighbor's tree, and on some dark night become juvenile offenders' by going out on a "cooning" expedition. Others, a little more vicious, commit depredations on coal and wood yards, and use the fuel for bonfires, around which they group and tell stories at night. Still others carry the coal home, or sell it. Or, with no thought that they are committing a serious offense, they rob a hen roost, and feast on the fowls in true camp fashion. In some a tendency to steal is developed, and their depredations become more and more serious. On these boys the eye of the law is always fixed, and the police stations and truant office are constantly receiving complaints. Here a man has an injured eye, due to a bean projected from a juvenile bean-shooter, and he demands satisfaction. The gate of another has been taken from his fence and hoisted 40 feet up in a tree. Another has caught boys destroying his property, and he has taken out a warrant for them. At the police stations the names and ages of the offenders are secured, and all of those under 16 are sent in to Lieutenant Breault, of the truant office. A BOY'S FIRST "TRIAL." Here the complaints are carefully examined. The names of those boys and girls who have never been complained of before are separated from those who have. Their parents are notified that warrants are out for the arrest of their children, but that they will not be served if they call at the office at such a date and hour. The persons who made the complaints are then appealed to. They are told that it is a first offense, and they are asked to come and talk the matter over with the parents and culprits. In the truant office, or at one of the stations, the "reconciliation" occurs. On one side are the parents; on the other the man or woman whose property has been destroyed, or who has suffered some other wrong. At Lieut. Breault's knee stands the boy, shame faced and repentant. For the time Lieut. Breault takes the place of a father. He points out that the boy has never been there before, but that this should be a warning to him. He has done a wrong, but this time the wrong should be paid for by the parents. "Give him one more chance before sending him to the police court, he pleads. "It may be the making of the boy.' In this way the majority of the cases of "first offenders' are settled, and the complainant goes away reimbursed by the parents. But a second misdemeanor must be punished more severely. This time the boy knows what to expect if caught. He goes one step nearer the prison cell. But still the police officials remember that he is a boy. The warrant is served, which brings him into the police court. The warrant may be served on Monday, and juvenile day" in court is Saturday. If taken to jail it would mean that the boy would have to stay in a cell for nearly a week before his examination. So the promise of his parents that he will appear is taken, and the young offender still has his freedom. |