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Juvenile Court Record

PUBLISHED BY THE VISITATION AND AID SOCIETY

T. D. HURLEY, Editor, 79 Dearborn Street, Chicago, Ill. J. L. CLARK, Business Manager

Eastern Office, 53 W. 24th Street, New York City Boston Office, 147 Milk St., Boston, Mass.

The JUVENILE COURT RECORD is published monthly, except in the month of July. Single copies, 10 cents. Subscription price, $1 per year.

Entered at Postoffice, Chicago, as second-class matter.

The JUVENILE COURT RECORD is the official organ of and published by the Visitation and Aid Society and will deal with social problems in child-saving work and give an account of the workings of the Juvenile Court. NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS can commence with current number.

WHEN RENEWING, always give the name of the post office to which your paper is now being sent. Your name cannot be found on our books. unless this is done. Four weeks are required after the receipt of money by us before the date opposite your name on your paper, which shows to what time your subscription is paid, can be changed. This will show that your remittance was received.

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LETTERS should be addressed and checks and drafts made payable to JUVENILE COURT RECORD, 79 Dearborn Street, Chicago.

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The time is not far distant when the general assembly of the State of Illinois will meet for the purpose of enacting such laws as are deemed wise for the good of the commonwealth. Philanthropists, especially those who are interested in the problem of saving children from lives of poverty and evil and transplanting them to a sunshiny spot where they may grow naturally into good citizens, are planning and figuring on the various favors they may desire at the hands of the legislators in order to make it possible for them to do their work more effectively.

It is well understood by all who have made a study of effective work, whether it be in the child-saving line, or in the line of ordinary, every-day business, or in warfare, that in order to produce results, the shot must be centered. Scattering shots never accomplish anything but to sting the surface of things and cause irritation. For this reason it appears to the JUVENILE COURT RECORD that it would be a wise thing for the various philanthropic societies that contemplate asking favors from the general assembly this year to meet and come to a definite understanding as to just what they want, and then to unite

as a body to secure such legislation for the whole as may be necessary for the good of the work. By so doing much unnecessary work will be avoided. The fact that the societies are acting as a body will have the effect of doing away with the irritation to the legislators that is incident to the constant lobbying for legislation. Acting as one body, the entire matter can be put before the legislators at one time, and the work will thus not only be materially expedited, but will assume a force that will bring about the desired results.

THE JUVENILE COURT AND THE NEWSPAPERS.

The JUVENILE COURT RECORD desires to call the attention of the newspaper publishers of the country to the fact that, in justice to the Juvenile Court movement, extreme care should be taken with regard to the publication of sensational news that may, while published without any thought of malice toward the work of the Juvenile Court, still do great harm to a work that is becoming the most important of any other philanthropic effort in the United States.

The Juvenile Court is not yet a grown child. It is still in its infancy. Already it has brought about results that point the way to the ultimate effect of the workings of the court, but it should be handled tenderly.

At the present time eighteen states have provided Juvenile Court legislation, making it possible for those who are interested in the uplifting of humanity to get at the child while it is still in aplastic state and mold it along lines that will save it from a life of possible, nay, probable crime. It is only a question of time, and a very short time at that, when the legislators of every state in the Union will provide similar laws. As a matter of fact, plans are being made at the present time in most of the States that have not, up to this time, provided laws that give the child-saving agencies a chance to work effectively, to send to the general assemblies of the various States when they meet this fall, bills which will place them on a footing with other commonwealths in this respect.

The Iowa case is a good example of the harm that may be wrought by sensationalism in regard to the operation of the Juvenile Court. At the last meeting of the general assembly of the State of Iowa, a law was passed which went into effect the fourth of last July, establishing a Juvenile Court in Iowa. This law was imperfect in some respects, but it was nevertheless a good law. It gave the first impetus to a movement that will, during the next few years, save the States of Iowa hundreds of thousands of dollars, not only through the economical workings of the Courts, but also in the amount that will be saved through the care of the children outside of reformatories and jails, the expense of conducting criminal cases against Juvenile delinquents, and other expenses incident to the criminal cases.

No sooner, however, did the Iowa Juvenile Court law go into effect than sensational stories began to appear in the newspapers throughout the state, stating that the law was invalid, that it never could be enforced, and that it not only was a failure per se, but that at the same time it made it impossible for the police departments of the various cities to handle the cases of the juvenile delinquents. For this reason, so it was said, the child saving societies would be hampered by the new law, instead of finding themselves helped by it. A veritable whirlwind was aroused over the matter, and pessimism reigned supreme for the time being.

Today a very different story is told. Now we are

informed that gradually the Iowa tangle is being straightened out. In Des Moines, for instance, the care of the Juvenile delinquents previous to the hearing of their cases by the court has been provided for in a way that, while only temporary, is still much better than the accommodations that were provided in Chicago at the time the Illinois Juvenile Court law went into effect. We find that technicalities are being avoided, and that it is only a matter of time when the Iowa Juvenile Courts will be working smoothly in their business of caring for children's cases.

As was stated in the JUVENILE COURT RECORD last month, Iowa has a law in every respect as good as the Illinois law. The difficulties that were met at the beginning of the establishment of the court were similar in every respect to those encountered by the people interested in the movement in Illinois. The thing, therefore, simmered down to the old-time proverb, "What man (and woman) has done, man (and woman) can do." The effect of the first stories in regard to the validity of the Iowa law were far reaching. They were published in papers throughout the country, and to those who were unable, through lack of experience in the matter, to analyze the situation and see how much it was exaggerated, the newspaper reports had a depressing effect. The fear arose in the hearts of those who were working to introduce Juvenile Court legislation in other states, that perhaps they, too, might meet their Waterloo after all their hard work.

It will be readily appreciated from this fact that extreme care should be taken in regard to the method of handling the newspaper reports of the Juvenile Court work. This work should be done by people who are familiar enough with the workings of the Juvenile Court to be able to go deeper than the surface, to dig down to the foundation of the affair and judge for themselves whether the report is well-founded or not.

This is due, not only to those interested in the movement, but to the little children of the United States. Their only hope for salvation from the evil environments that are holding them down to a life of poverty, shame and crime, lies in the Juvenile Court. Never before, in history, has their cause been taken up by the State and espoused in a manner that not only promises, but gives them the protection which is theirs by Divine right. Anything that clogs the wheels of the movement, that delays the work of the court, especially if it is done deliberately, is a crime against every child who needs the care which the Juvenile Court alone can give, is, indeed, a crime against the nation, which must suffer from the ultimate result of a neglect of the growing generation.

THE JUVENILE COURT SITUATION IN OHIO.

It would appear from the published reports in regard to the progress of the Juvenile Court movement in the State of Ohio that there are still some, even among the judges, who fail to see the good that will be accomplished by the establishment of Juvenile Courts throughout the State. In the first place, a tangle arose in Cincinnati over the operation of the court. The Police Judge had the idea that the Juvenile Court law made no difference with his jurisdiction over children's cases, and as a consequence, for the first few weeks after the Juvenile Court was established, the docket of the Children's Court was empty, while that of the Police Court was full to overflowing with Juvenile cases. After a conference this tangle was straightened out, and the children's cases were transferred to Judge Caldwell's court, where they belonged.

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Now we hear that Dayton may not have a Juvenile Court for some time to come, in spite of the fact that the city is of a size that causes it to come under the Juvenile Court Act, for the reason that the Judges believe the children are already well enough cared for, and that The statement is made that a change is unnecessary.

all of the judges are very careful in the treatment of children who come before them, and that they could not be cared for in a kindlier or juster manner.

Pessimists in Cincinnati are not slow in declaring that the Juvenile Court in that city is entirely superfluous. They point out that in cities like Chicago and Cleveland, with a cosmopolitan population, the law has been a success, but that Cincinnati has an excellent House of Refuge, and with this together with the quasi-public institutions for juveniles, is well prepared to cope with the child saving problem. They declare that the children have always received sympathetic care and treatment in the Police Court, and that the new court is entirely unneces

sary.

The probation system is farther reaching in its effects than the mere home thus uplifted out of sordidness into civilization. It reaches out to the entire neighborhood, and in time, if properly handled, will reclaim the earth.

Upon the probation system depends the whole matter of saving children. They are not competent, in the eyes of the law, to care for themselves. Their parents, as a rule, are not much more advanced, so far as mental growth is concerned, than the children. The little people need a strong, guiding hand to watch over them and protect them, to warn them when they are running the risk of getting into trouble, to point out the way whereby they can blaze their own path through the forest of difficulties which surrounds them, and thus find the way to their own salvation. The probation system in childsaving work, is equivalent to the "follow-up" system in ordinary business, which has come to be regarded as one of the most important points in the outside world today. It means that never, until the child is able to stand alone in the world and look after its own interests, will it be left to shift for itself in the darkness of ignorance. It means that from the time the little folk are so fortunate as to come under the care of the Juvenile Court, they will have an older borther or sister in the shape of a wise probation officer, who will advise and encourage them, and help them to bring out the good that is latent

in them.

It means more than this. It means the doing away with the idea of the policeman in the blue uniform, and with the idea of crime as connected with children. Every

right-thinking adult knows that a baby is incapable of crime. Yet in many states today a mere babe may be brought into court from a prison cell, charged with crime, and held over to the grand jury, housed with hardened criminals.

The Juvenile Court does away with all this. It takes the boy for just what he is a boy, with all the mischievous instincts of a boy, overflowing with activity which has not been trained to flow into the channels that will transform it into good-and handles him as a boy, attempting by substituting good for the evil, and gradually starving out the qualities that, if allowed to manifest themselves unchecked, would wreck the child's life, to make of him a good citizen. All this and more accomplished through any other channel than the Juvenile Court. For this reason, those who hold to the old traditions, and even after a Juvenile Court has been provided for, decry it and express a desire to go back to the old conditions, are guilty of deliberate crime against childhood.

NEW YORK JUVENILE COURT

It is only necessary to visit the New York Children's Court in East Eleventh Street, where are held the special sessions in which childhood takes on a phase unknown to the ordinary mortal, to learn that it is not all cakes and ale for the children of the East Side. Such a visit will dispel forever the idea that childhood is the time of irresponsibility and joy, or that into its few years are crowded freedom, well-being and laughter.

Here are gathered a queer jumble of types. Men and women are there, representatives of the many charitable societies which keep watch and ward over their young charges. Youthful lawyers trying their first cases touch elbows with men famous at the bar who are there in the interests of clients, and here and there are officers in blue uniforms, walking about with stealthy steps. They have caught the young Dick Turpins red-handed, and are there to explain the circumstances of the cases.

An unending procession of shabby boys weaves its way into the court-room. Their toes are out of their stockingless shoes, and their elbows out of their sleeves, as if seeking to get a sight of the toes. They are close-cropped or shock-headed, callous or timid as the case may be. The foreground of the picture shows a few curiosity-led women in gay attire. Over all presides the judge, in classic gown and most unclassic mildness of demeanor.

On the infantile faces that crowd the court-room are depicted every phase of degeneracy. Here are the types of which Nordau and Lombroso have written so eloquently. In the tapering heads, the protruding lips and chins, the weak lines already forming about the face, the scars of conflicts, the battered legs and arms, the fugitive, shifting glances, the ready lies on trembling lips, the esprit de corps between the small criminals, one reads too clearly the end. There are times when the stranger questions the possible good of leniency-until he hears the sobbing of the mothers. Then he questions no longer, he is only grateful for the kindness shown, for the elastic benefits of the law stretched to their fullest extent.

Occasionally the suave, smooth tones of Justice Olmstead, as he leans forward to ward the small prisoner twisting his capthey all twist their caps-break the silence of momentary interest. "Do you know what a sin is?" In the chalky pallor of the mother's face as she, too, leans forward to hear her son's answer, one knows that he realizes what a sin is, that he realized it before he was born-that it was his one and only inheritance.

The establishment of this court as a separate judiciary branch has brought about a wonderful reform in the treatment of juvenile offenders. Thousands of small vagrants who would have been otherwise returned to the degenerating life of the street are now working out their reformation in various institutions. Thousands of other children, through the workings of the court. have been enabled to work out their salvation in their own homes, or have been placed in homes where they may have a chance to bring out the best that is in them with the help of healthy environments.

When arraigned before regular terms an unintentional injustice was often observed in the cases of juvenile offenders. This is never found in the children's court. As a rule, if a child has committed an offense through ignorance or childish exuberence, or if the offense is his first step out of the straight and narrow path of honesty and uprightness, he is given a lecture more or less severe, according to the requirements of the case, and sent home to his parents and relatives. If he is found to be incorrigible he is sent to some reformatory institution.

From 10 o'clock until 2, five days in the week, children of all nationalities, all creeds and all colors, are brought before this humane and merciful tribunal to answer to everything in the category of juvenile crime. Thieving, vagrancy, ruffianism, incorrigibility, burglary, destruction of property, truancy and any infringement of the laws except homicide committed by children between the ages of seven and sixteen are treated in the Children's Court.

Judge Jules M. Mayer, one of the five Judges of Special Sessions who sit in the court. has made a special study of the cases and classifies the causes of child crime in this way:

1, Mischievous children; 2, those who commit crime through temptation; 3, environment and bad association; 4, parental neglect or incompetency; 5, criminal tendency; 6. runaways and vagrants; 7, disorderly and ungovernable; 8, neglected or abused by parents or guardians.

The records show that nine-tenths of the offenders are boys. "It is more a court of encouragement than of punishment." said one of the judges, "and it is very gratifying to know that out of each 100 cases where paroles have been given eighty-five have changed for the better, and only an average of fifteen in the hundred have been arrested the second time. We call it the court of last chance, and in every case where it is possible to do

so we put the child in a position to arouse his self-respect, and in that way save hundreds that punishment would ruin."

YOUTHFUL BURGLARS MANY.

After misdemeanors, which cover a multitude of boy pranks, burglary is the principal charge against the young offenders. Breaking into candy stores, fruit stands, and frequently into food stores for actual necessaries of life comprise the bulk of these offenses. In some parts of the city groups of young marauders are organized for the purpose of looting freight cars and store houses, with regular headquarters and all the organization for systematic plundering. The Children's Court has done much in the way of reforming this class of boys. After burglary comes grand larceny.

Highway robbery is another charge that frequently appears on the court records. It would seem almost incredible that in a city like New York boys of knickerbocker age could be charged with the daring crimes that belong to desperadoes of the frontier, but there were fifty-eight of these cases, an average of more than one each week, during one year.

CLANS AND THEIR LEADERS.

Almost every block in the thickly populated portion of the East Side has its clan of bad boys, and each clan has its leader. The leader must of course do something to show his superior prowess and sustain his prestige, and what loftier feat of daring can he perform to impress his followers than to hold up and rob at the point of a pistol? The victim is usually another boy, not infrequently the leader of a neighboring clan. In some cases men have been held up by these young brigands and forced to hand over their watches and money.

The police have little trouble in running down this class of juvenile criminals, for every boy in the block soon learns of the holdup, and when the beardless highwayman is marched into court there is usually more pride than penitence in his demeanor. His retainers follow his proud step into court, but before the Judge finishes with him his distorted views of life have usually changed and he goes out on parole, half ashamed of the promises he has made to be good. Ordinarily, he keeps those promises, but occasionally a boy is found in whom the judges are unable to awaken any moral sense, and such as these are sent to a reformatory.

FEW TEARS ARE SHED.

In the great majority of cases those who appear before the bar of justice in the little folks' court have little or no sense of moral obligation. Fear of discovery and punishment is the only restraining influence that most of them have ever felt. In this connection one of the judges recently observed that the children, especially the boys, rarely cry when arraigned.

"It is not a weeping court," he said, "as many believe, and I think the little transgressors stand up and face the Court with more stoicism than older ones. Sometimes, however, there comes what we call 'a rainy day,' when they all cry. Then it is hard to tell whether a lad is really penitent or simply frightened."

Never a session of the court goes by that there are not present one or more of a band of women who are there to look after the boys and girls when the court is through with them. To the court attaches they are known as "the good angels." These women are associated with Catholic, Protestant and Hebrew charitable societies, and when a boy is paroled or let out under suspended sentence the women try to learn all about him, and do all in their power to see that he is surrounded by proper influences. Homes are found for hundreds of boys and girls who do not have suitable parents or guardians. Among these women are Mrs. John G. O'Keefe, Mrs. Thomas G. Patton, Mrs. W. R. Knapp, Mrs. Josephine B. Colton, Mrs. D. Farrell, Mrs. Irish, Mrs. Sophia C. Axman and Miss Alice E. Hughes.

The work of the Children's Court is by no means confined to hearing and disposal of cases as they appear. Nearly one-half of the cases have to be carefully investigated before they are finally disposed of. The judges are constantly on the lookout for attempts on the part of parents or guardians to make a case against a child for the purpose of having him or her "put out of the way."

POLICE STATION AVOIDED.

In many other cases where it is suspected that the child has improper guardianship close investigation is necessary. In no cases, since the establishment of the Children's Court, are children taken into a police station when arrested. They are taken either directly to the court, if in session, or to the Society for

the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. They go to court in wagons of the society, the girls in one wagon and the boys in another, and they are still separated when they are taken into court.

After trial, if a lad is paroled or sentence suspended, he is looked after by one of the "good angels," and his first step in the direction of reformation is a bath and clean clothing. Frequently it is his first lesson in cleanliness as well as reform. After that he is either sent to his home and required to report once a week at the office of some charitable society during his term of parole or if his own home is found to be unfit for him another place is found. Those who are convicted are sent to the

Catholic Protectory, the House of Refuge or the Juvenile Asylum.

The expense of the court to the city is comparatively trifling. The five judges of Special Sessions preside without extra compensation and each of them takes a deep interest in the work. Each judge sits for two months. The clerical force is very small and a large part of the outside work is done gratuitously. And the revenue from the court is correspondingly smalt.

The judges do not believe in fines. They say they impose a hardship on the parents, who are usually poor peopre, and the hard working father who has been obliged to pay a fine for his wayward child is more likely to be severe with him afterward.

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NEW YORK PAROLE REPORT

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misconduct, and at the same time realize that someone is interested in them to the extent that much will be done to blot out the offense. "Probation Clubs" for probation children rather aggravate the danger from contact with children possessing really bad traits. They there meet and exchange experiences and ideas in a manner not calculated to benefit the boy who theretofore had been ignorant of such conditions and who, misled by the thought that attracting attention to himself would be harmless, sets about to seek such notoriety as brought his companions to justice. Too many indeed are the boys now in reformatories as a result of that brand of bravado that feeds their appetite for public notice. Our public press and especially illustrated newspapers would render our work an assistance of rare value were they to either entirely ignore offenses of children, or to report them without the vivid descriptions that so often accompany illustrations of imaginary acts.

During the quarter just closed 268 boys and girls have been released on parole, and sentence has been suspended upon 132 children, while 15 have been committed for violation of the conditions of their paroles. The general term of parole is one month, at the end of which time, should conditions warrant it, the parole is extended for another month and so on, often for as many as six months; but in most cases a probation period of three months generally shows that sentence may then be suspended with some degree of safety. It is not wise to continue the parole until the child becomes dissatisfied, for after all the child is the factor to be reckoned, scientific and theoretical considerations to the contrary notwithstanding.

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FASTER TIME TO ST. LOUIS:

The Wabash Cuts the Schedule to 7 Hours. Commencing Sunday, October 2nd, the Wabash Banner Blue Limited, which leaves Chicago at 11:03 A. M. daily, will make the run from Chicago to St. Louis in seven hours-one hour faster time than has heretofore ever been made between Chicago and St. Louis. On the return trip, this train leaves St. Louis at 2:co P. M. and reaches Chicago at 9:00 P. M.

The Banner Blue Limited is the finest day train in the world. The equipment, which is all new, consists of highback coaches, free reclining chair cars, dining car and parlor observation car.

Twice

Three times

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During the year just closed 1,124 boys and girls have been released on parole. In many cases the offenses upon which they had been arrested were of a grave nature, but the great majority were in cases of disorderly conduct. The offense, however after which a child is paroled makes little difference in considering the result. It is somewhat remarkable that children released after seemingly slight offenses require more careful watching than those permitted to go after arrest for

a serious offense, such as grand larceny and burglary; and the number of commitments for violation of parole in "disorderly conduct" cases is out of all proportion with the whole number of such. That simply goes to show that the moment a boy is released on parole the probation officer has a problem. and while it is not just the rule, it often seems that the more serious the offense the less difficult the "problem," and vice versa. I have not pretended to keep any record of the whole number of visits made on children now on parole, and on those whose cases have been formally closed at Court. Suffice it to say that every child is visited by a corps of trained men and women as frequently as conditions warrant. The children are not brought together any more than can be avoided, and so far as many children themselves are aware, they are the only ones on probation. They are thus made to feel the stigma of their

A BRIGHT BABY

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