Q. Then I should say instead of exercising oversight, secures information? A. Yes, sir. Q. Is it the society as an organization or by an individual? A. The society as an organization. Q. That society reports on each case at the end of the parole period? A. Yes, sir; sometimes, as it will happen, he comes in before the period ends, and then the society reports sooner. Q. Now, then, in regard to the child under parole; what takes place is that at the end of the time the society makes to you a report based on the visits of one of its agents to the home and to the neighborhood? A. Yes, sir; and if the child is working, to the place of the employer of the child. Q. And that is, as you understand it, simply a visit to obtain information as to the conduct of that child during the period of parole? A. Yes, sir. Q. You get a report which is made from the information secured at the end of the period concerning conditions during the period? A. Yes, sir; unless they may have secured other information incidentally, which would be furnished to us." Again, Justice Deuel, who has taken special interest in the work of the Children's Court, and who had much to do with framing the present charter provisions on this subject, testified immediately after Justice Olmsted, as follows: Q. Do you know whether it is the custom to have the child report to the society? A. I understand the child must report to the society once a week; that has been the custom. There are other cases where the boy is excused; certain circumstances might cause the society to excuse the boy; and it has been done by the society on my request. Q. Your general impression is, it is the custom for the boy to report unless relieved from doing so by the society? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do they visit the boy's home? A. The report shows that the boy's home and school have been visited. Q. And that is submitted to you by the superintendent of the society? A. Yes, sir; in typewriting and it is filed with the papers. * Q. Do you understand that during this parole period the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is supposed to help the child, advise with the child? A. In any case where they find advice would be for the benefit of the child they would give it or report to the court. They would report to the court where caution or advice was advisable. I would prefer that; I would prefer that the society should report to me and leave it to us to determine what should be done. Q. The function of the probation officer is that of a friend to the child? A. It should be; under my supervision, he would do what I directed him to do. Q. What would you direct him to do? A. I would find out what he had done and what should be done, and then direct him. Q. Take the case of this report from the society. Do they report what the conditions were, or do they try to shape conditions during the month of probation? A. I have never gone into that." Justice Wyatt, of the same court, testified as follows: "Q. What does this society do with those placed under its care? A. All I know is what we have them give us in the report. They describe the surroundings and conditions of the parents, etc. Q. My conception of probation work is not that the probation officer shall ascertain simply whether the child is doing well or badly, but that he should help the child to do well. Now that, I do not understand, from the testimony of Judge Olmsted and Judge Deuel, to be the nature of the work carried on by this society? A. They do not do what you would call charity work or educational work, but they put all the facts in the possession of the court, and the court tries to pass its judgment in such a way as to tend to the uplifting of the offender. Q. Don't you understand that in the work of Mrs. Axeman, for adult offenders, that her relation to those women is that of a friend, counsellor and adviser? A. I have no doubt she tries to make it so. Q. Does not that add to its value? A. It may. Q. Is not that what probation work means? A. No; it adds to it. most decidedly. Q. Do you understand that that society undertakes to do that kind of work with the children under parole? A. I do not understand what the society does, except what it brings into court.” Mr. E. Fellows Jenkins, secretary and superintendent of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, testified that he was appointed on December 13, 1901, as chief probation officer in the Court of Special Sessions, in all cases of minors paroled under the age of sixteen years. This was before the establishment of a separate Children's Court, but carried with it the probation work at the Children's Court when that court was established as a part of the Court of Special Sessions. He has to assist him sixteen paid agents of the society, one of whom is a woman. The system of requiring the children to report weekly at the office of the society was tried for nearly a year, and was then discontinued. The children are now paroled in the custody of the parents until a certain day, usually about a month ahead. Before the end of the period an investigation is made by the society and a written report is submitted to the judge on the day on which the child appears in court. "Q. Won't you tell us a little more in detail just what you do and just how you divide up the work between your different assistants in connection with a child under parole during the first month, let us say? A. The case is first given to the officer of the society in that district (police court district), and it is also given, as I stated before, to the representative of the child's religion. She tries to visit that child at least once a week, and the officer of the society visits the child, too; and if I receive a report during the parole period from the officer of the society or from any one of the ladies working under Mrs. O'Keefe or from Mrs. Axeman that in their opinion that child has not obeyed the conditions of the parole, we immediately report that to the court and the court directs that the child be taken into custody. Q. Your officers assigned to this district visit these children who are on parole? A. Yes, sir. Q. At their homes? A. Yes, sir. Q. Any rules as to the frequency of the visits? A. No, sir; no set rule as to frequency. Q. What would you think was the ordinary number in the first month of a parole? A. Two or three times; they visit them at their homes. Q. What do they undertake to do for these boys while they are on parole? A. If working boys and out of employment they would undertake to find a situation, if they had none, either themselves or through some lady of the different religious faiths. Mrs. Axeman finds a good many situations. Mrs. O'Keefe and Mrs. Irish have found a good many situations. Q. What beside helping and getting employment do the officers do for those on parole? A. In the cases of children going to school they will visit the teacher of the school or the principal; they must do that the last week of the parole, in order to get a school report. That must be in. writing and embodied in the report made to the court. Q. Does the officer who visits the child's home become personally acquainted with the child? A. Not more than the several contacts would bring; he would not endeavor to do more. I have not found it beneficial, where such an attempt has been made. Q. That is by your officers? A. Yes, sir; and by other volunteers. It has not been always beneficial; sometimes too much familiarity destroys the control over the child. I think a little fear is necessary in dealing with them, as well as the social meeting of them. I think that works to the benefit of the parole. I find it so in many cases. * Q. Do you regard the personal relation between the probation or parole officer and the child as an important feature in influencing the child's conduct? A. I do not regard it in the same way as others do. Q. Do you regard it as an important element in the situation? A. I regard it as important that the child should be brought to recognize the authority of the parole officer, and also the further fact that everything done is for its benefit." The testimony above has been quoted somewhat at length in order to give, in the language of the Justices themselves and of the chief probation officer, the nature of the work carried on in the Children's Court in the borough of Manhattan. The statistics of children released on parole in the Children's Court in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx from its organization to September 20, 1905, as furnished by the society are as follows: Committed after various periods of parole.. During the year 1904 of 7,361 cases coming before the court, 1,148 were released on parole or 15 per cent. The total number of cases brought before the court increased from 7,631 in 1904 to 9,418 in 1905. The distribution of children on parole on December 8, 1905, by the magistrates' courts districts was as follows: 1st District 2d District 13 18 |