Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-08

would warrant his being charged under an
other law and committed TO the board.
oel1eva the proper remedy is to enlarge
eoth reform schools SO that they can take
all defendants who ought to be sent to
them, and provide separate place to con-
fne minors committed to the workhouse in
default of the payment of fines. and thai in
all cases where minors under sixteen years
OF age are within the provisions of the
board OF children's guardians act informa-
ton under this act be filed and tried as in
other cases."
Had Served Many Terms,
Mr.. Lewis states that in April of last
year there were boys In the workhouse who
had served as many as six and nine previ-
GUS terms in that institution, and that the
reason for their frequent arrest was princi-
pally Crap shooting" and general disor-
derby course of conduct: and that this
course was due to the total absence in al
most every case of any salutary home sur
roundings or restraint. The parents We're,
ne thinks. ten times more culpable than the
boys. The condition of these boys clearly
brought them within the meaning of the
statute providing for commitment to the
beard or ch1ldren's guardians. for they were
certainly destitute of suitable home and
adequate means Of earning an honest liv-
ing. They were also clearly growing up
to lead idle and vicious lives and there
ioiC W the reform
school; but being arrested and charged with
'Gfsorderly assembly," they were simply
tried and convicted on the charges pre-
ferred by the police and the District attor
serve repeated terms in the workhouse
without any regard to the possible opera
ton OF other laws made for the purpose of
covering just such cases and without con-
BILE associations into which they We're
thrust.
Result of investigation.
TT has been said" sGys Mr.. Lewis. that
the reform school L. always crowded In
the department to which these boys would
necessarily be assigned, but at the time of
the above inquiry there was room in that
Institution for twelve colored boys from
twelve to sixteen years of age, and there
were in the workhouse nine colored boys
between those ages. The crowding in the
department of the school assigned to the
coiored boys Is among those just above the
minimum age. The colored boys found in
the workhouse were near the maximum age
at which boys may be committed to the
reform school.
1T was in view of this situation. which
has continued practically unchanged down
to the present, that the bill Is. 1864 was
prepared providing for a separate court for
the hearing of all cases involving the in
terests of children under sixteen years of
age. and a house OF detention wherein all
such children when under arrest could be
held under wholesome moral conditions,
while competent information concerning
their condition and the reasons for their
violations of law were being secured. This
would have given time for consideration of
the various resources at hand for dealing
with each Individual case as applied to the
particular condition to be met. and would
have prevented in future the commitment
of boys under sixteen years of age to the
jail and workhouSe when other disposition
of them ought he made ~
Mr.. Lewis says he is not informed as to
the reasons for the abandonment of Senate
bill 1864, and the substitution of Senate
amendment No. 11S of the pending District
appropriation bill, which s intended to en-
able the Commissioners to provide suit
able place of detention for children under
sixteen years of age while their cases are
under investigation, but which does not pro-
vide. he states. for the process by which
their interests before the court might be
properly guarded and the most humane and
effective measures for their correction
might be determined upon. in view Of COM
petent information concerning them.
Difficulty Presented.
The difficulty appears to him to be not so
much in the want Of proper agencies for
the dealing with these children as in the
conditions which produce in Washington an
unusual number of Juvenile deIinquents in
the demand for the maintenance of high
lie places of the city and District. and in
the peremptory character of the process by
which children are too often dealt with in
the Police Court--a process which takes no
proper account of the conditions under which
a child has lived or of the measures which
might be taken for his proper correction,
but infiicts Instantly the penalty for the Of
tense of which he stands convicted. The
result he saws is the condition 10 which
benevolent citizens of the District have fire.
uuently called the attention of members of
the Senate and House.
He says he has hesitated until recently to
propose bill to provide a remedy for the
reason that other equally important and
meritoriouS measures long pending are rot
yet pushed to conclusion and some Of them
even opposed by those who are always
afraid of every proposition to change prac-
tees long established. no matter how little
they may be adapted to the accomplish
cess in such efforts depends very largely
upon the assistance to be derived from the
support of the general community. which
does not yet seem to be largely available.
An Approved Practice.
Concerning young men and women be-
tween sixteen and thirty years Of age, Mr..
Lewis says the practice which is meeting
with wide approval throughout the United
States consists of their commitment, when
convicted of serious offenses. to an inter-
mediate prison. upon indeterminate SEN
leIlce, IRON WHICH IHty may edIH Cullu-
tional release or parole and final discharge
by diligence and good conduct. These in
termediate prisons are between the reform
school and the penitentiary. and are held
to be the most effective agencies in exist
ence for the reformation Of young criminals
who have passed beyond the control of the
agencies organized for the correction Of
juvenile delinquents. The Elmira reforma-
tory of New York is probably the best
known exampleebf such a prison, he thinks.
Changes in existing modes of criminal
procedure" concludes Mr.. Lewis, land in
laws relating to punishment for serious
crime such as would be required to estab-
fish or make use Of such a prison are hardly
within the province Of the superintendent
of charities to recommend. But since this
seems to be opportune time 1 have the
honor to send you herewith draft Of a
proposed bill which I hope may be used as
preliminary to the enactment of a law
which will prevent the commitment of chill
dren under sixteen years of age to the Jail
and. workhouse. No good has ever been
done by any such commitments. On the
contrary, they will continue to do untold
harm until the enlightened sentiment Of
this community in general demands that
they shall be no more
A Provision of the Bill.
The first section of the bill proposed by