Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-05-22

he has broken his parole and acts ac-
cordinly, if the circumstances warrant.
At no time is the child looked upon as
a criminal. The idea of crime never
enters into the case. The court rather
inquiries into the condition of the
child and deals with it accordinly, APP
plying the necessary correctional
means so as to change the life of the
child 1t is not necessary, nor was it
ever necessary to find the child guilty
of crime so as to be able to detain him
or send him to school. No child has lib
erty in the sense that we understand
the term. a chld's wants must be
supplied the school selected; the
rules of life provided, and the mode
of conduct mapped out for him. All
these things are supplied, not by the
child, but by the parent When the
parental care is lacking, then it is the
duty of the state which stands in loco
PARENTS to the child to take the place
of the parent. When the natural par
ent violates his trust in any way, then
the state steps in and supplies the
place of the natural parent. So that
the state is not dealing harshly with
the child when it applies the same
rules and regulations which the natural
parent usually does. If the state can
detain the boy without accusing him
or trying him for a crime it certainly
is a senseless, a vicious and demoral-
izing practice to make a criminal of
him before starting to reform him.
The efficiency of the Juvenile Court is
shown in the fact that more than So
per cent. of all the children brought
before the court are benefited, and
may be said to be practically saved;
whereas 95 per cent. of all the boys ap-
pearing before the justices and tried in
the old way as criminals. were lost.
Formerly the process was, first, the po-
. lice station, next the house of correc-
ton, then the Jail, Pontiac, the peni-
tentlaIy. and sad to say, sometimes the
gallows. AS it is now the court, the
Circuit Court, the surong and wise rep
resentative of the people takes the
boy in charge, as did the old King S
Bench in England. makes him ward
cf the court advises with him from
time to time, cautions him about the
bad company he is keeping, tries at all
times to keep him in his home near
his parents, and warns him that unless
he acts as a good and faithful child
should act that he will be taken in
charge and forced to do his duty prop
erly. Children soon learn that they
must obey the master mind One term
in the John Worthy School has been
sufficient in most cases to bring the
, boy to a realization of the fact that
he cannot do as he pleases; and, fur
thermore that it is not hard for him
to do the right thing. 1t would be a
o waste of time and energy to send the
child from the court to its home, there
to remain under the supervision of the
. son to act for 1t, and visit the child
and its parents, so as to ascertain and
! become acquainted with his mode OF
life. The person who does this work
ticn officer, who is appointed under
the Juvenile Court law to perform this
Work. 1t will be seen at once that a
great many probation officers, or as
sistapts to probation officers, must be
appointed, when it is known that at
the present time there arc over 1900
on probation, and the number will in
crease from week to week. The Bos-
ton authorities estimate that a proba-
ton officer should not have more than
forty children parCled to him or her at
any one time.
To utilize the forces in the Juvenile
Court, and at the same time systema-
tize the work. the county has been d.
n vided into Twelve districts, and each
A district assigned to what is known a:
general probation officer who de.
votes his or ner whole time to thc
| work. All children coming before the
court, if parolcd, are assigned to the
district officer in the district where
the child resides. The number of chill
dren in some districts exceed over 200
and in all districts will reach thai
number in q short time. The distrc
probation officer works subject to the
direction of the chief probation Officer
and, of course, will not be expected Il
do all of the visitation. 1t is con
templated, and, in fact, plan has beer
in partial operation for some time, in
teresting all the churches, social set
Elements, societies and individuals il
n. each district desiring to cooperate
with the Juvenile Court. An individ
ual may take two or three cases in
district and do all of the visiting an