Evening star., 1902-04-19
JUVENILE OFFENDERS.
How the Probation System is Work
ing in This CITY.

How the Probation System is Work
ing in This City.
1t was his first visit to the country
and he wrote to the agent of a fresh air
society, which had sent him into this land
OF new experiences:
August l, 1898.
Dear Mr.. Whelpley:
1 wish you were here to see the geese hiss
at the cat We have green apples to burn.
ate nine Monday and on Tuesday L had
the baddest pain ever known here.
I was baddest yesterday. I chucked some
tacks in the hen yard. 1 think the rooster
ate one. He died game l was sorry for
his pains. Yours in haste, DENNIS.
We get glimpses through such means as
this into the condition of mind OF the ne
elected city child and are made to realize
his needs and the many means which might
be used for his uplifting and happiness
step with this end in view and which prom
ises to be far reaching in its good results
has recently been taken in Washington
the establishment of a separate court for
the trial of juvenile offenders. With our
children's court with its probation agent,
a board of guardians with discretionary
powers in placing its wards, an excellent
industrial school and many cooperative
private agencies, the juvenile offenders OF
Washington have many friends at court
ment and endeavorng to make them amen
able to good home influences.
At the root Of the proba tion idea is the
recognition that youthful criminals are not
a dishonest class by themselves, but chill
dren OF the same general makeup the
rest of the Juvenile world, boys and girls
many of whom prefer to be good but are
open to temptation or who have been led
astray by unhealthy surroundings.
When we consider how large a percentage
of juvenile offenders placed on probation in
their homes never return to the court room,
the efficacy of this method of guardianship
proves Its value.
During March twenty-three children were
placed on probation for a period of six
months, one was sent to relatives in the
country, two were sent TO the junior repub-
lie at the parents expense. and twenty were
placed in their homes with their parents.
Eighteen Of the last are either at work or
In school, and are promising to become use
full citizens.
The aim of this act has been to guard
boys and girls against exposure to the at
mosphere and environment Of crime; to
keep them from seeing things that might
be prejudicial: to prevent, so far as possi-
BILE personal contact with the vicious and
depraved, and to dispel from youthful
minds as far as circumstances would allow
the idea that they were prisoners and GRIM
inals.
In city in New Jersey where there is
no juvenile court the judge took a common
sense view of this class of offenders. In a
case Where SIX boys, ranging in age from
ten to twelve years, Were brought before
the court on a minor charge, the Judge in
stead of sending them to Jail sentenced
them to a sound spanking to be admins
tered by two lusty policemen in the pres
ence of the children's parents. The SEN
tence was duly executed and the children
were returned to their parents with the ad
monition that if they again put in an ap-
pearance the punishment would be repeal ted
with increased severity. While this was a
rather unusual method it infinitely
better than sending these children to jail
where their associations would more than
offset any good that might result from inn
prisonment. 1t is literally a case OF making
the punishment fit the crime and it might
be tried with advantage whenever the boy
shows an abnormal desire to figure in the
police court. There is nothing in spanking
that appeals to the boys perverted ideas
of herocs, and If the spanks are properly
administered it will jar much of the nom
sense out Of him.
There is no spanking done in the juvenile
court of Washington. Children who are
given d probationary period of six months
are placed with their parents or guardians
on good behavior with advice to the head of
the family not to spare the shingle and to
make the slipper tea as strong as the case
demands