The Elbert County tribune., 1903-01-08

/ INC CouhtJ Souft Vi Ardpdnoe county.
before the recent meeting of the Colo
RADIO State Teachers Association at
Colorado Springs The wonderful
work done by Judge Lindsey in the
management and reclamation of truant
and vicious children in Denver. where
his truancy court has become recog-
nized as one OF the most valuable insti-
tutions of the city. give his statements
and recommendations more than ordi-
, nary Significance:
| II has been well said by an able au-
thority on criminology that neglected
| childhood is the chief cause of crime,
for neglected childhood means neglect
ed character and at an age when char
! acter is still plastic" and Jacob Riis.
/ for whose practical experience and
knowledge I have profound respect.
after years of contact and investigation
of sociological problems in the great
cities OF this nation. declared "the
problem of the children is the problem
Of the state. In proportion as we neg
lect or pass them by the blame for
bad government comes to rest upon
4 u.s." One year before the juvenile court
law went into effect in Chicago 1900
| children under sixteen years of age
were arrested or dealt with in the Grim
inal courts OF that city. and last spring
when | visited the city bridewell of
Cook county found in one cell house
nearly 500 prisoners, over half of whom
were under twenty years of age. And
this proportion is generally sustained
throughout the year, when, | am told,
seven to ten thousand prisoners pass
its gates. The prison commission OF
England recently reported: Figures
have shown, and the committee are of
the opinion, that the age between six
4 teen and twenty-one is essentially the
! criminal age. and that from criminals
OF this age the professional criminal
of later years is generated. 1t Is
known also to students of human ma
ture that this age is a particularly
plastic age. and that the habit which
may lead to crime or virtue cannot be
said to be fully formed before the age
| of twenty-one."
What | have now said will be sufii-
cient to refresh us with the tremendous
Importance or this problem of the chill
| dren and the no less responsibility that
rests upon the schools in its solution.
As long as there are children and ire
4 sponsible or careless parents. bad
neighborhoods and Indifferent teachers
| or officials, there is going to be more
or less juvenile depravity always with
us. and of course no complete elimina-
ton thereof as long as there Is crime,
poverty and misery on earth. but 1t can
, be greatly remedied. guarded against
and to some extent entirely eradicated
with careful. earnest. ceaseless effort.
Law of This State.
| Now let us see how the law of this
state already regards this question. 1t
| will remind us that not only should
| the moral, social and remedial aspects
| of the question be regarded from the
educational standpoint. but the stat
| ute of the state likewise declares so.
| The compulsory educational law,
passed Originally in 1889 and amended,
| or re-enacted as amended in 1899. not
| only provides that children under four
| teen in school districts of the first and
second class. who do not attend school
| 1t least twenty weeks each school
| year, ten of which shall be consecutive
| shall be proceeded against for habit
ual truancy, but also that any such
child guilty of disorderly. vicious or
| immoral conduct or otherwise incorri-
| gible, shall be prosecuted, not as
criminal, but as juvenile disorderiy
person Giving the benefit OF the
| doubt to an uncertainty in this law,
we extend the age as to "disorderly
| conduct" to sixteen years, the limit of
School. 1t thus appears that the law
| of the state wisely and humanely to
certain extent already-but all too lin
| ited-recognizes an erring child as be-
| ing entitled not to be classed. when
violating the law. with an adult in the
| commission OF exactly the same act.
The different methods may be illus
| trated by a case in the County Court.
| A certain boy just turned sixteen was
charged with disorderiy conduct. AT
| this time, year ago. he was terror
| to the police, and had actually become
| as adept as an adult. He has cost
| the state about $500 in attempted re-
| formation. He has cost his victims
| great deal more. At the age OF ten
| he wanted some wax candles to light
| cave. He entered a grocery store in
| the twilight and helped himself. He
was not charged with disorderly con-
| duct. He was arrested and tried in
| the Criminal Court for burglary and
sentenced to Jail. The next time he
went in store was not for candles, but
| ito tap the TILL" l will not follow his
four or Ave years criminal career.
| Suffice 1t to say that by different meth-
! ods in the juvenile court under the ed
ucation law. even after this danger
ous bungling of the state with SO del
| icate a machine, he is. after over
years trial, honest, promising and re
spected. There is an astonishingly
great number of similar cases in my
own experience with the same history.
First, habitual truancy, then loaf
ing. idleness, crime, especially In bad
neighborhoods or irresponsible fami-
| lies (both are more often co;nbined)
criminality follows truancy as sure as
| night follows day. If the state per-
mits truancy. or neglect OF education.
It permits crime. Only Few years ago
| this boy was thus charged us com
mon burglar. and thus stlgmatized and
L aIanrifod NTH the murdernuS thief