The St. Louis Republic., 1903-01-01

should be so shaped as to cover. as nearly
as possible. any future contingencies. II we
had the assurance that only men OF the
most sterling qualiiies-as We have them at
present and had them In the past-would be
placed at the helm of our municipal ships
we we could unhesitatingly intrust them with
would be guided exclusively by the desire
to act for the public veal
voice the opinion Of the members Of
the conference and particularly that of lis
81. Louis contingent. when / declare that
The. the choice , Of the occupant, Of the Juvenile
greatest safety in the hands OF the Judges
of the Circuit Court.
1t, 1T is surely surely not too much to expect that
among nine or ten Circuit Judges the
greater majority could be trusted with the
proper fulfllment Of any task, even weight
ier than the selection of Juvenile Court
Judge.
CRITICIsEs A PASSAGE,
AS long as the bill is under discussion I
may be permitted to call attention to one
PasssaEe {ossaS. under section 3. which reads as
=, ,;;;: ,;., Provided. however, that in all cases
more persons charged with the commission on
charged shall be- under the oi aTe see OF fef
es % s 70 nSa ne
but the trial Of such Offenders shall be
the contrary notwithstanding.
In my humble opinion this passage is
utterly repugnant to the spirit of the law,
which which In all % its prov sions distinctly pre-
cases of Juvenile offenders than the one
followed in the case of adults. I believe
nature of the ofrense should be considered,
and under conditions enumerated in the
aforementioned passage the Offenders
should be proceeded against severally I'm
accordance with the category they are
placed In by this act and other acts aim
ing at proper classification of offenders.
THE insertion of this exception to the
usual mode of procedure may prove a fatal
flaw In the otherwise logically constructed
fabric Of the proposed act 1t is the evil
deEt intent of the law to place the juvenile
offender in class of his own. hence the
court created for his special benefit should
in all instances have exclusive jurisdiction
the Illinois law does not contain the oh
jectionable paragraph: fail to see an I'M
proyement of our law by its insertion:
"One more point. The insertion of Sec
ton 20. providing for noninterference by
this act with the existing laws In reference
to the Industrial School for Girls and Re-
and eSpeiient: as Its omiss on may have
acted as a block to the early enactment
of the bill. and may have led to serious
complications in the future.
while the Conference of Charities and
Correction approved the entire bill and all
sections embodied In the same. 1t should
governing our refo-matories meet with the
approval Of its members. On the contrary.
We hold those laws 10 De utterly made
quate and cut Of keeping with the spirit
that should inspire us In our dealings with
the juvenile offender. The latter Is to-day
committed to these institutions by an order
OF the courts for a definite term; |. e.. he is
actually sentenced to the reformatory. This
is reformation by rule and with venge-
ance!
1.-THE punitive character of such commit
ment is brought out still more forcibly BY
an act that authorizes the Judge Of a trial
court to parole the offender at any time he
with the management Of the Institutions.
as has been done repeatedly by 2 certain
adult offender properly adjudged non COM
pos by q Jury OF his peers to be committed
to a hospital for the insane for a stated !
period.
REFORM SCHOOL MEASURES.
In these cases the courts commit the in
sane offender to the charge Of the superin-
tendent. with the explicit Understanding
that the offender is TO en pc ned until cured.
to medical knowledge and science Ref0r-
nation Of an offender implies Q course OF