The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-27

courts where murderers, burglars and
other criminals of a like character are
tried, thereby branding the child as a
criminal however trivial the charge may
be This is not fair and in most cases
it has done more harm than good. The
people of this country. however, are
slowly awakening to the fact that
juvenile court is positively necessary and
in eleven states the juvenile court law
has been passed by the Legislature. All
of the principal cities of this country
support juvenile courts. Even in Eng
land the proposition is being considered
seriously and 1 see no good reason why
you people in Kansas should not have
the same thing.
THE great trouble with the criminal
courts of this country is the tendency
to take as little time as possible in
trying a case. The authorities do not
treat crime as seriously as they should
and there is a disposition on their part
to jump at conclusions and to pass
judgment hurriedly according to those
same conclusions. If a child is brought
into court on the charge of taking an
apple or breaking into a box car down
on the railroad tracks it is Immediate
ly classed as thief or a burglar and
is compelled to bear the disgrace and
odium which attaches to those names.
This is not right and in the juvenile
court at Denver you will never find
such a thing. Where one boy is ar
rested for a petty crime it is safe to
the same crime, but were not caught.
In Chicago last year about 1000 boys
were arrested and il we multiply that
number by we will see that about
half the boys in that city were in trou-
bic of one kind or another. In fact
it is really not necessary that boys
should be punished severely for the
petty crimes which they sometimes
commit. In most cases it will be found,
If a thorough investigation is made,
that the motive which a city boy has
in taking an apple or breaking into
box car, is exactly the same as that
which prompts a country boy when he
sneaks into an orchard or a melon
patch. But the city boy is often COM
PEELED to undergo a severe punishment
while the country boy goes scot-free.
"All this is simply to show that the
average boy who is brought into court
to receive judgment for some misde-
meanor, is not really as bad as he is
cracked up to be. And if he is given
good treatment and is plainly shown
the error of his ways and how he may
mend them, as is done in the juvenile
courts, he will, as a rule, come out
all right in the end. I do not say, mind
you, that we are always successful
with the boys who are brought into
court at Denver. In some cases we
are not But it is not often that
industrial school is sent back to either
of those places for the second time"
Preceding the address of Mr.. Lindsey,
Judge T. +. Carver, president OF the
association, delivered his address. He
said:
I'm the matter of legislation in the
interest of criminal reform, Kansas has
made some progress during the past
year. There is now upon the statute
books the indeterminate sentence law,
which repeats the former law requiring
the courts, in cases of conviction of OF
lenses punishable by Imprisonment in
the penitentiary, murder and treason
excepted, to sentence the criminal TO q
definite term of imprisonment. The law
still fixes the minimum and maximum
number of years that any one must
serve; but the person convicted is SIM
ply sentenced to serve for q term not
less than the minimum nor more than
the maximum term, with the power OF
parole and absolute discharge vested in
the board of directors and warden OF
the state penitentiary. Similar laws
have been in operation in other states
for several years with favorable re-
suits Much of the success of this law,
as well as the usefulness of any law
depends upon the honesty and good
judgment of officials. Any system viii
work badly in the hands of dishonest
or incompetent men whose duty II IS 10
see to it's execution. Perhaps we may
indulge the hope that at some day, not
too distant, the public institutions may
be managed by men whose fitness tor
place is not gagged merely py lneir
success as party organizers ana politl-
cal helpers"
Gov. ". ]. Bailey was down on the
programme for an address, but on ac-
count of pressing business matters ne
was not able to be present. The principal
feature of today's meeting of the Kansas
reading of an original story by Rev.
Charles NJ. Sheldon of this city the iol-
lowing is the programme of the evening
SeS1 WSTiR!sI5iNEsDAY EVENING, JAN. 81.
CAT 7:30 O'clock.l
Crime is social before it is individual
environmentaI before it is hereditary.
stTJnto the third and fourth generation is
the life limit of bad heredity while the
thousands (of generations) in the same
scripture is the life-lease of a good enVl-
ronment AS society begets she must
also redeem the criminal;
Opening es-Music-Prayer.
Short Address-"The Widening Aorl-
zon,'' General superintendent Edward A.
Vocal Soio-Rev. F. C. Brainerd.
The Story-Rev. Charles M. Sheldon