Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-10
FOR JUVENILE COURT
Addresses Last Night Before
Monday Evening Club.
JUDGE LINDSEY'S VIEWS
SPEAKER PREsIDEs OVER A DEN
YER TRIBUNAL
Citizens Urged by Judge Heuisler of
Baltimore to Give the Boy
a Chance.

| the state and by the individual citizens OF
| the questions of the correction and protec-
! ton of the delinquent children of the
| cities Of the United States. The principal
address was made by Judge Ben S. Lindsey,
who presides over the Juvenile court of
| Denver, Colo, and his arguments were en-
| phasized and supplemented in brief ad-
dresses by Judge Charles w. Heuisler OF
| the Baltimore juvenile court and Commits
| sioner Henry B. +. mcfarland. president
| of the board of District Commissioners.
| The meeting was attended by large
| number of the members of the Monday
| Evening Club and other persons concerned
| in the movement for the establishment of a
| separate juvenile court and probation
| system in the District. The interest of the
audience was evidenced by the marked at
| tention given the words of the speakers
and by the enthusiastic applause which
greeted the statements of the principles
upon which the juvenile court works and
| the recital of incidents illustrating the
practical administration of those princip les.
Considerable interest conferred in the adj
! dress of Judge Lindsey, whose admnistra-
| ton of the Denver juvenile court has at
| tracted favorable notice and comment
throughout the county. His address was
character by numerous striking and
he declared that 1.-THE juvenile court Is not
hopper into which to pour the product OF
the hellish mills of the cities and grind out
good citizens but it is rather the lnstru-
ment for crushing the mills that produce
the offending youths And again: 1t IS
the duty of the state to correct the child,
but the state becomes criminal when 1t
undertakes that function without protecting
the child THE juvenile court is d good
thing, but it is not a 'cure-all; Deal
with the errng child kindly and firmly, not
with severity and brutality.
Mr.. Macfarland Presides.
The meeting was called to order by Mrs.
c. D. Merwin, president of the Monday
Evening Club and Commissioner Macfar-
land, who presided over the meeting, was
introduced by Mr. John W. Douglass, agent
of the board of children's guardians. On
assuming the chair Mr.. mcfarland spoke
in part follows:
I'VE are not backward in adopting here
the principle of separate treatment for
Juvenile offenders. For more than three
years they have been kept a the house OF
detention instead of police stations; by an
arrangement which l made with the Police
Court judges they are tried in separate
session of the court, after the older Offend
ers have been tried. and under the board OF
guardians a probation system has been es-
tablished. All this was done as a tenn
porary arrangement until a suitable law
could be secured from Congress embodying
the best practice elsewhere adapted to our
needs. The bill for that purpose was care
submitted a year ago. We hope to have 1t
passed by Congress, so that we may nave
a proper juvenile court and probation SyS-
tenn We welcome those who have helped
to establish such systems elsewhere, as we
have welcomed their ideas"
Judge Lindsey's Address.
At the close Of his address Mr.. Macfar-
land introduced Judge Lindsey.
Crime among the youth of this nation is
cniI Jt,do I indS
because the boys and girls of themselves
are bad, but because of the conditions OF
their homes and because of their environ
ment The conditions of family life in the
large cities today are not the same as they
were wears ago he said and the changed
conditions demand that the citizens awaken
to the fact that the particular home de-
ponds upon the particular neighborhood,
and the character of a city depends upon
the character of the homes in it. Contlnu-
ing, he said;
My visits to the large cities of the
country have impressed me that we are
neglecting the children of the cities. The
good citizens of the country are called
upon to protect the children from evil in
f1uenceS and environment by the enactment
of proper laws The increase in the past
few years of juvenile offenders in the cities
is due in part to the neglect of parents and
the neglect of the proper officers to enforce
the laws against adults If we are to make
progress in remedying the conditions the
with the parents. Example is everything
in the home and the example of the citizen
has a wonderful leading influence on the
boys of the city.
II wonder if the people of Washington
and the Congress know that more than
one-fourth of all arrests for stealing made
in the District last year were boys under
sixteen years of age? There were more
thieves, as the law defines thieves, among
the boys of the District last year than
among all the men and women of the city.
When you remember that there are four
times as many adults juveniles in the
District we are forced to recognize the fact
that last year in the District there was
considerably more crime among the chill
dren than among the men and women"
Quotation From the Records.
Judge Lindsey then quoted the records
of the police department of last year. The
number of adults arrested last year for
petty stealing was Ills, the number of
minors arrested was 776, and of this num-
Der the records show 1868 were under the
age of sixteen years. The most important
period in boys life, he declared, is be-
tween the ages of eight and sixteen years.
The impressions received then, he said,
are the most lasting for good or evil, 1t is
therefore the great necessity that the state
enact the best laws it can enact for the
care of its hayward children. 1T is the
duty of the state,' he said, ito deal with
its erring children kindly and firmly, and
not with severity and brutality.
THE juvenile court, continued the speak
err lis the ounce of prevention. 1t is de-
signed to prevent crime, not to punish.
Any work that prevents is better than any
work to punish after the offense has
been committed. Methods of the past have
been patterned upon different principles.
We have neglected to study the conditions,
neglected to prevent the growth of condi-
tions that make for evil, neglected to pro-
tect the children from falling under the
bane of the evil influences. Under old meth
DDS we neglected the children until they
became criminals and then the state rose
up in its might TO punish the offenders
because we failed to do our duty.
A Comparative Statement.
Judge Lindsey presented some more fig
ures from the District police records for the
past year. showing the large percentage of
children arrested for various offenses as
compared to the number of adults. One
thing he has discovered from his examina-
ton of the police records of the cities.
Judge Lindsey said, in that few arrests of
boys under sixteen years are for intoxica-
ton. OF the SIP minors arrested here last
year only sixty-seven were charged with
intoXication and vagrancy. These figures
show, he said, that the crimes of the chill
dren are against the property and persons
of others and not against themselves.
THE facts presented in the statistics
tod frov, he narlc Of YAM ,,aJieo 4