Arizona republican., 1905-02-03

l this court has nothing that corresponds . to what is understood by trial. When ! l 2 case is reported to the court which acquires attention. the first thing that is done is to send a probation officer to inquire into the circumstances and surroundings of the child. This often l decides what is necessary to be done. | As for instance, when it is found that the fault is with the parent of the child, who has not kept him in school. but allowed him to loaf about the streets with idle companions or has sent him to a saloon for liquor, or has sent him to the railroad yards to pick Iup coal, where he has learned to steal coal as quicker method than to pick up scattered pieces from the ground,
 in all such cases the parent is brought into court and dealt with as the trans gressor. In such eases the child is dis
 charged with an admonitiOn and kind ly warning. If, however, the child is
 found to be at fault, then the trial con
 sists of friendly consultation between
 the judge. the probation officer and the ! child whose case is to be considered. Instead of the ordinary proofs and the
 examination of sworn witnesses. the
 child is induced by the kindly interest
 of the judge to tell about the act iE
 question, when the best thing to be
 done for the Child's interest arl wei
 fare is decided, with the full under
 standing and concurrence of the child.
 In a large majority of cases the child
 is placed on probation, which means
 that he is to report once a week to
 the judge upon his conduct until he
 is released from this requirement. If,
 however, it is found from bad home
 surroundings or other circumstances
 that it is necessary to send him to some reformatory institution for
 time, this is all fully explained to the
 child until he understands that this is
 the best course and consents to go.
 But he is not placed in charge of an
 officer. He takes his own commitment and goes alone and presents il to the
 superintendent and places himself in his charge. And the judge of the Den
 Yer juvenile court makes the statement
 that of all the boys he has thus com
 mitted during three years, not a single
 one has failed to promptly report as
 agreed.
 No child is allowed to be placed in
 jail. The words "crime' and "crim-
 inal' are not used in this court, as ap piled to a child delinGUent. Every child
 who is brought into this court is care
 fully impressed with the idea that the
 court, instead of seeking to prove him
 to be a criminal or to punish him. is
 laboring and striving in an
 exactly opposite direction. viz:
 to save him from becoming a
 criminal and to protect him from , punishment. And this appeal to the
 child's better nature is not in vain The results of these simple methods
 based upon sympathy with and a cor
 rect understanding of child nature, are most remarkable. A railroad president } . reports to one of the judges of a juy- chile court that over ninety per cent ! of the Oneuses committed by boys around the yards of the company such
 as stealing coal and car fixtures and hanging on to trains, had ceased since the establishment of this cOUrt and 5 that the railroad company had dis charged from it's employment men
 whom it had hitherto had for the pur- pose of guarding it's property from this 2 class Of offenders. Again, Judge Tuley z of Chicago, one Of the oldest and most q experienced judges in the state of Hi /, nois. says that the juvenile court of
 Chicago has done more to decrease
 crime in the five years of its operation than all the courts in the state have . done in twenty years. Only a trinng
 percentage Os those who are brought
 into this court once are ever brought
 
 ing in of one of a gang of offenders ? results in the breaking up of the gang. , 1 The influence gained over one boy by ; the kindly and sympathetic methods of the court makes him missionary to
 his comrades and induces him to bring them in to promise the judge to stop 3 their depredations.
 ) The indirect influence of this court r in showing a better method of deal . ing with offenders. substituting kind
 ness, sympathy and helpfulness for se-
 verity and punishment, will work re-
 suits in dealing with adult offenders l only second in importance to its direct
 results.
 The objections to the establishment
 of these courts in every community - seems to be founded on misapprehen- % sion of what the court is and what the . court does. It is said for instance s that the large additional expense in r vOlved should prevent the establish
 ment of juvenile courts except in large 8 cities. But in Colorado which, by the T way has the best law on this subject g and whose courts are the most effcc- s tive of any so far established, the juV- ! chile court is made a part of the couE- % ty court. thus avoiding any extra eN- - Dcnsc so far as the court itself is con Ctilel. IiiN ollN o-ulIlOildl -fS-l7N { in such a case would be the salaries l of probation officers. These are gen
 orally women who, by reason of their s sympathy and tact. make the most ef- s fcient probation officers. It might $ well be asked, however, even if the - expense were much greater than il - necessarily would be, whether it would t not be wise to economize in other di- e rections. If it be true, as the actual n facts seem to show, that the establish n ment of juvenile courts would in few - years reduce the present large outlay
 for jails, penitentiaries and criminal - prosecutions to a merely nominal sum - then it would seem that the money n raised by taxation could not be in any t way so wisely expended, as for the es-