Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-14
JUDGE REFORMS
MANY HUSBANDS
CHICAGO COURT IS LENIENT
AT FIRST
If Those Whose Fines Are Suspended
Show a Disposition to DO Bet
ter, a Helping Hand
Is Extended


reform husbands With several thou
sand Chicago women Judge Cleland be-
lteves the genus husband generally is
In bad state of repair, and regarding
a number Of husbands who have their
homes in the district centering around
the Maxwell street police court he
knows this to be the case.
Hundreds OF representative business
and professional men on the west side
hold the same view, and now that
Judge Cleland has promulgated his re-
form ideas they have volunteered their
hearty cooperation in the effort to
make them effective.
While Judge Cleland believes that
nearly all husbands are in need of re-
form, his scheme can be applied only
to those who find their way into the
Maxwell branch of the municipal court.
Of these at least one hundred already
have been benefited by the scheme, and
the reform treatment will be applied
to others as fast as they are brought
into court. In only few instances
has the plan failed to work, and then
only because the husbands on which
1t was tried were so far gone that no
treatment could bring them back into
the paths OF domestic rectitude
The plan as outlined by Judge Gle
land, and which is subject to modifica-
tions, is to arrest, fine and, with the
fine suspended over their heads, parole
those husbands who show themselves
in need of reform. Husbands thus ar
rested and paroled are watched closely
by the judge and the committee OF
business men who have volunteered to
assist in the scheme and everything
possible is done to encourage them in
their effort to live up to the require
ments of their parole.
The paroled men are visited at least
once week at their homes by one OF
the committee of business men and
notes are taken as to the progress they
are making. Every two weeks Judge
Cleland holds night session of his
court at which all the paroled husbands
are required to report and where evil
dence is heard regarding their conduct
while on parole. II these reports are
satisfactory the case against them is
not removed from the books, but is con-
tinued two weeks longer, when they are
required to report again.
This policy Of continuing cases and
calling for bi-weekly reports is kept up
until the paroled husband shows signs
of permanent reform, when. the sus-
pended fine is removed and he is re-
stored to his family different and in
most cases, completely reformed man.
Occasionally husband has been found
who took advantage of the parole sys-
tenn started by Judge Cleland, whom
he regarded as an "easy mark" and
once released without having been sent
to the bridewell the husband in these
l instances drifted back to the old paths
r of the unreformed. One man who did
: this promptly was rearrested, and on
Z his failure to promise better behavior
was sent to the bridewell to work. out
a maximum fine of $S5 and the costs
Of prosecuting the case against him.
The west side business men who have
taken an interest in Judge Cleland's
movement to reform husbands are con-
vinced that the plan is a good one from
a purely business standpoint. Most of
the husbands who habitually are ar
rested by the Maxwell street police are
good workers when they are sober, and
as the district is one in which a large
Nlmber of skilled mechanics are em-
pioyed their wages are high when they
are working. By careful estimates that
nave been made by men interested in
the parole scheme it has been shown
that an average of $3.50 a week has
peen ADDED to the revenue of the busi-
ness men in the district through the
increased earning capacity of the work
lngmen. The plan has been in opera
ton only little more than a monht,
and as its benefits are to be greatly
extended in the near future Judge Gle
land and his coworxers in the move
ment expect to see it spread to other
parts of the city.
tenn of parollng husbands was never
before tried in this country. In the
cases brought before the juvenile court
the culprit always is released on parole
the first time he is arrested, and in
some instances IT, judges give the
youngsters several chances to improve
their ways.
Husbands, Judge Cleland declares.
are only grown up boys, and If the
parole system has been found beneficial
when applied to juveniles he thinks it
ought to work with the grown-ups.
The greatest difficulty that has been
found is to convince some of the hus-
bands arrested that the law is not their
enemy and that they have sincere
friends who are anxious to see them
straighten up into decent and industri-
GUS Workingmel.
Husbands the world over" said
Judge Cleland, "are far from an ideal
state of development. For this reason
1 believe everything possible should be
done to encourage amiable relations
between husband and wife. Observa-
ton has taught me that-tle imposition
of a penalty on either husband or wife
for some minor infraction OF the law
only strains the home relations Of the
punished and ultimately sesults in in
jury to the society of which they are a
part. What these people WHO are down
in the world want is a friend, one who
will take an interest in them and en-.
courage them to their best efforts. My
aim Is to impress them with the idea
that they are not absolutly alone or
friendless and that the same law they
have violated in reality txists for their
benefit. Give them every possible
chance before taking extreme meas
ures, and have confidence enough IN
mankind to believe the average hus-
band will yield to the innate desire to
be good and useful Citizen"
Since starting his parole system Judge
Cleland received letter from Jefferson
Pollard, police magistrate In st. Louis.
In his letter Judge Pollard said he had
tried a similar scheme to the one adopt
ed by the west side magistrate and that
he has found 1t successful. Judg Pol
lard said he simply continued the cases
OF husbands brought before his court
for hearing in order to give them a
chance to change their ways. The idea
OF having business men Interested IN