New-York tribune., 1907-04-19
THE CRIMINAL COURTS.
Judge Ommen Points ont the Good
City Magistrates Can Do.

.'one big souled city magistrate said Judge
Alfred z. Ommen. in his address before the WON %
ans Municipal League on Criminal Courts yes
terday morning, can do more good thah d" '''
charitable organizations In New york
Judge OnlIacn estimated that 10000 cases passeu
through the hands OF the eighty city magistrates
On greater New York every year. Ihat Is "O'
counting the cases Of wife deserton. ana there are
many OF those" he said. You can see IT'S I'M
Dorfant 10 have magistrates with wisdom ana
heart. It's easy enough for magistrate 10 SIT uP
and hand out conventional justice-'Si1 mohlhs On
the island Ten dollars fine, etc. But sohletHlhs
got to be done to lessen the number or these lsOV
cases, and that is not the way. We are seu'lHs
away from the idea, in criminal Jurisprudence OF
such and such punishment for such and SUCH DEEDS
The notion Of giving fellow another chahce Is
growing. The potency OF the magistrates posluoh
lies in the fact that he has the power TO send
man TO jan That shadow Of the jail in the back
ground tends to make man anxious TO make the
most Of the chance the magistrate gives him.
.'IEhen was magistrate used to play trick
not unlike the trained nurse when she gives
patient some cornstarch and tells him its sleep
ing powder and he goes 10 sleep. A woman would
bring her husband into court. a nice neat woman
with several children. perhaps: husband had been
getting drunk and smashing the furniture She
testes that when he is sober he works hard and is
good 10 hts family, only he will get drunk oeca-
sonaliy. Now, il would be absurd to send that man
10 the island. ] used 10 write out pledge on the
back Of a summons, make it as impressive as l
could, and have the man swear, IN tne presence
Of Cod that he would never again touch intoxicat-
ing liquor I'd give the pledge to the mans wife.
and tell her # he ever broke it 10 take it TO some
magistrate who would attend TO her husbands
case. That kind Of a pledge, with the fear Of the
island back OF it, Is very good for keeping man
straight.
Almost the most pathetic thing that comes to
magistrates notice. I think. IS the way IN when,
along in October. men come in and ask TO be sent
Jail for shelter for the winter I've had as many
as five hundred in the course Of the month Hope
all gone; friends all gone: nerve al gone; willing
10 go jail for food and bed used TO have
feeDhOnic communication with certain express ana
other companies, and when man like that came
before me I'd say, If get you JOB VIII you pIace
up and behave yourself" Generally he'd say, Yes.
driver or something of the kind and about 80 per
cent Of the thus given work did We'll Ihey
seemed TO get their nerve back
THE facL that a city magistrate has original
iuris6icton' gives him great responsibility. He
ruin young fellow AT the beginning Of his career,
maybe him in the right way again. Take a
boy OF twenty-five, employed IN some shop; some
body gives him tip on the races he takes =
from ais employers ill, and OF course his en-
pOyer comes around On that day and discovers II.
He IS arrested Now. which is better-to send
that boy to jail. to say TO him; You fell, FOR
minute, but We'll give you another chance Brace
up. Don't do il againT
''Or. take a girl who thinks the sealslun ana
diamonds of the girl in the next block are better
than the s. a week she gets in department store
She falls. Now, that is where the woman proba,
ticn officers work comes IN. She gets that girl
her till she Is set going in the straight path
again. Every magistrate has one male probation
officer. A mother whose big boy becomes un-
gnanagea bic appeal 10 a magistrate who puts
him in the probation officers charge This officer
keeps an eye him. and if he finds him lettering
IN the street after o'clock Wnen he's told him TO
boy a licking and tells him not 10 let It happen
again