The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-12-24
Committee TO Draft Bill.

This committee was appointed. h. q.
! Gowans, judge of the Salt Lake juvenile
court; A. A Noon. judge of the Provo
court; Job Lyon, the incoming county
attorney; E C Ashton, a representative
! elect, who has taken a deep interest in
| the work: Mrs. Byron Cummings. presi-
dent of the Federation of Woman's Clubs;
Mrs. A L. Young, matron OF the Salt
Lake juvenile court, and Mrs. c. II. Nc
Mahon.
Judge Gowans said after the meeting
that he hoped to get the committee to-
gether at as early a date as possible.
1t is not unlikely that meeting will
be held Saturday.
At yesterdays session Governor Cutler
presided and his secretary. Willard Done,
was secretary When the meeting was
under way Judge Volney G. Gunnell of
/ He discussed the legal phases of the acts
and declared that, under present condi-
tons, a judge in a juvenile court must
be Judge, prosecutor, defender. father and
mother, and that the law says it is in
cumbent on the court to follow the prac-
/ tice of the district courts. Judge Gun
in securing assistance from either the
county attorney or the district attorney.
A Home for Girls.
The cry from Salt Lake is for a girls
] home, Judge GOwans and Mrs. Young
We're of one mind that the supreme need
in this city is a girls home. Mrs. Young
was opposed to calling it detention
/ home, saying it ought to be called a
| training school, and maintained as such,
"a training school where girls are taught
| all that is necessary to become house
wives
/ We want a home" said Judge Cow
ans, where we can stop our girls this
side of the reform school. At this time
We have none. We have homes for boys,
| and I'VE are meeting with no small de-
| gree OF success in handling the cases of
boys. All of the homes and refugees we
| have are for boys; we have nothing for
girls We waited a year and a half to
! get a home for boys but the problem
! of taking care of the girls is bigger one
than that of the boys"
Judge =. A. Noon said that there should
be a detention home in every district
not only for boys, but for girls as we'll
ducing the age of juvenile court eases of
boys from Is to 10. for, he said, after a
boy gets TO be IS years of age his mind
is pretty well matured and fixed: they
are hard for juvenile court TO handle -
Judge Gowans as strongly opposed the
reduction in age plan He would make il
up to 80 years, he said, as they do in
Australia. and as they have tried the plan
IN Massachusetts and Pennsylvania
where they place the offender on proba-
ton and under suspended sentence
Governor Cutler supported the proposi-
ton of making the law mandatory on
county commissioners TO provide deten-
ton homes THE word may which oc-
ours in the present law" said the gov
to must.
Too Many Prisoners.
We have prison out here on the
hill, continued the governor, filled with
inmates. Last year we completed a new
cell house and that is full They are
going TO ask for an appropriation of a
large sum to add another tier to this
These are the conditions which we wish
70 avoid. We must save the youths and
thereby we will not be called upon to
build tiers of cell houses in the insttiu-
ton out there on the hill"
DE- Albert Buxton made a suggestion
which seemed to meet with endorsement
Dr. Buxton asked the question if only
counties containing cities of the first and
second class should have detention homes
and would it not be a good plan to make