Los Angeles herald., 1909-03-13

shall not only allege the facts showing
the delinquency of the child, but shall
also allege the whole condition, or, If
the parent or guardian makes the
petition, it shall contain a consent to
such order as the court may thereafter
make in the matter of the delinquency
of the child. 1t therefore follows that
no child under eighteen years of age
shall be tried by a jury for crime un-
less it appears to the judge of the
Juvenile court that said child should be
taken from its own home. Or by reason
of the righteousness of the crime or
other circumstances connected with
the case. the matter should not take
the usual course, in which event an
order to that effect is made, and there
after proceedings are held in the usual
way for the prosecution of crime.
Jail for Crime Alone
"The new law provides that no child
under sixteen shall be imprisoned in 4
Jail until after conviction of crime, as
distinguished from an adjudication Of
delinquency 1t also provides that no
child under fourteen years of age shall
be sent to a penitentiary for any crime
whatever until it has first been tried in
a reform school and the experiment
has failed.
with regard to persons between
eighteen and twenty years of age the
law provides that after conviction Of
a felony they may be sent to the re-
form school or placed on probation, or
that they may be sent to either of the
reform schools upon the request of the
defendant and the consent of the court
in proper cases, without being con-
victed of a felony, thus obviating the
necessity of having a felony conviction
against them, and, of course, also OBJ
int ir1rr I7n 30 III frt0 II
This, however, can only be done before
trial with the consent of the accused.
Heretofore 1t has been possible TO
place persons over eighteen on proba-
ton under the adult probation law,
but very often persons between
eighteen and twenty years old would
be better under the supervisorial con-
troll of a reform school. For that rea-
son the law marks long change for
the better. In addition to that there
is much work in these institutions
which can be best accomplished by
older persons than are now in said in
stitutidns. for the reason that when
sent young they are usually paroled
within two years, which leaves the in
sttution without a sufficient force to
do the work which is required to be
done to keep the institution going.
Parents Must Pay
at has been possible under the pres
ent law to require the parents to pay
for the maintenance of children, under
pain of contempt of court, but the new
law provides that adults contributing
to the delinquency of or dependency of
children may be punished by d fine not
exceeding a thousand dollars or by
imprisonment in the county Jail not
exceeding six months, or that such fine
or Imprisonment may be suspended un~
der such conditions as the judge may
determine. OF course such prosecu-
tions must be instituted in the ordinary
way by complaint, to which the de-
fendant may plead and go to trial be-
fore a jury. Jurisdiction. however,
over this form of misdemeanor is trans
ferred from the justices to the superior
court.
1.-The law provides that during the
period when the child is under the
jurisdiction of the superior court the
statute of limitations does not run
against the offense, and therefore, if
the child should become incorrigible
under the probation system. he can
thereafter be tried and punished for the
offense in the usual way; excepting
however, where the child is discharged
because of good conduct, in which
event he cannot subsequently be prose-
cuted for the crime.