St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1909-04-14
THE ADVENTURES OF MICKEY
Judge LindSey'S Lecture at Music Hall
Friday Night.


Thanks to the enterprise Of the Search
Light Club of the South church Judge
Ben B. Lindsey of Denver, Col, came
here Friday night and gave highly IN
| teresting and profitable lecture on the
problems he has so successfully worked
out in his famous juvenile court. The
lecturer was happily introduced by Jo-
seph Fairbanks and for nearly two hours
held the closest attention of his audi
ence sometimes convulsng them with
laughter as he recited the stories OF his
court. and again eliciting hearty applause
when he told of the triumph OF the right
over the forces of evil.
He said in part: The child problem is
great and vital problem, and is coming
to concern the courts almost as much as
it does the schools. OF course in a some
what different way. Then referring to
Mickey as street Arab of his acquaint-
ance, as the typical case of boy delin-
quent, he said he was a creature of en-
vironment and tradition All boys
cannot be dealt with alike. There is
no set of fixed rules. In the past the
state has been very much handicapped
because of the lack of equipment to
properly handle this important subject
The courts were bound too much by the
rules of criminal law. The tendency has
been to treat the case purely from the
standpoint of law, without any regard
to the effect upon the individual boy. 1t
has gradually come about, however, that
we are learning that the greater number
of children go to court because they
have not learned sufficiently the lessons
they should have learned in the home
and the school. Because they have not
learned these, society has no right to
disgrace the boy by giving him a court
record.
The juvenile court was established and
cases of the character were tried before
a chancery, rather than before criminal
court. Under this charge children under
IA were delinquents and were treated as
such, rather than criminals, for the first
time in the history of the world. Envi-
ronment, opportunity and example for
evil made children criminal. Even if
child violates the criminal law by lar
ceny he now comes under the same head
as that of delinquents. This change in
the judicial attitude toward the child
enables the courts to do that for the
child which could not be done under the
criminal law.
Under this ne method those guilty of
exposing the child to environment tend
ing to make a criminal of him may be
brought into court and fined or impris-
oned. For instance, father who sends
his child to the saloon for liquor sends
his child into an atmosphere conducive
to crime and is liable to arrest and to
fine or Imprisonment. Instances of such
punlshments are numerous. In place of
the Jail, which a prominent jailer termed
"the toboggan slide to hell" has been
substituted the detention school, which
combines the best elements of the school
and the home. The detention school in
Denver costs about $4,000 year for
maintenance, whereas the Jail cost $751;
600. In proportion to population re-
cords show that there are twice as many
boys brought before the court in this
country each year as there are men.
Under the old system the Jail was the
state school for crime; the detention
school, on the contrary, is the state
school for good citizenship.
Does the new method pay? Jail and |
reform schools are necessary but they
are not so necessary as some people |
think. A great deal of juvenile crime is
directly traceable to the physical con-
dition Of the child. There is a strong
relation between the physical and moral |
welfare of the child. What the boy is
largely depends on what he eats and
wears. In the old days but little con-
sideration was paid to this fact.
Twenty-Five per cent. of all the serious
cases coming before the juvenile court
have been found directly traceable to
physical defects.
In closing Judge Lindsey spoke of the
honor system inaugurated by himself in |
connection with the commitment of iuve-
nile offenders to detention homes and |
the older offenders to reformatories and |
lails. Under this system, which has been
in vogue eight years. he has made prac-
tice to place the one sentenced upon his
honor to go to the institution where he
is to be confined unaccompanied by an
officer of the law. In all this time no
one has violated this trust and 5O7 have
been so trusted. These so-called Grimm
ais must be taught to have confidence
n themselves. The honor system engen-
1ered this confidence.