Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-05
Conditions in House OF Oeten-
ton and Juvenile Court.
JUDGE De LACYS PLEA
Situation Demands New Court
house and Other Facilities.
BAD AIR IMPAIRs HEALTH
Necessity for Crowding Children
Together in Small Quarters De
moralizing to Morals.

Declaring that present conditions at
! the house of detention are "a crime
against CHILDHOOD and that the condi-
tions in the building which houses the
Juvenile Court are so inadequate that
even the vitiated atmosphere is enough
to influence the state of mind of judge,
jury, witnesses and every one else con-
cerned, William H. De Lacy, judge of
that court, said today that he would
prepare Immediately for Congress the
draft of bill which will, if enacted,
make a most radical change in the
method of dealing with child violators
under the law.
Within a few days, therefore, the
Commissioners will be presented with
proposed legislation, providing for an
appropriation of $4,000 for ''deten-
tion home" and d similar sum for a
modern courthouse.
Conditions Very Bad.
Speaking of the house of detention
Judge De Lacy said to a reporter for
The Star:
Conditions there are very bad. OF
course, no criticism is intended, for the
place is merely the first step in the deal
ing with juvenile offenders and matters
concerning children. But it is a crime
against children to arrest them and make
them stay there even overnight Because
Dig and little children have to sleep in
the same room there have come to my
ears from the very children themselves
stories revolving in every detail. The best
we can do now with the poverty-stricken
looking place is to keep the boys in one
room and the girls ia another. Young
boys who have been kept there over
night for some childish and innocent vio-
lation of the law have been made to sleep
In the same room with older boys who
are of criminal and vicious instinct and
there have been more than one instance
Of this condition resulting seriously for
the younger boys morals.
Plea for Detention Home.
What I want to see is detention
home right on one corner of this
square on which the Juvenile Court
now stands. The United States has
bought this property and will put on
1t the hall Of records. Perhaps the
United States VIII be generous enough
to contribute a little corner from the
dead records for the benefit of the liv-
ing children.
In that new detention home every
boy and girl who has to stay in it will
have separate little room and clean
little bed. There are so many children
who ought not to be locked up unless
the lesson is going to do them some
good that l fear the present quarters
DO them more harm than benefit. In
detention home, such as l want to see,
it will be possible to give a wayward
youngster homeopathic dose Of depri-
walton of liberty. just to show him
what it's like Then at the same time
il we have q decent and proper deten-
tion home We can give them a few les
sons in manners, on the side-the use
of napkins, and that sort of thing, you
know. And il there are any of these
viciously bad and consistent offenders
there, why they can be kept away from
the unfortunate little chaps that are
locked up more from mere boyish fun
than anything else.
Separate Buildings Necessary.
a don't want courthouse and deten-
ton home in the same building The
children confined there would see all tue
business OF the court every day--the
crowds of spectators, the witnesses, the
weeping parents, who always go into
the most public spot to cry; the police
men, and the whole depressing machin-
cry of Ihe court will be in these chill
drens minds all the time. ] want to
see that new detention home away from
all that.
LAS Tor the courthouse, it ought TO
be- down on the same reservation with
the city hall. This COURT oom is very
poor. Why. even the lack of ventla
tion ia enough to have it's effect In every
sentence.
~ think that no courtroom should ne
built with ceilings less than thirty feet
Ugh. The atmosphere in thus court
room sometimes gets petty thick. We
have q hot-air furnace ana an ola stove.
When the room is crowded with wit
nesses the air is positively daIgeIo Gus
And / believe that pure air is needed
on the bench, because when a judge Is
weakened and MADE sleepy or 'dopey'
with breathing that baa air he will ee:-
tainiy not be up u the marx. And when
every word he utters is falling like u
hammer on somebody's ears il is very
important that he is in fit shape.
Courtroom Should Be Attractivee.
"Then, too. this building is so dep-ess-
| ing TO look at as courthouse. What we
ought to have for children's court is the
same idea IN architecture that is being
| applied everywhere to school buildings.
! The lines ought to be simple and beau
tiful.
| "At present we pay $40 year rent for
! this courthouse and $500 year for the
house of detention. The money represen
4 per cent on much more money than the
! two proposed buildings would cost.
II would advocate no e.her changes.
The detention home would stay under