The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-12-02

Generally, she is not brought in until
she has been talked and nagged almost
to desperation. You cannot commit
her to the Industrial school for not
withstanding Chapter sol of the Laws
of 1911, wherein it was sought to en-
power courts to commit girls under
eighteen years of age to the industrial
school. the lawyers insist that under
this act the Juvenile court cannot try
child for nisdemeanor and that the
court having power to try a child for
nisd EN- eanor has not the power TO
commit her to the Industrial school
There are a number of reasons why
this voluntary Juvenile court work to
which have referred, should not be
encouraged. 1t seems to me that If the
child is delinquent, the sooner it is
brought into court in the proper way
and taught due respect for the law, the
better for the child. Voluntarily and
secretly seeking out the Juvenile court
is an effort on the part of the parent to
shield the child by at least hiding its
delinquency, but that is not the main
reason We have had a number of
cases where the parents brought their
children into court in this voluntary
proceeding, where no record is made
of the case, and then in time the child
reaches its sixteenth year, and the
court is without jurisdiction to make
any orders or to commit to the indus
trial schools.
Work Is Decreasing.
you will. observe that the work of
the Juvenile court in our county is de-
creasing. That the number of cases
are not so many as formerly and that
the expense is not so great. If it were
not for the compensation received
from Probate court work that of the
Juvenile judge would be moderate, and
shows that this court must still be re-
tanned as part of another jurisdfc-
ton. There is no court in the state,
T. S.1I1 hi. 11,x 80
with as little public expense as the
Juvenile court
There has been a demand in some
places that we should assess costs
against the parents in proceedings in
the cases of dependent and delinquent
children. I have tried it, and it has
resulted very unsatisfactory. The
most of the parents whose children are
brought into court are hardly able to
buy bread and the assessme nt of costs
against them would be q hardship and
an injustice and in almost every in
stance, would make such a parent an
enemy of the court.
There is another suggestion in line
with this decrease in the number of
Juvenile cases. Morris Jenkins, the
chief of police of our city, who has
been a member of our police force for
nineteen years, is authority for the
statement made but recently, that
children's crimes in the city of Topeka
that this has been especially noticeable
within the last year.
I'VE formerly had three districts in
the city that furnished the bulk of de-
pendent and delinquent cases. Two of
these have been cleaned up until now
it can be said the condition is normal
as compared with the whole city. We
have one district where the population
is constantly changing in which the
best results have not been obtained
Of 10
Kansas can still be improved. It is a
great field and the best thought and
study of the age is everywhere directed
toward this work. We need amend
lnents to the law and we should not be
backward about asking the next legis-
lature to extend its aid in this direc-
ton. In another six years. we can do
still more for the uplifting of Kansas |
youth, and the next generation will
see the result, in a better and greater /