The Washington times., 1913-08-18
AYERS DELINQUENTS
ARE NOT ABNORMAL
Youngsters Have Legitimate
Impulses MSdireCted, Says
Miss Jean King.


which seventy-eight entries must be
posted regarding the case Il every boy
and girl arrested in the District. sat Miss
Jean King, Washingtons only woman jL-
venile court officer. Her office is in
one corner of an upstairs room Of the
dirgy Juvenile court building at 1916
+ street northwest, and a barred will
dow at her elbow made a grilled
shadow across the white page before
her.
What is it that makes Washington
children break the law?' asked the
newspaper man, stepping up with a
bow and smile and attempting what
golfers call a good approach"
Miss King stopped right in the middle
OF a word, dropped her pen in a de-
termined manner, and faced the ques-
tioner with a frOwn that said palmer
than words that he had bungled MS
approach and SLICED into the rough. -
Il don't see why you think my chill
dren are different from anybody s
else" she earnestly said. To me they
are just the same as all children; theJ
enjoy the same things, they love the
same things they are just like any
group of children you will find in a
schoolroum or on a playground any
where, and when people intimate that
they are some new species, it always
makes me angry"
"Her Children"
There, in one paragraph, is the sum
and substance Of the experience of a
woman, who, more than any other in
Washington. has had to do with the
erring youth Of the District They are
her children, for she always uses the
g, 81
and she talks to them and admonishes
them and no doubt weeps over them oc-
casionally, and she has found that they
are just like other children"
Just now Miss King has los charges,
which includes all the girls Of the Dis
trict, who have been placed in her care,
and all the boys of the southwest and
southeast sections. They report periodi-
cally to her, and she visits them IN
their homes, talks to their parents.
knows their employers, IL they work
and is an older companion to every one
of them.
Children DO not get into the tolls of
the law because Of any inherent wicked
ness or perversity. according to Miss
King, but rather IL is a desire for ex-
citement a superabundance of animal
spirit that has TO have some outlet that
brings them to grief in the juvenile
court. Sometimes 1t is a desire for
pretty toys or clothes that is back of
It all. but almost invariably, she finds,
II is a legitimate impulse misdirected
that leads to the entry of their names
on the docket.
Are Normal Children.
Il don't want my children to get any
misconceived notion that they are out
side OF society," she said. Il want them
TO be perfectly natural, for they are, al
most without exception, normal chill
dren. The mothers, as a rule, stand by
me in all that I do. and without their
cooperation the work of a juvenile Of
Scer would be hopeless"
The same cooperation is found by
Chief Probation Officer J. F. Dillon, who
deals especially with the boys who are
wards of the court and who are old
enough to work.
sides with a shield Of good Influences"
said Mr.. Dillon. On one side is his
home influence, on the other the court
and its officers, and on the third side we
see that he is employed in a place where
he has every incentive TO behave and
to save his money.
In this connection 1 want to say
that the business men of Washington
have been Of !nestima BILE benefit to me
and TO the boys who are oder the care
some Of the most prominent business
men in town make a place for boys at
my solicitation, when they really did
not need extra help.
They take these young fellows as ap-
prentices, wagon boys, or machinist
helpers, and often use their influence
besides TO encourage them. And in be-
half Of the boys l will say that 1t is
seldom indeed that they fail to respond
to such treatment"
Easy to Retrieve.
So il is that when a boy or girl stands
up before Judge Latimer and the evil
dence shows that the law of the land
has been broken. there is an organiza-
ton of earnest, conscientious workers
ready to make it easy for the future
citizen TO retrieve the mistake for which
he or she is not always altogether to
blame.
The first step in winning the conf
dence OF the delinquent is taken by
Judge Latimer himself, and he is ably
fitted for the work he has to do. His
few weeks experience on the bench has
shown that there is something about
his personality that is most compelling
He looks directly at the child. not Un-
kindly, but with a soul searching gaze
that. makes a fa!sehoOd look like a
frail defense
He has no false dignity-no trick of
posing-but everything from his lean,
muscular hands TO mis- unusually nigh
forehead bespeak him an official on
whom the weak child may lean Or of
whom the perverse one had best stand
in awe
AS a cross-eNaminer Judge Latl.net Is
most adept. There Is no threatening or
incredUlous tone to his questions, but
they are put with a directness mat
would make Ananias himself hesitate
before making 4 false reply.