The Washington times., 1913-08-14
CUOR| IS SCORED
BY JANE adams
System in Juvenile Tribunal in
Washington Bad For Morals
of Children.

"a clean, sanitary building, well
lighted and with plenty of room in
it, is one of the prime requisites of
an efficient juvenile court. | am sur
prised to learn that in Washington,
our Nations Capital, your Juvenile
Court facilities are so inadequate"
This is the opinion of Miss Jane
Addams, of Hull House, Chicago,
whose achievements as a settlement
worker have made her known in two
hemispheres.
She Is IN Washington to attend the
National Council of Women Voters, in
session here, and discussed the needs of
Juvenile courts with a Times represen-
tative at the ShOreham Hotel today.
Il was a member of the first commit
tee to take up the matter of new juve-
nile court in Chicago several years
ago." said Miss Addams. We worked
long over the plans, which were eventu-
ally adopted with but few changes, and
now have the detention home and the
court under the same roof, and while
there IS still room for Improvement it
is one of the best courts in the coun-
try
When Miss Adams attention was
N444lGO 10 inc TACT IIdJ the "lluO"S III
the room where children are detained in
the Juvenile Court on + street were
CrOSsed with iron bars. she was most
emphatic in her COnde nnation of sucd
methods of dealing with young Offend
erS. She said that practically without
exception the buildings erected during
the last few years for the detention of
children were without this medieval
safeguard against liberty.
Are the children in Chicago put be
Ind hl T1-n1 hav h..iN hell n
trial?' she was asked.
No, indeed. Barred windows in the
children S court are a great mistake, a
. great mistake" she answered shaking
her head sadly. The idea of a prison
ought by all means to be kept as far
away from the child as possible. Its
moral effect is very marked. The court
room and detention rooms ought TO be
as cheerful as possible.
Separation is another important
thing. l am told that your present ia
cilities here in Washington make it
necessary TO put all the children to-
Sether. That is a very bad thing for
hrst offenders. When the children are
thrown together the more innocent ones
cannot help hearing bad language and
learning things that will be harmful TO
them. In Chicago We have different
rooms for the sexes ard for the various
classes Of offenders. which makes pro-
per guardianship comparatively easy.
would be glad TO see Washington
put up building that would be a mod
el for juvenile court structures every
where"
Another woman to pass a severe criti-
cism on Washington's inadequate Juve-
nile Court facilities was Mrs Margar ret
W. Kelly, inspector for the public well
fare department of the city of st. Paul.
Mimi, who is making a tour of Eastern
cities in the interest of welfare work.
She was a visitor at Judge Latimer's
a.
of the building there brought a severe
1rown to her usually placid brow
st. Paul would never permit such a
thing as that" she said regarding the
upstairs rOomS where the children are
confined awaiting trial.
Our Juvenile court is in the same
building with the other municipal courts
hut has four large rooms for il wor.
and none Of the children has to look
out al the sky between iron bars"