The Detroit times., 1913-06-20
JUVENILE COURT
MANUFACTURING
MANY CRIMINALS

the Juvenile court, where they are
supposed to have the best juvenile
court system in the country-has
more Juvenile criminals In its jails
than were found In any city he Wis
tied and he visited practically every
city OF size In America. In Denver,
25 per cent OF all crimes committed,
and these included such serious Of
cry, seduction, etc, were committed
by juveniles. In Chicago. which fol-
lowed Denver In the establishment Of
the Juvenile court, 20 per cent OF the
crimes committed were committed by
Juveniles. In st. Louis the per cent
was IL, and in San Francisco 1t was
10 per cent.
Just q little more criticism of khe
juvenile court system an dthen We
will take up the question Of what
should replace It. In Washington. D.
c.. they have what they call one Of
the best juvenile court systems In the
country. 1t Is presided over by Judge
DeI4acy, who IL not only q capable In
terpreter OF the law, ut also splen-
did man. Yet what do we find under
this system to protect the youth OF
the capital OF the nation? We find
there that under the juvenile system.
the sky1arking school boy who plays
hockey for stolen swim In the east
ern branch Or up at forty foot above
Georgetown IL subject to arrest on
the same form of bench warrant az
was served on the Negro pug, Jack
johnson, now under q conviction to
q term In the penitentiary for white
slavery. Under the Washington ju-
venile court system, Juvenile Of
fender-which means q boy or q girl
of IL or Is years-can be arrested on
q warrant charging him with 'feloni-
ously and criminal yremaining away
from school, Could anything be more
How many times have
some OF the best fathers OF this land
played hockey? And hov many OF
them would stand for being called
felons for doing so?
Then there is one more bad thing
about the juvenile court system.
boy must steal three times before he
IL finally made to pay for OFFENDING
the laws, for II IL generally not until
the third time that the boy 10 finally
by the juvenile court. A.
ter the third time, he 10 sent to q
reform school. where he can gradu-
ate at the end OF his term az first
class. twohanded, deft-hngered crook
associations with the boys he
meets there.
Now the answer Is the parental
court and the morals school. Under
the parental court system. the re-
calcitrant boy or girl Is given q
schooling from his first serious drop
ping from the straight path. He IL
never arrested. He need never APP
pear in court and suffer from the re-
sulting shame and embarrassment.
Unles sthe case Is particularly de-
serving of extreme leniency, the child
Ia ordered to pick up his school books
and attend, not the public school
where he has fullest liberty, but a
special school, called the morals
school, where he Is given, besides his
regular course Of study. a course TINT
tends to make him realize that he
must obey the laws of community.
He IL not first arrested, and held, per-
haps for several days or maybe weeks
under detention by some impersonal
society, like the hierarchy known as
the Children's Aid society Of New
York. but his case Is disposed OF and
he Is sent TO the morals school IL
ne shows he has learned his lesson
he Is sent back TO the regular school.
Under the parental court system. a
boy must earn his way into reform
school by continual and persistent
tendencies to offend against the law.
Under the Juvenile court system boy
whose tendencies lie that way says
to himself, oh shucks; I've only been
probated once The judge'll stand for
another time, SO why worry Under
the parental court system, some pun
ishment Is melted out for every Of
tense. only the punishment is sawed
out TO the recalcitrant child without
that court procedure which brands
him once and for all as criminal.
His name Is never on - Ioli/ dock
cts An dafter all. II the civil law
does not take cognizance OF minor.
why should the criminal law? Why
shouldn't a child be a child criminal