The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-08

nielpal courts with judges e.ected by the ] people. Under the able leadership of Chief Justice Olson these courts have
 been socialized and specialized. He has designated branches to be known as the court of domestic relations and the
 morales court. The court of domestic relations deals with offenses involving the mother and the child and in this court the woman first tells her story to one of the social secretaies of the judge. Both are wom- en, and these secretaries are often able to settle cases without bringing them into court In one year the first so cial secretary of this court settled out of court, with the cooperation of oth- CT agencies in the city, PITS cases, thus saving much publicity and modification to large number of people. The women who come to this court are often obliged to bring their chil- dren with them. These children are looked after by trained nurse in comfortable nursery In the morales court of Chicago are heard the cases of women charged with improper conduct. Here an effort is
 made to find out the reason for their downfall and if possible, through ad l vice, encouragement, or employment to give them another chance to lead 0 decent life. There is a woman physician | connected with this court, and the
 Juvenile Protective association keeps a woman officer in the criminal court to advise and assist the women and young l girls who are brought there as wit nesses or as prisoners.
 Women on Juries
 In all cases pertaining to women and 1 children, women should sit as jurors 1 as they do in Norway and Sweden and are beginning to do in the equal suf- frage states in America. A story comes I to us from one of the states in the
 west where women were sitting as l jurors in a criminal case The destrict
 attorney told the womeh that he con- sidered the evidence unfit for them to 1 hear and advised them to withdraw. | They did so and the prisoner got off free The other women of the town, however. made such a vigorous pro- test against this neglect of duty on the part of their own sex that when the
 district attorney made the same re- quest the following day to the women who had been summoned as jurors in another case, one of them announced
 that if every other woman went out she would stay to hear the case and 1 the others immediately followed her example. Finding that the women were
 quite resolved to do jury duty. the prisoner immediately pleaded guilty and threw himself upon the mercy of l the court
 l A large percentage of women in our | reformatory institution are mentally deficient. At the Bedford Reformatory
 for Women the percentage of inmates who are mentally deficient is 37; the Industrial School for Girls at Lan-
 caster, Mass, gives 30 per cent the
 Maryland Industrial School for Girls
 at Baltimore puts it as high as 60 per cent, while three reformatories for
 men and boys in New York New Jer-
 sey and Illinois give respectively s7. B and 20 per cent, an average of 30 l per cent for the three mems and boys lreformatories against 49 per cent for
 the three reformatories for women and l girls.
 l If women commit crimes because of mental deficiency it would seem more l than ever necessary to have them eX- amined by a psychopathic expert and eommitted-not to prisons-but to such womens reformatories as Bedford l whose scientific treatment and humane
 care, under the. able leadership of Miss Katherine Bement Davis now Commis-
 sioner of Correction in New York city, 1 has made it one of the few hopeful
 spots in our wretched prison system. l In Illinois. where we have many good 1 laws, there are number that are un- 1 just to women. The age of consent, for I example, is fixed at 16. We do not con- sider a girl old enough to dispose of I her property until she is IS years old,
 but we do allow her to consent to her
 own ruin at the age of 16 years.
 The adult delinquency law in Illinois should be so amended that a wife could testify against Ter husband in the vio-
 lation of such a law. As the law stands ] at present the husband can force his i child to all kinds of disreputable acts
 even immoral acts-and yet the testimony
 of the mother, anxious to save her child, 1 is not admitted. l Seduction in Illinois is not a felony; it is only misdemeanor--a breach of man. l ners as it were. The penalty for seduc- 1 ton, stealing a girl, may be as light as
 a s10OO fine or one day in jail. The pen alty for pandering, selling a girl, may
 be as light as sSoo fine and six months
 in jail.
 Rape is a felony. but it may be punished by only year in prison; yet in Illinois l if a man steals a horse a mule. the II minimum punishment which may be in- flieted is three years in the penitentiary. I If an unfortunate girl is betrayed by
 a man and a child is born, according to the laws of Illinois, if she can prove the paternity of the child, she can col
 lect from the father of the child $550 for Il the education and care of the child, the payments extending over a period of .g years. A marriage before conviction bars
 all prosecution and many men, when they find that they must pay. make the girl
 an offer of marriage. She eagerly &C.,
 cepts, hoping that this will end her trou-
 bles, and then the man promptly deserts
 the following day. goes to another state,
 and is never heard of again.
 We should have laws such as exist in
 Norway and Sweden, where, if a man Is
 found to be the father of an illegitmate |l child he be made to support the
 mot ther before confinement. pay for her
 care when the. baby is born, and for the
 support and education of the child until he is old enough to care for himself II Even before the women Of Illinois were
 given the franchise in addition to the women connected with the court of do- Il nestle relations and the morals court, 61 women probation officers were con
 nected with the juvenile court of Cook II county; a. woman assistant to the judge
 of the same court heard in chambers
 the cases involving the chastity of girls; six women are now acting as probat ton 1 officers for adults; 10 women have been i appointed on the police force and, when needed, are assigned to the courts wom- en nurses employed by the judge of the county court visit cases involving the insane; and women investigators are an important factor in the court where cases l of non-support are heard.
 l In spite of this advance, however we can only hope for full justice to women when enfranchised women havea voice | in matters of this kind and are interested l in giving to women prisoners every op- portunity for justice and later for re- 1 formation.