The Carlisle independent., 1915-07-29
SYSTEM WORKS WELL
State Probation Commission Is
 Lauded by New York.
Experiment Has Proved in Every Way Worthy, and Authorities Arc Unanimous In Opinion That
 1t Be Maintained.

One of the most active of the small
 departments of the New York state
 government is the state probation
 commission. As shown by a recent
 report on the state departments pre-
 pared for the benefit of the constitu-
 tional convention by the department of efficiency and economy and the
 New York bureau of municipal re- search this commission is entirely sep arate in its organization and duties from any other state department. It has a large and unique field, namely, that of developing, extending and im-
 proving probation work in all the courts of the state.
 Probation is defined as a system by Which a court seeks to supervise, dis cipline and reform offenders without branding them as prisoners and with out sentencing them to jail or prison. It is intended especially for the young or first offenders. It is used in all kinds of courts and for all sorts of offenses, but it is perhaps of greater importance in the juvenile court. Pro- bation has been called the right arm of the juvenile court"
 The first probation law in the state was enacted in 1901. Following the enactment of this law probation work in the courts developed slowly and irregularly throughout the state. special commission to study the work was authorized by the legislature of l905; ten men and four women were appointed on this commission by Gov ernor Higgins The commission male thorough inquiry and presented a report the following year. Out of it's work and recommendations grew the present state probation commission The commission was created by the legislature in 1907 Homer Folks has been president of the commission since it's creation. Frank E. Wade, another of the original commissioners, is now vice-president. The other members are Edward c. Blum of Brooklyn, Edmund J. Butler of New York, Judge AIphonso T. Clearwater of Kingston and pr. John T. Finley, commission CT of education. The present secretary of the commission is Charles L. Chute, who succeeded Arthur W. Towne in 1913.
 Some of the work .he commission has accomplished toward extending and developing the probation system in the state is indicated by the follow ing facts: When the commission hnCqn ifo i,, were 1920 persons of all ages on pro- bation. At the end of f314 there were lO,925. Besides assisting in this great extension, the commission has constantly urged discrimination in the selection of cases and the all impor- tance of careful and thorough work on the part of probation officers.
 The report of the commission ex- tending over seven years show that more than 70 per cent of all persons placed on probation are reported by the probation officers each year as completing their terms of probation and being discharged with improvement.
 The cost of the state prisons. peni- tentiaries. adult and juvenile reforma. tories, for maintenance alone in 1913 was $2,292.349. This takes no ac- count of the vast sums expended in lands, buildings and equipment and the sums spent annually for repairs aud new construction. The average daily of the institutions throughout the year was 11,414, mak- ing the per capita cost for a years confinement s200S3. The entire es- timated cost of the probation system for the year 1919 was s253.675. This