Evening star., 1915-02-26
Suggestions Made by Commit
tee Appointed to Consider
Conditions in District.
DESIGN TO GIVE MODEL
FOR EVERY COMMUNITY
Plan in Attorney Generals Hands
for Submission to Congress.
New Code of Laws.

| A juvenile court with code of laws
pertaining to children that shall be a
model for every community in the
United States is proposed, by the At
torney General. to Congress for legis-
lative adoption. The scheme was devised
by committee appointed by former At
torney General McReynolds and con-
tinued by his successor, Attorney Cen
eral Gregory. The report of the COM
mittee was made to Attorney General
Gregory, who today transmitted it to
Congress.
The committee consists of C. Bernard
Flexner of Chicago, chairman; Miss
Julia c. Lathrop. chief Of the children's
bureau, Department of Labor; Rev.
William ]. Kerby. professor Of soclo!-
| ogy, Catholic University of America
Walter C. Clephane and William H.
Baldwin. Their plan embodies the
principle of regarding the delinquent
child not as a criminal, but as the ward
OF the nation, whose individual well
fare comedies with the well being OF
the state and who is to be saved to it
| rather than prosecuted by it,
Based on Modern Thought.
With this modern thought in vie v,
| the committee proposes new code of
laws, establishing Juvenile court and
| revising existing laws. This is en-
bodied in a bill drawn up by the COM
mittee. submitted as part of its report,
and offered for consideration and ac-
tton by Congress.
Finding that. the present liability of
the child to the criminal laws stamps
the child with all the dishonor accom-
panying 8 criminal record and also
the civil disqualifications imposed upon
the adult offender against law, the
children in the District Of Columbia
who now carry such disab abilities
through sentence imposed by the
courts. A brief bill. proposing to re-
establish these children in full posses
sion OF their legal rights a citizens of
the United States, was also drawn up
by the committee, and accompanies the
report.
Report Of the Committee.
In the report the committee sets
forth the duties imposed upon it by
fornaxe ATTORNEY General McReynolds.
to study:
ta) The laws in force in the District
of Columbia pertaining to children;
CD The jurisdiction, practice and pro-
cedure of the Juvenile Court Of the
District of Columbia: and
(c) To make such recommendations
in these matters as. in the opinion of
the committee, would give the District
of Columbia satisfactory laws upon the
subject.
The report continues:
In pursuance of the work thus put
before it, the committee made a COM
pilation of all the existing laws relat-
ing to children in the District, so that
1t might be informed as to the develop
as to how far any revision was needed,
1t also secured a list of all children's
institutions or agencies in the District,
and. by means of a brief but compre-
hensive QUESTIONABLE calling for an
| nual reports and for the facts as to the
organization and connection, if any, of
each of these with the government, col
lected the data needed for taking a
comprehensive view of the whole field,
and of the relations of each of these
institutions and agencies to the others
and to the government
while this survey revealed certain
obvious problems and leeds, as. for
example, that the District has no pro-
vision for feeble-minded and epileptic
persons, and that institutional care for
delinquent white girls and for the
slighter offenses of delinquent boys is
lacking, the most apparent and urgent
need was a revision of the present
Juvenile Court law. to which reference
had been specially made in the letter
of appointment. The reasons for this
will appear in the discussion of this
particular subject later.