The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-08-07
A MODERN JUVENILE COURT
THE TOPEKA STATE JoURNAL
IMPORTATION BUREAU
By Frederic j. Haskin. Director.
Washington, ID. G.

Washington, Aug. 6.-Recently four
small boys, accompa by disturbed
parents. climbed the austere stone
steps of the juvenile court here They
were led into dark court room,
where the sunlight filtering thru clos
ed shutters threw weird lights and
shadows on rows of hardwood benches
and on the judges platform. Here
they were told to wait.
The parents sat in formidable sill
ence, awaiting the arrival of the judge
One of the mothers, pretty young
woman in a yelled hat and motor coat,
had never been in a court room be-
fore. The little boys nervously
fumbled their caps, kicked the back OF
the bench in front of them and occa-
sionally burst into giggles to hide their
ever-growing nervousness and embar-
rasSment
Finally, a large-faced Irish attend
ant appeared and beckoned to them.
Parents trailing behind them, they
were escorted to the judges private
room, where the judge, a well-pre-
served man of forty-five with iron
gray hair and military physique,
smiled genially, albeit trifle fixedly
from constant practice. at them from
behind a flat-topped mahogany desk.
One by one, the little boys we're told
to stand before the judges desk and
answer his questions. while clerk
sat in the corner and took notes on
what they said.
The little boys were charged with
breaking eighty glass windows and
destroying many valuable plants in a
large school greenhouse. No motive
could be discovered for this crime e4-
cept malicious mischief. The school
teacher who made the charge against
them had looked up the school reports
of the boys and had found that for
the past two years they had been very
poor. All this evidence was neatly
marked on an index card which the
Judge held as he questioned the Gull
prits. The boys admitted that they
broke the windows, and the parents
started pulling out their check books
preparatory to paying for the damage,
but the judge stopped them. The boys
must pay for this themselves, he told
them.
So now each of these four little boys
is running brands. cutting grass and
pulling weeds for three days each
week to earn the money to pay for
those broken windows, altho their par
ents are wealthy enough to pay for
them without any hardship. This is
the firm rule of the local juvenile
court, and it is always a successful
punishment. By the time boy has
finished paying for property destroyed
he usually has a mighty respect for its
value.
The court tries over three thousand
cases of juvenile delinquency a year
which is 10 per cent of the city
population-and one gathers that II
has lost it's faith in boyhood as that
ideal period of which the poets sing.
Moreover, the delinquents are not all
boys. Little girls are just as frequent
visitors at the court, and, according
to the chief probation officer, they are
much harder to deal with This is
because the court does not get hold
of them, as a rule, until it is too late.
Parents, says the probation officer, do
not seem to mind turning their boys
over to the court for supervision at an
early age, but they will go to any
lengths to conceal the delinquencies Of
their girls.
only a short time ago, girl of Is
was brought before Judge Latimer to
be tried on eight charges of getting
clothes under false pretenses- The
girl had gone to several department
stores and secured clothes on other
peoples charge accounts. An investi-
CATION of the case revealed the fact
that she was under the influence of
an older sister, who was engineering
the whole thing. The latter had
worked as a salesgirl in, various de-
partment stores, where she had made
careful list of customers holding
charge accounts, and had then sent
her small sister around to collect
goods under the names of those GUS
toners.
Obviously, the little sister was not
wholly to blame, but she was 5 years
old and the court thought she needed
some strong lesson to show her the
futility of breaking the law. So it
found her a job, and told her she was
to pay for the goods she had stolen.
1T may take her three years." said
the chief probation officer, but at the
end of that time. if we can manage
to keep her away from her sister, she
is apt to be a trustworthy citizen. I
say apt to be-" he repeated cynical
ly. I'VE are not counting on it,"
Sometimes. however, the court is
confronted by a case where retribu-
ton is not so simple a matter. About
two years ago. small boy of 10 was
dragged into the court for selling
newspapers without a badge. The
District of Columbia requires all news
boys to wear a badge, for which there
is no charge. This little chap swore
that he did not know anything about
such a regulation. and the probation
officer let him go with the stern adj
monition to get one Immediately. Six
months later he was back for the
same offense.
This time, the court locked him up
for four days in the hope that he
would be sufficiently scared into an
obedience of the law, and when he
was released he did seem a trifle SUBJ
dued. At the end of another six
months however, the small urchin
was back again, only on more inn
portant offense. He had been getting
money under false pretenses AS far
as the court could ascertain upon an
investigation covering several weeks
the small boy having refused to sup
ply any details whatsoever-he had
organized a gang of newsboys who
had regular beats in front of the large
hotels of the city, where they carried
on a very profita Bile traffic in tickets
for newsboys' dinners.
The boy had once been immensely
successful in selling tickets for real
bona fide newsies' dinner, and had
been much impressed with its money
drawing power. He thought it was
to Ha ~,