Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-08-05
A MODERN JUVENILE COURT
DY FREDERIC J. nAsK1l

WASHINGTON, August 4.--Recontly
-FOUR small boys. accompanied by dis
turood parents. climbed tho austere
stone steps OF the juvenile court hero.
They were led into a dark courtroom,
where the sunlight. altering through
closed shutters throw word lights and
shadows on rows OF hardwood benches
ana on tho judges platform. Here
they were told to wait.
Tho parents sat In formidable silence.
awaiting tho arrival of tho Judge. One
or tho mothers, a pretty young woman
In yelled hat and motor coat. shud-
dered charmlngly. and said she had
never been In a courtroom before. The
little boys nervously fumbled their
Ifaps. kicked tho back OF the bench
In front Of them and occasionally burst
into gigSles to hide thor ever-growing
nervousness and embarrassment.
Finally q large-faced Irish attendant
appeared and beckoned to them. Pa.
rents trailing behind them. thoy were
escorted to the judges private room,
where the judge. a wcll-preserved man
of forty-fve with iron gray hair and
a military physique. smiled genially, al.
bolt trif1o fxodly from constant prac.
tice. at them from behind a flat-topped
boys were 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 de-
stroyins many valuable plants In
large school greenhouse. No motive
could be discovered for this crime ex.
eept malicious mischief. The school.
toachor who made the charge against
them had looked up tho school reports
OF the boys. and found that for the
past two years they had been very
poor. All this evidence was nearly
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 ckbooks,
preparatory to paying for tho damage.
but the judge stopped them. The boys
must pay for this themselv no told
them.
Now Running brands.
SO now each Of these four little boys
Ia running errands. cutting grass and
pulling weeds for three days each week
to earn the money to pay for those
broken windows. although their parents
are wealthy enough to pay for them
without any hardship. This Is the firm
rule or the local Juvenile court, and II
is always a suooessful punishment BY
tho time boy has finished paying for
property destroyed he usually has
mighty respect for It's value.
The court tries over 5000 oasos OF
Juvenile delinquency yoar-which 10
10 per cent OF the city's population
and one gathers that It has lost it's
OF which poets sinE. Moreover. the de-
linQuents are not all boys. Little girls
are Just as frequent visitors at tho
court. and. according to tho chief pro-
baton officer. they are much harder to
deal with. This IS because tho court
until II is too late. Parents. says the
probation oficcr. do not seem TO mind
turning their boys over to the court
for supervision at an early age. but
thoy will go to any lengths to conceal
the deltnquencies OF their girls.
Only n short time ago n girl Of nf-
teen wan 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 estiEation OF
the case revealed the fact that she
was under the influence OF an older
sistor, who was engineering the whole
thing. This latter had worked as n
salesgirl In various department stores.
customers holding charge accounts. and
had then sent her small sister around
to collect goods undor the names OF
those customers.
Not Wholly to Blame.
Obviously. the little sister was not
years old. and the court thought sho
needed some strong lesson TO show her
the .utility Of breaking the law. So
1t found her Job. and told her she
was to pay for the goois sh. had stolen.
at may tnlen her three years." said en-.
chief probation oficer. 'but at the
end OF that time. II we can manage
70 keep her away from her sister. she