The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1920-12-13
Editorial
of the Day
AMERICANIZING AMERICANS
(From Christian Science Monitor)


(F'rom Christian Science Monitor)
No more comprehensive and deserv-
ed estimate could be made of the work
Of the juvenile courts established in
the cities, large and small, through
out the United States, than to say
that it has accomplished much and
is now accomplishing much in
Americanizing Americans. Ever since
the time when the first of these
quasi judicial tribunals was established
in this country the effort seems no
have been to interpret the legislative
intent as being that their functions
should be constructive in the highest
possible degree. The law had ever
since the earliest history of mankind,
provided its penalizing machinery. The
judges of the criminal courts, con-
STRUNG The statutes as they found
them, had had no difficulty in filling
the jails and prisons with offenders.
many of whom came back time and
again to work out penalties of their
own misdeeds. their own careless dis
regard for the rights of others.
Strange as it may now seem it re-
quired many years for even those Of
what are looked upon as the highest
civilization to make the discovery
that possibly something was wrong
with the system of criminal juris-
prudence, as well as with the first
offenders, and the second and third
term offenders, with whom it had
long realized it was dealing unsatis-
factorily Still the fact gradually
became impressed upon some people
that reformatories, so called, We're not
places where reformation was wrought.
and that n penaliZing sentence, no
matter how deserved or how well
earned left its ineradicabe mark
scarlet letter" read and literally
interpreted by all men.
The process of change was slow
and laborious, but out of It has been
evolved, or is still being evolved,
what is known as the juvenile court
system. II should be said of the
juvenile courts, first of all, that they
are not, so far as their work has
been surveyed, anterOoms to reform
schools and houses Of correction, as
the long established criminal courts
have ever seemed 10 be entry ways 10
the jails and the penitentiaries. They
might indeed be described as courts
Of conscience, in contrast TO the
sterner and more infleXible courts OF
law. where penalty prescribed must
be administered. no matter what the
consequences The difference In meth
DDS. and. no doubt the difference in
results. is made possible largely be-
cause of the discretionary power
vested in the presiding judge or officer
OF the juvenile court. The statutes
of most of the states where the juve-
nile court system has been established
do little more than define the several
forms of delinquency under when
boys and girls OF prescribed ages are
liable to be brought under the courts
jurisdiction and to provide the work.
| ing machinery Of the courts them
selves. Beyond this point the office
OF the presiding judge is more nearly
| that OF parent, guardian or friend
of the delinquent. His discretion is as
unlimited as are the varying oifenses
with which he has 20 deal, or as the
individualities Of the youths whose
fortunes have been committed TO him.
He is a creature OF n wisely-con'
ceiyed law which directs him TO acl
but does not attempt 10 direct him
how to act. lie is counsel, advocate
arbiter, judge and jailer, all in one.
Many learned and well considered
volumes have been written in th'
effort to work out and eXpound iheo'
rles dealing with the tendencies 10
crime. and many other volumes have
dealt with the methods and purposes
of the punishment OF offenders, th'
reclamation Of those VI recogni2e'
criminal tendencies. and the work o
the societies whose laudable effor
IL IS 10 restore the men and womei
who have paid In full their debt u
outraged society and who are beat
ing back" against an adverse cur
rent. Viewed as sociological studies
these books are intensely interesting
Informative and in a measure perhap
constructive. And yet the feeling !
that all these treatisos leave nue.
unsaid. At any rate, they have faile'
to solve the problem OF society o
that OF the individual. Contrast thei
learned dissertations with this simpl
definition of the delinquency viii
which the juvenile court has to deal
"Delinauency is usually but not al
ways, the ouigrowth OF neglect, or dc
pendency. or both The child who be
comes delinquent as "A result OF pei
version Is rare as compared TO d,
ilnauencics due to parental neglec
or poverty. The neglected child u
most OF eli. the anteccdcnt Of the dc
linqucnt."
This, It may be taken for granted
Is the basis from which the discrin
mating and conscientious juveni
court Judge works. His Observable
is that far too much effort Is bein
made by welfare workers in strdgi
tening the tree after II Is bent. instea
of in preventing It's being bent. TIL
work is simple enough " the task
properly approached. especially III
be- remembered that In Its undertal
ing the court assumes the neglects
functions of the home. The offens'
Of juvenile dellnquents when snaly