The Colville examiner. [volume] (Colville, Wash.) 1907-1948, 1920-01-31
JUVENILE COURT
AN INVESTMENT
COUNTY PROBATION OFFICER
FOR 1919 MAKES REPORT
SHOWING WORK OF
DEPARTMENT
Money Saved to Taxpayers by Taking
Care of Children Before They
Drift Into Criminality

According to a summary of the
annual report of James Petty, county
probation officer for the year 1919, it
is shown that during last year there
were SO cases of alleged delinquency
formally and informally heard and
disposed of by the juvenile court and
the probation officer of Stevens
county
Twenty-six of these cases were for
mally heard and disposed of by the
court; of this number there were Is
boys and II girls brought before the
court. The remaining 81 cases were
investigated and informally disposed
of by the probation officer
Juvenile Court Expenses
According to the report, there was
set aside in the court expense budget
the sum of 5000 for juvenile court
expenses. This included the salary
of the probation officer and his
travelling expenses. OF this amount
there was expended during the year
the sum of $40.
In reply to an inquiry as to
whether juvenile delinquency was on
the increase, Mr.. Petty stated:
According to reports from the
various juvenile courts and probation
officers throughout the state, it would
appear that juvenile delinquency is
on the increase, but in my opinion
this is not true to any appreciable
degree for the reason that juvenile
delinquency is now receiving a great
deal more attention than has been
given the subject in former years.
The juvenile court in fact, is de-
partment in our court procedure OF a
very recent formation and according
to our juvenile court judges, proba-
ton officers and other child welfare
workers, the juvenile court has be-
come one of our most important
departments of our superior court
work.
"In the larger counties through
OUT IDt SLdlt, WIltlS tiiCit ciS oCN Si "a
Judges, it has. been the practice to
select one of their number to take
care of the juvenile court work for
a period of one year, but for the
year 1920 it was agreed that the
Judge should be selected for his abil
ty and fitness for this department
and where he would remain contin-
uously in charge Of that department.
"In many of the smaller counties,
however, there is no probation officer
in charge of the work, and the pro-
scouting attorney and sheriff are
delegated to look after the juvenile
work.
at appears that while Stevens
county with a probation officer has
SO cases of alleged delinquency in
a year, the adjoining counties of
Pend Oreille, Ferry, Okanogan and
Lincoln combined do not have more
than half that number of cases."
In response to a question put to
the probation officer, "Does it pay
to spend 5000 for juvenile work in
Stevens county," Mr.. Petty replied:
IL think it does, and in my opinion
it would be a good investment for
this county to spend double this
amount 1t is true that there are
many well-meaning men and women,
together with our county commission.
ers and other county officials, who
contend that this is a useless expen-
diture of county funds, but is is evil
dent that there are more juvenile
officers who are being assisted by
the sheriff and the prosecuting at
torney and various other agencies
to eliminate juvenile delinquency by
throwing a mantle of protection and
correction around our girls and boys,
than ever before and if by the CO.
ordinated efforts of all these agencies,
we can save one boy out of every
one hundred from going to the peni-
Tertiary, it is money well spent. For
example, during the past year it has
cost Stevens county about $40 per
capita to take care of our juvenile
delinquents, and if through these
efforts one of these boys has been
saved from the penitentiary it is
money well spent, for our court
records show that it costs the county
at least $1,000 to send one man to
the penitentiary. AS it is, it now
costs the people of Stevens county
about three cents per capita annually
to take care of our juvenile delin-
quents, and | believe there are few
who would not be willing to double
this amount in order to have better
protection and better safeguard
around the children and our so-called
delinquent boys and girls.
~ notice that we spend over $4,000
a war in Stevens county for the