Evening star., 1923-12-29
JUVENILE COURT
LAW HELD FAULTY
Committee Cites Changes to
Make System Conform to
Best Standards.

MANY changes are needed to make
our inadequate Juvenile Court law
conform to the latest approved Juve-
nile Court standards, which were per-
fected after two years of study by q
competent committee under the aus
pices of the children's bureau and
the National Probation Association. :"
a report OF the Juvenile Court COM
mfttee OF the Congress of Mothers
and Parent Teacher Associations Of the
District states.
For the past two years the Ju-
venile Court committee of the Con-
gress OF Mothers has been making a
| study of conditions in our local court,
handling chifdren's cases and the
laws governing the same" the report
declares.
! Committees Suggestions,
The report recommends that the
court should be vested with juris-
diction over truancy cases beyond
| the control of the school administra-
tfon and in cases of persons con-
tributing TO delinquency or de-
pendency.
| Our court should have. power to
commit to institutions other than the
National Training School for Boys and
Girls. Committing delinquent child
to the board of children's guardians
does not necessarily remedy matters,
and in those cases where the offense
| is not serious enough for commitment
to the training school 1t should be
possible to commit a. child to some
| school or institution where he could
receive the guidance and training
necessary.
Cites Transfer Of Control.
The Juvenile Court in the District
| under the present law loses all con-
troll of child after he has been
4 n he o,-I 80 Ill \ -.
guardians and after the terms of
court during which he was committed
has expired. This should be changed
so that case could be- brought back
at any time for further adjustment" !"
Quoting from the standards, the re-
port says:
Children placed under the care of
private agencies or institutions
should remain under tho, Jurisdiction
| of the court, and there should be close
the agency or institution.
Another much-needed change in
the operation Of our local chfldren's s
court the report states, should
| tention home. by the court, or at
least to allow the court to, control
it's policies and the admission and re-
lease of children,
/ Should He Court OF Records.
! Our court should be a. court, of
! records. but at the present time there
are no provisions for. this work, and
! funds would have to- be appropriated
| by Congress as well as a change made
| in the present law
| Taking up some criticism that has
been made of the method of hearing
cases in the Judges chambers, In
stead Of open court, the report says:
! This. is an unwise and ill-considered
! criticism, as the. hearing should, in
Justice to the child, be private, and
1 only those directly concerned in the
/ case should be present.
Another criticism of our court has
| been relative to, the lack Of trial by
Jury. The Juvenile Court act pro-
! vfdes for a trial by jury in all
| prosecutions. within the jurisdiction
of said court, in which, according to
the Constitution of the United States.
the accused would be entitled to, a
! jury trial. The. trial should be by
| jury unless the accused shall in open
i court expressly, waive such trial by
| jury and request to be tried by the
! Judge, in which case the trial shall
be by such Judge, and the Judgment
and sentence. shall have the same
force and effect in all respects as. il
the same had been entered aud pro-
1t is pointed out, however, that tho
standards provide that under no cir
cumstancea. should a jury trial be
permitted in children's cases
, The report praises the work Of Judge
Sellers, declaring, that she fulhils
/ peculiar aptitude. A resolution urK-
ing her reappointment was adopted
by the committee.
4 The report, was made, by Mrs E. r.
! kelmback, chairman; Mrs. J. w. BY
! Ter and Mrs. l.. D. Smoot.