Evening star., 1932-03-14
j. S. PRISON TERMS
FOR YOUTHS HALTED
Juvenile Courts to Handle
Cases of Children VioIat-
ing Federal Laws.

ChllQren VINO Violate the EeQeral laws
will hereafter be dealt with as juvenile
offenders and turned over to the juris-
diction of local and State Juvenile
Courts and detention homes instead of
being tried in the Federal courts as
criminal adults and sentenced to Fed
eral prisons.
The Department of Justice and off,
cials Of the Children's Bureau have
joined in an effort to prevent juvenile
prisoners from being sent to Federal
prisons. On March Is Judge Carl Britt
Hyatt of the Juvenile Court of Ashe-
vile, N. c., will be charged with the
job OF enlisting local and State cooper
alton in this program
Attorney General William D. Mitchell
and the Prison Bureau of the Depart
ment Of Justice, headed by Sanford
Bates, have been working to correct a
situation which was making criminals
out OF boys and girls sentenced to Fed
eral prisons by Federal courts for Of
lenses which, though they constitute
violation of the Federal laws, are con-
Sioered minor misdemeanors by local or
State juvenile courts.
The child who steals a bottle of milk
from freight car or stamps from
post Office, the boy of Is and 16 who
drives into another State with stolen
car will be treated as a Juvenile de-
linquent and not as an adult Federal
offender.
Officials Notified.
+ All United States attorneys, commits
sioners, marshalS, Bureau of Investiga-
ton agents in charge and prohibition
administrators throughout the country
have been notified by the Attorney Gen
eral with reference to the treatment of
Juvenile delinquentS coming into Fed
eral custody.
Juvenile delinquents who come Into
Federal custody according to the At
torney Generals order are to be prompt
ly returned to the communities from
which they come, for care and super
vision or punishment by local and State
authorities. Where funds are unavail-
able to pay the cost of returning juve-
niles to their own communities, every
effort Is to be made to get in touch
with State or local agencies having to
do with juveniles at the places where
the juveniles reside and enlist their
interests to take over the case.
Altogether the largest number of
juveniles falling into the hands of the
Federal authorities are those who have
been detected in violation of the Dyer
act, relating to the transportation of
stolen automobiles in interstate COM
AAA~ASS, NAOSAo4Na <1SO4 4ACJ SIC1lC1 al
Mitchell
II believe it is better for these boys
70 be under the control and supervision
OF the public authorities of the locality
where they are known and in which
they reside instead of being shipped
around the country to Federal penal
institutions or put on probation by
Federal courts in the districts where
they are captured and prosecuted by
the Federal authority, which is usually
not the district from which they come
Federal institutions have no adequate
facilities for taking care of boys of
this type and the moral responsibility
Tor the expense rests primarily on the
localities in which they have lived and
not on the Federal Government.
The juvenile delinquent problem has
existed, resulting from the fact that
thousands of juveniles were annually
coming into the custody of Federal
criminal agencies without any adequate
means of dealing with them.
Question of Welfare.
For two years we in the Department
Of Justice have been working out
plan to order things so that delinquent
children will be left to the people of
their own communities for care and
supervision.
That is not mere matter Of shifting
the financial burden or lack of Federal
equipment. 1t is a question of child
welfare which the Children's Bureau
has long advocated in the course of its
work with the welfare agencies.
DO you believe that the offending
children of your community should be
taken away from you by some bureau
at the seat of Government and sent to
distant EnIaro1 ,cfi Vii
matter Of responsibility and of over
tapping jurisdiction is one respecting
which no hard and fast rules can be
laid down. 1t must be settled by study
or individual cases, and above all by
a prompt and hearty cooperation be-
tween State and Federal agencies work
ing, not with q view to shirking ex-
pense and responsibility, but solely in
the public interest"
To make is possible to return to his
home community a Juvenile who is ar
rested under Federal process in another
State, bill, authorized by the Attor-
ney General, has been prepared to ac-
complish this and it is being submitted
to Congress.
Several Steps Taken.
Specifically, the following steps have
been taken by the Attorney General to
prevent the number Of juveniles in the
Federal system from being increased:
Probation officers have been or
ganized and required to report each
case Of juvenile delinquency to his
Office
Minute instructions have been given
probation officers as to the need for
referring to the local agencies each
case of juvenile delinquency which can
be safely so referred
MarShals have been instructed to use
detention homes or other means of
control in preference to jails for
M lIs