Evening star., 1936-04-06
JUVENILE COURT
LAW IS |NDORSED
ATLANTA and Richmond
Judges Approve New
D. c. Plan.


Juvenile Court law for the District
have attracted considerable support
from authorities outside the District.
For instance, Judge Garland M.
Watkins of the Fulton County Juve-
rile Court, Atlanta, Ga, writes to
friends IN the District:
Experience of the past 80 years has
taught the States that the welfare OF
their children can best be conserved
by handling the cases Of law infringe
ment as wise parents would handle
them-by getting at the causes back
Of the offense and assisting the Of
fender with sympathetic, constructive
treatment An essential factor in this
treatment is the privacy that the Ju-
venile Court procedure affords, pri-
vacy that is denied under the ordi-
nary criminal court procedure.
In my Is years tenure of office as
Judge of the Fulton County Juvenile
Court = I have found that the par
ents are grateful for the methods
employed the quiet investigation
by an intelligent, understanding pro-
baton officer ..
Richmond Judge Indorses Bill.
"I know that the child offender
should not be dealt with in the way
the mature adult offender is handled
in the criminal court. Therefore. a
law making it possible to give him the
benefit of all that the proposed Stand
ard Juvenile Court law does give him
is wise and Just and, 1t seems to me,
necessary"
Judge James H. Ricks OF the Juve-
nile and Domestic Relations Court OF
Richmond. Va, refers to the pending
bill as follows:
It have read it over and am i'm
pressed with the care and precision
with which it has been drafted. 1t
seems to me that if this bill is en-
acted it will give the District a
thoroughly modern up-to-date ju-
venile court with sufficient power to
enable it to give that care and pro-
lection to the children appearing be-
fore it which they need and deserve"
Clergy Fav0rs Measure.
In the District members of the clergy
have been outspoken in their approval.
The comments of some follow:
Rev. Raphael H. Miller of the Ma
tional City Christian Church:
II heartily approve the idea of
social relations court where juvenile
cases will be handled on basis Of ad-
justment and helpfulness rather than
as strictly judicial. have witnessed
the operation of such court and
Judge in other places and know
the value to the child, the family and
the community"
Rev. H H. D. Sterrett of All Souls
Memorial Church:
1T Ghe law takes into account the
new social and humanitarian ideas
concerning the treatment of children;
seeks to save them from the damna-
ton of criminal court proceedings and
Jail surroundings and to save them
to and for proper citizenship.
- Its. insistence on a preliminary
INJURY into the case brought before
1t, and like insistence on the private,
personal and informal conduct of the
hearing or trial, I regard as most
important"
rev. FTed w. Perkins.
II have been interested to hear oc-
casional objections raised as to the
method Of private hearing, which is
characteristic of true juvenile court.
The best answer is the fact that the
alleged dangers have proved to be
imaginary in States where such q
court has been long established. In
my native State of Massachusetts, for
instance, never heard of any such
objection being raised. The whole
theory Of a court of parental respon-
sibility, whose judgments carry no
penal stigma or record OF criminal
conviction. is simply taken for granted,
informal private hearing along with
all the rest.
Almost every adult-not only the
criminal, but the law-abiding citizen
has a record of juvenile delinquency.
In the case of the boy or girl in a
normal home that delinquency Is usu-
ally cured by intelligent parental treat
ment and discipline The juvenile
court law simply proposes that boys
and girls in abnormal homes shall
have the same chance by the use of
similar methods.
Stokes in Accord.
: "We are not asking Congress to try
an untested experiment in Washing
ton. We are asking that the District
of Columbia be brought into line with
socially minded States throughout the
Nation"
Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes:
'I merely want to say that am in
hearty accord with the general prin-
.ciples Of the proposed legislation, for
1T seems to me very clear that the
juvenile court should be conducted
not as a criminal court, but as chan
cery court, emphasizing not persecu-
tion and conviction so much as protec-
tion and help to the child.
IT notice that the bill has been pre-
pared on the basis of the very best
experience in this country. Although
! am not qualified to Judge as to its
details, am distinctly impressed with
the spirit and general provisions of
the bill. and believe that if the legis-
lation could be enacted in substan-
TALLY the form proposed it would per-
NIT our Juvenile Court to render even
greater service than at present"