The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-12-06

Civil Service Urged
 To Protect Officials
 Against Interference
Commissioner MuIrOOney Outlines Plans at Meeting of Connecticut Prison, Probation Associations;
 Praises Progressive Legislation of State

Attending from Waterbury were: Judge Frank P. McEvoy of the superior court, Miss Kathleen Crowley, William M. Harris and Detective-Lieutenant Joseph Bend- Ter.
 Trained probation staffs, selected by civil service, were recommended by MT. Mulrooney. The setting-up of state probation he said, would place Connecticut ahead of the rest of the nation in progressive legisla- tion.
 Commissioner Mulrooney said, in part:
 T believe in the principles of pro- bation.
 T believe that probation can and does adequately protect society against criminals.
 T believe that probation prevents the social destruction of certain criminal offenders which inevitably follows a period of penal confine- ment in these cases, believe that probation prevents undue unde- served hardships from being im- posed upon the families of some that if probation is to reach its highest level of efficiency some measure of state supervision is nec- essary and desirable.
 Connecticut is a much smaller state than New York. It is more homogeneous, it is a smaller geo. graphical unit and it has no past tradition with which to reckon in the development or an adequate probation service. Hence it would seem that the logical program of the State of Connecticut would be to develop 8 state-administered state-supported and state-controlled probation service. The advantages of such service would be:
 Standards
 "1. That probation officers all over the state, regardless of the lo- calities they serve or the localities from which they come, would be re- quired to have the same high grade of education, training and compe- tence.
 2. That offenders all over the state would get the same high quail ity of service.
 8. That a state-administered probation service divorced from the administration of local courts and politically elected judges would be apt to be more free fropl political control and political pressure than would be possible under a system where politically-elected judges were the administrators of proba- tion service.
 q would like to recommend:
 "1. That an administrative dis tinction be made between juvenile and adult probation; that juvenile probation, like juvenile institutions, be a responsibility of the State De- partment of Social Welfare, locally administered through your local public welfare department.
 "2. That adult probation be ad- ministered by a department like the State Department of Correc- tion and in this same state depart ment be centralized the admins tration of state penal institutions and state parole.
 Trained Personnel
 8. That state probation like your state prisons and your state parole, be divorced from all local admins trative set-ups and be administered through a central department ade- o,1ota1v Staffed with trained nor. sonnel.
 Tt is essential that all appoint ments be made through competitive civil service examinations. You will have an opportunity to experiment in field of virgin soil, and to make a contribution not only to the well fare of Connecticut but of the whole United States.
 "There is a crying need in this field for honest research. Why should not Connecticut lead the way?"