Evening star., 1951-06-10
Juvenile Court
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satisfaction many sound and valu-
able recommendations made in
the report of the study commit
tee and hopes that in so far as
they do not involve the debatable
question of new legislation and for
what they may be worth they will
be put into effect with the least
possible delay. Certain of these
recommendations have the greater
force as they have already been
made either in the report of the
corrections section of the commu-
nifty survey made in 1946 under
the auspices of the then existing
Council of Social Agencies, now
the United Community Services,
or by the advisory committee.
while fully agreeing with the
necessity for an administrative Of
ficer in the court setup, the ad-
visory committee questions both
the place assigned to that officer
in the court hierarchy and the
duties Of the Office as somewhat
loosely defined in the study COM
m1ttee's report since the defini-
tion could easily be applied so as
to subordinate the director of So
Ic1al work and thereforesminimize
the Importance or the social work
department as a whole.
Basic factors which have led
to two major crises in the func-
tioning of the court within one
year, to serious impairment of the
morale OF its personnel and to a
general loss of confidence through
out the community are dealt with
in the letters of resignation of
Miss Todd and Mrs. Cooper and
in the formers supplementary
statement. The criticisms sof the
court made by Miss Todd and
Mrs. Cooper are substantially the
same as those made a year ago
by Miss Todd's predecessor, Miss
Virginia Clary and by Miss Clare
Fagrie. supervisor of probation in
the Juvenile Department, in their
letters of resignation. While the
study committee disclaims any
intention Of conducting an "in-
vestigation" and limits the field
Iof its study to present organiza-
tlonal structure, operation policies
and procedures" there are never
thelesS statements throughout the
report which confirm the criti-
cismS of Miss Todd and Mrs.
Cooper.
Criticisms Hit Philosophy.
These criticisms relate not only
or even primarily to matters of
administration and operation but
reach down to the very conception
and philosophy of a juveline court.
The advisory committee doubts
whether any real improvement in
the court is to be anticipated,
even though the recommendations
of the study committee are fully
put into effect, as long as the
conception and philosophy of the
court which now prevail remains
unmodif1ed. In the judgment of
the committee the issue now
Squarely before this community is
both SiSmple and clear:
'Is the District of Columbia to
have juvenile court which oper-
ates in accordance with the long
established philosophy and proce-
dures of juvenile courts through
out the United States as it has
had in the past under the act of
1888 or are the problems of it's
children to be handled from a
severely and narrowly legalistic
point of view and to quote from
the study committees report-"in
an atmosphere of formality equal
to or greater than that which
prevails in an adult court?
From the foregoing it follows
that the question of secrecy of
records which has disturbed the
community for the past few weeks
and which is unquestionably do
ing damage in individual cases
and seriously hampering the work
of agencies, public and private,
is Symptomatic of an underlying
condition and not a matter of
substance the cure of which,
whether by legislation or other
wise, will change that condition in
any important degree.
THE advisory committee has
considered that its responsibility
like that of the court staff, was
to the Juvenile Court itself, rather
than to any particular judge, anc
to the community. Since 194f
therefore, it has operated under its
own bylaws and has elected Its
J own officers and members. It has
recognized of course that to per.
form its task adequately, it must
co-operate with and enjoy the con-
lf1dencA 0f the ilIdpn IIydar 4loroe