Evening star., 1954-01-16
Enforcement

! Enforcement
| CONTINUED From First Page)
particular problems and the
Commissioners have indicated
their intention to alleviate them.
Spencer Lauds Report.
Commissioner Spencer termed
the committees report an ex-
cellent one, very thoroughly
thought out and prepared" He
said it would be of enormous
value to the community and that
the community is greatly in
debted to the committee for the
job it has done.
We've got something on
which we can take action" he
said.
Police Chief Robert v. Murray
commented on the recommended
ton that the Juvenile Court tell
police how it disposes of all cases
provided that the names of ju-
veniles will no longer appear on
public police records and that
all information received from
the court will be kept confiden-
tial.
II agree with the general
theory of confidentiality," he
said. land. of course will have
to be guided by any law or order
from the Commissioners on book
ing juveniles. But I do want the
dispositions for the sake of better
law enforcement. While 1 do not
want to shield the identity of
serious offenders, under the COM
mitteee's proposals these Offend
ers would be turned over to the
adult courts and their identities
would be known at that time"
Point of Disagreement.
Both Chief Murray and United
States Attorney Leo Rover dis
agreed with the report on one
score-the method by which jul
veniles would get to Federal Dis
trict Court. Both want the United
States attorney to have exclusive
right to decide whether a 16 or
17-year-old felon should be tried
| in an adult or juvenile court.
The committee. split 3 to on
the question, took the majority
view that Mr.. Rover would
recommend cases where he be-
lieved the Juvenile Court should
waive jurisdiction and. if the Ju-
venile Court Judge disagreed with
him. he would have the right to
appeal the decision to the chief
judge Of the Municipal Court of
Appeals.
Mr.. Rover. who was a member
of the committee, called the pro-
cedure recommended by the ma
jority cumbersome" He said he
did not believe that a representa-
tive Of District Court should be
appealing to Juvenile Court, and
he insisted that the function of
deciding in what court an Of
fender should be tried is a func-
ton Of the prosecutor and not
Of a judge.
The committee proposed a
representative Of Juvenile
Courts social work department
should work with the Police
Juvenile Squad and the Police
Women's Bureau to advise them
on which cases should be re-
ferred to court. The committee
also suggested that the police be
called upon by the court to give
background on the youngsters
beyond the brief complaint filed
by police.
Helpful, Says Murray.
On these proposals, Chief
Murray said he thought a court
adviser working with police
would be helpful and that police
would be happy to provide in
formation to the court.
On the proposal that the We'll
fare Department and the Ma
tional Training School for Boys
notify police whenever juveniles
are released. Chief Murray said
he wanted that information. He
emphasized that the informa-
tion would be used with discre-
ton and that boys would not be
harasSed simply because they
had once been in trouble.
Both Welfare Director Gerard
M. Shea and DR.. Louis Jacobs,
director Of the National Train
ing School. expressed some fears
that such an arrangement could
lead to harasSment. but they
also expressed confidence that
police would not hound their
boys.
DR.. Jacobs said he already is
giving police information on
boys with a record of crimes of
violence and he sees no objec-
ton to giving it on the others.
Mr.. Shea said as long as police
kept the information conflden-
tial-as the committee specifi-
cally recommended-he would be
willing to give it.
Return Procedure Commended.
Chief Murray commended a
proposed change in the law to
facilitate the return of juvenile
fugitives from justice. He ex-
planned that. at present. no jude