Evening star., 1960-08-10

Juvenile Court Judge Orm
April-June report, said veteran
him the number of law violat
ing the spring was the greatest
they ever had seen here.
He said there were not only
more cases but also more
serious cases.
33 Per Cent Increase
Judge Ketcham said a report
he received today from the
clerk of the court confirmed
the increase in court business.
The clerks report showed that
the number Of cases filed for
judicial action in July
amounted to 375. compared to
283 in July, 1859, or a 33 per
cent increase.
He said the increase was re-
flected in criminal nonSupport
and paternity cases filed
against fathers as well as In
the juvenile cases.
The spiraling rate OF juvenile
crime comes at a time when
the city has been baked in re-
peated efforts to get more
judges for the court.
For the three months, l,099
delinquency complaints involv-
Ing 834 children were referred
to the court.
Comparisons
This compares with 807 de-
linquency complaints involving
500 children in the first quar-
ter of the 1959-60 fiscal year.
So5 delinquency complaints in
volving $50 children in the
second quarter and 1913 de-
linquency complaints involving
67l children in the third quar-
ter.
For the first time, girls
represent notable part of the
delinquency total. During the
first quarter. 80 girls were
referred to the court for delin-
quency. During the last quarter,
1873 girls went to court as law
violators.
AS to the types of crimes
reported to the court, these
sizable increase were reported:
Aggravated assaults rose from
% in the first quarter to So in
the last quarter; petty larceny
rose from 109 cases in the first
quarter to 153 in the last
quarter; robbery rose from 90
cases to 86 cases, and auto
theft rose from 66 cases to
l02 cases.
Backlog Cut
Judge Ketcham managed to
reduce the backlog of juvenile
cases awaiting court action by
devoting several extra days a
month to juvenile cases. But
the backlog of adult cases
awaiting judicial action con-
tinued to grow.
The quarterly report showed
that SIS juvenile cases were
backlogged at the beginning of
the period. compared with 500
backlogged at the end. The
court disposed of 833 of the
total of 1885 juvenile cases
awaiting court action during
the quarter.
Among the adult cases, how
ever, the backlog was LOLA at
the beginning of the period
and 1,165 at the end of the
period. OF the 1903 adult cases
awaiting court action during
the three months, only 438
were disposed. Of.
Judge Ketcham said he is
devoting two-thirds of his time
to juveniles but the cases are
coming in so fast that he still
can't make much of a dent in
the backlog.
Six Months Behind
He said the cases now COM
ing before him involve offenses
committed in 1859. He re-
ported he is six months behind
on trials.
He said Juvenile Court statis-
tics do not give a true picture
of juvenile delinquency in the
District because the court is
getting only the worst cases.
He explained that the police,
the schools and welfare officials
aware of the logjam in his
court-retain any cases they
think they can deal with.
Thus, he said, he gets the
children who already have
three strikes against them.
Since the court sees only the
worst cases, he said, the statis-
tics show that a far higher
percentage of children are be-
ing committed to training
schools. probations are fewer
and less successful, more chill
dren deny their guilt. and have
to go to trial, and more cases
are waived to adult courts.
The courts quarterly report
showed that 374, or 44.8 per
cent, of the 834 children
brought into court during the
April-June period were repeat
ers.
IS on Probation
OF the repeaters, 1l2 were
under social study when they
were referred again to cnllrt