Evening star., 1960-01-07
The Record Is Clear

We hope that the congressional
leaders will, as Governor Al Smith used
to urge, take look at the record. And
by this we mean the record on Washing
tons Juvenile Court problem which has
been made before Senator Hennings'
suocommittee-not the inadequate and
misleading record compiled In the
truncated hearings conducted recently
by Representative Davis of Georgia.
In a two-day hearing, Mr.. Davis
took testimony from only three of is
witnesses who had expected to testify.
Senator Hennings, on the other hand,
heard many witnesses, including those
especially we'll equipped to discuss the
problem. And of these, it seems to us
that Chief Judge Prettyman of the
United States Court of Appeals summed
up the case for more juvenile judges in
clear and fortnight terms
Judge Prettyman pointed out that
our Juvenile Court was set up with one
Judge in 1905 when the population of
Washington was 10000 There is still
only one judge, although the population
has risen to $4,000 and although the
Juvenile problem has assumed very dis
turbing proportions. How does this COM
pare, in the same time period, with our
other courts? The bench Of the Munic-
ipal Court has been increased from
seven to Is, and three-judge Munic-
ipal Court of Appeals has been created.
In District Court there are now IS in
stead of five judges. And in the United
States Court of Appeals there are nine
judges where there used to be three. II
an expanding population required this
increase in judge power in the other
courts, how can a lone judge in Juvenile
Court cope with the vastly increased
work load in that tribunal?
The answer is. that he can't. Last
year there were 3,003 hearings in juve-
nile cases and 2,194 hearings in Juvenile
Court cases involving adults-nonsup-
port, paternity and the like. This is an
average Of 20 hearings each working
day, and hearings are but part of the
juvenile judges work. Obviously, under
these conditions, the court will never be
able to do decent job of handling the
children, both the dependents and the
delinquentS, who have been assigned by
law to its care.
The crying need" as Judge Pretty
man has put it, is for more juvenile
judges. And this crying need cannot be
met by such devices as lowering the
courts juriSdictional age limit or by
reassigning nonSuppport and paternity
cases to other courts All of this is part
of one package, and it belongs, with one
exception, in the Juvenile Court. The
exception has to do with juvenile hood
lumS who commit serious crimes. The
Juvenile judge, however, already has and
is exercising the authority to send cases
of this type to the District Court for
criminal trial. AS to the other types Of
cases, nothing would be gained by re-
assigning them, for this would merely
require more judges in the courts to
which they might be sent. The end re-
suit of such a misguided step would be,
we think, to seriously impair the useful
ness of the Juvenile Court.
The Senate last April, without dis
senting vote, passed bill to add two
Judges to the Juvenile Court 1t has been
buried since then in House subcom-
mittee headed by Mr.. Davis. Meanwhile.
the juvenile problem in the Nations
Capital goes from bad to worse, and we
see no hope Of improvement unless the
responsible leaders will do two things:
First, take look at the record which
Senator Hennings has compiled. Second,
find some way to go through or around
the one-man roadblock which has been
raised by Representative Davis.