Evening star., 1962-01-28
Backlog at Record
For Juvenile Court
Pending Cases
Include 1,478
Against Adults
BY DANA BULLIN
Star Staff Writer


pending cases has been report
ed by the Districts Juvenile
Court as congressional debate
nears on proposals to unclog
justice there.
The one-judge court released
a quarterly report yesterday
that shows $50 juvenile cases
and 1,478 adult cases were
pending as of December 81.
The report comes as Con-
gress is about to consider pro-
poSal to make Juvenile Court
a part of Municipal Court In
order to obtain additional
judge power.
The proposal. contained In a
bill introduced by Representa-
tive Davis, Democrat of Geor-
gia, is bitterly opposed by Judge
Orm w. Ketcham and others.
Judge Ketcham has stated
the Davis bill would "substan-
TALLY destroy" Juvenile Court.
He favors a Senate-passed bill
to add two judges to the pres
ent court.
Backlog Grows
The report released yester-
day, which covers the last three
months of 1861, shows a back
log increase of 298 cases over
the previous quarters total.
The previous record high was
2,256 pending cases, reported
by the court at the start of the
April-June quarter last year.
The latest report shows the
court disposed of 1,O83 juvenile
cases during the last quarter.
IS cases more than in the pre-
viouS three months.
However, the figures also
show that the number Of new
Juvenile petitions filed rose from
400 to 513, and the number of
other juvenile cases requiring
court action increased from $50
to 772.
Judge Ketcham said these
"other cases" cover cases in
which a disposition had been
made but the court was re-
quired to hold further hearings.
For example, he cited youths
whose probations need review.
Such proceedings result from
the courts continuing jurisdic-
tlon over young offenders.
Complaints Increase
The quarterly report also
shows a steady increase over
the last three years in the num-
Der of complaints involving
juveniles.
Last-quarter figures for 1859
showed 976 complaints. The
figure for the same period rose
to 1,074 in 1860, and it stood
at 1I66 for the last three
months Of 1861. ~
Judge Ketcham said that as
juvenile cases "pile in," the
court has had to divert its at
tention from its adult cases.
Last quarter. adult dispositions
fell from TAB to 629.
=, The latest report shows a
slight drop-from $50 to 328-
in the number of juvenile cases
disposed of without judicial ac-
tion and a slight increase
from 1,038 to 1,083-in the
number disposed of judicially.
Judge Ketcham has said that
non-judicial disposition proce-
dures have been pushed to the
limit. Also, he said, police may
be culling more Of the less
serious cases now.
The latest quarterly report
showed more delinquency cases
involved boy (67O than girl
152). The most com mon
offenses were housebreaking,
theft, assault and unauthorized
auto use.
52% Repeaters
The figures show So per cent
of those referred to the court
were repeaters. The largest
number of cases for any age
involved youths of IA.
The report showed $132,719
was collected by the court and
$128,928 disbursed, most of it
for support of wives or chill
dren. The court issued 73 new
support orders during the
quarter.
Juvenile Court has original
Jurisdiction over de;inquents,
traffic offenders, and children
bornout of wedlock; violation of
child labor and school laws, and
adult contributions to delin-
quency.
The Davis bill, in addition
to transferring Juvenile Court
to Municipal Court, would
lower the age limit to 16. A
third proposal also before Con-
gress would add one Juvenile
Court judge and cut the age
limit to IT.