JUVENILE COURT 



3196 



JUVENILE COURT 



under chancery powers similar to those used 

 by the Denver court, the Chicago court ap- 

 pointed a woman, with the title of assistant 

 judge, to hear cases of girls. From Denver 

 and Chicago the idea of the juvenile court 

 spread rapidly, even to England and other 

 European countries, but it is generally recog- 

 nized as a distinctly American contribution to 

 social progress. 



How the System Operates. Whenever pos- 

 sible the judge places the juvenile offender on 

 probation. This means, in short, that he is 

 given another chance. He may be, and almost 

 invariably is, required to report regularly to 

 a probation officer. The latter visits the boy's 

 or girl's home and investigates the conditions 

 in which he lives. As a rule it is considered 

 best to keep probationers at home, but there 

 are some homes in which no child could grow 



up in decency and honesty. In such cases the 

 judge, after investigation, seiicls the child to 

 a reform school or similar institution. The 

 probation officers in New York and a few other 

 cities are paid by the city, but in many com- 

 munities they are unpaid volunteers. Prob- 

 ably one-half of all the boys who are arrested 

 are released on probation, one-fourth are sent 

 to institutions, and nearly all of the remainder 

 are released unconditionally. Among girls a 

 larger percentage is sent to institutions, chiefly 

 because a home which fails to keep a girl in 

 the right path is in most cases a poor guaran- 

 tee for the future. The experience of juvenile 

 court judges indicates that good home influ- 

 ence rarely results in a girl's arrest. B.B.L. 



Consult Flexner and Baldwin's Juvenile Courts 

 and Probation; Breckenridge and Abbott's De- 

 linquent Children and the Home. 



