﻿Edmondson : Juvenile Delinquency and Adult Crime 43 



tremens cases, which belong to a study of disease; and 25 juvenile 

 delinquents, which belong to a study of juvenile delinquency. 

 The number retained includes two kinds of cases: first those 

 whose arrest sheet did not indicate a sentence imposed, including 

 those cases released by the police, nolle prossed by the prose- 

 cutor, discharged by the judge, dismissed, pending, continued, 

 bound over to the higher courts, released to other officers, and 

 miscellaneous; and second, those cases whose arrest sheets 

 showed a sentence imposed, either fine or jail sentence, or both. 

 Those cases which are fined or sentenced in the court are estab- 

 lished as clearly delinquent cases. The cases marked nolle 

 prossed by the prosecutor, released by the police, discharged by 

 the court, and dismissed are included in the study, unless the 

 cases are marked "not guilty", for the reason that in many cases 

 where the prisoner is guilty of petty offenses, certain circum- 

 stances influence officers and court to nolle prosse, release, dis- 

 charge, or dismiss the case; such circumstances as humanitarian 

 reasons on the part of officers and court (for instance sympathy 

 for the large needy family of the prisoner, or some obvious in- 

 justice), slight or confused evidence, lack of seriousness of certain 

 offenses (gambling for example), the lack of a uaiform, intelligent 

 policy of treatment of certain offenses by the state in general 

 (drunkness for example), an honest difference of opinion con- 

 cerning the method of dealing with certain offenses (prostitution 

 for example), and in the case of females a special leniency of the 

 court. Because of these reasons, unless so specified in the arrest 

 sheet, the real guilt of the prisoner cannot be determined. Another 

 class of cases also included in this study is the class in which no 

 immediate ultimate disposition is indicated on the arrest sheet: 

 those pending, continued, bound over to higher courts, released 

 to other officers, and those falling under the head of miscellaneous 

 dispositions. No specific indication of guilt or innocence is con- 

 tained in the arrest sheets for these cases. 



For Section II of adult crime were selected records, filed in 

 the office of the state statistician, of 965 cases from Gary coming 

 into the courts of the justices of the peace from January 1, 1910, 

 to December 31, 1913, a period of four years. Justices of the 

 peace in Indiana have, as conferred by statute, exclusive original 

 jurisdiction in their counties in all cases where the fine assessed 

 cannot exceed $3, and have concurrent jurisdiction with the 

 criminal court and circuit court to try and determine all cases of 

 misdemeanor punishable by fine only, and in trials before justices 



