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Show JUVENILE OOURT BENEFITS. After an examination of the bill which has been introduced in tho 1101160 for tho purpose of changing tho juvenile juve-nile court s38tem of tho State, wo have no hesitancy in saying that it should bo killed by that body. The movement for children 's courts is practically universal. uni-versal. Communications from Germany, Ger-many, Japan, England, Treland, Scot-laud Scot-laud and other foreign countries havo been received by thoso interested in juvenile ju-venile courts here, asking for information informa-tion as to our methods of dealing with delinquent nnd dependent and neglected children, showing lhat tho good work beiiin' done hero is attracting wide attention. at-tention. Tho fact that ours is a Statu system and readies out lo every boy and girj and every mau and woman in the State, is very much in its favor. Originally thoso courts wero established only in large, populous centers, but have been gradually extended until nearly all States pretcndiuir to have juvenile courts at all have made them State wide. Tf it is a good thine to tako tho city boy away from the criminal courts, with the jails and slcol cages, aud bano-ul bano-ul atmosphere, and help them to bo- come good citizens by kind, patient, loving treatment: administered by men and women who understand childron, why is it not equal!' good for the boy in the rural districts? Boeidcs, tho State is the natural and proper guardian guar-dian for all hor children, and why should it not assume tho care and supervision su-pervision of its delinquent boys and girls? Tn doing this, should it not choose among its citizens, those who aro best equipped mentally and morally for tho most sacred duty of caring for future citizens to do the needed work? One of tho most commendable things about our juvenile court system is that it separates entirely the delinquent delin-quent bo3r from the criminal man. Indeed, In-deed, this is ono of the basic principles of all modern juvenile methods. For tho criminal judcro with his mind filled with guilt and punishment it ins substituted a judge with a mind full of patience, and love, and whoso singlo idea is to help tho boy; for the sheriff with his timo chiefly occupied in handling burglurs, robbers, and murders, mur-ders, it has substituted the kindly pro-ation pro-ation officor. For jails, prisons, and poniteutiaries, it has substituted good family homes, and dotontion and other schools. Tho bill before the legislature pro-vidoB pro-vidoB that sheriffs shall be tho chief probation officers, .lust think of lhat, will 3'ou? Tho sheriff, representing the very essouco of the criminal law. constantly handling tho vilest aud most dopraved men and women in tho Slate, to have charge for their delinquencies and trespasses, of our boys and girls! Every justico of tho peace in the State Is mado a "juvenile- court." Ttfc court whore originates every criminal proceeding, pro-ceeding, a criminal court pure and simple, sim-ple, and calling it a "juvenile court" or any other refined name cannot make it anj'thing olso than a criminal court. To bo prociso, this bill, if it becomes law, will destroy ever' vostigo of tho juvonile court idea in this State. Tho excellent boginninc which has beon made to uplift and save our childron will be brought to naught, and the whole scheme be dcstrored and the wheels of progress along these lines bo turned backward twenty-five years, and the conditions for the care of our youth be mado oven worse than the" were before we had a juvenile court. It has beon suggested that tho handling hand-ling of the juvenilo cases in the southern south-ern part of the State b' tho regular district judges, who aro ex-oi'ficlo juvenile juve-nile courts, has been slow and unsatisfactory. unsatis-factory. Thoro is doubtless some ground for this complaint. These district dis-trict judges aro good men, but their time and attention aro necessarily taken up with their Tegular court work. And besides, tho fact that the', too, arc criminal courts, makes it desirable that some other method bo adopted for caring car-ing for childron. Would it not be far bettor to develop and strengthen our present system rather than revert to old conditions? Why not amend the present law 50 as to appoint ono or more juvenile judges circuit judges to preside over the southern districts, so that all business could bo promptly handled? Increaso the salaries of tho probation proba-tion officers so that they can dovoto tho time necessar3' for the care ot juveniles. juve-niles. Place tho wholo s"stem on a j good sound basis, and there can be no doubt that tho difficulties complained of will be overcome, and Utah will havo a juvenile court system which will stand for something, and of which all her citizens may be proud. Wo believe that tho juvenile court s'stem in the Stato of Utah is doing excellent work, and if given proper support sup-port by the State Legislature will demonstrate dem-onstrate to the satisfaction of tho most skeptical, as it has alread demonstrated demon-strated to fair-minded citizens, the soundness of tho principles upon which it is founded. The economic value of the work to the State is beyond question. ques-tion. From the annual report of the juvenilo court commission wo see that there woro over 000 cases handled by the juvenilo courts during tho years 1911-12, at an expense to tho State of less thau fivj dollars each. Had these, cases been handled by other conrts it would havo cost the State probably not less than fifty dollars per case, or ten times thn total sum that ha thus far been appropriated for th support and maintenance of tho jue-nilo jue-nilo courts. Under the presonl system we feol that a jzreai wnjorily of tbo bays and girls whoso cases havo boen handled by tho juvenile courts were materially benefited by tho kindly troutmont that they received. Had the- been takon before tbo justices' courts, many ot them would havo beon sent to jail and locked in tho same cell with oldor and moro vicious offenders, and their future for good citizenship forever blighted. We believe in tho juvenilo court system sys-tem In Utah, and think it should have the strongest possible snpport. It is proving itself a life-saving institution to many of our young, and Is entitled to tho most thoughtful consideration. Tho conditions that Houso bill No. 50 attempts to remedy would fctill oxist, if it wore enacted, and tho boys and girls, instead of receiving attention guaranteed them by a well-equipped juvenilo court would be stamped as criminals. Tho bill as it now roads is not a juvenile court measure, it is aim-ply aim-ply tlie old system of criminal procedure pro-cedure masquerading under a falso namo. Evon if trno that tho work has not proven an entire micccsa in tho moro romoto sections of our Stato. thai is not a reason for an attack upon tho wholo system, but indicates that the juvenilo court system ought to bo improved im-proved in thoso localities, and that thoso responsible for tho proposed law aro not familiar with tho virtues of the present ono. They condemn tho system sys-tem without first giving it a sufficient opportunity to demonstrate its true-worth.' true-worth.' Such a proceeding is manifestly manifest-ly unjust, nnd should reooivo no favor from our legislative assombly. |
