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once a week until he could be really good and "cut out" all of the bad things he had been doing down in the street. Sam now reports that Willie is all right.

NOT AFRAID TO BE CAUGHT.

One day, at the close of a busy session of the civil court, I noticed a little fellow sitting back in the court room all alone. I called him up to the bench. I had never seen him before. His reticence at first was the result rather of shyness than of fear, and, with tears in his eyes, he told me that he was 10 years old, that his father had deserted his mother, and that his mother had gone away and left him; that he was living with a good lady, and that he had been "swiping" things for a long time, and some of the kids had told him if he kept it up the "cop" would get him and he had better come and tell me all about it, and I would get him out of trouble and help to make him good. This little Clifford was placed on probation. He brings good reports, and it seems to delight him immensely when I tell the group of boys, as he comes up to hand in his report, how he was not afraid to get caught and how he has "cut it out."

HOW THE BOYS REGARD THE COURT.

Only last week we found the following among the troubles of children: Johnny G., who works as bell boy at a private hotel, spilled some ink upon the floor. His employer deducted $10 from his pay. He had no money to employ a lawyer, and, but for his confidence in the power of the court, fear of losing his position would have sealed his lips. He came and told his troubles freely, and it will be settled fairly and justly, and he will not lose his place. Another working boy has complained of damage to his wheel. It will be investigated, and if justice is upon his side, he will get justice. Only recently a poor boy came to see me, complaining that a man came and took away his wheel, claiming it had been stolen. The probation officer was immediately dispatched to investigate the case, with the result that the man returned the wheel and apologized to the boy because he had made a mistake. A glance at the monthly reports of the probation officers will show the enormous amount of work of this kind done, all of which tends to make these children respecters of the law and teaches them to look upon the State as their friend and protector and the juvenile court as a place where justice is truly meted out and everything that is done is for and not against them.

EMPLOYMENT BUREAU.

A glance at the probation officer's report will also show the enormous amount of work that is necessary to help city boys obtain employment of the right kind. As shown before, we make no distinction between boys who have been in court and those who have not H. Doc. 701, 58-2-9

been in court, so that it is so well known that because boys come around the juvenile court it is no sign of wrongdoing that it relieves the place of any stigma or odium which might otherwise attach if a different spirit were fostered in the work.

VISITATION BY PROBATION OFFICERS.

We believe that paid probation officers, because of the very fact that it is their duty, can visit homes where necessary with much better effect than voluntary probation officers, especially where such officers lack the tack and judgment necessary in such cases. Upon the skill, tact, and diplomacy of such officer depends much of the success of the court. A voluntary officer is sometimes looked upon as an intermeddler and not received with the consideration which the office should command. We have no voluntary probation officers in the juvenile court of Denver, although from time to time in exceptional cases the intervention of several of our friends has been of special value. The services of a wise, discreet, and tactful probation officer are of inestimable value.

PARENTS MEETINGS.

Parents of the boys are frequently consulted by the probation officers, and, if it meets with general approval, it is proposed during the next two years to have meetings of the parents of all boys reporting to the court, in order that harmony and cooperation between the court and the home may be promoted.

SCHOOL PRINCIPALS' MEETINGS.

At the close of the last school year the principals of all the schools in Denver were invited to a meeting at the juvenile court to discuss the juvenile work from the standpoint of the schools, in order that we might receive suggestions for the improvement of the work and any friendly criticism as to where it was weak, the officers of the court feeling that there were a number of weak spots because of lack of help and facilities and as perfect cooperation as could be wished in several particulars. Some 30 principals attended, and all expressed themselves as being more than satisfied with the progress of the work, and, though freely invited, no criticisms were offered. The school-attendance officers, the school-teachers, principals, and superintendents are acting in perfect harmony and cooperation with the court. The court is only too glad to have the principals and school authorities speak freely of any mistakes they observe, and every effort will be made to correct them. The officers of the juvenile court do not consider the system as by any means perfect, or even as satisfactory as they could wish and intend it shall be, so far as it lies. in their power, with the facilities and machinery provided. It is the desire of the court during the coming school year to have an occa

sional meeting of the principals and teachers of all those schools having probationers, in order that the best methods may be considered and cooperation and harmony between the two departments promoted and continued as in the past.

INCREASE IN JUVENILE DELINQUENCY.

The first few years at least of any juvenile court is almost certain to show a marked increase in the number of children apprehended. There are two principal causes for this: First, people in various neighborhoods who are the victims in property or person of lawlessness, or organized gangs, in the old days found it generally useless to appeal to the police authorities, because those authorities were almost as helpless as they. If the culprits were arrested the police department could only put them in jail or subject them to some treatment, the tendency of which was of doubtful value, or allow them to go without restraint beyond a reprimand, which sometimes was an indication of weakness that often encouraged rather than discouraged such lawlessness. So serious cases were often allowed to go without restraint or attempted correction. It being now generally known that there is a forum better equipped for handling such cases, not only are the serious cases brought to the court, but there is a disposition on the part of a great many people to rush to the juvenile court with children's troubles that are really trifling and should not be dignified with notice by the officers of the court. It is sometimes hard to draw distinctions. To avoid this as far as possible, the probation officer carefully investigates complaints made and settles many cases in the homes with the parents, with the result that the complaining victims of such lawlessness are spared the mortification of a more formal proceeding, and saved the expense of filing court cases and the trial thereof.

CHILDREN BETTER CARED FOR.

A second reason for an increase in such cases, as already indicated, is the fact that both dependent and delinquent children are better looked after, cared for, and protected and corrected because of the interest of the officers and the machinery provided.

HOW THE CASE GROWS.

I have a rather interesting and actual illustration of this in the case of two boys caught in the dry goods stores downtown stealing small trinkets. These two boys were brought to the judge's chambers by the officer apprehending them. By getting them interested they confessed all of their misdemeanors, and, in answer to my question, assured me they knew of other boys doing the same thing.

THE SNITCHING BEE.

In the "snitching bee" (to "snitch" is to tell) conducted in my chambers around my table, after the boys became friendly, they did not tell the names of the boys they knew to be doing the same thing, but they went back to the school and within the next day or so returned to my chambers with 16 more. These 16 boys, from a very respectable school in a respectable neighborhood, returned to me some $20 or $30 worth of stolen trinkets, principally agate marbles, leather purses and bags, which they use for carrying their marbles. They voluntarily joined the delinquent list of probationers. Every single boy who was "in it" was thus brought to the juvenile court, whereas, under the criminal law only the two who were caught would have suffered the penalty and the remainder would have been encouraged not to get caught, without the more important lessen to fear to do wrong. But this was not all.

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HOW THE DRAGNET WORKS.

As everybody was anxious to tell all their misdemeaners, we undertook to find out as far as we could the causes of the troubles, and, in the case of every boy, to correct as far as we could any shortcoming in his environment which might tend to his degradation; so every boy who had been in the saloons or bought cigarettes was called upon to tell about it, not in any boasting way, but in order "never to do it again." And those who had sent them to the saloons and the men who had furnished them the liquor or tobacco were found out. The result was that several mothers and fathers were added to the list; and so the case which started in the juvenile court with 2 little culprits and would have there ended in the criminal court, jumped from 2 to 22 men, women, and children. Their faults were corrected, and not one of these boys has ever been committed, because they have given up their bad habits under the influence and direction of the court, aided by the enforced responsibility of the parents.

Another most interesting case of this character was one where the party caught numbered 4 and these 4 rounded up 44 others. In another case the party caught numbered 6 or 7 and these rounded up 52 others. It has been about two years since any one of these happenings, and in none of the cases so far has there been either a complaint against any one of the boys involved or any other boys in the same neighborhood because of a repetition of the offense. Surely, therefore, the increase in numbers brought to the juvenile court under a system like this would be no indication of an increase of juvenile lawlessness or juvenile depravity, but, on the contrary, the healthiest possible sign of the fact that it was being better handled and better coped with, with the assurance of an ultimate decrease of such offenses.

A POSITIVE DECREASE IN JUVENILE OFFENSES IN DENVER.

It has been the occasion of frequent remark among all the officers connected with the juvenile court that we do not begin to have the number of cases and certainly not such serious cases of theft and burglary and stealing from the railroads as were very common in the early history of this court. Mrs. Clark, the efficient matron of the city jail, recently told the writer that even before the house of detention was started the falling off in the numbers of boys brought to her department was extremely marked and the occasion of frequent comment. The special officers detailed by the railroad companies and the dry goods stores have voluntarily complimented the court upon the remarkable decrease in cases handled by them. The general manager of one of the largest railroads in the State told the writer recently that since the juvenile court was inaugurated they had been able to dispense with one of the men employed to protect their property from juvenile lawlessness, because of the amazing decrease, and all of these officers have expressed the opinion that 90 per cent is an average and conservative estimate of such decrease.

TRUANCY DECREASING.

Truancy is certainly by no means as alarming and prevalent as it was formerly. We invite the attention of the reader to a few of the letters published in the chapter on "The court approved," both as to the decrease in juvenile offenses in Denver and the saving of expense to the State. Considering the natural reasons, because of the different handling, for the increase in numbers brought to the juvenile court, the results so far are all the more encouraging.

TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN BOYS.

Considerable has already been said respecting the methods of this court in placing trust and confidence in the boys. This has been carried to the rather unusual extent of sending boys to the detention school with their own orders of detention. I have had some of the worst boys taken from their cells in the jail and brought to my chambers by careful officers who expected them to attempt to escape. I have never hesitated in the worst of such cases, after I have had a talk with the boy and was satisfied that I understood him and he understood me, to return them to the jail alone and unattended through the crowded city. Not a single boy returned by me to the jail alone has ever failed to promptly report and take his place behind the bars.

BOYS GO TO JAIL AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL ALONE.

We have now committed 18 boys to the industrial school at Golden, who have taken their own warrants of commitment, taken the

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