DUKE LAW LIBRARY 
 
 L00384089W 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2018 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/juvenilecourtsys01step 
 
©Iff Juumlf dourt 
 
 g'gHtfm of ICanaaB 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE ASBURY STEPHENS 
 
 With Introduction by 
 
 CHARLES RICHMOND HENDERSON 
 
 Professor of Sociology in the 
 University of Chicago 
 
Copies of this booklet may be obtained at SOcts. 
 (money order) each by addressing the author, 
 J2J2 West Sixth Street, Topeka, Kansas. 
 
THE JUVENILE COURT 
 SYSTEM OF KANSAS 
 
 (Submitted to the University of Chicago in candidacy for the degree of Master of Arts) 
 
 GEORGE ASBURY STEPHENS 
 
 Teacher of English and Economics, Topeka High School 
 
Copyright, 1906, 
 
 By George Asbury Stephens 
 
DEDICA TION 
 
 To my own Father and Mother, whose 
 love and interest have always been my inspi¬ 
 ration; to the fathers and mothers everywhere 
 whose hearts’ love centers in the child; and 
 to all lovers of childhood as it is and is to be. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Progress in a movement charged with vitality is secured by 
 the venture of persons of insight, energy, and public spirit. The 
 price of pioneer discovery and exploration is a harvest of mis¬ 
 takes and partial failures. This is not discouraging, for the 
 only fatal mistake is not to try to improve. After the first ten¬ 
 tative experiments, the next necessity is comparison of views. 
 This can be done by oral discussions and by investigations. The 
 present contribution is of the latter kind. The author brings 
 together the results of an honest trial of the Juvenile Court idea 
 in the State of Kansas. He subjects the law to a fair, candid, 
 and sympathetic examination; he reports the criticisms of the 
 practical people who were charged with the duties of adminis¬ 
 tration. The result is a paper of distinct merit, clearly written, 
 outspoken, and informing. 
 
 The Juvenile Court is one of the most valuable contributions 
 of America to the cause of prevention of crime and reformation 
 of young offenders. It is based on sound psychological and peda¬ 
 gogical principles; but it will not succeed without the sincere, 
 tactful, wise, and intelligent cooperation of courts and the general 
 public. The present study is a valuable contribution to the 
 development and direction of social interest. 
 
 Charles Richmond Henderson. 
 
 The University of Chicago. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A thorough investigation of the juvenile court system of a 
 state as large as Kansas by a non-official would involve no small 
 amount of time, money, and patience. Even the official, though 
 he may have back of him a legalized and compulsory reporting 
 system, needs to ensure accuracy by some independent and 
 unbiased means of verifying reports and of investigating local 
 conditions that may be peculiar. This should mean a systematic 
 visitation of county seats and an examination of conditions that 
 prevail in country towns, rural districts, homes, and public 
 schools. We lay no claim in this brief study to so thorough a 
 cultivation of a field so large. We do believe that sufficient data 
 have been collected to justify our presentation of the subject as 
 we have found it, with some of our own generalizations appended 
 thereto. 
 
 Of the raw material necessary to such a study as this there 
 are^ as we have already intimated, three sources: observation, 
 the interview, and written reports; and it has been upon the last 
 of these sources that we have necessarily had in large measure 
 to rely, though we have been in touch with one of the best courts 
 in the state, and have had a lifelong apprenticeship as a student 
 of Kansas institutions and conditions. But the acquisition of 
 this written matter is by no means easy in the absence of up-to- 
 date reports. In fact, no official reports that relate directly to 
 our subject are in existence. Of the courts themselves the law 
 does not require reports and scarcely any records. The state 
 institutions to which commitments are made have no reports 
 out that cover the period of a year and a third that the Juvenile 
 Court Act has been in operation. The State Board of Control 
 created a little over a year ago for the management of the state, 
 and the supervision of the private, charitable institutions and 
 associations is now preparing a comprehensive report of their 
 work for the past biennium, to be published in the early autumn; 
 however, but to little of this did we have access. Besides, since 
 its control over the courts is only incidental to their commit¬ 
 ments, the report will probably bear on our problem only as it 
 concerns state institutions in relation to the courts. 
 
 Under these conditions our main I'ecourse was directly to 
 the courts themselves by means of prepared blanks sent through 
 
s 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF ICANSAS. 
 
 the mail. Obviously, one could depend only upon the interest of 
 the judges in the matter for replies. The report could not be 
 made compulsory and while there was a disadvantage in that 
 many did not answer, there was the compensating opportunity 
 of studying the judges’ interest in and capability for the work 
 such as no official, and therefore to some extent perfunctory, 
 report would disclose. We should certainly show ingratitude, did 
 we not take this oportunity of thanking the many judges over 
 the state as well as a large number of other individuals who 
 have by report and by criticism in letter and in interview made 
 this study possible. 
 
 In addition to this raw material, we have had access to 
 general sociological and juvenile court literature and to the 
 reports and statistics of the juvenile courts of other states and 
 the legislation pertaining to the same, to all of which we acknowl¬ 
 edge our indebtedness. 
 
 A word explanatory of the arrangement and consequent 
 relative importance of the divisions of the subject will not be 
 out of place here. A more logical order of presentation would 
 perhaps be an exposition of the Kansas Juvenile Court Act with 
 an examination of its administration following. We have 
 changed this order because we desired to place the emphasis on 
 the Act. Not that emphasis normally belongs there, for the law 
 is but the attempt to express principles. Principles are every¬ 
 where the same; but law and its administration vary as a 
 varying people comprehend those principles. Nevertheless the 
 law should not be underestimated. The people make the laws, 
 but no less truly do the laws make the people, and if the laws 
 fail to express principles, they fail to make a people who conform 
 to principles. Moreover, with the principles of the juvenile court 
 and its administrative methods, so far as they accord with those 
 principles, thanks to a rapidly growing periodical and book lit¬ 
 erature on the subject and the adoption of the system in many 
 states, the public is comparatively familiar. But with the law, 
 laymen particularly are quite likely to be very unfamiliar, and 
 since it must fall chiefly upon laymen to make the laws, they 
 first of all should understand what they have and what they 
 need. Consequently, we have seemed to minimize by position 
 and extent of treatment what in reality is of prime importance, 
 only that we might call attention to the need of greater efficiency 
 in that without which the most well-meaning official may be 
 utterly impotent. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 9 
 
 Furthermore, the mere investigation of the Kansas juvenile 
 court system and an examination of the Kansas statutes relating 
 to children would of themselves be an unprofitable study, if they 
 did not point the way to something better; this is our apology, 
 if apology there need be, for the constructive portion of Part 11. 
 In this division, as in Part I, we lay no claim to exhaustiveness, 
 attempting merely to break ground. For the Kansas lawyer 
 with humanitarian inclinations, no more fruitful field for tillage 
 could be found than the codification of our present juvenile laws 
 and their interpretation by court decisions and attorneys’ opin¬ 
 ions, a study of the legislation and resulting systems of other 
 states and countries, and, finally, recommendations consistent 
 with the institutions and the economic and social conditions of 
 the state that would place the state in the very forefront in its 
 treatment of the generation of tomorrow. 
 
 Indeed, for just this and for other related matters quite as 
 important, no more significant office could be created, in our 
 opinion, than that of the Children’s Commissioner for the State 
 of Kansas, whose duty it would be to recommend, and to work 
 for the enactment and enforcement of, all laws contributing to 
 the welfare (physical, intellectual, social, and moral) of the 
 state’s children; who would compile from the census returns, 
 from the reports of the Labor Commissioner, the Health Board, 
 the Secretary of Agriculture, the State Superintendent of 
 Public Instruction, the juvenile courts, and the state char¬ 
 itable and educational institutions, and from the work of his 
 own office, an annual report to the governor in such an illumin¬ 
 ating fashion as would show the bearing of all this wealth of 
 material now practically lost, on the well-being of the children; 
 who would seek to organize in towns Juvenile Improvement 
 Associations and everywhere in connection with juvenile courts, 
 charity organizations, schools, and churches clubs for boys and 
 girls; who would organize, as Judge Lindsey proposes for the 
 nation, the educators of the state, ministers, juvenile court 
 judges, local Juvenile Improvement Associations, leaders of 
 women’s clubs, fathers and m.others, and all interested into a 
 State Juvenile Improvement Association which would hold its 
 meetings annually and would edit and publish monthly under 
 the direction of its board an organ similar to the Juvenile Advo¬ 
 cate, published by the Juvenile Improvement Association of 
 Denver; who would suggest for the consideration of the home, 
 the school, the church, and the juvenile court all the best that 
 
10 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF liLYNSAS. 
 
 modern study and philanthropy have devised for the welfare 
 of children, to the end that these and other agencies may be not 
 superseded but perfected in their work; who would consider the 
 social conditions of our towns with reference to children and 
 suggest suitable ordinances for their protection and welfare, 
 playgrounds, parks, gymnasiums, home and school gardening, 
 and manual training for their physical being, and stationary or 
 traveling libraries for their mental quickening; who would make 
 a study of rural conditions with the aim of securing the cultural 
 advantages of the city to the country without in the process 
 draining the best blood of the country to the city, making the 
 country not only the state’s finest kindergarten, but an attractive 
 home for its best youth by affording them an education adapted 
 to making agricultural life both remunerative and enjoyable. 
 
 Our State Superintendent of Public Instruction, with his 
 already multifarious and burdensome duties, cannot undertake a 
 work so vast. Moreover, the scope of labors for the proposed 
 Commissioner contemplates a wider field than the administration 
 of a school system. Such a position should command the very 
 best heart and brain of the state, an experienced organizer, a 
 leader, an educator in sympathetic touch with childhood, one at 
 least conversant- with the law and familiar with the best and 
 latest of humanitarian movements. Without any disparagement 
 of other offices, such a one as I have suggested would be quite 
 as consequential, to say the least, as that filled by that most 
 honored and talented Kansan who directs the state how to grow 
 the finest wheat and livestock. But to grow the finest children 
 —why not? Nor is such a scheme of education visionary. 
 Already the national government is on the eve of a movement 
 quite similar to the one I have outlined through the bill intro¬ 
 duced by Senator Crane of Massachusetts proposing to organize 
 a Children’s Bureau in the Department of the Interior—virtually 
 a great clearing house of information concerning children. But 
 the state should help not only to supply this material, but to 
 make use of rt and in a way that the national government can¬ 
 not, because of the state’s closer touch with the people through 
 its laws. 
 
 It is in the hope that this larger work may be hastened that 
 we make this humble contribution. 
 
 G. A. S. 
 
 August 31, 1906. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction. 5 
 
 Preface. 7 
 
 Part I. 
 
 The Court and the Child. 
 
 Chapter. 
 
 I. General Characteristics of the Court. . . . 13 
 
 II. Conditions Prior to the Kansas Court . 17 
 
 a. The State’s Treatment of the Child. 17 
 
 b. Agencies Influential in Securing the Court. 18 
 
 III. A Year of the Court. 21 
 
 a. Court Reports. 21 
 
 b. Pen Pictures of the Court. 34 
 
 c. Comments, Commendations, and Criticisms . 39 
 
 d. The Court’s Cost and a Comparison . 44 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Tjie Court and the Law. 
 
 Introductory Note . 47 
 
 I. Present Law Considered . 49 
 
 a. Organization of the Court . 49 
 
 b. Definitions of Terms . 60 
 
 c. Probation Officers . 65 
 
12 
 
 THE JUVENILE COUHT SYSTE.M OF KANSAS. 
 
 Chapter. page 
 
 d. Filing of Complaint. 68 
 
 e. Issue of Summons and Hearing. 70 
 
 f. Probation and Incarceration. 71 
 
 g. Disposition of Dependent Children. 77 
 
 h. Powers of Guardian. 89 
 
 i. Disposition of Delinquent Children. 90 
 
 j. Continued Jurisdiction of the Court.94 
 
 k. Exclusive Jurisdiction of the Court. 94 
 
 l. Appeal to the District Court.. 95 
 
 m. Duties of City and County Officers. 97 
 
 n. Punishment of Delinquent Children. 98 
 
 0 . Liberal Construction of Act Enjoined. 98 
 
 p. General Provisions. 99 
 
 II. Proposed Law Presented.101 
 
 Article 1. The Juvenile Court.101 
 
 Article 11. General Procedure.105 
 
 Article III. Special Procedure.112 
 
 a. Juvenile Delinquency.112 
 
 b. Adult Delinquency Contributing to Juvenile De- 
 
 linquericy.113 
 
 c. Juvenile Dependency.114 
 
 d. Adult Delinquency Contributing to Juvenile De¬ 
 
 pendency.116 
 
 Article IV. Detention of Children.118 
 
 Article V. State Supervision of Child-Saving Agen¬ 
 cies. .. 120 
 
 Article VI. General Provisions.121 
 
THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE COURT AND THE CHILD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF-THE COURT. 
 
 A brief explanation of the distinguishing characteristics of 
 the juvenile court system will prepare the way for a study of 
 the Kansas court and the results attained, reserving for later 
 pages what is peculiar to the Kansas system. 
 
 First of all, all cases of.juvenile deliquency and most cases 
 of juvenile dependency are handled by one court, and where 
 possible, a court removed from that where the trial of the 
 common criminal occurs. All children under the jurisdiction of 
 the juvenile court when arrested by any officer of the law must 
 be taken before this court. Children may be summoned before 
 the court on the formal complaint of a citizen of the county. The 
 trial is as informal as possible. In many cases it is a mere inves¬ 
 tigation of the matter by the judge through a friendly talk with 
 the child and those interested in the case. In most states the trial 
 is private, unless special request is made for a public trial. In 
 some courts no record is kept of many cases, on the ground that 
 a child should feel free to start fresh with name untainted by 
 the stigma of a court record. As we attempt to show in a sub¬ 
 sequent discussion this object need not be inconsistent with the 
 keeping of a public record of all the essential details of a 
 delinquent case except the name, for the purpose of statistics. 
 
 The probation system did not originate with the juvenile 
 court, but it is safe to say that in no other court has this method 
 of saving to society one of its members been so successful and 
 come to such perfection as in the juvenile court. Of course, the 
 method has in this court advantages that it cannot have where 
 older people are involved. There is usually greater stability in 
 
14 
 
 THE Jm'ENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 the home life of the child which gives the parole system a greater 
 chance of success. The child is more easily restrained by a fear 
 of punishment than the adult hardened by punishment. And 
 the plastic nature of the child is more susceptible to the reform¬ 
 ative influences set in motion by the court than is adult char¬ 
 acter flxed by years of habit. No one can fail to see what real 
 advantages over the old method of imprisonment accrue to all 
 society from this method of handling both juvenile and adult 
 offenders where there is even a moderate degree of success. The 
 individual himself is more often saved. Imprisonment because 
 of its pernicious influences and because of its tendency to destroy 
 self-respect, rarely, almost never, effects a cure. The probation¬ 
 er’s response to a society that seems to be seeking his good rather 
 than merely its own protection is markedly in contrast with that 
 of the incarcerated criminal. There is the economic advantage 
 of productivity continuing at a small expense to society, over a 
 predatory life at large or the hunted and confined life at a great 
 cost to society. And the social reaction from the attempt to re¬ 
 claim by befriending rather than merely to protect by confining 
 or destroying is a helpful one. 
 
 With adults, where the probation system is employed, it is 
 in conjunction with the jail. But one of the cardinal principles 
 of the juvenile court system, albeit strange to say, it is not fully 
 recognized by some of the state laws back of the system, is that 
 the child shall never be placed in a jail. Not that incarceration 
 is intrinsically wrong, but that the criminal influences of the 
 jail are destructive of character and that the jail method, so com¬ 
 monly prevailing, of treating offenders like penned wild beasts 
 instead of erring individuals for whom and for whose errors 
 society itself is in part responsible, utterly fails as either a cur¬ 
 ative or a preventive measure. Judge Lindsey says: “To reform 
 a child by starting with putting it in jail is like trying to cure 
 it of illness by first depositing it upon the city garbage dump. 
 An experienced jail official once declared that the city jails for 
 children were toboggan slides straight into hell.” If this be true 
 the juvenile court system is right in outlawing the common jail 
 for children as a place, both of detention before trial and of 
 punishment after, and if probation fails, as it rarely does with 
 efficient judges and officers, incarceration under rigorous dis¬ 
 cipline but with conditions otherwise like the well-ordered home 
 should follow. 
 
 In brief, no words could better summarize what the juvenile 
 
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COURT. 
 
 15 
 
 court system stands for than these taken from an anonymous 
 writer in a newspaper, remembering meanwhile that the proper 
 care of a dependent child almost invariably means the preven¬ 
 tion of delinquency: “The spirit and intent of the law is to 
 give the deserving boy or girl a chance to rise from mistakes 
 and to turn the misdirected energy of the vicious into healthful 
 and preventive channels. The true object of punishment is not 
 to hurt, but to amend; not to humiliate, but to teach a better 
 way. The birthright of happiness and morality is not given to 
 all children alike, and no child is to blame for that which nature 
 and environment have withheld. When these little ones fall 
 under temptation are they not entitled to a fair chance to try 
 again? Is it not worth while to keep them from evil influences 
 and criminal surroundings, and to train them toward useful 
 citizenship? Every child saved from crime is a direct gain to 
 the nation, and in every child is the possibility of a good citizen.” 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 CONDITIONS PRIOR TO THE KANSAS COURT. 
 
 a . The State’s Treatment of the Child. 
 
 In Kansas, children of the delinquent and dependent classes 
 have always had the same average care that other states have 
 given them, perhaps neither better nor worse. Before the enact¬ 
 ment of the Juvenile Court Act the neglect of the state for these 
 classes was that of other states before the passage of similar 
 laws. In spite of the fact that Kansas had laws on her statute 
 books for the care of delinquent children long before the Juvenile 
 Court Act was passed, it was common for children of tender 
 years to be arrested for crime like grown-ups, thrust in any 
 sort of prison while waiting trial, tried in the criminal court 
 under criminal procedure when the offense charged was crime, 
 convicted and sentenced as would be the man of mature years 
 except that the sentence might not be to hard labor, and both 
 before and after trial to be associated with the worst of crim¬ 
 inals. The State Industrial Schools could not care for all juvenile 
 offenders and many convicted of more serious offenses as well as 
 those convicted of petty offenses were placed in jail with con¬ 
 firmed criminals. Children might be in jail for days or weeks 
 with no one to mother them, no teacher to properly train their 
 minds, no religious instructor to give them moral and religious 
 instruction, no books to entertain and instruct. Their only 
 teacher was a criminal associate and prisons became schools of 
 vice and crime. It is true that some cities provided in the 
 city jail a ward for women and children with a police matron; 
 but this was for only the half dozen or so of first class 
 cities and for city, not county jails. It is true also that the law 
 of 1901 prohibited the association of children with criminals 
 before the trial of the former; but as we shall see, the law was 
 inoperative. 
 
 The writer remembers visiting, a year or two previous to 
 the enactment of the Juvenile Court Act, a school boy of per¬ 
 haps thirteen or fourteen years of age who was waiting trial 
 for burglary in a Kansas county jail. For six weeks or more, 
 until the convening of the district court, the boy was confined 
 
IS 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 in the common cell of the criminal, every influence of which 
 was criminal and every tendency of which was to harden. The 
 boy was defiant. Society as it seemed to him was his enemy. 
 The little fellow’s manhood, which if it had been properly 
 directed would have been the making of a fine man, asserted 
 itself driving eveiy particle of grit and independence to the 
 surface, steeling him against society. It could have been little 
 worse from any standpoint considered, that of child, family, 
 society, present, future, economic or moral consideration to leave 
 the child in society with chances for some saving influences to 
 reach him than to place him beyond the help of ennobling influ¬ 
 ences, with crime as his only outlook. The olfense charged, a 
 serious one, for an adult a felony, called for safe detention per¬ 
 haps. But it was this child’s right, generally recognized today, 
 to be confined within a circle not only of uncorrupting but of 
 uplifting influences, to have a speedy trial, to be unbranded as a 
 criminal whatever the charge and whatever the outcome of the 
 trial, and if shown to be a menace to society to be detained, sur¬ 
 rounded by home influences, with special treatment and educa¬ 
 tion as would be given a defective. 
 
 The dependent child was better cared for under the law of 
 1901, but there was, and even yet is, much to be desired as we 
 shall better see from an examination of the law. 
 
 h . Agencies Influential in Securing the Court. 
 
 It is interesting to notice some of the influences and agencies 
 that were working for a change in Kansas in its treatment of 
 juvenile offenders and dependents. The Kansas Society for the 
 Friendless from its very inception was an active exponent of 
 the juvenile court system. At its first annual meeting, held at 
 Topeka in 1902, Governor Stanley, a careful student of the pre¬ 
 vention and cure of crime, made an able address in which he 
 advocated a more enlightened and successful method of handling 
 juvenile offenders. In 1904, the same society held its third 
 annual meeting. At the opening session. Judge T. F. Garver, the 
 president of the society, made a strong plea for the enactment of 
 a juvenile court law by the next legislature. Judge Lindsey, of 
 the juvenile court of Denver, made the principal address of the 
 evening, in which he outlined the characteristic features of the 
 law and its administration in Denver. Judge Lindsey’s signal 
 
CONDITIONS PRIOR TO THE KANSAS COURT. 
 
 19 
 
 success with the court and his happy manner of describing his 
 work always make converts to the juvenile court idea. 
 
 The State Society of Labor and Imfustry wielded a strong 
 influence for the passage of the law; the newspapers propagated 
 and spread the idea; but probably no other one factor, not except¬ 
 ing even the newspapers, did so much to create a sympathy 
 for and an interest in the movement as the Kansas Women’s 
 Federation of Clubs, under the leadership of Mrs. Cora G. Lewis, 
 the president, now one of the two official visitors of the State 
 Institutions under the Board of Control. Consequently, the 
 ground was pretty well broken when Governor Hoch, in his 
 message to the legislature, expressed his own views and the 
 sentiment of the state as favorable to a juvenile court system, 
 and recommended that body to take some action. Professor F. 
 W. Blackmar, of the Department of Sociology in the University 
 of Kansas, framed the bill after the Illinois and Colorado laws, 
 and it was introduced in the House by Representative J. L. Brady 
 of Lawrence, and passed the legislature with little alteration, 
 going into elfect March 18, 1905. 
 
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CHAPTER HI. 
 
 A YEAR OF THE COURT. 
 a. Court Reports. 
 
 As a basis for study, the answers to the following questions 
 sent to each of the one hundred and five judges of the state were 
 used. Answers from sixty-six judges, or about sixty-three per 
 cent, were received. A copy of the letter and blank as sent out 
 is appended: 
 
 Topeka, Kansas, June 12, 1906. 
 Judge of the Juvenile Court: 
 
 Being a student of Sociology in the University of Chicago 
 and writing a Master’s thesis on the subject, “The Juvenile 
 Court and its Administration in Kansas,” I should very much 
 like to have answers to the accompanying questions which I am 
 sending to each Juvenile Court Judge in the State. Judge Hay¬ 
 den, of this city, has taken up the matter with me and is giving 
 all possible assistance. The results will be collated and furnished 
 each judge on application. 
 
 An early response is very desirable. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 G. A. Stephens. 
 
 1. Have you found a real need for such a law as the Juve¬ 
 nile Court Law? 
 
 2. What changes in the present law for its more effective 
 administration would you suggest? 
 
 3. Would you suggest the enactment of any other law as 
 a support to this one, as, for instance, an adult delinquency law, 
 making adults responsible for the delinquency of children, or a 
 law compelling parents to support delinquents? 
 
 4. Have you found need of a “detention home” in your 
 county? 
 
 5. Should there be annual reports required of the Juvenile 
 Court? 
 
22 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KjUSTSAS. 
 
 6. Do the added duties of the Juvenile Court make the pro¬ 
 bate judge’s duties too burdensome? 
 
 7. (a) Do you experience difficulty in getting the right 
 kind of probation officers? 
 
 (b) What improvement in this phase of the law or its 
 administration would you suggest? 
 
 8. (a) What special methods of work not prescribed in the 
 law have you found helpful? 
 
 (b) Have you a Juvenile Improvement Association or 
 Juvenile Club? 
 
 9. (a) Would you suggest any other child-saving societies? 
 (b) What improvement in these societies would you 
 
 suggest? 
 
 10. (a) How many delinquent boys have there been before 
 your court up to June 1st? 
 
 (b) How many delinquent girls? 
 
 (c) How many boys sent to the State Industrial 
 
 School? 
 
 (d) How many girls sent to the Girls’ School at Beloit? 
 
 (e) How many dependent and neglected children be¬ 
 fore your court? 
 
 (f) How many placed in homes? 
 
 (g) How many in Orphans’ Homes? 
 
 (h) What were the causes and the number of cases for 
 each cause, for the appearance of the delinquent children before 
 your court? 
 
 11. Further remarks: 
 
 Name: 
 
 City: 
 
 County: 
 
 For questions that can be answered by “yes” or “no” or by 
 figures, the tabulation below has been prepared. It should be 
 remembered that not all judges who sent in replies answered 
 all the questions. In such cases the reader is left to his own in- 
 
A YEAR OF THE COL'RT. 
 
 23 
 
 ference. Where no answer, however, under any part of ques¬ 
 tion ten is given, zero would in most cases be the correct one. 
 While with some answers there are modifications or comment, 
 the general tenor of the reply is as indicated by the “yes” 
 “no.” In the column following that for the names of counties 
 reporting, the population for each county as found in the state 
 census for 1905 is given. The figures at the head of the five suc¬ 
 ceeding double columns and in the second line of each of the 
 remaining columns but two, refer to the correspondingly num¬ 
 bered questions of the blank sent out. In the third column under 
 “Delinquents” the number of delinquents appearing before the 
 court for each thousand of the county’s population is given, and 
 in the sixth column may be found the per cent of delinquents 
 appearing before the court committed to the State Industrial 
 Schools. Counttes marked * are located in the western half 
 of the state. 
 
24 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 1 DEPENDENTS 
 
 
 No. to 
 Or¬ 
 phans’ 
 Homes 
 
 CT^ oOOi O O O O O O O O OO O O O O O O tH o O O Q -o • 
 
 1 lOf 
 
 No, to 
 Family 
 Homes 
 
 M • (N rH lO O O O O O O eH O O CO O 1-1 rH .-H sq O O O 05 O O ■ O 
 
 lOe 
 
 No. 
 
 Before 
 
 Court 
 
 ^O«MCt^05OT-IOOOi-iO -OOt-Ot-OOOiMOr-lCOasiMOOtOCO 
 
 1 DELINQUENTS | 
 
 Pr.Ct. 
 
 Com- 
 
 mitt’d 
 
 coGOlOO *LOO -Kt) • -T-Hir:) -oio *o * -oo -cdooq ’co -co 
 
 t-H (N (M '(MO • <M • -COiM ■ lO • • • -T-l o • CC • <M 
 
 . ^ . . ... ^ . . 
 
 lOd 1 
 
 No. 
 
 Girls 
 
 Com¬ 
 
 mitted 
 
 iOMOOOMOOt-HOOOOOOCCOOOOOOOOOOtHO -OCM 
 
 10 c 1 
 
 No. 
 
 Boys 
 
 Com¬ 
 
 mitted 
 
 TH(MMC:(^t0T-l0000t^T-^00(M0000000TH00(M0TH0T^^ 
 
 Per 
 
 1000 
 
 Pop, 
 
 OOiMl^ -T—1 -lOCO *00 ■lOO(M= '’(£) coco a -lO 'lO 
 
 icIC t-H • CC O • CQ •'tHM • CC • t-H 05 ^ • CC r-l (M t-I -00 • t- 
 
 t-H ...... . . . 
 
 lOb 1 
 
 Girls 
 
 OCCCCOO'^OOlMOO"?^^OOO^OOOOOr^OOOOr^OOOLO 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 t-4 
 
 Boys 
 
 hCt-hiCt-h • ^ tH O (M O O 00 Tti O tH lO O CD O iH ir-^ O O) CC(M O CC O go 
 
 CC T—1 • tH T—1 T—1 
 
 Cg 
 
 NO 
 
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A YEAR OF THE COURT. 
 
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2C 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 Before analyzing the report, let us, briefly as we may, examine 
 the distribution of the population of the state. The state cen¬ 
 sus of 1905 gave Kansas a total of 1,544,968. Of the 105 coun¬ 
 ties there are 46 lying wholly west of the median line. This 
 line, however, runs west of the median line of each of the eight 
 counties through which the former line cuts. These 46 coun¬ 
 ties, therefore, comprise nearly half of the state, but contain a 
 population of only 229,139, or slightly more than one-sixth of 
 the total for the state and an average for each county of 4,981. 
 In the remaining 59 counties, the eastern half of the state, there 
 is a population of 1,315,829, nearly flve-sixths of the total for 
 the state and an average for each county of 22,302. Of the 66 
 counties reporting, 30 of them lie in the western half. It will 
 thus be seen that the report represents an almost perfect dis¬ 
 tribution of counties throughout the state, the thinly populated 
 as well as the more densely. This is further shown in the fact 
 that while 63% of the counties are represented in the report, 
 , 65% of the state’s population is represented. 
 
 But so far in the experience of the juvenile court the problem 
 has been one of towns rather than of the country. Let us notice 
 the size of the towns throughout the state. Taking the census 
 figures for 1905 again there will be found 49 towns in the state 
 having a population above 2,500. Of these only two. Great 
 Bend and Dodge City, are in the western half. There are 70 
 counties in the state with no towns above 2,500, and 44 of these 
 are in the western half. 
 
 The scattered population, the small towns, and the rural 
 character of a large part of the people in the western half of 
 the state are given as the chief reasons why there is so “little 
 doing,” in the vernacular of many of the reports, in the juvenile 
 courts of many of these western counties. Of the twenty who 
 report that they have found no need of the juvenile court, six¬ 
 teen are judges in western counties. On the other hand, nine 
 out of thirty western judges claim to have found need of the 
 court, a creditable showing on the face, but their reports farther 
 on, it must be confessed, hardly bear them out. Of the five who 
 gave no answers to this question every one is from a western 
 county, and if their reports be scanned it will be discovered that 
 they found little use for the court. Virtually twenty-one out of 
 twenty-five judges reporting they have found no need of the 
 court are of western counties, while many of the remaining nine 
 
A YEAR OF THE COURT. 
 
 27 
 
 had little or nothing to report. This does not argue any hos¬ 
 tility to the law on their part for a large number expressed them¬ 
 selves as favorable to it; they simply found no need of the court. 
 Of the forty-one who have found a need of the court, thirty- 
 two are judges in the eastern half of the state, i. e., thirty-two 
 out of thirty-six judges in the eastern half were able to use the 
 court to good advantage. One of the remaining four, the Reno 
 County judge, seems to have been able to put the court to good 
 use, despite his protestations. On the whole, that forty-one out 
 of sixty-six judges, for the most part inexperienced in this new 
 work, should be able to use the new system at once, makes a 
 fairly satisfactory showing for the first year. 
 
 Of the fifty-eight answering question four, twenty-seven 
 found need of a “detention home” in their counties—a very 
 strong argument for such an institution when it is taken into 
 account how many of the counties had practically no cases the 
 first year and of the thirty-one who had found no need of it many 
 were favorable towards it where it might be needed. 
 
 Of fifty-three answering question five, thirty-five expressed 
 the opinion that annual reports should be required of the judges. 
 Such a report is encouraging to the student and should be to 
 an interested public. 
 
 Sixty-one answered question six, and all but four have not 
 found the additional duties of the juvenile court too burden¬ 
 some. An examination of the cases reported by these four will 
 cause the suspicion that irony may have been used. 
 
 Only twelve out of fifty-three have found difficulty in get¬ 
 ting the right kind of probation officers. This showing, how¬ 
 ever, is not so good as it looks. Very many courts had little 
 or no need of officers and others quite probably who needed good 
 officers lacked, in their inexperience, an appreciation of what a 
 really capable and efficient officer is. On the other hand there 
 are certainly in a few of the courts some of the best officers 
 to be found anywhere. The duties of the officer are, if any¬ 
 thing, of greater consequence than those of the judge, and if 
 Kansas had a hundred equal to her best who could be on con¬ 
 stant duty each throughout his county, the child problem in 
 Kansas would be well along towards a solution, and incidentally 
 the judge problem would soon be settled, too. 
 
 In column 10a is given the number of delinquent boys that 
 have been before the court from March 18, 1905, when the law 
 
28 
 
 THE JUVENILE COUKT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 went into effect, to June 1, 1906, and in column 10b the number 
 of delinquent girls. In the next column the number of delinquent 
 boys and girls before the court per thousand of the county’s 
 population is shown. For example, Sumner County has a pop¬ 
 ulation of 25,546; her delinquent children appearing before the 
 court numbered ten; consequently, for each thousand inhab¬ 
 itants of the county less than one child, to be exact, .39, was 
 called before the court. This gives us a basis for comparison 
 of counties. It will be noted again that the thinly populated 
 counties and the counties with the small towns, generally speak¬ 
 ing the western counties, have the fewest cases per thousand 
 inhabitants, though there are a few marked exceptions. Marion 
 county is one out of several such exceptions. It may be claimed 
 that the fewest cases per thousand jnake the best showing, 
 but such a claim may be admitted only on certain conditions. 
 No one will deny that where delinquency actually exists the 
 community is worse off that fails to look after it than the one 
 that takes care of it. If the number of cases per thousand of 
 population given represented the actual cases in the county, the 
 fewer the better. 
 
 The three reasons mentioned above for fewer cases in the 
 western part of the state than in the eastern are no doubt good. 
 But they are not sufficient for basing the claim that no cases 
 of delinquency exist in the county such as should be cared for 
 by the court. In the rural districts there is perhaps less wrong 
 doing among children per capita than in the city (though this 
 may be questioned), not because the children are naturally 
 better, but because, first, there is less idleness, and second, less 
 close association and therefore less chance for a certain kind 
 of delinquency, and yet from a considerable observation of 
 countryside child life the cases of truancy and incorrigibility in 
 the country school are many and the meannesses practiced in 
 the home, when boys get together, and when they go to town, 
 are numerous and often are the first steps to more serious 
 wrong doing. The most of these cases are never brought to 
 light. The home never hears of them, or if it does, as it often 
 must in cases of delinquency in the school, is powerless to effect 
 a change. The juvenile court system, as at present it is being 
 managed in many counties, is perfectly impotent. If the courts 
 had the confidence of the schools throughout the county, if court 
 and county superintendents and teachers were all doing their 
 
A YEAR OF THE COURT. 
 
 29 
 
 duty, there could scarcely be a court in the state but would have 
 some delinquency cases from the schools. 
 
 But so far, we have been considering only the country. Even 
 the western counties have many little villages, ranging in pop¬ 
 ulation from a few hundred to one or two thousand. In these 
 the per cent of wrong doing among children is higher than in 
 the city and especially the city as it is known in Kansas. The 
 advantages in these small towns, such as school and library 
 facilities, play grounds, protected streets, and good homes, are 
 little better than in the country, and much poorer than in the 
 city, while the temptations, the chances for evil through idle¬ 
 ness, loafing and bad associations are much greater in the 
 village than in the country, and probably than in the city. From 
 our own experiences as a teacher in these small western towns, 
 the village factor quite offsets any advantage the country may 
 have over the city, and makes the juvenile court system, when 
 properly adapted to the conditions, quite 'as necessary to the 
 thinly settled western county as to the more densely populated 
 eastern county. 
 
 In a way, the court in the eastern county is as delinquent 
 as that in the western. The population of eastern counties is 
 in greater masses, and even if there were no more actual cases 
 of delinquency per thousand inhabitants, these cases are more 
 likely to come to the court’s attention and to be cared for. But 
 outside of these larger masses, in the small towns and country, 
 with the exception of a few counties where the court is doing 
 excellent work in handling delinquency in the country school, 
 the court of the eastern county is as derelict as that of the 
 western. The difficulty is twofold: many of the judges seem 
 to be laboring under a misapprehension of the purpose of the 
 law—that it is for the worst cases only. This is proved by the 
 fact that invariably the highest per cent of commitments to 
 the State Industrial Schools is made by courts having very few 
 cases per thousand inhabitants, showing that all or nearly all 
 of the cases of delinquency coming before the court are of a 
 serious nature. They apparently take no cognizance of many 
 less serious cases and when they do have a case they make no 
 attempt to care for it by the probation system, due perhaps, in 
 some cases, to the fact that they have no permanent officers. 
 Shawnee county, having the greatest number of delinquent cases, 
 both in gross and per thousand of population, has almost the 
 lowest per cent of commitments. And the record of Sedgwick 
 
30 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS 
 
 county is not far behind that of Shawnee. The solution of this 
 'difficulty lies, of course, in the judge’s greater familiarity with 
 the purpose of the law and its proper administration and in 
 the constant service of an efficient probation officer. 
 
 The second difficulty is in the scattered population of country 
 and small towns, a difficulty more serious in proportion to the 
 population, in the western than in the eastern part of the state. 
 How may it be overcome? The juvenile court system was 
 originated for the city. It is especially adapted to city con¬ 
 ditions. It can hardly be expected to work quite as well else¬ 
 where if conditions are different. Herein is the solution, by 
 modification. The probation officer should be continuously on 
 duty and visiting the small town and the country almost con¬ 
 stantly. • Unless this is provided for, the county seat will be 
 cared for at the expense of the rest of the county. In a 
 number of counties in Kansas there are other towns as large as 
 or larger than the county seat. Where this is true the judge 
 should arrange to hold court in these towns once a fortnight, 
 and so meet all the probationers of the county frequently and 
 regularly. 
 
 On the whole, it should be said that with some allowance 
 being made for the rural character of the people and the scat¬ 
 tered population in the western half of the state, there should 
 be as many delinquent cases per thousand of population appear¬ 
 ing before the court if its work is thorough, in the western as in 
 the eastern half, and that the higher the number per thousand of 
 population, the higher the efficiency of the court, provided that the 
 per cent of commitments is low and the burden of the responsibil¬ 
 ity for the care of the child is made by the court to rest heavily 
 upon the family. It will be noted that, of all the counties report¬ 
 ing, a little less than one child per thousand population is found 
 delinquent, though this, of course, includes all the trivial cases 
 of delinquency, such as truancy, many of which never come 
 to trial. 
 
 We have already said something of the commitments. Col¬ 
 umn 10c gives the number to the State Industrial School for 
 boys and Column lOd to the State Industrial School for girls. 
 In the next column is given the per cent of commitments. For 
 example, Sumner sent five delinquent children to State Schools 
 out of ten cases reported as coming before it, or 50% of the 
 cases coming before the court were committed. It is needless 
 
A YEAR OF THE COURT. 
 
 31 
 
 to say that this is a poor showing, the per cent being altogether 
 too high. Either the court is failing to get hold of a large 
 number of average cases which it might parole or it is com¬ 
 mitting children for trivial causes when it should place them 
 on probation. No doubt both of these conditions are true of 
 very many courts where the per cent is high. Judge Lindsey 
 says that the court should be able to care for ninety-five per 
 cent of the children coming before it, leaving five per cent to 
 be committed. 
 
 Taking the state as a whole, judging by the counties report¬ 
 ing, the per cent of commitments (ten per cent) is just twice 
 as high as it should be. Fewer children should be committed 
 and a larger number should appear before the court. One 
 reason why the actual number of applications made for com¬ 
 mitment has not been reduced under the new law is, no doubt, 
 that there are more delinquent cases up for settlement than 
 under the old law. And yet it is to be supposed that most of 
 the children deserving commitment appeared before the court 
 under the old law. The increase mainly is from the less serious 
 cases, as it should be. Another possible reason why there is 
 no reduction in the applications is because the new law allows 
 the judge greater discretion as to the cause of commitment. 
 The old law limited commitment to three classes of children; the 
 new law permits the judge to make application to commit any 
 delinquent. This, however, under capable judges, should serve 
 not to increase the applications, but merely to make the system 
 more flexible and easily adapted to the case in hand. 
 
 Altogether, as reported by the State Board of Control, there 
 were committed during the last fiscal year 118 boys and 48 
 girls to the State Industrial Schools. These figures, when com¬ 
 pared with ours, which are for a little over fourteen months 
 instead of twelve, indicate that the judges who did not report 
 are making about the same number of commitments as those 
 who did. This fact, too, should be taken into consideration; 
 many of the applications to the Industrial Schools are not 
 allowed by the Board of Control, but by its order the judges 
 place the children on parole. The Act creating the Board of 
 Control has given it the prerogative of requiring applications 
 to be made to it before commitments may be made, and the 
 Board has exercised this power seemingly both because of the 
 overflowing condition of the institutions and because children 
 are committed when it would be better if they were paroled. 
 
32 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OP KANSAS. 
 
 Superintendent H. W. Charles of the Boys’ Industrial School, 
 in a recent letter, gave us this statement: “During the first 
 year of the operation of the Juvenile Court Law we received 
 116 boys, the year preceding we received 144 boys. This, how¬ 
 ever, is not a proper comparison of the number of commitments. 
 During both of these years the Institution has been kept at its 
 fullest capacity and the number of admissions has depended, 
 not upon the number of applications, but upon the room in the 
 School; furthermore, under the new law applications are made 
 to the Board of Control, so that I have no information relative 
 to the number of applications. It may be said, however, that 
 the number of applications for admission to the Institution 
 decreased for the first few months of the operation of the new 
 law; the number, however, has very greatly increased during 
 the past six months.” 
 
 Mrs. Julia B. Perry, Superintendent of the Girls’ Industrial 
 School, in her report for the biennium closing June 30, 1904, 
 states that in the two years covered by the report, 90 new 
 cases were received and 60 were discharged and paroled, a net 
 increase of 30 for the two years. If the per cent of commit¬ 
 ments could be reduced from 10 per cent to the 5 per cent which 
 Judge Lindsey believes should cover the number of commitments, 
 the state could much more efficiently handle the cases that it 
 would receive. 
 
 In column lOe the number of dependent cases before the 
 court is given, in column lOf the number of dependents com¬ 
 mitted to family homes, and in column lOg the number 
 committed to Orphans’ Homes and Child Saving Associations. 
 The data given here are hardly adequa,te for a thoroughly sat¬ 
 isfactory analysis. Many cases of dependency come before the 
 probate court and are, of course, not reported here. All of the 
 commitments made to the state institutions for dependent 
 children, the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home, are made through the 
 probate court. It will be noted, too, that the total number com¬ 
 mitted to family homes and institutions exceed the number 
 reported as appearing before the courts, a discrepancy which 
 the judges will have, to explain, but probably accounted for 
 through a confusion of cases committed by the probate and 
 juvenile courts. 
 
 In lieu of the fact that a juvenile court judge may as probate 
 judge commit a dependent child to the state institution for 
 dependents it is worth observing the large number of commit- 
 
A YEAR OF THE COURT. 
 
 33 
 
 ments made to private institutions, and this in spite of the fact 
 that the state institution is not crowded and is not refusing 
 applications. The explanation seems to lie in the eagerness of 
 the private organizations for the care of the child. While these 
 organizations are for the most part fairly efficient, it is a ques¬ 
 tion whether the existence of many such organizations with dif¬ 
 fused responsibility and diversity of management, supported by 
 subsidy and donation, is an economical arrangement, a question 
 which we will consider later. 
 
 An interesting fact brought out by the report is the large 
 number of children placed directly by the court into family 
 homes. This, however, in preference to allowing the state or 
 a good private organization to place the child is a practice of 
 doubtful expediency, except where the court has adequate facil¬ 
 ities for previous investigation of homes and subsequent super¬ 
 vision of its work, and few courts have such facilities. Dr. C. R. 
 Henderson, in his “Dependents, Defectives and Delinquents,” 
 states that “experience shows that half the children need to be 
 replaced, some of them several times, before the right place is 
 found.” Will the Kansas courts replace 35 out of the 75 chil¬ 
 dren committed to family homes during the past year? 
 
 The further results of this report may be summarized as fol¬ 
 lows : Few suggestions were brought out in answer to questions 
 2 and 7b regarding changes in the law and such as were made 
 are considered in subsequent pages. A very general statement 
 from the replies made to question 3 would be that the judges are 
 generally in favor of placing greater responsibility on the parents 
 and of a law to make it possible. Answers to question 8a, where 
 they seem to be helpful, are brought out in another connection. 
 In answer to question 8b, it was discovered that no Juvenile 
 Improvement Associations have been organized, though the 
 Topeka court is considering the club idea. Nothing of conse¬ 
 quence was developed in the replies to questions 9a and 9b. 
 
 The answers to question lOh show that the following are the 
 prevailing causes of juvenile delinquency in the order of prev¬ 
 alency: Petty larceny, assault and disturbance of the peace, 
 incorrigibility, neglect of parents, immorality, evil associations, 
 jumping cars, truancy, grand larceny, forgery, and perjury. 
 Some of these overlap, while nearly all might be traced to 
 parental neglect. Many judges failed to answer, especially of 
 courts where there are many cases. Reports from such courts 
 would undoubtedly throw truancy much higher in the list. Many 
 
34 
 
 THE JUVENILE COUET SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 judges failed to give the exact number charged with a certain 
 offense, while nearly all neglected to discriminate between the 
 sexes. Where such discrimination was made the leading offenses 
 charged against girls were keeping company with evil associates 
 and sexual immorality, one and the same thing generally. Full¬ 
 er and more accurate returns might change the order somewhat, 
 but the reports of previous years from the State Industrial 
 Schools concerning the causes of commitment and the lack of 
 parental care strikingly confirm our report. From the report 
 of the Girls’ Industrial School for the biennium closing June 30, 
 1904, it is learned that the leading causes of the ninety commit¬ 
 ments made were incorrigibility, immorality and petty larcency; 
 one or both of the parents of forty-nine of the girls were dead, 
 and the parents of twenty of the remaining forty-one were not 
 living together. A good family home will cure practically all 
 of children’s troubles. 
 
 b . Pen Pictures of the Court. 
 
 The material for these sketches and sentence side-lights given 
 here have been culled from letters, reports, interviews, and news¬ 
 papers. Their interest centers in their illuminating explana¬ 
 tion of the court’s manner of dealing with its charges. 
 
 Judge E. E. Enoch, of Wichita, Sedgwick County, holds each 
 fortnight the “snitching bee,” made famous by Judge Lindsey, 
 of Denver. At one of these one of the boys announced that a 
 friend had given him a rooster and he had purchased two hens 
 for fifteen cents. One of the hens lays an egg every day, but 
 the other seems to be a drone, but eggs are worth a penny each 
 and the one hen had paid for herself. The judge asked the boy 
 all about his chickens, how he cared for them, what kind of a 
 house and what feed he had. The boy had been very shy at 
 first, but when he found that the judge was interested his eyes 
 brightened and he told all about how he had built a house for his 
 chickens out of an old box, and made a pen for them from sticks 
 and boards. Judge Enoch wanted to know if his protege could 
 get any more hens at two for fifteen cents, but the boy said he 
 could not, so the judge told him to get some prices for good 
 hens from some of the neighbors and bring them to him at the 
 next “bee,” and the judge would furnish the capital for starting 
 the chicken pens. They drew up a contract as to the share in 
 the profits, all of which the boy gets. Judge Enoch contracting 
 for the eggs and spring chickens at market prices. 
 
A YEAR OF THE COURT. 
 
 35 
 
 It is the judge’s idea of the “snitching bee” to teach the 
 boys not to tell on each other, but to tell him everything they 
 have done, whether it be good or bad. He is working into the 
 confidence of the boys and they are beginning to tell him about 
 everything. They have a conscience fund, and every time one 
 boy does something bad he contributes a penny to the fund, to 
 be used in helping some other boy. Any boy who is away on a 
 vacation or absent from the city for other reasons, writes the 
 judge a letter telling what he is doing and how he is enjoying 
 himself. 
 
 After the meeting alluded to above. Judge Enoch requested 
 the boys to ask any questions about anything they had heard or 
 were interested in, and he would try to answer them, if not at 
 one meeting, then at another, and he would look up books which 
 they could get which would give more details about any question 
 they might want to know about. 
 
 Here are a few gleams from various courts: Judge W. 0. 
 Jeffrey of Erie, Neosho county, says: “I have found it quite 
 helpful to visit the homes where juvenile charges are .placed 
 and spend an hour, or more, if possible, in giving a little good 
 cheer. Boys and girls grow stronger in the right by being 
 made to feel that some one has his or her best interests at heart.” 
 Judge Joseph Little of Alma, Wabaunsee county, speaks of hav¬ 
 ing his charges report regularly on a certain day and hour, and 
 ' with his talk, of giving each an apple or orange, but never any 
 money. Judge L. E. Countryman of Phillipsburg, Phillips 
 county, makes this pithy remark: “The juvenile judge should 
 be a real ‘Daddy’ to all the ‘ornery’ children in his jurisdiction.” 
 And Judge L. J. Patton of Newton, Harvey county, says: “In¬ 
 form the child that you are interested in his or her future good; 
 make friends with them.” 
 
 Judge G. W. McGehee of Mankato, Jewell county, writes 
 thus of a difficult case: “After hearing the evidence, I talked 
 to the boy, got his confidence, told him I was his friend, advised 
 him not to swear at school, not to fight, told him that if he 
 got into any trouble to tell me all about it, and always to remem¬ 
 ber I was his friend. I also told him that I wanted him to wiTce 
 me once a month and let me know how he was getting along. I 
 then told him I wanted him to go home with his father and 
 be a good boy and that I believed that he would. His answer 
 was, ‘Yes, I will.’ He has been writing me regularly and has 
 
36 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 caused no trouble since then.” Judge McGehee says further: 
 “I believe that if the judge will come down to the realm of 
 boyhood and be a boy with the delinquent, get the confidence 
 of the boy, let him understand that you are not against him, 
 but are his friend and will help him to be a good boy, and that 
 you believe he will, in a very large per cent of cases they can 
 be managed without a great deal of difficulty.” 
 
 From many sources we have words of commendation for 
 the successful handling of the large number of juvenile cases 
 in the Shawnee court at Topeka. R. F. Hayden is judge and 
 R. W. Eaton is probation officer. A few days ago the following 
 item appeared in the Topeka Capital: “Wanted^ —Work for 20 
 boys, aged from 12 to 16, whose families need their assistance 
 and who would otherwise be loafing. Full information may be 
 had by applying to R. F. Hayden, judge of the juvenile court, 
 at the court house.” Concerning the matter Judge Hayden 
 said: “We could put twenty of our boys to work tomorrow, 
 if we knew where to put them. And they are good boys, too. 
 As a matter of fact, we have just as good boys in this court as 
 the average is outside. Just because a boy jumps a train, or has 
 a fight, or can’t resist the temptation to throw a rock through 
 the window of a vacant shack just to hear the glass smash, 
 doesn’t argue that he won’t work and work well and be honest. 
 But all the same those little pranks get a boy into trouble, and 
 trouble of that kind generally means the police court, and from 
 there he is sent over here and put into our charge. Unless these 
 boys have something profitable to do they are running the streets, 
 and everybody knows that ‘an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ 
 I want to make an appeal for these boys that they may be put 
 to work, for all of them want to be, and I believe they are 
 capable. It is the only way of preserving their futures.” 
 Within two weeks after the want item was published. Judge 
 Hayden had secured work for the twenty boys, and a free 
 employment agency established in the office was helping other 
 boys of the court to find work. 
 
 Here is the story of a bright looking little fellow of twelve 
 M'ho appeared before Judge Hayden one morning: 
 
 “Say, judge,” he said, “you don’t know me, do you?” 
 
 The judge admitted that the boy “had” him. 
 
 “Judge, I was here once last spring for stealing, and you 
 let me go if I’d be good. Judge, I hain’t done no stealin’ since, 
 and I want you to do something for me.” 
 
A YEAR OF THE COURT. 
 
 37 
 
 “All right,” said the judge, “If you’ve been a good boy that 
 long you deserve a favor, and I’ll do it for you if I can.” 
 
 “Well, you see. May she’s sick an’ paw he’s been dead a long 
 time and now they hain’t nobody to get out an’ dig up the grub 
 for maw an’ me but me. Now what I want’s a chance.” 
 
 “Go on,” said Judge Hayden. 
 
 The boy dug his toes into the linoleum thoughtfully for a 
 moment and half ashamed. 
 
 “Judge,” he said, finally, “I know’s well as you do I ain’t 
 alius been a good boy and I know I’ve stole things. Somehow 
 it didn’t do me no good to get pinched an’ chucked in, but when 
 you handed me the talk you did that day an’ didn’t do no cussin’ 
 nor call me names an’ then told me if I’d go an’ quit stealin’ 
 you’d do all you could for me, I just says to myself, ‘That there 
 guy he’s all right an’ I’ll do what he says,’ an’ I done it.” 
 
 The boy hesitated again. 
 
 “Well?” asked the judge. 
 
 “Now, I want you to do what you said you’d do—help me. 
 Ain’t that on the square?” 
 
 “Bet your life,” replied the judge, dropping into the street 
 language of the boy before him, as he makes a rule of doing 
 to help gain their confidence. “I’ll do it if I can. Sure.” 
 
 “That’s the talk I knowed you’d put up, ’cause you’re all 
 right. Now, I got a chance to get a job on a messenger service 
 if I just had a bicycle, but I ain’t got none.” 
 
 “You don’t want me to buy you a bicycle, do you?” asked 
 the judge, half frightened at what he had got into. 
 
 “Aw, stop your kidding; of course not. But I got a chance 
 to get one half down and the rest on time, but ain’t got the coin 
 for the first half.” 
 
 “And you want me to give that to you?” 
 
 “Lend it to me,” almost shouted the boy, “that’s what I’m 
 making all this spiel for. Lend it to me. You said you’d help 
 me, didn’t you? I’m going to get three dollars a week for the 
 first month, and after that fifteen a month.” 
 
 And the judge put on his hat and went with the boy to get 
 the bicycle. 
 
 “Now, that boy’ll pay me,” said the judge when he came 
 back, “and I haven’t any chattel mortgage on his bicycle, either. 
 He’s on his honor, and he’s got a different idea now of what 
 honor and honesty are than he had a year ago. 
 
38 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 “Now, do you know why that boy came to me so readily 
 and with a trust in his mind that I’d do what he asked? It was 
 because when he was here before I cut out the usual stiff-backed, 
 long-faced judicial dignity, and got right down to his level. I 
 talked just as much street slang to him as he did to me. I didn’t 
 do anj" bullying, and I didn’t do any preaching. I just talked 
 to him. I tried to show him in a way he’d understand that he 
 would not only never be respected, but he would always be in 
 trouble if he kept on stealing; and that if he quit and tried to 
 earn money I would be his friend and so would everybody else. 
 I used enough slang and ‘jolly’ to make him believe that I would 
 not only be his friend but his ‘pah’ I do not believe the boy 
 was ever talked to that way before, and I begin to think that 
 it did the good I intended it to do.” 
 
 In view of the fact that only five boys and three girls out 
 of 277 delinquent cases have been sent from the Shawnee court 
 to the State Industrial Schools, the methods of Judge Hayden 
 and Officer Eaton are worthy of study. 
 
 At the same time that the children are released upon their 
 honor, although they are not so informed, they are being watched 
 by the truant officer of the court and by their parents. Ulti¬ 
 mately Judge Hayden hopes to have a committee of workers who 
 will devote at least a part of every day to investigating the 
 homes of the lads under his charge and to watching how the 
 little folk get along in school. The teachers of the schools 
 have been asked to report weekly upon the conduct and grade 
 of scholarship of the “honor list” children. These three ways 
 and perhaps others will be used for checking up the little folks’ 
 stories. 
 
 Mr. Eaton says; “According to the procedure of the court, 
 a warrant is sworn out for any boy or girl, reported to be incor¬ 
 rigible. This warrant is never served on the youngster and the 
 word ‘arrest,’ like the word ‘crime,’ is never mentioned. This 
 warrant is shown to the parents or placed on file in my desk. 
 I have a talk with the child at his home and ask him to report 
 to the judge at a certain time. The children always come to 
 the court. 
 
 “The judge talks to the lad in his private office. Recognizing 
 that each case must be treated differently, a few rules are never¬ 
 theless set down by the judge for his own conduct toward the 
 lads. These are: 
 
A YEAR OF THE COURT. 
 
 39 
 
 “ ‘A boy can be controlled by kindness, and by placing him 
 on his honor.’ 
 
 “ ‘A child cannot be frightened into becoming good.’ 
 
 “ ‘A boy has a clearer conception of the truth than a grown 
 man. It is hard to deceive a child. Any suggestion from the 
 parents that the child be cajoled or fooled into being good, must 
 be passed over. When a lad is placed upon his honor, the man 
 who is endeavoring to help him, must place himself likewise 
 upon his honor.’ 
 
 “ ‘The most important thing, perhaps, for those in the work 
 to remember is that they cannot control a child without their 
 hearts’ being in the work. Children detect false sentiment much 
 quicker than would a grown person.’ 
 
 “One encouraging feature of the work is that we always, 
 except in one case, have had the support of the parents. I visit 
 the parents once each week, and they appear glad to see me. 
 
 “We have a juvenile court day once every two weeks when 
 all of the children, who have been brought under the care of 
 the court because of misconduct, appear. These meetings are 
 largely experience meetings, at which the children tell of the 
 trials which they encounter in trying to be good. At the close 
 the judge makes them a little talk.’’ 
 
 Here are Judge Hayden’s views on punishment: 
 
 “By throwing the boys or girls into jail you merely make 
 them worse. They come in contact with criminals and are 
 publicly shamed. The average bad boy or girl does not need 
 punishing at all, according to the usual meaning of the word. 
 All he needs, and what he has probably lacked in his home, is 
 to be treated like a man of honor and with the courtesy due 
 one person from another, whether one be a little boy or both 
 be of an equal age.’’ 
 
 c. Comments, Commendations, and Criticisms. 
 
 It is encouraging to note the general interest taken in the 
 success of the Juvenile Court Law by many different classes 
 of people. Despite the fact that according to press reports many 
 sheriffs in the recent annual convention of the Interstate 
 Sheriffs’ Association held at Des Moines, Iowa, vigorously con¬ 
 demned the law as it is observed in Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, and 
 Colorado, Kansas people without claiming that the law or its 
 
40 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 administration cannot be improved, seem to believe it is a good 
 thing. The following are, in the main, extracts from letters 
 received: 
 
 Governor E. W. Hoch, in a letter dated July 17, 1906, says 
 of the law: “It will save countless children from prison stains 
 and from criminal careers. It will grow in popularity as the 
 people come to understand its beneficent purpose.” 
 
 Mrs. Julia B. Perry, Superintendent of the Girls’ Industrial 
 School at Beloit, in a communication dated July 12, 1906, makes 
 this very pertinent comment: “I think, perhaps, the Juvenile 
 Court Law is a very good thing. It has not had sufficient time 
 to prove its merits, as the work has been new to those who have 
 undertaken it, and its worth will be manifest as the Probation 
 Officer is wisely chosen. It will be necessary, in my opinion, to 
 have persons who have a very kindly interest in the young, and 
 persons who have made a study of human nature. I cannot 
 see how one filling that place can be successful unless he has 
 those qualifications. One can scarcely pass judgment on the 
 ones who have held this office until they have had time to prove 
 themselves. A person, to work successfully with the young, be 
 it boys or girls, must be resourceful, tactful, and judicious.” In 
 view of Mrs. Perry’s well-known success in the management of 
 children, these words should "be especially significant to the 
 would-be probation officer. 
 
 Mrs. Cora G. Lewis of Kinsley, one of the two women visitors 
 of the state institutions under the management of the State 
 Board of Control, in a letter dated July 29, 1906, says: “The 
 law has been reasonably successful in operation here. Probate 
 judges have had to be educated in many instances to the idea 
 that the intent of the law was to keep children out of reform 
 schools and yet throw the restraint of the law about them. The 
 tendency in the beginning was to take juvenile offenders under 
 the care of the court, and then sentence them to the reform 
 schools. This was to be expected, inasmuch as the probate 
 judges in Kansas are politicians. To make the Juvenile Court 
 Law efficient, it will be necessary to run good men for this 
 office and take it out of politics. You can probably imagine 
 about how soon ‘the people’ will do this.” 
 
 Mrs. Lewis closes an interesting letter with this bit of prac¬ 
 tical sentiment: “If all reformers and all thinkers would only 
 concentrate on the care and culture of children we would soon 
 have a better world.” 
 
A YEAR OF THE COURT. 
 
 41 
 
 Mr. H. W. Charles, Superintendent of the Boys’ Industrial 
 School, at Topeka, in a letter some time ago, made the casual 
 remark that the Juvenile Court Law seems to have caused a 
 decrease in the average age of boys committed and an influx 
 of boys of defective mentality. More small boys are now in 
 the School than ever in its history. Asked to explain, Mr. 
 Charles, in a subsequent letter, says: “I can account for the 
 decrease in average age and the defective mentality on the 
 ground that the Juvenile Court Law has resulted in a stricter 
 enforcement of the law against juvenile delinquency and tru- 
 ancy. The boys belonging to these two classes that formerly 
 were allowed to roam about the towns and cities with no one 
 to look after them, have now come under the jurisdiction of the 
 court, and application is made for their admission to this insti¬ 
 tution; furthermore, the Board of Control, in passing upon the 
 applications, have favored the boys belonging to these two 
 classes, and have excluded older boys and those better able to 
 care for themselves.” 
 
 In the March number, 1906, of the Boys’ Chronicle, published 
 at the Boys’ Industrial School, Mr. Charles, in an editorial, has 
 this to say of the new'law: “The Juvenile Court Law, like the 
 Prohibitory Law, must have the vigorous support of the officials 
 and citizens, of the community, or it will fail just as it is now 
 failing in some localities and may sooner or later be brought 
 into disrepute. The wayward child cannot be legislated into a 
 good boy or girl. Enthusiastic officials can do much, but the 
 sympathy and vigorous cooperation of every member of the 
 community are necessary if the real objects of the law are to 
 be accomplished. There is a residue of delinquency in every 
 community that the Juvenile Court, even under the most favor¬ 
 able conditions, cannot reach. The combined influence of the 
 home, the church, the school, and the courts will sometimes fail, 
 but the enthusiastic and persistent cooperation of all these is 
 necessary or the Juvenile Court Law will become a useless 
 encumbrance.” 
 
 In emphasis, however, of the part the official of the court 
 may play, Mr. Charles, in an editorial of the previous October 
 number of the same paper, says: “The judge of the Juvenile 
 Court and his Probation Officer, if they themselves understand 
 the bad boy problem, can do much towards lessening the amount 
 of juvenile delinquency; but an unsympathetic judge or pro¬ 
 bation officer will only fill up the state institutions without reduc- 
 
42 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OE KANSAS. 
 
 ing the volume of juvenile crime. It is, in fact, not so much a 
 question of enforcing the law as it is of quickening the public 
 conscience into a realization of its duty to the wayward boy.” 
 
 Mr. John R. Carter, Topeka, Superintendent of Public 
 Instruction of Shawnee county, in reference to the court’s con¬ 
 nection with truancy cases, says, in a letter dated July 17, 1906: 
 “I want to say that the combination of the juvenile court work 
 and the truancy work is a great thing. In 99 cases out of 100 
 a truant (a habitual truant) is a transgressor of the law. 
 * * * This combining of the laws has given us a judge who 
 
 is brought in closer contact with our work and naturally is 
 more interested in it.” Mr. Carter may well be satisfied when 
 75 cases of truancy in the county outside of Topeka have been 
 successfully handled by the Probation Officer in the past year. 
 
 Superintendent L. D. Whittemore of the Topeka schools, 
 writing July 19, 1906, says: ‘‘During the past year 169 truancy 
 cases were reported by the teachers in the Topeka schools. Only 
 two or three cases were brought against parents on account of 
 truancy. According to the present law, action is not brought 
 against the child in the juvenile court for truancy unless the 
 parent makes a statement that he is unable to control the child. 
 Eighty-one truants were reported as returning to school on 
 account of the efforts of the truant officer. I believe, however, 
 that a larger number of the cases of truancy reported returned 
 to school.” 
 
 As Mr. Whittemore observes above, only under certain con¬ 
 ditions do truancy cases come before the juvenile court. As 
 we contend elsewhere, this is not a wise plan. Mr. Whittemore 
 .says: ‘‘The main advantage to the schools in the present law 
 is in giving responsible supervision of boys who otherwise would 
 be a greater menace to the welfare of the schools. With ref¬ 
 erence to truancy cases, it would be a decided improvement if 
 action could be brought in the juvenile court instead of in the 
 city court, where such cases are now tried. The proceedings 
 should be somewhat informal, and there should be a small fine 
 or penalty, sufficient to impress the indifferent parent with the 
 fact of his responsibility for the conduct and attendance at 
 school of his child. For the past year the Probation Officer of 
 the juvenile court has been truant officer for the city as well 
 as for the county. This arrangement works well enough and 
 probably secures more harmony between the schools and the 
 court than any other plan.” 
 
A YEAR OF THE COUR'i'. 
 
 43 
 
 The only truant or parental school in Kansas, so far as we 
 have learned, is the one at Topeka, established last winter. It 
 is of special interest because of its assuming a part of the work 
 of a county “detention home.” Of this school Mr. Whittemore 
 writes: “Our special school was not mainly for truants, but 
 for any boys who could not get along in an ordinary school with¬ 
 out giving continual annoyance. We took in a few habitual 
 truants, some who were recommended by the probation officer, 
 and others whom I transferred from various schools. The enroll¬ 
 ment was 25. The school was not strictly graded, but instruc¬ 
 tion was adapted to individual conditions. In addition to the 
 regular school studies, we had manual training in the form of 
 wood working, which was carried on in a room fitted up with 
 benches and tools. The boys made good progress in their studies 
 and were much interested in the shop work. They did not 
 regard their membership in the school as a penalty, and most of 
 them, if not all, would prefer to remain there than to go back 
 to the schools which they formerly attended.” This should help 
 to prepare the way for a county “detention home,” which Mr. 
 Whittemore believes would be a good thing, if properly con¬ 
 ducted. 
 
 Mrs. L. E. Thorpe, police matron of Topeka’s city prison, is 
 widely known as a most capable officer. At the close of a letter 
 worth quoting throughout, she has this to say concerning incar¬ 
 ceration : “The provision prohibiting the incarceration of 
 children with older criminals is, to my mind, the supreme good 
 of the law. Three years ago I had more children, as a rule, on 
 my prison register, than adults. Now, I never have one as a 
 prisoner, although I am frequently called upon to care for young 
 offenders for a few hours, in my own rooms at the station, until 
 their matters can be adjusted.” However imperfect the law is on 
 this point of incarceration, it is evident that Judge Hayden of 
 the juvenile court, and Mrs. Thorpe are conforming to the spirit 
 of the law. 
 
 With reference to parental responsibility, Mrs. Thorpe says: 
 “In most cases the parents are really the offenders and contribute 
 largely to all delinquencies. If we could have legislation to 
 correct the-parents, it would be a wholesome thing.” 
 
 Mr. E. L. Hillis, Superintendent of the Soldiers’ Orphans’ 
 Home, at Atchison, the state institution for dependent children, 
 in a letter dated July 14, 1906, also suggests that fathers and 
 
44 
 
 THE JIH^ENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 mothers be made “amenable to the law and subject to arrest 
 and punishment for not taking care of their children.” 
 
 On the same subject, Judge T, F. Carver, of Topeka, the 
 first president of the Kansas Society for the Friendless, and 
 an authority on juvenile court legislation, under the date of July 
 2, 1906, writes: “I think the thing of prime importance that 
 should be added to our Juvenile Court Law is a provision con¬ 
 cerning delinquent parents. When they neglect their children, 
 there should be an effective method to correct their conduct and 
 in some way compel them to give that care and support to their 
 children which their conditions require. One plan would be to 
 force the payment to the court of stated sums to meet the expense 
 of the state in such cases.” 
 
 d. The Court’s Cost and a Comparison. 
 
 It is both interesting and highly profitable to consider the 
 cost of the juvenile court system. Taking Shawnee county as 
 a basis for study, it will be found according to the figures fur¬ 
 nished by the county auditor, there was incurred from the date 
 when the law went into effect to June 30, 1906, an expense of 
 $2,319.88. Up to June 1, there had been cared for by the court 
 277 delinquents. Allowing for June the average number per 
 month of new cases, there would be by the close of June, 300 
 cases cared for. This makes an average expenditure of $7.73 
 for each case. While the dependent cases do not cost as much 
 as the delinquent cases do, some of the probation service and 
 considerable of the fee expense should be chargd to this class. 
 Three hundred and forty-eight cases (delinquent and dependent) 
 would man $6.66 per child. For the delinquent class it is safe 
 to figure $7.00 per child. With Judge Lindsey of Denver, who 
 has made a careful estimate, as authority, the old method of 
 dealing with the child cost the county and the state $227.92 per 
 case. But this includes the care of the child in an institution 
 for one year, which he estimated at $200. From the reports of 
 the Kansas State Industrial Schools, $200.00 is a close average 
 for the care of a child for a year in the Kansas institutions. This 
 leaves $27.92 for the prosecution and conviction of the child as 
 against $7.00 for the trial of the child, and what is much better, 
 a long continued care of many of the cases. This means a net 
 gain of $20.92 per case, which for 300 children means a saving 
 of $6,276.00. 
 
A YEAR OF THE COURT. 
 
 45 
 
 Of course, many of these cases would not, at present at least, 
 come to the notice of a criminal court, but if not, so much the 
 worse for both child and community. Looking at the matter 
 from the cold dollars-and-cents point of view, with the child clear 
 out of the question, the saving of say one-tenth of this number 
 from criminal careers, allowing that the nine-tenths would come 
 out all right without help, means a clear gain to the pockets of the 
 tax-payers in the next ten years of thousands of dollars, for crime 
 costs the county government more than does any other item. If 
 we take this same report of the auditor of Shawnee county, we 
 find that for the fiscal year ending June 30, the expenses of the 
 criminal courts, county jail and prosecuting attorneys amount 
 to over $30,000. If we were to include the city of Topeka’s 
 expenses for prison and officers and police court, several thousand 
 dollars would need to be added to the above figures. And then, 
 after the tax-payer has footed the bill, he still has the criminal 
 with him to prey on his purse through the succeeding years. 
 For this same fiscal year the juvenile court cost the county 
 $2,052.66, almost an insignificant amount in comparison with 
 the cost of crime, and through the saving of almost every child 
 from crime will mean to the county an investment that will 
 pay usurious interest. When one remembers that within the 
 past six months the clearing of an innocent person, William 
 Payne, from the chai'ge of the murder of Hollie Hallstead cost 
 Bourbon county, Kansas, $1,776.46—and the real criminal still 
 at large—one gets some idea of the levy that crime puts on the 
 citizen. Does it not pay better to prevent the crime? 
 
 This must also be considered. Every child that is kept out 
 of the State Industrial Schools means a saving to the state of 
 $200 each year. At present, owing to the larger nurnber of cases 
 coming up under the new law, and perhaps also because of a 
 misunderstanding of the purpose of the law, there seems to be 
 little diminution in the number of applications for commitments. 
 The larger number of cases coming to judicial notice indicates 
 that the child is being better cared for. It is safe to say, how¬ 
 ever, that when the system has become perfected in operation 
 there will be fewer commitments. 
 

 
 
 'i . 
 
 rf^'f'ii’ 
 
 
 ■>^ 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE COURT AND THE LAW. 
 
 Introductory Note. 
 
 It is hard to conceive of a law so framed as to contain more 
 pitfalls to catch the unwary or more inconsistencies and deficien¬ 
 cies to' puzzle and try the attorney than the present juvenile court 
 law of Kansas. And yet it is really astonishing how much has 
 been accomplished under it, extremely deficient as it is. It sim¬ 
 ply proves how great the need is for the system which the law 
 stands for and how much can be done with a little when there 
 is sympathy with the intent of that little; but it also proves that 
 with as efficient an instrument as is provided in some other states 
 vastly better results might be attained. From all over the state 
 there has come the demand for a law that is adequate to the 
 need, a law that will not only not prevent, but will promote, 
 the very best results, a law that will place the state in the fore¬ 
 front in this most important of all services to society, the splen¬ 
 did formation of new lives rather than the reformation of mis¬ 
 used lives. It is for this reason and in this spirit and not with 
 any purpose of minimizing the good already accomplished or 
 in any spirit of cynicism that not only the excellencies and com¬ 
 mendable features of the law as it now stands are pointed out, 
 but criticisms of the law and a proposed new one ai'e offered. 
 
 This latter is based upon the best laws of different states, but 
 with some radical departures to suit conditions peculiar to Kan¬ 
 sas. Perfection is not claimed, but it is hoped that it may serve 
 as a working basis from which something better may come. If 
 it seems at first glance to be unduly long, it must be remembered 
 that it not only covers a wide field of new law, but supplants 
 much old. It may seem that too large powers have been given 
 to the State Board of Control, but some one administrative board 
 should have this authority. An examination of the state char¬ 
 itable systems of our country will reveal no similar board organ¬ 
 ized under a more perfect law and no board that has accomplished 
 in its first year more of permanent value and gives promise of 
 still greater results, than our own State Board of Control of 
 
4S 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 Kansas. Herein we think is the justification of conferring upon 
 the board such powers. 
 
 It will be noted that at the opening of each subdivision of 
 the “Present Law Considered,” a portion of the present Juvenile 
 Court Law is quoted; this is followed by its consideration. 
 
 I 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 a. Organization of the Court. 
 
 “AN ACT to establish a juvenile court and provide for the care 
 
 of dependent, neglected and delinquent children. 
 
 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas: 
 
 Section 1. That there be and hereby is created and estab¬ 
 lished in each county of the state a court to be known as the 
 Juvenile Court, whose jurisdiction shall pertain to the care of 
 dependent, neglected and delinquent children. The Probate 
 Judge of each county shall be the Judge of the juvenile court in 
 his county, and he shall be furnished by the Board of County 
 Commissioners, at the expense of the county, with such dockets, 
 records, and blanks, upon his requisition, as may be necessary in 
 the conduct of the business of the court. Said courts shall have 
 jurisdiction of all cases concerning dependent, neglected and 
 delinquent children in their respective counties, shall be open at 
 all times for the transaction of business, and may make such 
 disposition of cases as is hereinafter provided. They shall have 
 authority to issue subpoenas for witnesses and compel their 
 attendance by attachment as for contempt, and to issue all other 
 process that may be necessary in any case, the same as justices of 
 the peace are authorized to do in misdemeanors. All writs and 
 process shall be served by the probation officer of the court, or 
 in his absence, by some person especially deputized for that pur¬ 
 pose by the court. The judge of the juvenile court shall receive 
 as compensation for his services the same fees as are allowed 
 the Probate Judge for like services, and said fees shall be in addi¬ 
 tion to all fees or salary received by him as Judge of the Pro¬ 
 bate Court; said fees are to be allowed by the county commis¬ 
 sioners and paid out of the country treasury.” 
 
 The constitution of Kansas vests the legislature with power 
 to create courts inferior to the supreme court and to confer upon 
 them such jurisdiction as it sees fit. This, it will be noted from 
 the title of the act, and the first clause of the first section, the 
 legislature has done. Juvenile cases are not merely added to 
 
50 
 
 THE Jm^ENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 those under the jurisdiction of an old court whose claims are 
 perhaps considered as prior and more pressing, but a new court 
 is created, whose province is distinctively and^ exclusively to care 
 for the cases of delinquent and dependent children. This is a 
 substantial advantage, even though the chief duties of the court 
 fall upon the judge of another court, provided, as is true in Kan¬ 
 sas, that the added duties of this new court do not make the 
 combined duties of the judge too burdensome. The wide separa¬ 
 tion of this from the criminal court, in place, in name, in machin¬ 
 ery, in method and spirit of procedure, is a long step towards a 
 public recognition of the fact that the business of the juvenile 
 court is not to convict and punish criminals, but to train and 
 restrain the wayward child, to protect and provide for the unfor¬ 
 tunate child, to stand to the child as a true parent where a derelict 
 or unfortunate one has failed. 
 
 And yet, in most, perhaps all, of the counties of Kansas the 
 population is too small and the juvenile cases too few to require 
 the whole time of a judge; to avoid the expense of additional 
 office room and the necessity of paying a fair salary for the serv¬ 
 ices of a capable man whose time only in part would be required 
 or of paying a small salary for inefficient services it was deemed 
 best to add the duties of the new court to another office with 
 salary increased in proportion to the additional services required. 
 
 It was fitting that the Probate Judge should be chosen for 
 these new duties and that he should be made the judge of the 
 juvenile court because, first, he is an official found in every county 
 of Kansas; second, his office already requires much from him in 
 the way of aid for.minors, having jurisdiction of all cases of 
 apprenticing and adopting of minors, and cases involving the 
 administration of their estates; third, his duties are not already 
 so exacting or multifarious as to make good service impossible 
 or unlikely; and, fourth, the methods of the Probate Court over 
 which the judge of the juvenile court must also preside are very 
 different in practice and in spirit from those of the criminal 
 court. The influences of the probate court either in court pro¬ 
 cedure or in environment are not harmful to young life. 
 
 Yet it is to be noted there is an element of danger here. New 
 qualifications that are quite apt to be overlooked are required for 
 these new and important duties. The voter must remember that 
 the probate judge is also judge of the juvenile court and that the 
 latter office is more exacting in its requirement of those rare 
 qualities of mind and heart that make it possible to handle chil- 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 51 
 
 dren wisely and well than is the office of probate judge with all 
 its details of business. The writer feels this danger the more 
 keenly because in a few instances—a small per cent, happily it 
 may be said—letters from judges were received which displayed 
 a lack both of appreciation of the purpose of the Juvenile Court 
 Act and of the simplest elements of scholarship without which 
 much of real power over the discerning mind of the child is lost. 
 A yet more significant sign of danger lies in the fact that nearly 
 forty per cent of the juvenile court judges of Kansas have such 
 an utter want of interest in their office and in the welfare of the 
 children of the state as to fail to take the few minutes necessary 
 to fill out the blank and place in a stamped envelope furnished 
 for the purpose. It is, of course, fair to assume that this forty per 
 cent is doing much less in proportion to its numbers to carry out 
 the intent of the law than is the sixty per cent. The voter here 
 as elsewhere has sovereign power to right such conditions. 
 
 In its choice between existing courts we believe the legisla¬ 
 ture acted wisely, but it is a question worthy of the legislature’s 
 most careful consideration whether it would not be a yet better 
 plan to merge the justice of the peace court and the probate court 
 into a county court whose jurisdiction would cover the field of 
 the two courts including, as in Colorado, juvenile cases and cases 
 of adults where children are of prime concern. Such a court 
 would be presided over by better legal talent because of the 
 greater importance of the office and the better salary paid, with 
 the result of better service rendered in the performance of the 
 duties of the old courts, and the new court would command the 
 respect and the practice before it of the bar such as neither of 
 the old courts can have. This new court would have the criminal 
 and civil jurisdiction of the justice of peace court, a jurisdic¬ 
 tion which to some degree at least a juvenile court must have 
 if it is to handle parents’ cases. There might still be such a 
 minimum of criminal cases before it as not to disqualify it as a 
 children’s court. To such a change the Kansas bar is generally 
 favorable. In case the courts were merged the law which we 
 propose would need to be modified only in those provisions 
 establishing the court. 
 
 It has been the experience of those who have worked under 
 the law in its present form that its arrangement is confusing. 
 According to the title of the act its purpose is two-fold: “To 
 establish a juvenile court and provide for the care of dependent, 
 neglected and delinquent children,” the latter end to be attained. 
 
52 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF ELYNSAS. 
 
 of course, through the court. Besides, then, the mere establish¬ 
 ing of the court with its mode of procedure, provision must be 
 made respecting its jurisdiction over, and care for, the above 
 named classes of children. Throughout the act dependent and 
 neglected children are grouped in one class and delinquent in 
 another. It would be quite as well and simpler if one term 
 properly defined were used for the dependent and neglected, 
 since the definition of the term would determine the cases to be 
 included. It becomes a more serious matter when it happens, as 
 it frequently does, that in one section first one of the general 
 classes is treated of and then the other and sometimes there 
 is difficulty in determining which class is referred to. This is 
 especially true in Sections 8, 9, and 10. There should be a 
 general division of the act devoted to the organization of the 
 court. Another division should contain all matter that is com¬ 
 mon to all or most cases. Other divisions should be devoted to 
 cases where special provision or procedure is demanded. 
 
 The court’s jurisdiction under the present act is not suf¬ 
 ficiently broad to do well the work entrusted to it. The law 
 limits its jurisdiction to juvenile cases. This of itself were 
 not an evil, in view of the purpose of the court, but that the 
 limit set in all good faith becomes undesignedly something quite 
 different. Adult delinquency is not a thing that the juvenile 
 court is primarily designed to handle. The only ground for 
 extending the court’s authority is as a means of approaching the 
 solution of a juvenile problem. But when such an approach is 
 the only practicable one, to deny the court this extension of 
 authority is to hamper it in its own proper sphere. Not for the 
 sake of the adult, though he is to be considered, but for the sake 
 of the child whose greater interests are at stake should every 
 juvenile court act include an adult delinquency provision. It 
 means not only the power to punish a person responsible for the 
 delinquency of another, but, what is of greater significance, the 
 power to enforce through the responsible adult the orders 
 against an irresponsible child. When a judge gives orders that a 
 child shall keep off a certain street or away from certain sur¬ 
 roundings or shall meet other requirements for its welfare, the 
 adult delinquency act gives the court power to compel the parent 
 or other responsible person to carry out the orders respecting the 
 child. What is of quite as much importance in considering such 
 a provision is that it becomes a stimulus to negligent parents to 
 prevent juvenile delinquency. It is a sad commentary on the 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 53 
 
 conditions existing in many American homes, even in an agri¬ 
 cultural state and indeed in rural communities, that such a stim¬ 
 ulus is needed. The causes of such conditions need not be dis¬ 
 cussed here, but the facts must be faced. Parents have a respon- 
 siblity and it is not only the state’s right but a duty it owes to 
 the child to see that they shoulder that responsibility. It has 
 been contended that Kansas has an adult delinquency law, but 
 search fails to discover anything that is at all adequate to the 
 need and it is certain no such law is being observed except as 
 relating to truancy and to behavior in the school, where such a 
 provision is working well. Where the judges of the state have 
 expressed themselves on the matter at all, they are nearly a unit 
 in demanding this added power as an instrument both of the pre¬ 
 vention of juvenile delinquency and of the control of the juvenile 
 delinquent. For the proposed adult delinquency provision, see 
 Section 25 of the Proposed Act. 
 
 The juvenile court should have the further power of com¬ 
 pelling parents or other persons responsible for the dependency 
 of a child to maintain and properly care for it when they are 
 able so to do. As illustrative of what is going on the following, 
 taken from the Topeka Herald, October 21, 1905, is a fair exam¬ 
 ple: “But one day a woman reported to him (Judge Hayden) 
 as judge of the juvenile court that her thirteen-year-old daugh¬ 
 ter was running the streets at night and ought to be sent to the 
 reform school. The Judge had the child brought into his office 
 and discovered that she was innocent. Then he investigated the 
 record of the mother and found that she was a woman of the 
 street. The woman was sent for and admitted, after some denial, 
 that she had lied about her little girl in order to get rid of her. 
 She readily consented to giving up not only the child first men¬ 
 tioned, but her two younger children as well. The three were 
 turned over to the Topeka Orphans’ Home Association, which 
 placed them in homes upon which the court had stamped its 
 approval.” 
 
 It is quite possible that the children of such a mother should 
 be taken from her. Children should never be sacrificed to 
 parents’ gross neglect. What we do maintain is that the above 
 able-bodied mother and the father, too, if alive and his where¬ 
 abouts known, should be compelled to support their children, 
 whatever disposition of them the court might make. It would 
 have the salutary effect of lessening the number of cases where 
 separation is really necessary and it would be justice to the pub- 
 
54 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF ICANSAS. 
 
 lie that supports these charges when the welfare of the child 
 demanded separation from its parents. 
 
 Dr, C. E. Faulkner, formerly of Kansas, says of the first year 
 of the juvenile court in New York City: “The court’s experience 
 with parents willing to shift the care of children to public guard¬ 
 ianship, simply to avoid the cost of their support and educa¬ 
 tion, led to the adoption of a law to compel a contribution of not 
 less than $2 per week, in the discretion of the court. The report 
 of the probation officer shows that of 639 children released on 
 probation among this difficult class of children, 15 per cent were 
 committed to institutions for a violation of their parole.” Such 
 a law is one of the most effectual means in the hands of the court 
 of reducing or preventing juvenile dependency, and dependency 
 in the widest sense of the term, including the case of neglect 
 where physicial maintenance may not be lacking. And some 
 provision is quite as important for the latter case, indeed more 
 so, as for the case of non-support. For neglect is always culpable. 
 Non-support may under certain conditions be excusable. Kansas 
 has a non-support act upon its statute book, but it is not com¬ 
 prehensive enough to include all cases of dependency. Neverthe¬ 
 less we quote it that judges who may have overlooked it may 
 have some recourse in law against shiftless fathers. It may be 
 used very effectively in some cases. Section 2281, G. S., 1901: 
 “Any able-bodied married man who shall neglect or refuse to pro¬ 
 vide for the support of his family, shall be deemed a vagrant, and 
 upon conviction thereof may be fined in any sum not exceeding 
 five hundred (500) dollars, or by imprisonment in the county 
 jail.” Section 3331, G. S., 1901, also has a provision which 
 should be remembered by judges that the adjudged father of 
 an illegitimate child shall “stand charged with the maintenance 
 and education thereof.” There is yet another statute (Sections 
 4205-4206, G. S., 1901) which may be made to cover certain 
 cases of dependency in the nature of neglect. We quote it in the 
 list of statutes for the protection of children. All of these sec¬ 
 tions together may be used to good advantage in lieu of some¬ 
 thing better, but still they are mere makeshifts when compared 
 to a law that explicitly stated will cover all possible cases and 
 that has a court whose special function is to convict those guilty 
 of its infringement, as, for instance, the Colorado act concern¬ 
 ing parents or others responsible for the dependency of children. 
 Both the adult contributory delinquency and the adult contribu¬ 
 tory dependency provisions (See Sections 29 to 34 for the latter) 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 65 
 
 of the Proposed Act, are based upon Colorado law modified to 
 suit Kansas conditions. 
 
 The power of the court could well be extended to include 
 cases where the protection of the child is involved which would 
 include those coming under numerous minor laws now on the 
 statute books. Judge Lindsey says: “We consider it a step 
 backward rather than forward to provide for a special court 
 limited to children’s cases only unless it. is given general and 
 unlimited criminal and chancery court jurisdiction in order that 
 it may successfully handle all cases against or concerning adults 
 where a child is involved.” That is to say, where the violation 
 of a law, whether on the part of adult or child, directly involves 
 the child, the juvenile court should be made competent to handle 
 the case. And with this we agree. See title of Proposed Act. 
 Here are a few of the Kansas statutes for the protection of 
 children which should be enforced in the juvenile court. The 
 sections, unless otherwise stated, are of the General Statutes 
 of 1901. 
 
 Section 2016 relates to rape, fixing the age of consent at 
 eighteen years. 
 
 Sections 2031-2039 relate to cases of kidnapping, enticing, or 
 exposing a.child; of cruelty to it, its abandonment, or its employ¬ 
 ment in forbidden occupations; of placing a child in a house of 
 ill-fame for immoral purposes; relate to the duties of regular 
 and special officers, of county attorneys and attorneys of child¬ 
 saving societies, and to the examination and commitment by the 
 court of abused and neglected children. 
 
 Section 2261 makes the selling of poison to minors without 
 the consent of parent or guardian a misdemeanor. 
 
 Sections 2382-2384 have the following provisions concerning 
 furnishing minors with tobacco; “That it shall be unlawful for 
 any person or persons in this state to sell, give or furnish any 
 cigar, cigarette, or tobacco in any form, opium or any othe’' 
 narcotic in any form, to any minor under sixteen (16) years of 
 age. The violation of any provision under this act shall con¬ 
 stitute a misdemeanor, and any person found guilty thereof shall 
 be fined in any sum not less than five (5) dollars nor exceeding 
 twenty-five (25) dollars for each and every such offense. The 
 provisions of this act shall not apply to the sale of any narcotic 
 made upon the prescription of a regular practicing physician.” 
 The intent of the law is good, but an infusion of red blood would 
 broaden its provisions and make the punishment commensurate 
 
5G 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 with the crime. Include cigarette paper; raise the age limit to 
 at least eighteen; increase the fine, and make a jail sentence 
 possible; and above all, enforce the law against the worse than 
 ghouls who dare to traffic in the living bodies and souls of our 
 boys. 
 
 Section 2394 makes the sale of weapons or toy pistols to 
 minors a misdemeanor. 
 
 Section 2481, concerning the treating of intoxicants to minors, 
 reads as follows: “The treating or giving of any intoxicating 
 liquors to any minor by any person other than the father, mother, 
 or guardian of such minor, or a physician for medical purposes, 
 shall be unlawful; and any person violating the provisions of this 
 section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon con¬ 
 viction thereof shall be punished therefor as provided in the 
 last preceding section of this act for unlawfully selling intoxi¬ 
 cating liquors” (“fined in any sum not less than one hundred 
 dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, and shall be impris¬ 
 oned in the county jail for a period of not less than thirty days 
 nor more than six months”). 
 
 Section 4140 is an important one in coal mining districts: 
 “No person under twelve years of age shall be allowed to work 
 in any coal mine, nor any minor between the ages of twelve and 
 sixteen years unless he can read and write and furnish a cer¬ 
 tificate from a school teacher, which shall be kept on file, showing 
 that he has attended school at least three months during the 
 year; and in all cases of minors applying for work, the agent 
 of such coal mine shall see that the provisions of this section are 
 not violated; and upon conviction of a willful violation of this 
 section of this act, the agent of such coal mine shall be fined in 
 any sum not to exceed fifty dollars for each and every offense.” 
 
 S. L. of 1905, Chapter 278, is the Child Labor Law. The statute 
 quoted above concerning the employment of children in mines is 
 superseded only in part by this later law, which is excellent in 
 its provisions and dovetails well with the Compulsory Eduction 
 Law (S. L. of 1903, Chapter 423) which provides in Section 1 for 
 the attendance of every child between the ages of eight and fif¬ 
 teen years upon some school during such period as it is in session. 
 Among other exceptions in this latter act is this one: “Any child 
 of the age of fourteen years or more who is able to read and 
 write the English language, and who is actively and regularly 
 employed for his own support or for the support of those depend¬ 
 ent upon him, shall not be required to attend the aforesaid schools 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 57 
 
 for a longer period or term than eight consecutive weeks in any 
 one year.” It will be observed from a reading of the Child 
 Labor Law below, that no gainful occupations, except such as are 
 dangerous or injurious in themselves or surroundings to life, 
 limb, health, or morals, are prohibited to children above the 
 age of fourteen. This is important. The Compulsory School 
 Law applies only to children in the common school, from which 
 they are rarely graduated before the age of fourteen. Upon 
 practically all children, then, the law is binding until the age 
 of fourteen, and upon many until fifteen. This precludes the 
 possibility of there being an extended interim when a child may 
 be out of school and at the same time prohibited from gainful 
 occupations. While many are free from the common school at 
 fourteen and all at fifteen, the prohibited occupations are so few 
 as to work no hardship to the child. It is quite as essential in 
 a good Child Labor Law that it put no premium upon idleness, 
 which is the scourge of both children and adults everywhere, as 
 to provide for schooling and against injury from work. With 
 schooling provided for, the child should be allowed and encour¬ 
 aged to work under proper conditions. With respect to the above 
 mentioned interim several states, notably Illinois, are having con¬ 
 siderable difficulty just now, and Kansas is to be congratulated 
 in this good feature of the law. It would be an advantage if 
 there were at least a partial definition of the “dangerous occupa¬ 
 tions,” about which there could be no question. Another fact 
 which is apt to be overlooked in the first reading of the law is 
 that it requires all employers of children to obtain a certificate 
 of the age of the child employed. This provision applies not 
 merely to the employers named in Section 1, but to all employers 
 of children, and it is doubtful whether it is generally observed. 
 It supplements .splendidly the Compulsory Education Law, but 
 is deficient in one respect. If the child is under fifteen the cer¬ 
 tificate should state its scholastic attainments and the manner 
 in which it is complying with the Compulsory Education Law. 
 Truant and probation officers should make a careful study of the 
 two laws concerning child labor in connection with the Com¬ 
 pulsory Education Law. The Child Labor Law of 1905 follows: 
 
 “AN ACT concerning child labor, prohibiting the employment in 
 factories, packing-houses and mines of persons under four¬ 
 teen years of age, and regulating the employment in other 
 occupations or places of persons under sixteen years of age. 
 
58 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas: 
 
 Section 1. No child under fourteen years of age shall be 
 employed at any time in any factory or packing-houses or in or 
 about any mine. No person under sixteen years of age shall be 
 employed at any occupation or at any place dangerous or injur¬ 
 ious to life, limb, health or morals. 
 
 Section 2. All persons, firms, or corporations employing 
 children shall be required first to obtain a certificate of age 
 of such children, where possible, from the school board, prin¬ 
 cipal of school or teacher of the school in district or city wherein 
 such children reside. Said certificate shall be issued without 
 charge; shall be substantially in the following form: 
 
 State of Kansas, County of., .City 
 
 or District. 
 
 This certifies that., according to the 
 
 records of this school and from all the knowledge that I can 
 
 obtain, was born at., in.county, 
 
 and.city, of the State of., and 
 
 is now under.years of age. 
 
 (Signed). 
 
 To which shall be added the name of the school district or 
 city and the official position of the member of the board, prin¬ 
 cipal or teacher signing the same. When it is impossible to 
 secure the certificate hereinabove provided for as to the age of 
 the child, the firm, person or corporation employing such child 
 shall secure a statement of the age of such child from the parent 
 or legal guardian of such child, which statement shall be verified 
 under oath before some officer authorized to administer , oaths. 
 Such certificate shall be sufficient protection to the employer of 
 any child as to the age of such child, except when such employer 
 has actual knowledge of the falsity of such certificate; and all 
 such certificates shall be kept constantly on file in a convenient 
 place, and shall at all times be open to the inspection of the 
 proper authorities, as provided in this act. 
 
 Section 3. It shall be the duty of the state factory inspector, 
 state inspector of mines and their deputies to inspect the cer¬ 
 tificates hereinabove provided for, to examine children employed 
 in factories, mines and packing-houses as to their age, and to 
 file complaints in any court of competent jurisdiction to enforce 
 the provisions of this act, and it shall be the duty of the county 
 
PKESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 59 
 
 attorney of the proper county to appear and prosecute all com¬ 
 plaints so filed. 
 
 Section 4. Any person, firm or corporation employing any 
 person or child in violation of any provisions of this act, or per¬ 
 mitting or conniving at such violation, shall be deemed guilty 
 of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in 
 a sum not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one hun¬ 
 dred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not less than 
 thirty days nor more than ninety days. 
 
 Section 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from 
 and after its publication in the official state paper.” 
 
 Section 4192 provides that a judge may exclude minors from 
 the court room or place of trial or hearing when evidence is vul¬ 
 gar, obscene, or immoral. 
 
 Section 4205 is the statute referred to in the discussion of 
 juvenile dependency caused by adults. It should be enforced 
 most rigidly. It reads; “Any person over sixteen years of 
 age who having the care, custody, control or charge of a child, 
 being a boy under the age of fourteen years, or being a girl 
 under the age of sixteen years, who willfully ill-treats, neglects, 
 abandons, or exposes such child, or causes or procures such 
 child to be ill-treated, neglected, abandoned or exposed, in a 
 manner likely to cause such child unnecessary suffering or ser¬ 
 ious injury to its health, shall be guilty of an offense under this 
 act, and on conviction thereof, by a court of summary jurisdic¬ 
 tion, shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to a fine not 
 exceeding one hundred dollars, or, in addition thereto, to impris¬ 
 onment to a term not exceeding three months.” 
 
 Section 4206 prescribes the mode of procedure for violation 
 of Section 4205. 
 
 The above statutes are the most important ones for the pro¬ 
 tection of childen on the Kansas statute book. With the excep¬ 
 tion of the labor laws no special provision is made for their 
 enforcement with the result that a great deal of good law is 
 virtually rendered null to the great detriment of the children. 
 Impose their enforcement upon the juvenile court. Concentrate 
 the responsibility for their proper observance in this one court; 
 then, in the event of failure, the fault can be definitely located 
 and the remedy easily applied. 
 
 The powers of the probation officer enumerated in Sections 
 1 and 3 of the Juvenile Court Act should be somewhat extended. 
 He should have the powers of the county attorney to file com- 
 
GO 
 
 THE Jm^ENlLE COURT SYSTEM OF IU4NSAS. 
 
 plaints and conduct proceedings in all cases in the juvenile court. 
 See Section 13 of the Proposed Act. This extension of authority 
 will be especially needful with an adult delinquency provision. 
 
 There has been some question raised as to the manner of com¬ 
 pensating the judge of the juvenile court which under the law 
 is by fees. At present, under the constitution, the probate judge 
 is paid under the fee system. In all probability, however, the 
 necessity for being so paid will be removed this fall by an 
 amendment to the constitution, which by act of the last legis¬ 
 lature is to be passed upon by the people at the fall (1906) 
 election. Should this amendment carry, the legislature next 
 winter will probably place the probate judge on a salary grad¬ 
 uated to the population of the county. With the law providing 
 compensation for the probate judge as it is, it would be difficult 
 to devise any satisfactory method of remuneration for his serv¬ 
 ices as judge of the juvenile court other than the present one. 
 But the fee system at its best is apt to prove unsatisfactory. 
 It puts a premium on the getting of business, which in matters 
 of law is not usually desirable. If a change in the law places 
 the probate judge on a salary depending in amount on the 
 population of the county, such amount should be so reckoned 
 as to include his services as judge of the juvenile court. 
 
 h . Definitions of Terms. 
 
 “Section 2. This act shall apply only to children under the 
 age of sixteen years, not now or hereinafter inmates of any 
 state institution or any industrial school for boys or indus¬ 
 trial school for girls or some institution incorporated under the 
 laws of this state; provided, that when jurisdiction has been 
 acquired under the provision hereof over the person of a child, 
 such jurisdiction may continue for the purposes of this act 
 until the child has attained its majority. For the purpose of 
 this act, the words ‘dependent child’ and ‘neglected child’ shall 
 mean any child who for any reason is destitute or homeless or 
 abandoned, or dependent upon the public for support, or has 
 not proper parental care or guardianship, and has idle and 
 immoral habits, or who habitually begs or receives alms, or who 
 is found living in any house of ill-fame or with any vicious or 
 disreputable persons; or whose home, by reason of neglect, 
 cruelty or depravity on the part of its parents, guardian or other 
 person in whose care it may be, is an unfit place for such a 
 child; or any child under the age of ten years who is found beg- 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 61 
 
 ging, peddling or selling any article, or singing or playing any 
 musical instrument upon the street, or who accompanies or is 
 used in aid of any person so doing. The words ‘delinquent 
 child’ shall include any child under the age of sixteen years who 
 violates any law of this state, or any city, town or village ord¬ 
 inance; or who is incorrigible; or who knowingly associates with 
 thieves, vicious or immoral persons; or who is growing up in 
 idleness or crime; or who knowingly patronizes any pool rooms 
 or place where gambling devices are operated. The word ‘child’ 
 or ‘children’ may mean one or more children, and the word 
 ‘parents’ may be held to mean one or both parents, when con¬ 
 sistent with the intent of this act. The word ‘association’ shall 
 include any corporation which includes in its purpose the care 
 or discipline of children coming within the meaning of this act.” 
 
 The definitions of the terms “delinquent child” and “depend¬ 
 ent child,” as set forth in Section 2 of the Kansas law, are not as 
 broad as those found in the juvenile court laws of some other 
 states, but at least the latter one of the two is peculiar in one 
 or two respects. In addition to the usual conditions prescribed 
 for dependency there is the provision that “any child under the 
 age of ten years who is found begging, peddling or selling any 
 article, or singing or playing any musical instrument upon the 
 street, or who accompanies or is used in aid of any person so 
 doing” shall be declared dependent. 
 
 But while the definition of the “dependent child” is good in 
 the above-mentioned particular, the definitions of both terms are 
 quite too restricted. The Illinois and Colorado laws are much 
 more inclusive and give the judge a netw'ork that will rarely fail 
 to catch the child who ought to be cared for, while the discretion 
 of the judge will never allow the law to become a tyrant in its 
 exactions. The old Kansas law, enacted in 1901 (Section 4199, 
 G. S., 1901), defining the term “dependent and neglected child” is 
 good, but still fails in comprehensiveness. In Section 11 of the 
 Proposed Act, we have attempted the definitions of these terms. 
 
 Since the Juvenile Court Act in its definition of delinquency 
 includes the violation of any state law, it would be well at this 
 point to notice three or four laws that are especially applicable 
 to children. These should assist the court in determining the 
 delinquency of a child, and especial attention should be given to 
 their observance. 
 
 Section 2385 makes trespassing in public buildings and the 
 defacing of public property a misdemeanor. While this law is 
 
62 
 
 THE JIA^ENILE COUET SYSTEM OF ICANSAS. 
 
 applicable to any one, its violation is peculiarly a juvenile offense. 
 
 Section 2395 makes the possession of dangerous weapons, 
 including toy pistols, on the part of any minor a misdemeanor. 
 
 Section 2409 makes certain offenses of wards of the State 
 Industrial Schools triable in the district court and punishable 
 by sentence to the State Reformatory in case of boys and to the 
 penitentiary in case of girls. The law emphasizes the urgent 
 need of a State Reformatory for girls between the ages of sixteen 
 and twenty-five, who should no more be sent to the penitentiary 
 in many cases than boys within those ages. Though the law 
 was enacted as recently as 1901 and since the enactment of the 
 statute making felony for children under sixteen impossible, it 
 is doubtful in view of the latter law and the general policy of 
 the state whether it would be construed in court to include child¬ 
 ren in the State Industrial Schools under sixteen. Since many of 
 the wards of these schools are out on parole the law should be 
 kept in mind by juvenile court judges as giving the jurisdiction 
 of these offenses to the district court and prescribing the pun¬ 
 ishment for such offenses. 
 
 Section 2414, relating to stealing rides on trains, applies to 
 anj^ one, but its violation is also peculiarly a juvenile offense and 
 is a misdemeanor. 
 
 S. L. of 1903, Chapter 423, is the Compulsory Education or 
 Truancy Law. Its provisions are among the best of its kind 
 in all the states, and its success is deserving of wide notice. It 
 goes right to the root of the problem and holds the responsible 
 adult liable for both the regular attendance of the child and its 
 good conduct in school. As we said before, no better argument for 
 a general adult delinquency act exists in Kansas legislation than 
 the way this limited act of the same kind is working. A part 
 of its' success is due no doubt to the fact that the probation officer 
 in some counties, as in Shawnee, has charge of all city and 
 county cases of truancy, and that if the juvenile cases come 
 before any court they must come before the juvenile court of 
 which he is the officer. The cases are in the hands of one person 
 from beginning to end. The provision of the law for a careful 
 census of the children of the community, with especial attention 
 paid to the age, should obviate all difficulty in the enforcement 
 of the Child Labor Law. 
 
 Further attention is given to legislation concerning delin¬ 
 quent children in the discussion on Section 9. 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 63 
 
 The term “children” is restricted primarily to those under 
 sixteen, but children who have once come under the jurisdiction 
 of the court remain thus for all purposes of the Act until they 
 have attained their majority. Not only wards of a state insti¬ 
 tution but wards of any incorporated institution that cares for 
 delinquent and dependent children are exempt from the pro¬ 
 visions of this Act. 
 
 The use of the terms “institution” and “association” through¬ 
 out the Act is attended with considerable confusion. In the 
 beginning of Section 2, if State Industrial Schools are included 
 in the expression “any state institution,” as they should be, the 
 schools mentioned in the expression “any industrial school for 
 boys or industrial school for girls” are voluntary organizations 
 and as such should be included within the expression “some 
 institution incorporated under the laws of the state.” If these 
 schools are not incorporated under the laws of the state, why 
 should they be placed upon a plane different from that of the asso¬ 
 ciations and permitted to act as wardens of children independent 
 of the juvenile courts? There is even less ground for such a 
 concession to unincorporated schools than to the association, for 
 the latter organization is incorporated and must act within well 
 defined and legalized limits. “Institution” is nowhere defined in 
 the Act. It is fair to infer that it is used as in other similar 
 acts, to mean a corporation possessing or at least using buildings 
 and in this re.spect differing from “association,” which in the 
 latter part of this section is defined as “any corporation which 
 includes within its purpose the care or discipline of children 
 coming within the meaning, of this Act.” This distinction seems 
 probable, since throughout the Act precedence over the asso¬ 
 ciation is given to the institution. In Sections 7 and 9 both 
 expressions, “suitable institution” and “association,” are used 
 with the implication, of course, that they have different mean¬ 
 ings. In Sections 8 and 10 “institution” is omitted as being 
 something not properly subject to a juvenile court. It would 
 seem, then, that the “association” is on a level with the “indi¬ 
 vidual” in being amenable to the juvenile court, while the insti¬ 
 tution acts independently of that court. 
 
 With the exception of the kind of schools referred to, the 
 obscurity in this section respecting terms is not great. At its 
 beginning “inmates” becomes a saving word, thus specializing 
 the institutions and schools. But the confusion comes elsewhere 
 in the Act in the failure to define terms in this the defining sec- 
 
C4 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF ICANSAS. 
 
 tion and in using them loosely elsewhere. When by “institution” 
 is the voluntary institution meant, and when the state insti¬ 
 tution? Is the word “state” always used with “institution” when 
 a state institution is meant? The following construction seems 
 to be such as can do no violence to the meaning throughout: 
 When state institution alone is meant, the expression “state 
 institution” is used; when a voluntary institution is referred to, 
 the expression “institution incorporated under the laws of the 
 state” is used; when state (including county and city) and vol¬ 
 untary institutions are meant some general expression, “suitable 
 institution” or “some suitable institution,” is used. However, 
 in the latter part of Section 7, where “public institution” is 
 contrasted with “private institution,” the latter can have no other 
 meaning but that of a voluntary institution, while “public insti¬ 
 tution” must be construed as including state, county, and 
 municipal institutions. Otherwise the terms are wholly mean¬ 
 ingless. The “suitable institution” as found in both Sections 7 
 and 10 surely must include both state and voluntary institutions. 
 The matter is not as trivial as it at first may appear, since upon 
 the construction of these expressions turns the whole meaning 
 of the Act, with reference to state institutions for dependent 
 children. The bearing of our interpretation will be seen in a 
 subsequent discussion respecting a decision of the State Attorney- 
 General. 
 
 That a voluntary institution is not amenable under the law 
 to the juvenile court there can be little question. But-the wis¬ 
 dom of such a provision is not apparent. In Allen county, a boy 
 who had been an inmate of a Children’s Home at lola was placed 
 out, but not adopted, in a family home. He committed some 
 serious offense for which he was turned over to the juvenile 
 court. The court ordered him committed to the State Industrial 
 School, but the State Board of Control held that as he had been 
 an inmate of a Children’s Home (a voluntary institution), and 
 had never been released from its guardianship, the juvenile 
 court, under the law, had no jurisdiction over the boy. In this 
 contention the Board, very properly it seems to us, was sus¬ 
 tained by the Attorney-General. The decision no doubt is “good 
 law,” but we question the wisdom of the law. It is difficult to 
 see wherein the voluntary institution is so superior to the asso¬ 
 ciation. But be that as it may, it becomes very desirable at 
 times to commit a really bad child who is an inmate of some 
 Children’s Home to the State Industrial School. Under the 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 65 
 
 Juvenile Court Act, the judge of the juvenile court has lost all 
 jurisdiction over him; but also, under the same Act, as inter¬ 
 preted by the Attorney-General, the juvenile court is the only 
 court, except on appeal from that court, that can commit. The 
 State Board of Control, although it can reject or delay a com¬ 
 mitment, can not order one, except of a child in the Soldiers’ 
 Orphans’ Home. The only remedy for such a state of affairs 
 is to give the juvenile court jurisdiction over wards of voluntary 
 institutions as well as of associations and individuals. See Sec¬ 
 tion 21 of the Proposed Act. 
 
 c. Probation Officers. 
 
 “Section 3. The juvenile court having jurisdiction under 
 this act shall appoint or designate one or more discreet persons 
 of good character to serve as probation officers during the pleas¬ 
 ure of the court; said probation officer shall receive as compen¬ 
 sation, from the public treasury, a sum to be fixed by the court, 
 said sum not to exceed two dollars per day for services actually 
 performed; provided, that, in cities having a population of 15,000 
 or over, the compensation shall be not more than three dollars 
 per day. Whenever there is to be a child brought before any 
 court having a probation officer, it shall be the duty of the judge 
 of the court, if practicable, to notify the probation officer in 
 advance when any child is to be brought before the court. It 
 shall be the duty of said probation officer to make such investi¬ 
 gation as may be required by the court; to be present in court in 
 order to represent the interest of the child when the case is 
 heard; to furnish to the court such information and assistance 
 as the judge may require, and to take such charge of any child 
 before and after trial as may be directed by the court; and 
 the court shall have power to make and enforce rules specifying 
 the duties of the probation officer in any and all cases. The judge 
 of said juvenile court may, at his discretion, designate as pro¬ 
 bation officer the regular truant officer of the county, who shall 
 perform the duties of this office in addition to the duties of the 
 truant officer, as provided by law, and he shall receive no 
 further remuneration than is provided by laws already existing. 
 Any probation officer may, without warrant or other process, 
 at any time until the final disposition of the case of any child 
 over whom said juvenile court shall have acquired jurisdiction, 
 take the child placed in his care by said court and bring the 
 
GO 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KLANSAS. 
 
 child before the court, or the court may issue a warrant for the 
 arrest of any such child; and the court may thereupon proceed 
 to sentence or make such other disposition of the case as he may 
 deem best.” 
 
 In Section 3 provision is made for the appointment, com¬ 
 pensation, and duties of the probation officer. One or more 
 officers are appointed bj'' the judge of the juvenile court at his 
 discretion to serve during his pleasure. Two dollars a day for 
 actual service is the greatest compensation that can be paid in 
 most counties, but when the population of the county seat is 
 15,000 or over, the compensation may be three dollars a day. 
 Under the Compulsory Education Law there are truant officers 
 for the enforcement of this law. This section of the Juvenile 
 Court Act provides that the judge may appoint the truant 
 officer for the county as the probation officer at the same com¬ 
 pensation for actual service. This is certainly an advantage, to 
 some extent financially, but more especially in the quality of 
 service received by having one good officer at a fair salary, 
 rather than two indifferent ones each on a smaller salary. More¬ 
 over, the work is all of nearly the same character and there is 
 no good reason why hair-splitting should call for a division of 
 labor here. The wonder is that the law does not make it manda¬ 
 tory upon the juvenile court to appoint one officer in his county 
 who shall perform the duties of probation officer and the duties 
 of truant officer in both county and cities. The experience of 
 counties and cities under the Compulsory Education Law proves 
 that there is no need of the number of truant officers provided 
 for by that law. In Shawnee county, where more juvenile cases 
 have been handled than in any other county, all of the duties of 
 truant officer for both county and city have been performed 
 during the past year by the probation officer of the juvenile 
 court with much more efficient results and at a reduced cost. If 
 it is contended that one officer may not be able to perform prop¬ 
 erly all these duties, in such counties as Wyandotte, the county 
 of greatest population, discretionary power may be given to 
 appoint an assistant probation officer in counties having a pop¬ 
 ulation exceeding 40,000. In these few counties of greatest 
 population the appointment of chief probation officer should be 
 approved by the State Board of Control, rendering it impossible 
 for the slightest suspicion of a political motive to attach to such 
 an appointment. The tenure of office of the probation officer, 
 as of the teacher, should depend absolutely upon his qualifications 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 67 
 
 for his office, and no such officer should be removed except for 
 cause. See Section 6 of the Proposed Act, for appointment of 
 probation officers. 
 
 Many judges express the opinion that the services of the pro¬ 
 bation officer are not sufficiently rewarded to secure the highest 
 qualifications. Two dollars for an occasional day’s work, out 
 of which must come traveling expenses, certainly cannot be any 
 great inducement to men even of indifferent attainments. It is 
 degrading the office to the plane of brute labor. To compensate 
 on the basis of fees, as some propose, is, as we have already 
 pointed out, unsatisfactory in results. The ideal method of 
 compensation would be to stipulate a fixed salary. But with the 
 time required for the duties of the office varying so widely 
 between counties, even a gi'aduated salary is almost imprac¬ 
 ticable. This much may hardly be denied: that the occasional 
 service in a thinly populated county is not worth less, as the 
 present law would seem to imply, than the same quality and 
 quantity of service in a thickly populated county ; that if there 
 is to be any discrimination, it should favor the officer who cannot 
 depend for subsistence wholly upon the income of the office; that 
 every encouragement should be given the probation officer to 
 visit frequently all portions of the county, to study the conditions 
 and needs of the children, and that one way to do this is to pay 
 the actual traveling expenses of the probation officer who is 
 working on a per diem wage; that the office of probation officer 
 involving, as we have seen, duties of the most far-reaching and 
 consequential character should not be belittled by insignificant 
 remuneration; that any county merging the duties of county and 
 city truant officers and probation officer into one office can afford 
 to pay the decent wage of three dollars for each day of actual 
 service; and that the half dozen counties of greatest population 
 can, with the office properly protected in the matter of appoint¬ 
 ment and tenure of position, afford to secure to the probation 
 officer the stipulated salary of one thousand dollars a year. As 
 a matter of fact, several counties are paying almost this much 
 now, in the limit of three dollars a day for all the working days, 
 or nine hundred and thirty-nine dollars a year. But the point is, 
 officers of such ability and worth as those in the Shawnee and 
 Wyandotte courts, as well as others, should not be reduced to 
 the uncertainty of the wage system. The efficient officer is 
 worthy of his hire. See Section 7 of the Proposed Act, for com¬ 
 pensation of probation officers. 
 
68 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KAN SAS. 
 
 d. Filing of Complaint. 
 
 “Section 4. Any reputable person, being a resident in the 
 county, having knowledge of a child in his county who appears 
 to be either dependent, neglected or delinquent within the mean¬ 
 ing of this act, may file with the court having jurisdiction in 
 the matter a petition in writing setting forth the facts, verified 
 by affidavit. It shall be sufficient that the affidavit be upon 
 information and belief. If it shall be determined by the court 
 that there is no ground for complaint, no permanent record shall 
 be made by the court.” 
 
 This section prescribes the manner of getting a case into 
 the juvenile court, which shall be by filing a complaint in writ¬ 
 ing setting forth the facts, which may be merely of inforihation 
 and belief. For this section, with other provisions, see Sections 
 16 and 17 of the Proposed Act. 
 
 It is a curious fact that the law does not explicitly make the 
 court one of record, although it is assumed by some that it is 
 such, presumably on the basis of the latter part of Section 4, 
 where by implication it is stated the court shall keep a per¬ 
 manent record. But the ground for such an opinion seems to 
 be slight, as a court may keep a record, as in the case of the 
 justice of peace court, and still not be technically a court of 
 record. On the other hand, because the court has no seal would 
 hardly, as some believe, alter the character of the court. Courts 
 of record are made such by the constitution, or by statute, or by 
 both constitution and statute. We have courts of each kind. 
 The important matter for us is that the Legislature may declare 
 a court to be a court of record, even though it provides no seal, 
 as in the case of the supreme court. The constitution says that 
 each court of record shall have a seal, not that its being a court 
 of record shall be dependent upon the seal. While of course this 
 is a matter for the higher courts to thresh out, from opinions 
 already handed down, the failure of a court of record to use a 
 seal does not invalidate the court but the process which the court 
 issues and which is dependent for its authentication upon the 
 seal. Obviously, if the Attorney-General or the higher courts 
 decide that the Legislature made the juvenile court a court of 
 record, the latter should require a seal of the county commis¬ 
 sioners if it would issue valid process. Nevertheless, the law 
 should state in unmistakable terms whether or not the court is 
 one of record, and if it makes it such, should provide a seal. See 
 Sections 1 and 4 of the Proposed Act. 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 69 
 
 Whatever the character of the court in the foregoing partic¬ 
 ular, and however indefinite the provision for permanent records 
 may be, such records may and should be kept. Scores of cases 
 of dependency have come before the several courts for settle¬ 
 ment during the past year and over. Some of these cases are 
 sure to come up again in later years when questions of inherit¬ 
 ance are to be settled, and if no record has been kept concerning 
 age, name, parentage, and so forth, confusion is inevitable. See 
 Section 10 of the Proposed Act. 
 
 Closely akin to the matter of records is the one of reports 
 from the court at stated intervals, for which the law makes no 
 provision. Out of fifty-three judges who expressed themselves, 
 thirty-five favor a system of reports. For at least three reasons 
 such reports should be made: For the sake of the public, includ¬ 
 ing the child before the court; as a basis of further legislation; 
 and as an aid to the student of social science. Not only should 
 there be records kept, open at all times to the public for inspec¬ 
 tion, but they should by careful compilation and publication be 
 put in the way of people. It has become almost a maxim that 
 the less the criminal court is flaunted before the public’s gaze 
 the better, that there should be just enough publicity to insure 
 clean and honest decisions. But it is different with the juvenile 
 court. The court is a school where children are educated. There 
 is little of the really morbid about it, very much that is whole¬ 
 some and true. Indeed, the delinquent adult in the juvenile court 
 is the dark background of an otherwise rather bright picture. 
 The public should be interested in the court for the sake of its 
 own education, as it would be in its wheat crop report, or its 
 banks, or its universities, but even more so, for the encourage¬ 
 ment and help it may be to unfortunate children by providing 
 for them homes, books, amusements, playgrounds, clubs—in a 
 word, a wholesome life. It would be well if the report of each 
 court, with all names omitted, could be published in the county 
 paper each year. The compilation of this material is needed as 
 a basis of all further legislation. New legislation can hardly be 
 expected always to be sound, when the results of the old are 
 unknown to the legislator, when those in closest touch with the 
 operation of the law have no opportunity for making reconi- 
 mendations. Hence it is that in the Proposed Act we seek to 
 have reports incorporated in the report of the State Board of 
 Control to the governor and legislature. In cases where, for the 
 sake of the child, a record of its name is not only not needful, but 
 
70 
 
 THE Jm^ENlLE COURT SYSTEM OF IvANSAS. 
 
 not desirable, there should nevertheless be recorded for statis¬ 
 tical study all other details. The published compilation of the 
 records of all the courts of the states, names of children omitted, 
 should be placed in libraries for easy access to the student. The 
 writer by experience knows how difficult it is in the absence of 
 such reports to get at the facts. Practically the whole of socio¬ 
 logical endeavor and social advance today is dependent upon just 
 such carefully gathered and digested facts as we are here asking 
 for. See Section 10 of the Proposed Act. 
 
 e. Issue of Summons and Hearing. 
 
 “Section 5. Upon the filing of the petition, unless the parties 
 shall voluntarily appear or be in court, a summons shall issue 
 in the name of the State of Kansas, requiring the child and the 
 person having custody and control of the child, or with whom 
 the child may be, to appear with the child at the place and at 
 the time set in the summons, which shall not be later than 
 twenty-four hours after service, unless otherwise directed by the 
 court. The parents of the child, if living and their residence 
 known, or its legal guardian, if one there be,. or if there is 
 neither parent or guardian, or if his or her residence is unknown, 
 then some relative, if there be one, and his or her residence is 
 known, shall be notified of the proceedings; and in any case the 
 judge may appoint some suitable person or association to act 
 in behalf of the child. If the person summoned as herein pro¬ 
 vided shall fail without reasonable cause to appear and abide the 
 order of the court, or to bring the child, such person may be 
 proceeded against as in case of contempt of court. In case the 
 summons cannot be served, or the party served shall fail to obey 
 the same, or in case when it shall be made to appear to the 
 court that such summons will be ineffectual, a warrant may issue 
 on order of the court, either against the parent or guardian, or 
 the person having custody of the child, or against the child itself. 
 On the return of the summons or other process, or as soon there¬ 
 after as may be, the court shall proceed to hear and dispose of the 
 case in a summary manner and enter final judgment therein; and 
 the costs of all proceedings under this act may, in the discretion 
 of the court, be adjudged against the person or persons so sum¬ 
 moned, appearing, or arrested, as the case may be, and collected 
 as provided by law in civil cases.” 
 
 Section 5 empowers the court to compel the person or persons 
 having a child in charge for whom summons have issued or 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 71 
 
 against whom complaint has been filed, to produce it before the 
 court, or in any case empowers the court to procure the presence 
 of the child or its representative in court. As in civil cases, the 
 costs may, in the discretion of the court, be adjudged against the 
 person or persons summoned, appearing, or arrested, as the case 
 may be. The court should also have the authority to assess the 
 costs of the case against the parents, guardian, or person having 
 control of the child. See Section 17 of the Proposed Act. 
 
 There should be a section in any Juvenile Court Act safe¬ 
 guarding the rights of the person, whether child or adult, com¬ 
 ing before the court. While in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred 
 the protection might not be needed, it is the hundredth case 
 which should be provided for. Moreover, if the law should be 
 passed upon by the higher courts, its constitutionality might 
 hinge upon just such a section. While it should be the rule of 
 the court to give a private, informal hearing to the case of a 
 child, and usually to the case of an adult, there should be the 
 right of a formal public trial on demand. The right of trial by 
 jury should never be denied, though there should be seldom, per¬ 
 haps in the experience of most judges never, any occasion for 
 the defendant in this court to claim the right, particularly in 
 juvenile cases. The right to be represented by special counsel 
 should always be granted, but in at least children’s cases this 
 should never be necessary; the court itself should be the best 
 counsel available to the child, able and eager to defend it against 
 every injustice and to give it the full protection not only of the 
 state but of the parent. The law should allow bond or other 
 security to be given for the appearance of the defendant at the 
 trial. There will be rare need for the exercise of such right in 
 juvenile cases; a speedy hearing, a mere promise, and the care 
 of the probation officer usually obviate the necessity, but the 
 right should exist. With the adult delinquency provision the need 
 for the exercise of such right may be more frequent. Under the 
 present law, in Section 12, the right of appeal to the district 
 court in certain cases is granted. This will be discussed in its 
 proper place. For rights granted the defendant, see Section 18 
 of the Proposed Act. 
 
 /. Probation and Incarceration. 
 
 “Section 6. In any case the court may continue the hearing 
 from time to time, and may in the meantime commit the child 
 
THE JUVENILE COUET SYSTEM OF ICANSAS. 
 
 to the care and control of the probation officer, or may allow 
 such child to remain in its own home, or in the custody of some 
 suitable person, subject to the supervision and control of the 
 probation officer, and to such other conditions as may be imposed 
 by the court; or the court may authorize the child to be placed 
 in a suitable family home, subject to the friendly supervision of 
 the probation officer and the further order of the court. Pending 
 a hearing, no child shall be committed to a jail or police station, 
 except, in case of felony, the judge, if he deems it advisable, may 
 commit said child to jail until the trial and final disposition of 
 the case; but when other provision shall not have been made 
 for its care and custody, the court shall direct it to be kept in 
 some suitable place provided by the county outside of a jail or 
 police station.” 
 
 Two important provisions are made in Section 6: for pro¬ 
 bation and for detention. Under the old Act Concerning Depend¬ 
 ent Children (G. S., 1901, Sections 4198-4215), a system of 
 probation within certain limitations was made possible. From 
 the setting of the section (4201) the inference is a reasonable 
 one that probation was intended only for dependent children, 
 though the juvenile delinquent is given slight attention in Sec¬ 
 tion 4210. Compensation by the state was explicitly denied 
 probation officers, setting thereby either a very low or an ines¬ 
 timable value upon their services. Such services, it is true, 
 should not be measured in terms of dollars and cents, but when 
 pecuniary support is needful and possible, to withhold it is to 
 place the lowest kind of estimate upon them. Men and women 
 will at least appreciate, if not estimate, genuine service partly 
 in such terms. Perhaps more significant than all else, probation 
 was not made by this statute the distinctive feature of one court, 
 but the common and rather unimportant possession of all. 
 Though the section is superseded by the Juvenile Court Act of 
 1905, it is interesting both in the trend that it pointed and in 
 its failure to meet the situation. Under the present law great 
 latitude is allowed the judge in the matter of probation, whether 
 probation shall be allowed at all, whether the second time, the 
 conditions of probation, and the final disposition of the case. 
 This is as it should be, for it is in the exercise of almost unlimited 
 authority in discretion and patience, but in firmness that the 
 judge exercises the part of true parent. It is in this untram¬ 
 meled performance, too, of the duties of probation officer that 
 come such splendid opportunities for putting into motion with 
 
PKESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 73 
 
 tact and skill the influences that are as sure to make sound men 
 and women out of the raw material of boy-and-girl stuff as are 
 those influences known to the expert grower of fine fruits or 
 flesh to produce the desired results. See Section 20 of the Pro¬ 
 posed Act, for the provision concerning probation. 
 
 One of the chief objects of a juvenile court system is to keep 
 children out of jails and prisons. It aims to do this in part 
 by placing them on probation; when this is impracticable, it has 
 recourse, if the system is properly organized, to temporary 
 homes, detention homes and state institutions, but never relies 
 upon the common jail, whatever the offense, as a place to school 
 its boys and girls. As an instance of this care, note this provision 
 in Colorado’s Juvenile Delinquent Law (Section 7) : “No child 
 within the provisions of this act under fourteen (14) years of 
 age shall under any circumstances be incarcerated in any com¬ 
 mon jail or lock-up, and any officer or person violating this 
 provision of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on 
 conviction fined in any sum not to exceed one hundred dollars 
 ($100). In counties of the first class it shall be the duty of 
 the proper authorities to provide and maintain at public expense 
 a detention room, or house of detention, separated or removed 
 from such jail or lock-up, to be in charge of a matron or other 
 person of good moral character, wherein all children within the 
 provisions of this act shall, when necessary, be incarcerated.” 
 As will be observed from a reading of the section from which 
 this is quoted, incarceration is not prohibited, but the confine¬ 
 ment must be in such place as meets the requirements of the 
 law. Under this act Denver has one of the best county detention 
 homes in the country. Whatever prohibition of incarceration of 
 children in the common jail there is in the Kansas Juvenile Court 
 Act is found in the latter part of the section we are now con¬ 
 sidering. But before turning to its provision let us briefly review 
 the other two or three statutes on the subject, enacted earlier 
 than this one: 
 
 A part of Section 3777 (G. S., 1901) reads: “Juvenile pris¬ 
 oners shall be kept, if the jail will admit of it, in apartments 
 separate from those containing more experienced and hardened 
 criminals.” 
 
 On sight this seems to be a promising law, but scrutiny shows 
 up its utter worthlessness: 
 
 (1.) The supreme court has decided that this statute has 
 no application to city jails: 46 K. 114. 
 
74 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF IL4NSAS. 
 
 (2.) The requirement extends to apartments only separate, 
 not removed, from the cells of criminals. You can’t keep crim¬ 
 inality from percolating through cell walls. 
 
 (3.) The provision is not imperative, but dependent upon 
 a condition that might be alleged for any jail in Kansas at 
 times. .rS.'Tli 
 
 (4.) No penalty is attached for infringement, and of course 
 the law, like good advice, is generally inoperative. 
 
 Section 4210 (G. S., 1901) provides that children under six¬ 
 teen “charged with offenses against the laws of this state, or 
 who are brought before any court of summary jurisdiction for 
 examination under any provisions of this act (An Act Concern¬ 
 ing Dependent Children), shall not, before trial or examination, 
 be confined in the jails, lock-ups or police cells used for ordinary 
 criminals or persons charged with crime,” with the further 
 requirement that municipalities shall provide places of detention. 
 
 (1.) It is to be noted that this statute applies only to 
 children charged with infringing state laws or awaiting an exam¬ 
 ination under the Dependency Act of 1901. Children charged 
 with breaking a city ordinance might be placed in any sort of 
 jail. 
 
 (2.) The prohibition relates only to children awaiting trial 
 or examination. No kind of restriction is placed upon incarcer¬ 
 ation afterwards. 
 
 (3) While the law plainly states that municipalities shall 
 provide places of detention, no penalty is provided for its in¬ 
 fraction and it becomes like the preceding one, a mere cumberer 
 of statute books. 
 
 (4.) A further weakness is discovered in the possibility of 
 the child being arraigned before any court of summary juris¬ 
 diction, with no particular person or court charged with its care 
 or welfare. Responsibility divided is always weakened. 
 
 Now let us examine the provision relating to incarceration 
 of children under the Juvenile Court Act: 
 
 “Pending a hearing, no child shall be committed to a jail or 
 police station, except, in case of felony, the judge, if he deems it 
 advisable, may commit said child to jail until the trial and final 
 disposition of the case; but when other provision shall not have 
 been made for its care and custody, the court shall direct it to 
 be kept in some suitable place provided by the county outside of 
 a jail or police station.” 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 75 
 
 The law has two excellent features; There is at least one 
 time—pending a hearing, except in case of felony—when a child 
 can’t be placed in a common jail, and, second, the age-limit under 
 which the law operates is as high as sixteen, two years higher 
 than that of Colorado. Otherwise this provision as compared 
 with that of the Colorado Act displays an inadequacy only too 
 apparent. 
 
 Note the following: 
 
 (1.) “Pending a hearing,” like a similar expression in the 
 law of 1901, is significant in its exclusion of two classes of 
 children: Those who have been convicted and sentenced to pun¬ 
 ishment by imprisonment in a common jail, and those who have 
 been sentenced to an institution for delinquents and are awaiting 
 the time a crowded institution can receive them. It may be 
 contended that the last sentence of this provision will admit of 
 a broader construction, but a careful reading will convince one 
 that the child in the last sentence is identical with the one in 
 the first who is awaiting trial, and when the provision is read 
 in the light of Section 14, which allows any sort of punishment 
 prescribed for adults, such construction becomes untenable. 
 
 (2.) The child charged with felony may be committed to a 
 common jail. It is true a child may have a criminal instinct, 
 but as much may be said of many a grown person who has never 
 seen the inside of a jail. If a child commits crime because of 
 such instinct, all the more reason why it should be kept out of 
 the hot-house of crime where the instinct will thrive. Moreover, 
 the child charged with felony is quite as likely to be innocent as 
 the child charged with a minor offense. Should the former be, 
 pending a hearing, exposed to the dangers of the jail more than 
 the latter? 
 
 (3.) The law fails to make it mandatory upon city or county 
 to provide a place of detention. Clear water could not be weaker 
 than is the last clause in that respect. 
 
 (4.) No penalty for the infraction of the prohibition of 
 incarceration is provided. As a result the following extract of 
 one judge’s letter is illustrative of many similar complaints of 
 those who are awake to the situation. The letter comes from 
 one of the largest cities of the state: 
 
 “The principal objection I have to the present law is that we 
 lack a penalty for the non-observance of the latter portion of 
 Section 6, of the Act known as the Juvenile Court Act, where it 
 directs that the county shall provide some suitable place for the 
 
76 
 
 THE jm^ENILE COURT SYSTEM OF IvANSAS. 
 
 detention of persons outside of the jail or police station. The 
 
 County Commissioners of-have concluded that there is 
 
 no penalty attached to the non-observance of this law, and 
 have concluded to make no such provision. The great difficulty 
 is that when complaint is made to me, I can’t detain the children 
 other than in their homes, and at the time set for the hearing, 
 after having served their parents with notice, they fail to appear 
 and keep delaying the matter until those who make the complaint 
 are worn out. The law is therefore nullified.” 
 
 The writer then takes up another serious defect in the law, 
 which is considered elsewhere. We could cite similar complaints 
 from other judges. Whether or not this particular judge has 
 exhausted the court’s resources under the law when he allows 
 such dalliance with the court, is a matter we may not agree upon, 
 but the complaints serve to emphasize the imperative need of 
 this requirement in the law, that if pending a hearing the child 
 cannot be imprisoned, the county should be compelled to provide 
 a suitable place of detention. But curiously enough it is com¬ 
 monly believed by many of the juvenile court judges of the state 
 and by most other people that the Juvenile Court Act prohibits 
 imprisonment, not only pending a hearing, but after. This one 
 extract from a judge’s letter is similar to many others that we 
 might quote: 
 
 “There should be some place to keep a boy that has broken 
 his parole while waiting permission to send-him away.” 
 
 Of course, this emphasizes again the need of the detention 
 home, but it discloses also the common belief that the law pro¬ 
 hibits imprisonment of the child after its hearing. Even Attor¬ 
 ney-General Coleman on perhaps a cursory examination seems to 
 share in this opinion, when at the close of a decision rendered 
 Honorable H. C. Bowman of the State Board of Control, June 
 30, 1905, he says: “The juvenile court, or the judge thereof, 
 it occurs to me, would be the proper person to make the appli¬ 
 cation (for commitment to a state institution) provided for by 
 Section 22, Chapter 475. Meanwhile he should make 'provision 
 for the temporary detention of the child as provided for by law.” 
 The italics are ours. For the sake of the child it were well if 
 this mistaken impression might continue. For the sake of truth 
 and a right understanding of the law, in all its weakness, it 
 should be understood we have no such prohibition of incar¬ 
 ceration as is popularly believed. This wrong impression on the 
 part of officials indifferent to the purpose of the law, together 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 77 
 
 with the sympathy on the part of those correctly informed for 
 what they believe the law ought to provide, has pretty generally 
 kept children out of the common jail at. all times, but when the 
 first mentioned class awake to the legality of commitment to 
 jail for punishment or for safe keeping, the results will not be 
 so satisfactory. If we think otherwise, then there can be no 
 objection to an amendment. 
 
 There are at least five classes of children for whom a county 
 detention home should be available: 
 
 (1.) Those awaiting a hearing. 
 
 (2.) Truants and school incorrigibles, for whom at least one 
 city in Kansas has already provided a parental school. 
 
 (3.) Those for whom punishment by a short confinement 
 is necessary to enforce the court’s order. 
 
 (4.) Those awaiting commitment to a crowded state or 
 private institution. 
 
 (5.) Dependent children who need a temporary home. 
 
 Out of fifty-eight judges who answered the question, “Have 
 you found need for a detention home in your county?” twenty- 
 seven answered affirmatively, and the judges from such cities 
 as Wichita and Kansas City were very emphatic in their answers. 
 Indeed, Kansas City makes no pretense to concealing the fact 
 that the women’s part of the county jail is used for children fn 
 lieu of something better. It*is to be noted that the question was 
 so framed as to merely bring out the county’s need of a detention 
 home. Of the thirty-one negative answers, many expressed favor 
 for such a home in the more populous counties and none opposed 
 the idea. 
 
 The Juvenile Court Act should be revised so that it would: 
 
 (1.) Absolutely prohibit the incarceration of children under 
 sixteen in any common jail, under heavy penalty for the infrac¬ 
 tion of the provision; and 
 
 (2.) Make it obligatory on the proper authorities to make 
 available in every county a suitable place for the detention of 
 children. 
 
 See Article IV of the Proposed Act. 
 
 cj. Disposition of Dependent Children. 
 
 “Section 7. When any child under the age of sixteen years 
 shall be found to be dependent or neglected, within the meaning 
 of this act, the court may make an order committing the child 
 
78 
 
 THE Jm^ENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 to the care of some suitable institution, or the care of some 
 reputable citizen of good moral character, or to the care of 
 some training school or an industrial school, as provided by law, 
 or to the care of some association willing to receive it, embracing 
 in its object the purpose of caring for or obtaining homes for 
 neglected or dependent children. The court may, when the health 
 or condition of the child shall require it, cause the child to be 
 placed in a public hospital or institution for treatment or special 
 care, or in a private hospital or institution which will receive it 
 for like purpose without charge.” 
 
 This section is concerned with two classes of dependents: 
 dependent and neglected children and defective-dependent chil¬ 
 dren. It is not at all clear that the section deals with the classes 
 as mutually exclusive; indeed,- it is quite conceivable that the 
 first sentence pertains to both. The court is here vested with 
 authority to commit temporarily or permanently a child found 
 dependent or neglected to the care of a proper person or to the 
 care of some home, association or institution that is both suit¬ 
 able and available, and when the health or physical condition of 
 the child demands it, to commit it to the hospital or institution 
 giving the special treatment its condition requires. 
 
 This section has been assailed on all sides, and perhaps to 
 some extent deservedly. The latitude given the court concern¬ 
 ing commitment is quite properly wide; the language, however, 
 is not always clear, especially since some of the terms are not 
 defined. Beginning with the terms most easily disposed of, we 
 find the character of the individual to whom commitment may be 
 made, clearly defined. Association is defined in Section 2, and 
 may be dismissed with the observation that being a corporation 
 and necessarily meaning something other than the institution, it 
 probably refers to an organization without real property having 
 for its ultimate object the placing of children in family homes,— 
 in other words, a children’s home-finding society. The industrial 
 school mentioned may hardly refer to a State Industrial School, 
 since the section pertains wholly to dependents and the State 
 School is exclusively for delinquents. Hence the expression 
 “some training school or an industrial school,” like a somewhat 
 similar one in Section 2, which we commented on, must be con¬ 
 strued to mean a voluntary organization, and, as it is followed 
 by the words, “as provided by law,” should be included in the 
 “institution incorporated under the laws of this state,” or vol¬ 
 untary institution. This view agrees with a decision of the 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSmERED. 
 
 79 
 
 Attorney-General rendered on the point to the State Board of 
 Control, June 30, 1905. 
 
 In the discussion of Section 2, we observed that the expres¬ 
 sion, “suitable institution,” found in both Sections 7 and 9, has 
 in all probability the meaning of state (including county and 
 city) and voluntary institutions. As a matter of fact, concern¬ 
 ing the expression, as found in Section 9, this is just what, 
 excluding county and city institutions, Attorney-General Cole¬ 
 man, in his decision of June 30, 1905, found it to mean. Con¬ 
 cerning the sentence withholding power to commit to the State 
 Reformatory, and the sentence immediately preceding that one, 
 he says: 
 
 “It seems to me that this language is sufficient to vest the 
 juvenile court with authority to commit children to the reform 
 school and the industrial school. The specific withholding of 
 authority to commit to the State Reformatory appears to me, by 
 the clearest implication, to point out that it is the meaning of 
 the statute that the courts may commit to the other two insti¬ 
 tutions.” 
 
 But elsewhere in the same decision he says: 
 
 “I am of the opinion that the provisions of Section 7, Chap¬ 
 ter 190, of the Laws of 1905 do not include nor apply to the 
 Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home. The reference (suitable institution) 
 is to other institutions organized under the law for the purpose 
 of affording shelter to dependent and deglected children.” 
 
 In Section 10, there is, to be sure, the implication not found 
 in Section 7, but in the absence of any definition of the term, 
 in the absence of an explicit withholding or conferring of power 
 to commit either dependents or delinquents to state institutions, 
 and in the light of the only reasonable interpretation a previous 
 examination of the expression disclosed, it is difficult to under¬ 
 stand why identical expressions in two sections should have 
 different meanings. 
 
 With reference to the last sentence concerning defective- 
 dependents, for what other purpose is the phrase “without 
 charge” attached to “private institution,” except to denote the 
 charitable voluntary institution as opposed to the pay voluntary 
 institution, and why omit this phrase from “public institution” 
 except for the reason that it is a state institution, where, if both 
 exist, the charitable and pay are combined into one institution? 
 The meaning of the 'expression “public hospital or institution” is 
 surely very clear in its reference to state institutions for defec- 
 
80 
 
 THE Jm^ENILE COUET SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 live children, yet the Attorney-General in the decision previously 
 quoted says: 
 
 “It is certain that the act (the Juvenile Court Act) has 
 nothing- to do with state institutions except as to juvenile offend¬ 
 ers of whom the juvenile court has jurisdiction.” 
 
 These opinions are reducible to this: The Soldiers’ Orphans’ 
 Home, the state institution for dependent children, is not, within 
 the meaning of the act, a “suitable institution” for dependent 
 children, while the state industrial school is a “suitable insti¬ 
 tution” for delinquent children, and the state institutions for 
 the blind, deaf and dumb, feeble-minded, epileptic, and insane 
 are not public institutions as opposed to private institutions which 
 are voluntary. By this rendering. Section 7 ve§ts the court with 
 authority to commit a child found dependent to an individual, 
 an association, or a private institution, but not to a state insti¬ 
 tution for dependents or defective-dependents. This power is 
 still held by the probate court. Observe: The Juvenile Court is 
 in session. The probation officer brings in a child which the court 
 examines and finds to all intents and purposes under the Juvenile 
 Court Act dependent. Believing it to be advisable to commit it 
 to the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home, the judge must by some hocus- 
 pocus method of “now it is and now it isn’t,” adjourn the juvenile 
 court, and as probate judge call a session of probate court, com¬ 
 mit the child, adjourn probate court, and call another session of 
 juvenile court that as juvenile court judge he may deliver the 
 child over to the probation officer to await further orders from 
 the probate court. No doubt the changes are made with light¬ 
 ning rapidity and quite informally, but the possibilities of such 
 a double personality are almost startling. The juvenile court 
 record declares the child found dependent, the probate court 
 record continues the story by telling to what institution it was 
 committed. But the superb logic of it! A juvenile court estab¬ 
 lished by the state ostensibly to care for dependent and neglected 
 children, one of the two classes for which the title of the act 
 declares the court to be created, and then impotent to commit 
 its dependent children to the only state institution established 
 solely for that class! It is the state enacting a law and then 
 crooking its finger at it in derision—creating a court and then 
 spitting on the creature. The decision of the Attorney-General 
 might or might not hold in the higher courts. However that 
 may be, the law should be so framed that tffe court will unmis¬ 
 takably have something more than the mere name of having 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 81 
 
 “jurisdiction of all cases concerning dependent, neglected and 
 delinquent children,” as provided by the title of the Act. See 
 Section 27 of the Proposed Act, for the disposition of a dependent 
 child. 
 
 Before considering further the defects or deficiencies of this 
 section, or suggestions for its revision, we should see what law 
 we have on the statute book concerning dependent children. No 
 claim is made for exhaustiveness in the list of references given; 
 rather, the attempt is made to give significant provisions, omit¬ 
 ting incidental matter and references. Laws relating to the 
 adoption and apprenticing of minors and the administration of 
 their property, while they concern dependent children more than 
 others, are very properly administered by the probate court and 
 are passed over here. Unless otherwise stated, the section num¬ 
 bers are of the General Statutes of 1901. 
 
 Sections 4193-4197 comprise an Act (S. L. of 1889, Ch. 134) 
 “relating to the control and management of destitute and friend¬ 
 less children.” Authority is given to legally established Chil¬ 
 dren’s Homes to receive and become the legal custodians of 
 dependent children, to receive donations and to assume corporate 
 power. The second section of the act gives the right to parents 
 who are unable to provide for their children to relinquish them 
 to these Homes. Under this section, which does not seem to be 
 superseded by the Juvenile Court Act, the parent is the judge of 
 the child’s dependency. The juvenile court, where all the facts 
 may be impartially examined and where records may be kept, 
 should be the only competent judge of juvenile dependency. In 
 no other way can parental responsibility be made effectual. 
 
 Sections 4198-4215 comprise an Act (S. L. of 1901, Ch. 106) 
 “to define conditions of child-dependency, neglect, and ill-treat¬ 
 ment, and to prescribe methods for the protection, disposition 
 and supervision of dependent, neglected and ill-treated children 
 within the State of Kansas.” The terms used in this act are 
 clearly defined. The age-limit under which jurisdiction obtains 
 is fourteen years, if a boy, sixteen years, if a girl. Dependency 
 is not quite so comprehensive in its definition as one might wish, 
 but is explicitly stated. Any city court, justice of the peace, or 
 probate or district judge, has jurisdiction and any peace officer 
 may apprehend. Provision is made in this act for probation 
 officers, for the care of children by Children’s Aid Societies, con¬ 
 cerning the ill-treatment of children, for county commissioners 
 paying a society or institution not to exceed fifty dollars for tak- 
 
S2 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 ing a child off their hands, and for the care and trial of juvenile 
 offenders. Societies and institutions receiving children must file 
 complete records concerning children received and are subject 
 to the same visitation, inspection, and supervision of the State 
 Board of Control as are the state charitable institutions. Legal 
 forms are provided in the last section. In some respects, so far 
 as dependency is concerned, this act is far superior to the Juvenile 
 Court Act and it is still operative except the parts relating to 
 age-limit, the definition of dependency, the courts having juris¬ 
 diction, probation, and in most part juvenile offenders. Judges 
 of the juvenile court should make a careful study of it. 
 
 Section 4386 gives county commissioners authority to make a 
 certain annual allowance to indigent “parents of idiots and of 
 children otherwise helpless requiring the attention of their 
 parents,” and this provision may be made for such persons out¬ 
 side of the poor house. 
 
 Section 4406 makes it the duty of the overseers of the poor 
 of the different townships and cities, and also of the super¬ 
 intendents of the county asylums, to bind out children under 
 their care. 
 
 Sections 4410-4411, as amended by Chapter 385 of the Ses¬ 
 sion Laws of 1905, give the superintendents of county asylums 
 authority to educate children thereat or at some adjacent public 
 school, and in the latter case to allow a reasonable tuition there¬ 
 for. 
 
 Sections 6564-66, providing for a visiting agent in each 
 county appointed by the State Board of Charities to find homes 
 for inmates of the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home, as well as the State 
 Industrial Schools, to endenture the same, inspect homes and 
 report on the same, were amended by Section 6, Chapter 482, of 
 the Session Laws of 1903, making the superintendents of these 
 several institutions the visiting agents. 
 
 Sections 6986-6992 comprise an act concerning orphan asy¬ 
 lums in counties having a population exceeding twenty-five thou¬ 
 sand. The fatal defect in this act, as in the dependency act of 
 1889, found in Section 6988, is in allowing the guardians or other 
 responsible person to determine the dependency of a child by 
 committing it, independent of the action of any court, to an 
 asylum. Permanent records are here also made unlikely. This 
 section allows also the probate court and various other author¬ 
 ities to commit a child. 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 83 
 
 Sections 6996-7006 comprise an Act (S. L., 1885, Ch. 185) 
 providing for the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home at Atchison. Any 
 dependent, abandoned, neglected or ill-treated children with 
 sound minds and bodies, between the ages of two and fourteen 
 years, may be admitted. Chapter 481 of the Session Laws of 
 1905 would probably be construed by the courts as merely plac¬ 
 ing all children on an equal footing with those of soldiers without 
 changing the meaning of the original act farther. The object 
 of the Home is to afford a temporary home without charge until 
 such time as a family home may be secured or the child may be 
 returned to its relatives. Admission may be gained only through 
 the probate court, certainly a point of superiority over methods 
 of commitment to voluntary organizations allowed under the law, 
 but as we have previously pointed out, hardly in conformity with 
 the spirit of the Juvenile Court Act. The authorities of the 
 Home have full power to apprentice or adopt out a child, and to 
 remove it for incorrigibility or when improperly admitted, or to 
 return it to its home county when sixteen years old. Section 
 7004 makes county superintendents of public insti'uction the 
 visiting agents of the institution, but is probably repealed by 
 implication with Sections 6564-6566. Under the law of 1905, 
 creating the State Board of Control, this board, instead of a board 
 of trustees, has control of the Home. 
 
 Defective-dependents are thus provided for; 
 
 Section 1718 makes it the duty of the assessor to take a census 
 each year of the blind, deaf, dumb and idiotic in his township. 
 
 Chapter 384 of the Session Laws of 1905 makes compulsory 
 the attendance of all blind, deaf and dumb children between the 
 ages of seven and twenty-one years upon a suitable school where 
 such may be taught. The truant officer is made responsible for 
 the enforcement of this act and any violation of the act is made a 
 misdemeanor. 
 
 Sections 6962-6965 provide for the Kansas Institution for 
 the Education of the Blind. Destitute pupils may be maintained 
 and educated thereat and the expense for clothing and traveling 
 for such pupils may be charged to their respective counties. 
 
 Sections 6966-6972 relate to the Kansas Institution for the 
 Deaf and Dumb. In addition to pupils boarded and cared for 
 at the institution by the state, day pupils are received and taught. 
 
 Sections 6973-6985 comprise an act relating to the Kansas 
 Asylum for Idiots and Imbecile Youth. Children under fifteen, 
 having been residents of the state for six months, who are 
 
84 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 incapable of receiving instruction in the common schools are 
 admitted. Older children are admitted when the capacity of the 
 institution allows. Both dependent and pay pupils are received. 
 While the institution is called an asylum, it seeks to educate to 
 the limit of the child’s capacity. 
 
 The same provision is made for dependent children who are 
 insane or epileptic as for adults. The epileptics are in an insti¬ 
 tution separate from the insane. 
 
 The provisions made for dependent children through legis¬ 
 lation are in Kansas, as in most other states, deplorably inade¬ 
 quate. The following are some of the principles and for Kansas 
 the provisions which we advocate: 
 
 (1.) The juvenile court should have exclusive original juris¬ 
 diction of all cases where juvenile dependency is charged or 
 concerned and should be empowered and required to recommend 
 to the State Board of Control such state or voluntary institution, 
 association, or individual, as the welfare of the child seems to 
 demand, to which any child found dependent may be committed. 
 The recommendation of commitment and records of the case 
 should be placed on file in the juvenile court office and a copy of 
 the same transmitted to the office of the State Board of Control. 
 The court should be allowed, however, to hold the child on pro¬ 
 bation in its own or some other home, for such time as the court 
 sees fit. 
 
 (2.) No child should be placed in the county asylum for 
 the poor. The association with those who are weak in moral 
 fiber, often vicious, sometimes criminally inclined, is invariably 
 deteriorating to the child, and possibility of such association in 
 the average asylum is great. At present children are both 
 reared and educated in Kansas county poor houses and no poorer 
 institutional life for the child could be chosen unless it would 
 be that of the jail. 
 
 (3.) There should be available in each county, as we main¬ 
 tained previously, a place of temporary detention for dependent 
 children, making hasty and unwise placing of children inex¬ 
 cusable. 
 
 (4.) After an examination of the recommendation for com¬ 
 mitment and the facts of the case, the Board should commit the 
 child to the home or agency most practicable and desirable, giv¬ 
 ing preference ordinarily to the family home over all else, to the 
 state over the voluntary organization, and to the agency exclu¬ 
 sively for home-finding over the voluntary institution. If the 
 
PEESENT LAW CONSIDEEED. 
 
 85 
 
 child is committed by the Board directly to a family home, which 
 adopts it, the state institution should have farther supervision. 
 
 (5.) There should be state institutions to care for all kinds 
 of juvenile dependency, including cases not readily placed else¬ 
 where and cases of defective-dependents, such as are already 
 provided for the blind, deaf, dumb, feeble-minded, epileptics and 
 insane. A dependent child not eligible to any state institution 
 for defectives, whose ill-health requires special treatment, should 
 be placed temporarily in a family home or hospital, and be deemed 
 on probation under the care of the court. 
 
 (6.) The matter of expense is a complicated one. At pres¬ 
 ent Kansas has a combination system of support, the state, the 
 county, and the private institution participating, the latter deriv¬ 
 ing its funds by donation and subsidy. The best argument, as 
 well as philanthropic thought, seems today to favor the view that 
 the financial burden of dependency, whether juvenile or adult, 
 except that for which expert treatment is provided in state insti¬ 
 tutions, should be borne by the county, but that management 
 especially of juvenile dependency should be by the state. We 
 have received letters from many judges, particularly from the 
 western half of the state, reporting no cases of juvenile depend¬ 
 ency during the past year, and in some instances saying that no 
 such cases had been known in the county for years. It is but 
 natural that such counties should feel it an injustice to support 
 the poor of another county through state taxation and appro¬ 
 priation, even though the tax paid is less in gross than in 
 eastern counties. Frequently the dependency cases of a western 
 county are so few as to bear no proportion to such cases of an 
 eastern county on the basis either of population or of property. 
 Dependency varies with the social and industrial conditions of 
 counties, but may to some extent be prevented, and, of course, 
 no kind of encouragement should be given it. If a county sup¬ 
 ports its own poor, it is bound to be more thorough in its 
 investigation of dependency, the court will be more insistent on 
 placing the responsibility for the support of dependents, 
 especially dependent children, where it belongs, and there will be 
 greater incentive to discover and remove the causes of depend¬ 
 ency. 
 
 (7.) If the county bears the maintenance expense of its 
 own juvenile dependents, the state and the voluntary institu¬ 
 tions providing the plants, the State Board of Control should 
 determine the amount to be paid to these institutions for such 
 
86 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OP KANSAS. 
 
 maintenance, the amount to be uniform for all having a number 
 of inmates within certain limits, the amount diminishing as the 
 number of inmates increases. Both to get a child as early as pos¬ 
 sible into family life, which at its best is always to be preferred to 
 institutional life, and to encourage a small rather than a large 
 institution, this amount should not be large and should diminish 
 as the number of inmates increases and the cost of maintenance 
 grows less. The home-finding society should be paid by the 
 county a bonus fixed by the Board for permanently placing a 
 child, and this same bonus should be offered the institution for 
 a like service. This should be liberal enough to encourage the 
 association and institution to home-finding rather than child¬ 
 keeping. The former disposition of the child is cheaper for the 
 county and it will preferably commit, or recommend the commit¬ 
 ment of, a child to the institution or association that places the 
 child in a home at the earliest moment. 
 
 (8.) The child’s traveling expenses to an institution at a 
 mileage rate fixed by the State Board of Control should be paid 
 by the county. When a child is placed in a home, its traveling 
 expenses from the institution or its old home should be paid by 
 the county thus obviating the probability of an organization 
 placing a child as near to the institution or its former home as 
 possible. It should be noted that of the twenty-three voluntary 
 institutions and associations in Kansas for the aid of children, 
 not one is located in the western half of the state, and the 
 twenty-three are in ten counties. Of the fifty-three voluntary 
 ^ charitable institutions and associations in the state for both chil¬ 
 dren and adults, including hospitals receiving charity patients, 
 only one, the St. Rose Hospital, is in the western half of the 
 state, and that at Great Bend, only a few miles west of the median 
 line. The state institutions for dependents and defective-depend¬ 
 ents are all located in the eastern third and all but one in the 
 eastern fourth-, while the home for dependents is on the eastern 
 border line. Consequently, the child’s traveling expenses to the 
 institution will be larger for western than for eastern counties. 
 In most cases the dependent child of western counties will be 
 placed at once in the family home. And since there are no vol¬ 
 untary institutions in these counties, this heavier traveling 
 expense will be somewhat offset by the lighter support asked of 
 them for such institutions. 
 
 (9.) The Juvenile Court Act says nothing about the super¬ 
 vision of institutions and associations for the care of dependent 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 • 87 
 
 children. This supervision, however, under the law of 1901, 
 which requires the same visitation, inspection, and supervision 
 for such organizations as are given state charitable institutions, 
 is being provided. There should be, however, a state inspector, 
 appointed by and responsible to the State Board of Control, who 
 would give his time to the inspection of voluntary organizations 
 and county detention homes, and who would at least once, without 
 notice, visit the family where a child is placed. The purpose of 
 this visitation would not be in any way to supplant that of the 
 voluntary organization, but merely to see that the organization 
 is doing its work properly and to consider complaints when nec¬ 
 essary. Complete records of all cases handled by state or volun¬ 
 tary organizations should be kept at the office of the State Board 
 of Control. At stated intervals all state and voluntary organi¬ 
 zations should be required to register at this office such openings 
 for children as they may have in their own institutions or in 
 family homes. 
 
 (10.) If there are to be private institutions with counties 
 paying for the actual living expenses of the inmates, there is 
 still the problem of the institution’s providing its plant, to be 
 solved through the subsidy or donation or both. The best state 
 system for the care of juvenile dependency will make no financial 
 provision for voluntary organizations; instead, there will be a 
 state institution centrally located (in Kansas perhaps a second, 
 placed in the central portion of the state, since the Soldiers’ 
 Orphans’ Home is on the eastern border), which will have ade¬ 
 quate facilities for caring for all dependent children properly 
 committed to it and providing suitable family homes for such as 
 are eligible as rapidly as possible. There would be no object 
 in retaining children at the institution for a long time, as is 
 the case with some private institutions. With the prompt plac¬ 
 ing of children and the plant constructed on the cottage plan, the 
 argument that the size of such an institution would militate 
 against it would lose its force. The system would be so simple 
 that it could easily be perfected and would permit of thorough 
 state supervision. The maintenance expense could be appor¬ 
 tioned to the counties according to the number of cases, the 
 state providing the plant. 
 
 On the principle that counties should support their own poor, 
 no voluntary institution or association should receive a subsidy 
 from the state. Even if wholly state support is favored, the 
 subsidy system is the most uneconomic one for the state and 
 
88 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 unwise one for the child there is. New York has one dependent 
 child to each 200 of population. California has one to each 225. 
 In 1874, Michigan had one to each 2,224, and in 1890 one to each 
 12,500, a decrease of juvenile dependency of about 400 per cent 
 in sixteen years. The first two states are under the subsidy 
 system, the latter one is under the state system. 
 
 Under the present system Kansas is struggling along with 
 a poorly equipped state institution and with many subsidized 
 voluntary organizations with diffused responsibility and dissim¬ 
 ilar management. The only excuse, the flimsiest one imaginable, 
 for the state support of a private institution, is that the state 
 has failed to perform a function that it tacitly acknowledges 
 belongs to it when it gives this support. We can never expect a 
 strong state charitable system while the state continues to foster 
 the private institution. Today we are in the support of charit¬ 
 able institutions where we were a century ago in the support of 
 schools. Does any one advocate subsidizing the private school 
 with public rnoney? Does any one advocate the demolition of 
 the public school system? Those things we concede to be good 
 in our public school system we ask for our public charitable 
 system; namely, a partial support by state taxation and the chief 
 support by local taxation for the state'system and self-support 
 for the private institution with state supervision. 
 
 According to the Biennial Report of the State Board of Con¬ 
 trol for the biennium closing June 30, 1906, to be issued soon, 
 advance sheets of which were furnished us, there are twenty- 
 three Children’s Aid Societies and Institutions in the state, four¬ 
 teen of which are receiving state aid. For the two years closing 
 June 30, 1907, these fourteen organizations will have received 
 $10,700. The same organizations received the same amount of 
 money for the preceding biennium. If the state would invest 
 this subsidy money in a modernly equipped state plant, requiring 
 counties to pay the maintenance expenses of their respective 
 inmates and prohibiting them from paying the private insti¬ 
 tution for any such expense, Kansas would shortly have the best 
 state system in the country. 
 
 Until the state shall make such ample provision for its depend¬ 
 ent children, the next best thing to do is to place this subsidy 
 money in our present state institution, requiring counties to pay 
 to state or private institutions, as the case may be, for the sup¬ 
 port of their own dependent children and allowing voluntary 
 organizations to receive donations for the building and main- 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 89 
 
 tenance of their plants. The Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home should be 
 so equipped that it might receive all dependent children up to the 
 age of sixteen, not eligible to any other state institution. As 
 Mrs. Cora G. Lewis, one of the visitors to the state charitable 
 institutions, points out in her report to the Board of Control, the 
 state is in sad need of a home for cripples. Nowhere in the state 
 are they adequately taken care of. She recommends that a cot¬ 
 tage annex be built to the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home. This would 
 throw them into contact with normal children, an arrangement 
 more wholesome for any defective class than segregation. A 
 kindergarten should also be provided. 
 
 This paragraph taken from the preface to “Statistics of Every 
 State in the United States Concerning Dependent, Neglected and 
 Delinquent Children,’’ published in 1900 by the Century Club 
 of Philadelphia, is timely for Kansans to consider, and especially 
 should be pondered by every legislator: “Those states which 
 have made most ample provision for the care of dependent chil¬ 
 dren are the states which spend the least and have the fewest 
 dependent children. Those states which have made little or no 
 provision, but leave the whole subject to private charities, are 
 the states which have the largest number of dependent children, 
 and pay out the largest sums to aid private institutions in the 
 care of them. Many of these charitable institutions, founded 
 with the best intentions, are fostering dependence and pauper¬ 
 ism. Institutional life, if long continued, unfits children for the 
 life of home and the world. The United States leads the world 
 in the opportunity it affords for a common school education for 
 every citizen, but could our public school system have effected 
 what it has and reached into every little vil'lage and hamlet, if 
 each state had not provided for it in its laws? Would unor¬ 
 ganized individual effort make it comprehensive and universal?’’ 
 
 The principles and provisions found in the above ten sub¬ 
 divisions, if adopted, should in the main be incorporated in the 
 rules of the Board of Control rather than in law. See Sections 
 26, 27, and 28 of the Proposed Act, for the disposition of depend¬ 
 ent children, and Section 42 for the provision concerning the 
 supervision of child-saving agencies. 
 
 h. Powers of Guardian. 
 
 “Section 8. In any case where the court shall award a child 
 to the care of any association or individual, in accordance with 
 the provisions of this act, the child shall, unless otherwise 
 
90 
 
 THE JUVENILE CXIURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 ordered, become a ward, and be subject to the guardianship of 
 the association or individual to whose care it is committed. Such 
 association or individual shall have authority to place such child 
 in a family home, with or without indenture, and may be made 
 party to any proceedings for the legal adoption of the child, and 
 may by its or his attorney or agent appear in any court where 
 such proceedings are pending and assent to such adoption; and 
 such assent shall be sufficient to authorize the court to enter 
 proper order or decree of adoption. Such guardianship shall not 
 include the guardianship of any estate of the child.” 
 
 Section 8 gives to an individual or association to which a 
 dependent child is committed by the court the guardianship of 
 the child, and the individual or association may be made a party 
 to any proceedings for its legal adoption. That the guardian¬ 
 ship of the estate of the child is not included is due to the 
 constitutional provision which confers that jurisdiction upon 
 the probate court. No mention is made of the state or voluntary 
 institution in this section, the implication being here and 
 throughout that such institution has the same rights of guard¬ 
 ianship as are here granted to the association or individual, but 
 is not answerable to the juvenile court. As we pointed out 
 before, the juvenile court should have authority to commit the 
 ward of a voluntary institution to a state or other institution. 
 
 i. Disposition. OF Delinquent Children. 
 
 “Section 9. In case of a delinquent child, the court may con¬ 
 tinue the hearing from time to time, and may in the meantime 
 commit the child to the care and control of a probation officer 
 duly appointed by the court, and may allow such child to remain 
 in its own home subject to the visitation and control of the pro¬ 
 bation officer; such child to report to the court as often as may 
 be required, and shall be subject to be returned to the court for 
 further proceedings whenever such action shall appear to the 
 court to be necessary; or the court may authorize the child to be 
 placed in a suitable family home, subject to the friendly super¬ 
 vision of the probation officer and the further order of the 
 court; or it may authorize the child to be boarded out in some 
 suitable family home, in case provision is made by voluntary 
 contribution or otherwise for payment of the board of such 
 child, until suitable provision may be made for the child in a 
 home without such payment; or the court may commit the‘child 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 91 
 
 to a suitable institution for the care of delinquent children; pro¬ 
 vided, that no child under the age of sixteen years shall be 
 committed to the State Reformatory, and in no case shall a child 
 be committed beyond his or her minority. A child committed to 
 such institution shall be subject to the control of the board of 
 managers thereof, and the board shall have power to parole such 
 child on such conditions as it may prescribe; and the court shall, 
 on the recommendation of the board, have power to discharge 
 such child from custody whenever, in the judgment of the court, 
 his or her reformation is complete; or the court may commit 
 the child to the care and custody of some association that will 
 receive it, embracing in its objects the care of neglected and 
 dependent children, if such institution be duly credited as here¬ 
 inafter provided, or to the care and custody of some discreet 
 person.” 
 
 Section 9 prescribes the various methods of final disposition 
 of the delinquent child, such as are common to most juvenile 
 codes. It is to be noted that the court may require of delin¬ 
 quent probationers such reports as it may see fit, a requirement 
 that is made an important feature in Judge Lindsey’s court. 
 Commitment may be made by the court to “any suitable insti¬ 
 tution” for delinquents, but may not be to the State Reformatory 
 when the child is under sixteen, which of course conforms both 
 to sense and to other state law. More important than the mere 
 denial of power to commit to the State Reformatory is Attorney- 
 General Coleman’s decision which we quoted in the consideration 
 of Section 7, a decision which grows out of this clause and which 
 construes that the “suitable institution” for delinquents men¬ 
 tioned in the preceding clause must include the State Industrial 
 Schools. It is worthy of note here that according to this decision 
 the court is not dependent for its power to commit on its being 
 * a court of record. Mr. Coleman says: “It is true that the 
 supreme court in the case of in re Stokes held that only courts 
 of record and probate courts could commit to Industrial and 
 Reform Schools, not because of any lack of constitutional power 
 in justices of the peace, but because the law providing for the 
 sentence to the reform school did not vest the justice court with 
 power to commit. If this act, in its terms, is sufficient to confer 
 upon the juvenile court authority to commit to the reform and 
 industrial schools, I think the court has that power regardless 
 of whether or not it be a court of record. The difficulty pointed 
 out in the Stokes case was with the law, and not with the court.” 
 
92 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 This section also delimits the authority of the court and of the 
 institution, which of course under the above decision must in¬ 
 clude both state and voluntary, over a committed child. The 
 control of the child, power to parole and to prescribe the con¬ 
 ditions of parole are vested in the managing board of the institu¬ 
 tion, but the discharge of the child, can be concluded only by the 
 court on the initiative, i. e., recommendation of, the board. It is 
 doubtful if this provision of the law is being observed. 
 
 We have noted the power of commitment which the Juvenile 
 Court Act delegates to this court. There might be some ques¬ 
 tion as to what old law concerning commitment is still in ope¬ 
 ration. 
 
 Sections 7118-7136 relate to the Industrial School for Boys. 
 Sections 7122-7123 are of particular interest to the juvenile 
 court. While Attorney-General Coleman in his decision makes 
 quite clear that the Juvenile Court Act withdraws jurisdiction of 
 the classes of children'mentioned in these sections from all courts 
 but the juvenile court, he is not so clear as to whether Section 
 7122 is otherwise still operative. It reads: “Whenever any boy 
 under the age of sixteen years shall be convicted of any offense 
 known to the laws of the state, and punishable by imprisonment, 
 the court or justice, as the case may be, before whom such con¬ 
 viction shall be had, may at its discretion sentence such boy to the 
 state Reform school, or to such punishment as is now provided by 
 law for the same offense; and if the sentence shall be to the 
 reform school, then it shall be in the alternative to the state 
 reform school, or to such punishment as would have been 
 awarded if this act had not been passed.” The Juvenile Court 
 Act nowhere expressly repeals this section, and since that Act 
 makes no restriction on punishment after trial, it would be dif¬ 
 ficult to see how the section is repealed or modified except, of 
 course, as to the court. If it is true, then, that the juvenile 
 court, when it commits a boy who has violated a state law to the 
 Industrial School, must give the alternative sentence, by virtue 
 of Section 7135, if such boy is found to be an improper subject 
 for such school, he must be returned to the court, which may 
 give him the alternative sentence (fine or imprisonment). By 
 virtue of this same section boys committed for any other reason, 
 if found to be improper subjects, may be returned to their homes. 
 
 Section 7123, while still operative with the exception of the 
 part relating to the kind of court having jurisdiction, is prac¬ 
 tically superseded, since the Juvenile Court Act includes the 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 93 
 
 three causes for commitment given in this section as conditions of 
 delinquency and therefore possible causes of commitment. 
 
 Sections 7132-7134, relating to county agents for the school, 
 are probably repealed by implication with the repeal of Sections 
 6564-6566. 
 
 Sections 7137-7156 provide for the Industrial School for Girls 
 and are much similar in their provisions to those concerning the 
 Industrial School for Boys. 
 
 We should like to make the following criticisms on Section 9 
 of the Juvenile Court Act: 
 
 (1.) A comparison of this section with Section 7 discloses 
 much needless repetition. 
 
 (2.) Power to commit to the State Industrial Schools should 
 be granted in definite language, and the right should be given to 
 the State Board of Control to review orders of commitment to 
 state institutions and to require them to conform to the rules 
 of the Board. 
 
 (3.) A very serious mistake is made, as it seems to us, in 
 the following clause: “And in no case shall a child be com¬ 
 mitted beyond his or her minority.” Section 4182 (G. S., 1901) 
 says: “The period of minority extends in males to the age of 
 twenty-one years, and in females to that of eighteen years.” Sec¬ 
 tion 7149 (G. S., 1901) says: “Every girl committed to the 
 Industrial School for Girls shall remain until she is twenty-one 
 years of age, unless sooner discharged as hereinafter provided, 
 or bound as an apprentice.” Any girl now above eighteen years 
 of age committed to the State Industrial School for Girls under 
 the provisions of the Juvenile Court Act could, on the basis of 
 Section 9 of this act, demand her release, and the courts would 
 probably grant it on the ground that the part of Section 7149 
 quoted above is superseded by the Juvenile Court Act. No one 
 need be alarmed, however, for the girls in that school are, as a 
 rule, quite content under the exceptionally fine management of 
 the superintendent, Mrs. Julia B. Perry, to remain as long as 
 they may. Nevertheless, such a provision might be quite an 
 inconvenience on occasion, unless it really be that our legislators 
 in their wisdom meant minority when they said minority; in 
 that case all the girls above the age of eighteen years in the 
 Industrial School should be immediately discharged. 
 
 (4.) There is some obscurity concerning the control of a 
 child committed to any institution. As we pointed out previously, 
 the court’s consent to the final discharge of a child is necessary 
 
94 
 
 THE JWENILE COURT SYSTEM OF liANSAS. 
 
 according to this section, though Section 2 seems to withdraw 
 from the jurisdiction of the court wards of an institution. 
 
 (5.) The close of the section beginning with “or the court 
 may commit” is considerably tangled. An association for depend¬ 
 ent and neglected children is mentioned as an organization to 
 which the court may commit a delinquent child. In the next 
 clause the association is called an institution. The condition is 
 made that an institution “be duly credited as hereinafter pro¬ 
 vided” and no such provision is made in this or any other section 
 of the Act. 
 
 See Sections 22, 23, and 24 of the Proposed Act, for the dis¬ 
 position of delinquent children, and Section 42 for the provision 
 concerning the supervision of child-saving agencies. 
 
 y. Continued Jurisdiction of the Court. 
 
 “Section 10. In any case where a dependent, neglected or 
 delinquent child has been committed to the care and custody of 
 any association or individual, the court may cause the child to 
 be brought before it, together with the person in whose custody 
 he may be, and if it shall appear that a continuance of such 
 custody is not for the best interests of such child, the court may 
 revoke and set aside the order giving such custody and make 
 such further orders in the premises as to the future disposition 
 of the child as shall seem best.” 
 
 Under this section the court’s jurisdiction over any dependent 
 or delinquent child which has been committed to an association 
 or individual is continued, and the court may change its order 
 of commitment whenever the interests of the child require it. 
 The section does not apply to the institution. 
 
 k . Exclusive Jurisdiction of the Court. 
 
 “Section 11. When a child under the age of sixteen years 
 is arrested, with or without a warrant, such child shall, instead 
 of being taken before a justice of the peace or police magistrate 
 or judge or any other court now or hereafter having jurisdiction 
 of the offense charged, be taken before such juvenile court; or if 
 the child shall have been taken before a justice of the peace or 
 police magistrate or judge of such court, it shall be the duty of 
 such justice of the peace or police magistrate or judge of such 
 court to transfer the case to such juvenile court, and of the 
 officer having the child in charge to take such child before said 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 95 
 
 court; and in any such case the said court may proceed to hear 
 the defense of the case in the same manner as if the child had 
 been brought before the court upon the petition as herein pro¬ 
 vided. In any case the court shall require notice to be given and 
 investigation to be made as in the several cases under this act 
 provided for, and may adjourn the hearing from time to time for 
 the purpose.” 
 
 One of the unique features of the juvenile court movement 
 everywhere is the recognition of the importance of taking all 
 juvenile cases out of the original jurisdiction of all other courts 
 and placing them in a court whose distinctive domain is the care 
 of the child abnormal in condition or environment. It removes 
 the child from the evil influences of other courts and tends by 
 specialization to develop expert officials in this class of cases. 
 Hence, provision is made in this section that the juvenile court 
 shall have original jurisdiction of all juvenile cases, including 
 those in which what would otherwise constitute felony is 
 charged. Although Section 2309 (G. S., 1901) expressly declares 
 that the district court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction 
 in all cases of felony, the Juvenile Court Act withdraws from 
 the operation of that law all juvenile cases; besides, it is doubt¬ 
 ful, as we shall see, whether a child under sixteen in Kansas can 
 be convicted of felon}^ But of so-called capital cases the Colo¬ 
 rado Child Delinquency Act gives the criminal courts jurisdiction. 
 The Kansas law requires such cases to be originally brought in 
 the juvenile court and only by appeal or by the judge remanding 
 the case, may they be taken to the district court. 
 
 The first clause of the section should read; “When a child 
 is arrested under the provisions of this act,” thus including not 
 only the child under sixteen, but the minor over sixteen, over 
 which the court has acquired jurisdiction as Section 2 provides. 
 
 See Sections 9 and 16 of the Proposed Act, for provisions 
 covering those of Section 11 of the present law. 
 
 1 . Appeal to the District Court. 
 
 “Section 12. An appeal shall be allowed to the district court 
 by any child from the final order of commitment made by the 
 juvenile court, and may be demanded on the part of the child by 
 its parent, guardian, or custodian, or by any relation of such 
 child within the third degree of kinship. Such appeal shall be 
 taken within ten days after the making of the order complained 
 
96 
 
 THE JUVENILE COUET SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 of, by written notice of appeal filed with the judge of the 
 juvenile court; whereupon it shall be the duty of the judge of 
 said court, without unnecessary delay, to transmit all papers, 
 together with the transcript of his records of the case, to the 
 clerk of the district court of his county, by whom the case shall 
 be docketed in the order of its reception. Such appeal shall not 
 suspend or vacate the order appealed from, but the same shall 
 continue in force in all respects the same as if no appeal had 
 been taken until final judgment has been rendered in the district 
 court; provided, however, that the judge of the district court 
 may, pending a hearing on appeal, make such modification of the 
 order of the juvenile court, and upon such conditions, as to him 
 may seem proper. Upon the final hearing on appeal, the case 
 shall be heard and disposed of in the spirit of this act and in the 
 exercise of all the powers and discretion herein given to the 
 juvenile court. In all cases of felony, the judge of the juvenile 
 court may remand the person apprehended to the district court 
 or county court for trial.” 
 
 While the Colorado law allows the juvenile court to remand 
 a case to the district court, ft does not seem to provide for an 
 appeal to the district court, except before the case has been tried 
 by the juvenile court. Section 12 of the Kansas law gives oppor¬ 
 tunity for appeal to the district court from the judge’s order of 
 commitment. Pending the final hearing of the case, the judg¬ 
 ment of the juvenile court must stand except as modified by the 
 district judge. This section is quite explicit in its provisions for 
 the final disposition of juvenile cases in the district court, making 
 this act mandatory on the district judge and creating a juvenile 
 court for the time being out of the district court. 
 
 The right of appeal should be allowed from any kind of judg¬ 
 ment the court may bring in. Besides the order of commitment 
 a fine is possible under this act, the opinion of some judges to the 
 contrary notwithstanding. In juvenile cases especially, a variety 
 of orders other than commitment and fine is possible. 
 
 Though it is not mandatory on the juvenile court judge to 
 remand a case to the district court, the last sentence of this sec¬ 
 tion implies that a felony in a child is possible. But Section 2300 
 (G. S., 1901) makes the punishment of a child under sixteen 
 convicted of so-called felony the punishment for misdemeanor. 
 Moreover, the language of the sentence is inconsistent with Sec¬ 
 tion 15 of this Act, a part of which reads: “And in no case shall 
 any proceedings, order, or judgment of the juvenile court, in 
 
PRESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 97 
 
 cases coming under the purview of this act, be deemed or held 
 to import a criminal act on the part of any child.” It is difficult, 
 then, to see how a child could be remanded to the district court for 
 felony. For the provisions concerning appeal, see Section 18 of 
 the Proposed Act. 
 
 m. Duties of City and County Officers. 
 
 “Section 13. It shall be the duty of all county attorneys 
 within their respective counties, and city attorneys within their 
 respective cities, to give to the probation officers such aid in the 
 performance of their duties as may be consistent with the duties 
 of the office of such attorneys. It shall be the duties of the police 
 officers and constables making arrests of children under sixteen 
 years of age in the counties herein mentioned to at once give 
 information of that fact to the probation officer or to the judge of 
 the juvenile court herein provided, and also to furnish such 
 probation officer or judge with all the facts in his possession 
 pertaining to said child, its parents, guardian, or other person 
 likely to be interested in such child, and also the nature of the 
 charge upon which such charge has been made. Any probation 
 officer may, without warrant or other process, at any time until 
 final disposition of the case of any child over whom said juvenile 
 court shall have acquired jurisdiction, take any child placed in 
 his care by said court and bring such child before the court, or 
 the court may issue a warrant for the arrest of any such child; 
 and the court may thereupon proceed to sentence or make other 
 disposition of the case.” 
 
 Section 13 makes it the duty of county and city attorneys, 
 constables, and police officers to aid probation officers in the 
 discharge of their duties. It should be made the duty of county 
 attorneys to aid not only probation officers, but the judge, and 
 to conduct cases in the court when required by the judge. The 
 expression, “counties herein mentioned,” is not accurate. The 
 part of that sentence beginning with “police officers” should read, 
 “police officers in their respective cities, and constables in their 
 respective counties.” The last part of this section, beginning 
 with “any probation officer,” is a wholesale repetition almost var- 
 batim of the close of Section 3. The necessity for the reiteration 
 is not apparent. 
 
 See Section 14 of the Proposed Act, for the provisions cover¬ 
 ing the ground of Section 13 of the present law. 
 
98 
 
 THE JUVEJNILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 n. Punishment of Delinquent Children. 
 
 “Section 14. All punishments and penalties imposed by law 
 upon persons for the commission of offenses against the laws of 
 the state, or imposed by city ordinances for the violation of such 
 ordinances, in the case of delinquent children under the age of 
 sixteen years, shall rest in the discretioi. of the judge of the 
 juvenile court, and execution of any sentence may be suspended 
 or remitted by said court.” 
 
 The judge of the juvenile court is given the power in this 
 section to impose any penalty for an offense that the law or city 
 ordinance allows. As we have seen, the law (Section 2300, G. 
 S., 1901) forbids children being sentenced to the penitentiary, 
 and Section 9 of this act to the State Reformatory. But it leaves 
 possible not only commitment tp the Industrial Schools, impo¬ 
 sition of fines, incarceration in a detention home, and other 
 restraining orders, but incarceration in the county jail or city 
 prison, the very thing the juvenile court movement is pledged to 
 prevent. It will thus be seen, as was pointed out in the consider¬ 
 ation of Section 6, we have very little of actual prohibition of 
 jail incarceration. The section is directly contrary in spirit and 
 in letter to the last part of Section 15, and makes a dark picture 
 relieved only by one glimmer of light, the judge’s power to remit 
 or suspend the execution of any sentence, and even this power is 
 not granted the court for children over sixteen who are still under 
 the jurisdiction of the court; otherwise the phrase, “in the case 
 of delinquent children under the age of sixteen years,” has no 
 meaning. Surely there are modes of punishment in plenty for 
 the child without using the jail. With the “detention home” 
 provision, the fine should be retained. As matters now stand, 
 where the judge observes the spirit rather than the letter of 
 the law and refuses to place a child in jail, the parent may dally 
 as much as he pleases and make the fine an ineffective method of 
 punishment. With detention as an alternative, however, the fine 
 may become, in some cases, one of the means of holding parents 
 responsible for the delinquency of their children. 
 
 See Section 22 of the Proposed Act, for the provision con¬ 
 cerning penalties for juvenile delinquents. 
 
 0. Liberal Construction of Act Enjoined. 
 
 “Section 15. This act shall be liberally construed, to the 
 end that its purposes may be carried out, to wit, that the care. 
 
PKESENT LAW CONSIDERED. 
 
 09 
 
 custody and discipline of a child shall approximate, as nearly as 
 may be proper, parental care; and in all cases where the same 
 can be properly done, that a child may be placed in an approved 
 family home, by legal adoption or otherwise. And in no case 
 shall any proceedings, order or judgment of the juvenile»court, 
 in cases coming within the purview of this act, be deemed or 
 held to import a criminal act on the part of any child; but all 
 proceedings, orders and judgments shall be deemed to have been 
 taken and done in the exercise of the parental power of the 
 state.” 
 
 Section 15 expresses the purpose of the act to give the child, 
 as near as may be, parental care. To this end the act is to be 
 construed liberally, and the proceedings to be usually informal. 
 Above all, the court is not to be a criminal court, and no action 
 of the court is to be construed as implying crime on the part 
 of the child. In accordance with this section only such pun¬ 
 ishments should be employed as are suited to the child’s stage 
 of development and constructive of the child’s character. It 
 should be understood and might well be stated in this section 
 that no evidence produced in any proceedings of the court should 
 ever be used against the child in any other court, except in the 
 same case upon appeal. 
 
 See Sections 22 and 44 of the Proposed Act covering the 
 above provisions. 
 
 p . General Provisions. 
 
 “Section 16. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with this 
 act or inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed.” 
 
 “Section 17. This act shall take effect and be in force from 
 and after its publication in the official state paper.” 
 
 These sections present the usual closing of an enactment. 
 Section 16 would be improved if as many as possible of the 
 sections repealed were definitely stated. 
 
 See Sections 45 and 46 of the Proposed Act, for the above 
 provisions. 
 
 Some of the more significant new features of the Proposed 
 Act, in addition to those already referred to, may be mentioned 
 as follows: 
 
 (1.) Provision in case of absence of the judge or his inabil¬ 
 ity to perform the duties of the court. (Section 2.) 
 
100 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF ICANSAS. 
 
 (2.) Clerk of the court provided. (Section 8.) 
 
 (3.) Disputed age of a child before the court determined. 
 (Section 19.) 
 
 (4.) Court’s recommendation for commitment rather than 
 actual commitment of a child, and the records and disposition 
 of the case. (Sections 21, 22, 23, and 27.) 
 
 (5.) Penalties prescribed for officer’s failure to carry out 
 the provisions of the act. (Section 43.) 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 PROPOSED LAW PRESENTED. 
 
 Article I. Juvenile Court. 
 
 AN ACT to establish a juvenile court and to provide for the 
 disposition of all cases of juvenile delinquency and depend¬ 
 ency and cases contributing thereto and of all cases arising 
 under the laws for the protection of children; said act to 
 repeal Chapter 190 of the Session Laws of 1905, entitled, “An 
 Act to establish a juvenile court and provide for the care of 
 dependent, neglected and delinquent children,” and Sections 
 2300, 4194, 4199, 4200, 4201, 4208, 4210, 4211, 4213, 4214,- 
 4406, 7122, 7123, 7124, 7125, 7136, 7146, 7147, 7148, and 
 7156 of the General Statutes of Kansas of 1901, Section 4, 
 Chapter 423 of the Session Laws of 1903, and Chapter 385 
 of the Session Laws of 1905, and all acts and parts of acts 
 in conflict herewith. 
 
 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas: 
 
 Section 1. That there be and hereby is created and estab¬ 
 lished in each county of the state a court to be known as the 
 juvenile court, which shall be a court of record, and which shall 
 have in its county exclusive original jurisdiction of all cases of 
 juvenile delinquency and dependency and cases contributing 
 thereto, and of all cases arising under the laws for the protec¬ 
 tion of children. In all such cases said court shall have civil 
 and criminal jurisdiction. 
 
 Section 2. The probate judge of each county shall be the 
 judge of the juvenile court in his county. In case of his absence 
 from the city or inability to perform the duties of said court, and 
 in case of the non-appointment of a probate judge pro teni under 
 statute provisions, it shall be the duty of the chairman of the 
 board of county commissioners to designate as judge during such 
 absence or disability and the non-appointment of a probate judge 
 pro tern, a justice of the peace of the township or judge of the 
 police court of the city, who shall act as judge and hear such 
 cases as may come before him in the office of the judge of the 
 juvenile court. 
 
102 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KAN SAS. 
 
 Section 3. The judge of the juvenile court shall receive as 
 compensation for his services, the same fees as are allowed the 
 probate judge for like services, and said fees shall be in addition 
 to all fees or salary received by him as judge of the probate 
 court; said fees are to be allowed by the county commissioners, 
 and paid out of the county treasury. 
 
 Section 4. Each juvenile court shall have a seal, with which 
 all process issuing therefrom shall be authenticated; which seal 
 shall be provided by the county commissioners, and shall contain 
 
 the words, “Juvenile Court,-County, Kansas,” inserting 
 
 the name of the county for which such seal is provided. 
 
 Section 5. The juvenile court shall be open at the office of 
 the juvenile judge every day, except Sunday, to hear and deter¬ 
 mine any and all cases cognizable before said court. 
 
 Section 6. The juvenile court shall appoint or designate one 
 discreet person of good moral character to serve as probation 
 officer, who shall also perform, in the county and all cities and 
 towns in the county, the duties of truant officer prescribed in 
 the Compulsory Education Law (S. L. of 1903, Ch. 423). In 
 counties having a population of over 40,000, according to the 
 latest census, whether federal or state, the probation officer shall 
 be known as chief probation officer. In such counties the court 
 may appoint or designate one assistant probation officer. In cases 
 coming under the Compulsory Education Law (S. L. of 1903, 
 Ch. 423), the county superintendent of public instruction and the 
 city superintendent of schools shall in their respective districts 
 act in an advisory relation to the judge of the juvenile court and 
 the probation officer, cooperating with said officers and bringing 
 to their notice all reported cases of truancy. In counties having 
 a population of over 40,000, according to the latest census, 
 whether federal or state, it shall be the duty of the juvenile court 
 to submit the appointment of chief probation officer to the State 
 Board of Control for approval, and such appointee shall not 
 be qualified to act as probation officer until the said appointee 
 has been approved by the said Board as a qualified and proper 
 person to discharge the duties of such office; and it shall be the 
 duty of said Board to require each judge in such counties to 
 expeditiously make such appointment and the duty of said Board 
 to approve or disapprove of such appointee within fifteen (15) 
 days after submission thereof by the juvenile court, and a fail¬ 
 ure to act thereon in such time shall constitute an approval of 
 such appointment. Every probation officer appointed in the 
 
PROPOSED LAW PRESENTED. 
 
 103 
 
 manner prescribed by this act may hold his office until removed 
 by the juvenile court, but removal shall be for cause only. Inef¬ 
 ficiency or failure to act in accordance with the instructions 
 of the court shall constitute cause for removal, but in any case 
 a probation officer may appeal from the court’s action of removal 
 to the State Board of Control, and the decision of the said Board 
 shall be final. 
 
 Section 7. Each chief probation officer provided for in this 
 act who is appointed by the judge of the juvenile court and 
 approved by the State Board of Control as provided for in Sec¬ 
 tion 6 of this act, sjiall receive from the county treasury and be 
 paid in the same manner as other employees of the county are 
 paid, a salary of one thousand (1,000) dollars per year, to be 
 paid in equal monthly installments. Each other probation officer 
 provided for in this act in counties having a population of over 
 15,000, according to the latest census, whether federal or state, 
 shall receive from the county treasury and be paid in the same 
 manner as other employees of the county are paid, a salary of 
 seven hundred (700) dollars per year, to be paid in equal monthly 
 installments. Each probation officer provided for in this act 
 in counties having a population of less than 15,000, according 
 to the latest census, whether federal or state, shall receive from 
 the county treasury and be paid in monthly installments in the 
 same manner as other employees of the county are paid, three 
 (3) dollars for each day of actual service, and expenses actually 
 and legitimately incurred therein; provided, that no warrant 
 shall be issued on the county treasury for such service until 
 such probation officer shall have filed an itemized statement of 
 the time employed in such service and of the expenses incurred 
 therein, and such statement shall have been certified to by the 
 judge of the juvenile court. 
 
 Section 8. If at any future time there shall be provided 
 by law the office of clerk of the probate court, it shall be the 
 duty of such clerk at such compensation as the law may allow, to 
 perform the duties of clerk of the juvenile court, as said court 
 or the law shall direct. 
 
 Section 9. It shall be unlawful for any court, clerk, or other 
 person to tax or collect, or for any county to pay, any fees what¬ 
 ever now permitted by law to be taxed and collected for the 
 benefit of any court, officer, or person, for the case of any per¬ 
 son coming within the provisions of this act, unless such person 
 shall be proceeded against in the juvenile court under the pro- 
 
104 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 visions and in accordance with the purpose of this act, except in 
 cases remanded or appealed to the district court as provided for 
 in this act, or where complaint has been filed before a justice 
 of the peace or police magistrate who shall duly comply with 
 the terms of Section 15 of this act. 
 
 Section 10. As soon as this act shall take'effect and be in 
 force, the State Board of Control shall at state expense have 
 prepared and furnished each juvenile court of the state a uniform 
 series of blanks for complaints, commitments, reports, and so 
 forth, and a special record book in proper form, to be known as 
 “The Juvenile Court Record.” Thereafter, whenever necessary, 
 the said blanks and book shall be furnished by the State Board 
 of Control on requisition of the court. The juvenile court rec¬ 
 ord shall be kept as a permanent record of all juvenile and adult 
 cases coming before the court, the reports of probation officers, 
 teachers, physicians, and employers respecting juvenile cases, 
 an itemized statement of the expenses of the court, and such 
 other matters as may be required by the State Board of Control. 
 Between the first and the fifteenth days of July of each year, 
 each court shall submit to the State Board of Control, upon 
 blanks furnished by said Board and based in makeup on the 
 “Juvenile Court Record,” a report showing for the fiscal year 
 closing June 30, an itemized statement of the expenses of the 
 court, the number, character, and disposition of all the cases 
 brought before the court, and such other information regarding 
 such cases, and the parentage of such children brought before 
 it, as shall be required in the Juvenile Court Record. It shall 
 be the duty of the State Board of Control to compile the informa¬ 
 tion reported, for publication in its annual report to the Gov¬ 
 ernor, and biennial report to the legislature; provided, that the 
 name or identity of any person brought before any court shall 
 not be disclosed in any published report. It shall be the duty 
 of the said Board to send a copy each of such published reports 
 to each judge of the juvenile courts of the state. It shall further 
 be the duty of said Board, as soon as this act shall take effect 
 and be in force, to have prepared and furnished each juvenile 
 court of the state at state expense a manual containing this act, 
 and such other laws of the state as involve the delinquency, 
 dependency, and protection of children and their commitment to 
 state institutions, the rules of the various boards respecting the 
 commitment of minors to state institutions, information con¬ 
 cerning the associations and institutions to which commitment 
 
PROPOSED LAW PRESENTED. 
 
 105 
 
 may be made, and such forms and reports as are used by the 
 court, with directions for their use. 
 
 Article II. General Procedure. 
 
 Section 11. For the purposes of this act, the word “associa¬ 
 tion” shall mean any organization duly incorporated according 
 to the laws of the State of Kansas, having among its objects the 
 protection of children from cruelty and the care and control of 
 dependent or delinquent children, with the end in view of finding 
 suitable homes and placing them therein. The word “"institu¬ 
 tion,” other than st^te institution, shall mean an organization 
 which is similar to an association and which may include in its 
 objects all those of the association, but which also through a 
 board of managers owns or leases a building or buildings, which 
 it uses as a home or place of detention, discipline or education 
 for dependent or delinquent children. The word “parent” or 
 “parents” shall mean one or both parents, as is consistent with 
 the intent of this act. The word “child” or “children” shall 
 include one child or more than one, as is consistent with the 
 intent of this act, and shall, unless specifically stated otherwise, 
 include any child in the state not a ward of any state institution, 
 who is under sixteen years of age, or having once come under 
 the jurisdiction of the juvenile court by the provisions of this act 
 has not attained its majority. The words “delinquent child” 
 shall include any child who violates any law of this state, includ¬ 
 ing what is known as the Compulsory Education Law, or the ordi¬ 
 nance of any city, town, or village; or who is incorrigible; or who 
 knowingly associates with thieves, vicious or immoral persons; 
 or who is growing up in idleness or crime; or who knowingly 
 visits or enters a house of ill-repute; or who knowlingly patron¬ 
 izes or visits any policy shop or place where any gambling device 
 is, or shall be operated; or who patronizes or visits any saloon 
 or other place where intoxicating liquors are sold; or who pat¬ 
 ronizes or visits any public pool room or bucket shop; or who 
 wanders about the streets in the night time without being on 
 any lawful business or occupation; or who habitually wanders 
 about any railroad yard or tracks, or jumps or hooks on to any 
 moving train, or enters any car or engine without lawful author¬ 
 ity; or who habitually uses vile, obscene, vulgar, profane, or in¬ 
 decent language, or is guilty of immoral conduct in any public 
 place or about any school house. Any child committing any of 
 the acts herein mentioned shall be deemed a juvenile delinquent 
 
106 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OP ICANSAS. 
 
 person, and shall be proceeded against as such as hereinafter 
 provided. The words “dependent child” shall mean any child 
 who is dependent upon the public for support, or who is destitute, 
 homeless, or abandoned; or who has not proper parental care or 
 guardianship; or who habitually begs or receives alms; or who 
 is found living in any house of ill-fame, or with any vicious or 
 disreputable persons; or whose home by reason of neglect, cruelty 
 or depravity on the part of its parents, guardian, or other per¬ 
 son in whose care it may be, is an unfit place for such child; or 
 whose environment is such as to warrant the state, in the interest 
 of the child, in assuming its guardianship. Any child whose- 
 parents or guardian permits it to use or become addicted to the 
 use of tobacco, or spirituous or intoxicating liquors as a bever¬ 
 age, and not for medicinal purposes, or whose parent or guardian 
 rears, keeps, or permits it in or about any saloon, or place where 
 spirituous or intoxicating liquors are sold, or any gambling house, 
 or place where gambling is practiced or carried on, or any house 
 of ill-fame or ill-repute, shall be deemed to be without proper 
 parental care or guardianship. Any child under the age of ten 
 (10) years who is found begging, peddling, or selling any article, 
 or singing, or playing any musical instrument upon the street, or 
 who accompanies or is used in aid of any person so doing, shall 
 be considered a dependent child. 
 
 Section 12. The judge of the juvenile court shall have au¬ 
 thority to issue subpoenas for witnesses and compel their attend¬ 
 ance by attachment as for contempt, and to issue all other pro¬ 
 cess that may be necessary in any case, the same as justices of 
 the peace are authorized to do in misdemeanors. 
 
 Section 13. Probation officers are hereby vested with all 
 power and authority of sheriffs to make arrests, and of county 
 attorneys to file complaints or informations, and to prosecute and 
 conduct proceedings against all persons coming under the pro¬ 
 visions of this act. All writs and process of the court shall be 
 served by such officers, or, in case of their absence or non-ap¬ 
 pointment, by some person especially deputized for that purpose 
 by the court. Whenever there is a child to be brought before 
 a juvenile court, it shall be the duty of the judge of the court, 
 if practicable, to notify the probation ofpcer in advance when 
 such child is to be brought before the court; it shall be the duty 
 of said probation officer to make such investigation as may be 
 required by the court; to be present in court when the case is 
 tried to represent the interests of the child; to furnish to the 
 
PROPOSED LAW PRESENTED. 
 
 107 
 
 court such information and assistance as the judge may require; 
 and to take such charge of any child before and after trial as may 
 be directed by the court. A probation officer may, without war¬ 
 rant or other process, at any time until the final disposition of 
 the case of any child over whom said juvenile court shall have 
 acquired jurisdiction, take the child placed in his care by said 
 court and bring the child before the court, or the court may issue 
 a warrant for the arrest of any such child; and the court may ' 
 thereupon proceed to sentence or make such other disposition of 
 the case as he may deem best. In all adult cases coming under 
 the jurisdiction of this court the probation officer is hereby vested 
 with the same authority as in juvenile cases, subject to the direc¬ 
 tion of the court. 
 
 Section 14. It shall be the duty of all county attorneys 
 within their respective counties, and city attorneys within their 
 respective cities, to give to the probation officers and judges of 
 the juvenile courts such aid in the performance of their duties 
 as may be consistent with the duties of the office of such at¬ 
 torneys. It shall be the duty of any county attorney, when re¬ 
 quested so to do by the juvenile court of his county, in which 
 a complaint or information is filed, to appear with or for the 
 probation officer, for the purpose of conducting any hearing or 
 trial of any case, and when so requested he shall represent, pros¬ 
 ecute and conduct such case in the same manner and with like 
 power and effect as though the complaint or information was 
 originally filed by the county attorney; provided, that when such 
 county attorney shall so appear, he shall be entitled to charge 
 and receive from the county the same fees which he would have 
 been entitled by law to receive in case such complaint or informa¬ 
 tion had been originally filed by him. Nothing in this act shall 
 be construed as prohibiting county attorneys from filing com¬ 
 plaints or informations in any case of adult delinquency -coming 
 within the provisions of this act; provided, that in case where 
 such complaint or information has been first filed by the pro¬ 
 bation officer no other complaint or information shall be filed 
 until the one so filed by such probation officer has been first 
 heard or disposed of by the juvenile court. 
 
 Section 15. It shall be the duty of any officer of the law, 
 other than the probation officer, arresting or detaining a child 
 for any cause under the provisions of this or any other act to 
 at once bring such child before the juvenile court, or, if at night, 
 or the court be not in session, to place it in charge of the proba- 
 
108 
 
 THE Jm^ENILE COURT SYSTEM OF ICANSAS. 
 
 tion officer or judge of the court, and such child shall be cared 
 for in accordance with the provisions of this act. It shall also 
 be the duty of the officer arresting or detaining such child to 
 furnish said probation officer or judge with all the facts in his 
 possession pertaining to said child, its parents, guardian, or 
 other person likely to be interested in such child, and also the 
 nature of the charge against the child or the cause of its deten¬ 
 sion. Or if the child shall have been taken before a justice of 
 the peace or police magistrate, or judge of any court, it shall 
 be the duty of such justice of the peace or police magistrate, or 
 judge of such court, to transfer the case to such juvenile court, 
 and of the officer having the child in charge to take such child 
 before said court, and in any such case the said court may pro¬ 
 ceed to hear the defense of the case, in the same manner as if the 
 child had been brought before the court upon the petition as 
 herein provided. In any case the court shall require notice to 
 be given and investigation to be made as in any case provided for 
 under this act, and may adjourn the hearing from time to time 
 for the purpose. 
 
 Section 16. Any officer of any society, association, or insti¬ 
 tution having for its object the care and protection of children, 
 or any resident of the county, having knowledge of a child in 
 his county who appears to be dependent or delinquent within the 
 meaning of this act, may file with the juvenile court a petition 
 in writing setting forth the facts, verified by affidavit. It shall 
 be sufficient that the affidavit be upon information and belief. 
 The court may, on its own motion, or on the application of any 
 person interested, require that such petitioner set forth any 
 additional information as to the parents or relatives of such 
 child, or the causes of its dependency or delinquency; provided, 
 however, that when any such child within the provisions of this 
 act is in immediate or apparent danger of violence, or is about 
 to be removed from the jurisdiction of the court for the purpose 
 of evading proceedings upon this act for its protection, the 
 officer of any association or institution for the care or protec¬ 
 tion of children, any sheriff, or any probation or police officer, 
 may take immediate custody of such child without any process 
 whatever; but in any such case it shall be the duty of such officer 
 within forty-eight (48) hours thereafter to file a petition and 
 proceed as herein provided for. 
 
 Section 17. Upon the filing of the petition, unless the parties 
 shall voluntarily appear or be in court, a summons shall issue. 
 
PROPOSElb LAW PRESENTED. 
 
 109 
 
 in the name of the State of Kansas, requiring the child and the 
 person having custody and control of the child, or with whom 
 the child may be, to appear with the child at the place and at 
 the time set in the summons, which shall not be later than twen¬ 
 ty-four (24) hours after service, unless otherwise directed by 
 the court. The parents of the child, if living and their residence 
 known, or its legal guardian, if one there be, or if there is 
 neither parent nor guardian, or if his or her residence is un¬ 
 known, then some relative, if there be one, and his or her resi¬ 
 dence is known, shall be notified, of the proceedings, and in any 
 case the judge may appoint some suitable person or association 
 to act in behalf of the child. If the person summoned, as herein 
 provided, shall fail without reasonable cause to appear and abide 
 the order of the court, or to bring the child, such person may be 
 proceeded against as in case of contempt of court. In case the 
 summons cannot be served, or the party served shall fail to 
 obey the same, or in case it shall be made to appear to 
 the court that such summons will be ineffectual, a warrant may 
 issue on order of the court, either against the parent or guardian, 
 or the person having custody of the child, or against the child 
 itself. On the return of the summons or other process, or as 
 soon thereafter as may be, the court shall proceed to hear and 
 dispose of the case in a summary manner, and enter final judg¬ 
 ment therein; and the costs of all proceedings under this act 
 may, in the discretion of the court, be adjudged against the per¬ 
 son or persons so summoned, appearing, or arrested, as the case 
 may be, or against the parent or guardian or person having con¬ 
 trol of the child, and shall be collected, as is provided by law 
 in civil cases. 
 
 Section 18. Any case coming under the provisions of this 
 act, whether before the juvenile or district court, shall be con¬ 
 ducted informally and by private examination and trial, to which 
 only the parties to the case, including the relatives or friends of, 
 or those properly interested in, the parties, shall be admitted, 
 unless the defendant, or if in a juvenile case, one of the parents, 
 the guardian, or other legal representative of the defendant, de¬ 
 mands a public trial, when all proceedings shall be in the usual 
 form. In all trials under this act any person interested therein 
 shall have the right to demand a trial by jury, or the judge on 
 his own motion may order a jury. Unless such jury is demanded, 
 it shall be deemed to be waived. Any person interested in any 
 case under this act shall have the right to appear therein and to 
 
110 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF I^ANSAS. 
 
 be represented by counsel, and the court may, in such case, ap¬ 
 point counsel to appear and defend on behalf of any such per¬ 
 son. Any person interested in any case under this act shall have 
 the right now given by law to give bond or other security for 
 his appearance at the trial of such case. An appeal shall be 
 allowed to the district court from the final order or judgment 
 made by the juvenile court against any party, and may be de¬ 
 manded on the part of the child by its parent, guardian or 
 custodian, or by any relative of such child within the third 
 degree of kinship. Such appeal shall be taken within ten days 
 after the making of the order complained of, by written notice 
 of appeal filed with the judge of the juvenile court, whereupon 
 it shall be the duty of the judge of said court, without unneces¬ 
 sary delay, to transmit all papers together with a transcript of 
 his records of the case to the clerk of the district court of his 
 county by whom the case shall be docketed in the order of its 
 reception. Such appeal shall not suspend or vacate the order 
 appealed from, but the same shall continue in force, in all re¬ 
 spects the same as if no appeal had been taken, until final judg¬ 
 ment has been rendered in the district court; provided, how¬ 
 ever, that the judge of the district court may, pending a hearing 
 on appeal, make such modification of the order of the juvenile 
 court as to him may seem proper. Upon the final hearing on 
 appeal, the case shall be disposed of in accordance with the pro¬ 
 visions and spirit of this act and in the exercise of all the powers 
 and discretion herein given to the juvenile court. 
 
 Section 19. If the age of any child in any way concerned 
 under the provisions of this act is brought into question in court, 
 the court shall be the final judge as to whether it has jurisdic¬ 
 tion of the case; provided, that such judgment may be made the 
 ground for appeal to the district court. 
 
 Section 20. In any case not appealed, the court may con¬ 
 tinue the hearing from time to time, and may in the meantime 
 commit the person, if a child, to the care and control of the pro¬ 
 bation officer, or of some other suitable person, or to the County 
 Detention Home, if there be one; or the court may allow the 
 child to remain in its own home, if it has one, or commit to some 
 family home elsewhere or to some home for compensation, as 
 provided in Section 41, subject in any such case, as the court may 
 direct, to the friendly supervision and visitation of the proba¬ 
 tion officer, to any system of reporting to the probation officer 
 or the court on the part of the child or its custodian, and to any 
 
PROPOSED LAW PRESENTED. 
 
 Ill 
 
 other conditions imposed by the court. In such cases of commit¬ 
 ment the child shall be deemed on probation under the care of 
 the court and right of guardianship or right to become a party 
 to proceedings for the legal adoption of the child shall not be 
 granted to the one receiving the child. Any child not eligible 
 to any state institution for defectives, whose ill-health requires 
 special treatment, shall be placed temporarily in a family home 
 or hospital, and be deemed on probation under the care of the 
 court. 
 
 Section 21. When the court on final hearing of any case 
 shall recommend to the State Board of Control the commitment 
 of any child, the court shall enter such findings by proper order 
 to that effect, and shall transmit to said Board a certified copy 
 of the order made in the case, which shall be entered in the 
 Juvenile Court Record, and which shall include besides the said 
 findings, the state or voluntary institution, association, or in¬ 
 dividual to whom commitment is recommended, and a statement 
 of the facts so far as can be ascertained, giving the name, age, 
 nationality, and residence of the child, the whole number of chil¬ 
 dren in the family, name, age, and residence of parents, or of 
 either of them, also maiden name of the mother, when and 
 where the parents were married, the time and place of child’s 
 birth; also, whether either or both parents are living, and if so, 
 where; also, whether or not the parents are divorced, and if so, 
 when and where, and who was given the custody of the child; 
 and whether either or both parents abandoned the child; and in 
 case of examination by the court of two or more children of the 
 same family at the same time, a separate copy of each finding 
 shall be given for each child. Blanks for the findings in the 
 case and recommendation for commitment shall be furnished the 
 courts by the State Board of Control. It shall be the duty of 
 the said Board of Control, after an examination of the court’s 
 findings in the case and recommendation of commitment, to com¬ 
 mit the child to such state or voluntary institution, association, 
 'or individual, as is most practicable and most desirable for the 
 welfare of the child, transmitting to the same a copy of the 
 court’s findings in the case, or to return the child to the court 
 for further probation. Notice shall be given the court by the 
 said Board of its disposition of the child. A child committed by 
 the State Board of Control shall become a ward and be subject 
 to the guardianship of the individual, association, or state or 
 voluntary institution to whose care it is committed, but such 
 
112 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 guardianship shall not include that of any estate of the child. 
 Such individual, association, or institution shall have authority 
 to place such child in a suitable family home, with or without 
 indenture, and may by attorney or agent appear in any court 
 where adoption proceedings are pending and assent to its adop¬ 
 tion. Such assent shall be sufficient to authorize said court to 
 enter the proper order or decree of adoption. A child com¬ 
 mitted to a voluntary institution, association, or individual, or 
 adopted out or discharged by a state institution, shall be under 
 the jurisdiction of the juvenile court of the county in which it 
 may be, but shall not be deemed on probation except by new 
 action in the regular way. The case of such a child may be 
 investigated at any time by the juvenile court of the county in 
 which said child is, on the court’s own motion or by order of the 
 State Board of Control, and the court may recommend to the 
 Board other disposition of the child. 
 
 Article III. Special Procedure. 
 a. Juvenile Delinquency. 
 
 Section 22. All punishments and penalties imposed by law 
 upon persons for the commission of offenses against the laws of 
 the state, or imposed by city ordinances for the violation of such 
 ordinances, shall in the juvenile court rest in the discretion of 
 the judge, and execution of any sentence may be suspended or 
 remitted by said court; provided, that any incarceration of chil¬ 
 dren under sixteen (16) years of age shall be in accordance with 
 the provisions of this act; and, provided farther, that any dis¬ 
 position of a child for delinquency under this act, or any evi¬ 
 dence given in such case, shall not in any civil, criminal, or other 
 case, or proceedings whatever in any court, be lawful or proper 
 evidence against such child for any purpose whatever, except¬ 
 ing in subsequent cases against the same child under this act; 
 and, provided farther, that nothing herein shall affect the pro¬ 
 visions of this act that the juvenile court’s power to commit 
 a child shall in certain cases extend only to a recommendation 
 to the State Board of Control of such commitment. 
 
 Section 23. When any child shall be found to be a delinquent 
 child as defined in Section 11 of this act, and the court deems 
 probation in the child’s own home or some other home imprac¬ 
 ticable, the court may recommend to the State Board of Control 
 the commitment of the child, if a girl under sixteen (16) years 
 
PROPOSED LAW PRESENTED. 
 
 113 
 
 of age, to the State Industrial School for girls, if a boy under 
 sixteen (16) years of age, to the State Industrial School for 
 Boys, or if the delinquent child is a boy over sixteen (16) years 
 of age, the court may commit such child to the State Reform¬ 
 atory conformably to the rules thereof; or the court may recom¬ 
 mend to the State Board of Control the commitment of the child 
 to any other state institution for juvenile delinquents which may 
 be provided; or the court may recommend the commitment of the 
 child, imposing such conditions as the court deems best, to the 
 care and custody of some institution or association that will re¬ 
 ceive it which conforms to the definitipn of such organization as 
 found in Section 11 of this act and which has been duly accred¬ 
 ited, as provided in Section 42 of this act; provided, that no child 
 under the age of sixteen (16) years shall be committed to the 
 State Reformatory, and that in no case except to the State Re¬ 
 formatory and to the State Industrial School for Girls, shall a 
 child be committed beyond its minority. No commitment of a 
 delinquent child to a state or voluntary institution, association, or 
 individual (except to such individual on probation) shall be made, 
 except by recommendation of the juvenile court or district court 
 on appeal, to the State Board of Control, unless the child is a ward 
 of a state institution, and such commitment shall not be made 
 except such recommendation shall be approved by said Board. 
 
 Section 24. In any case where the delinquency charged 
 against a child would otherwise constitute a felony, the judge of 
 the juvenile court may remand the child to the district court 
 for trial; whereupon the case shall be heard as early as may be 
 and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of this act 
 and in the exercise of all the powers and discretion herein given 
 to the juvenile court; provided, that in no case shall a child be 
 incarcerated in violation of Section 35 of this Act. 
 
 h. Adult Delinquency Contributing to Juvenile Delinquency. 
 
 Section 25. In all cases where any child shall be a delinquent 
 child, as defined by this act, the parent or parents, legal guard¬ 
 ian, or person having the custody of such child, or any other per¬ 
 son responsible for, or by any act encouraging, causing, or con¬ 
 tributing to the delinquency of such child, shall be guilty 
 of a misdemeanor, and upon trial and conviction thereof, 
 shall pay the costs of all proceedings and be punished by 
 a fine in a sum not exceeding one thousand (1,000) dollars, 
 or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not ex- 
 
114 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF KANSAS. 
 
 ceeding one (1) year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. 
 The juvenile court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction in 
 all such cases, proceedings in which shall be in the manner of 
 cases for misdem.eanors in the justice of peace court; provided, 
 that if the act contributing to the delinquency of the child shall 
 of itself constitute a felony under the laws of the state, the per¬ 
 son charged with the act shall be remanded by the juvenile court 
 to the district court for trial. The juvenile court may impose 
 conditions upon any person found guilty under this section, and 
 so long as such person shall comply therewith to the satisfac¬ 
 tion of the court the sentence imposed may be suspended. 
 
 c. Juvenile Dependency. 
 
 Section 26. When the charge of dependency, as defined in 
 Section 11 of this act, is brought against a child, the child shall 
 be brought before the juvenile court, or where this is impracti¬ 
 cable, the representative of the child, whereupon it shall be the 
 duty of said court to investigate the facts and ascertain whether 
 said child is a dependent child, its residence, and as far as pos¬ 
 sible the whereabouts of the parents, guardian or nearest adult 
 relatives; when and how long the child has been maintained, in 
 whole or in part, by public or by private charity; the occupation 
 of the parents, if living; whether they are supported by the public 
 or have abandoned the child; and to ascertain as far as possible, if 
 the child is found dependent, the causes thereof. In case one or 
 both parents of the child appear in court it shall be the duty of the 
 judge to explain to the one so appearing the effect of an order 
 of court declaring the child to be dependent. In case any de¬ 
 pendent child is taken away from its parent, parents, or guardian 
 under the provisions of this act, such parent, parents, nr guard¬ 
 ian shall thereafter have no rights over or to the custody, services, 
 or earnings of said child, except upon such conditions, in the 
 interests of such child, as the court may impose, or where upon 
 proper proceedings such child may be lawfully restored to the 
 parents or guardian. 
 
 Section 27. When any child shall be found to be a depend¬ 
 ent child as defined in Section 11 of this act, it shall be encum¬ 
 bent upon the court to take such steps as shall, in the judgment 
 of the court, best alleviate the conditions, physical, intellectual, 
 and moral, of such child. Ifi.the court deems further stay, under 
 such restrictions as may be imposed, in the child’s own home, if 
 
PROPOSED LAW PRESENTED. 
 
 115 
 
 it has one, or in a temporary home elsewhere, or in any present 
 surroundings, inadvisable, the court may recommend to the 
 State Board of Control the commitment of the child to the care 
 of some reputable citizen of good moral character who will adopt 
 it or act as guardian of it or give it a permanent home, or to 
 the care of a state, institution for dependent children or of some 
 voluntary institution or association that will receive it, which 
 conforms to the definition of such organization as found in Sec¬ 
 tion 11 of this act and which has been duly accredited as pro¬ 
 vided in Section 42 of this act; provided. First, no dependent 
 child shall be committed beyond its minority; Second, no com¬ 
 mitment of a dependent child, whether defective or not, except 
 feeble-minded, epileptic, and insane, shall be made to a state or 
 voluntary institution, association, or individual (except to such 
 individual on probation), except by recommendation of the 
 juvenile court or the district court on appeal, to the State Board 
 of Control, unless the child is a ward of a state institution, and 
 commitment of such dependent child shall not be made except 
 such recommendation shall be approved by said Board, but any 
 defective child who is not dependent or delinquent shall be ad¬ 
 mitted, when eligible by law, to any appropriate institution that 
 will receive it by making direct application thereto, or to a state 
 institution by conforming to the rules thereof; Third, a dependent 
 child who is not a delinquent child shall not be committed to a 
 state or voluntary institution or association for delinquents; 
 Fourth, a dependent child shall not be committed to or be received 
 by any county asylum for the poor; Fifth, the delinquency of any 
 dependent child may, in the judgment of the State Board of Con¬ 
 trol, debar it from commitment to any state or voluntary insti¬ 
 tution or association for dependent children; Sixth, any dependent 
 child under sixteen (16) years of age, not eligible to some other 
 state institution, may be committed to the Soldiers’ Orphans’ 
 Home, 
 
 Section 28. The State Board of Control shall fix upon a 
 sum to cover the cost of a child’s maintenance in any state insti¬ 
 tution primarily for dependent children or in any voluntary 
 institution as defined in Section 11 of this act, a sum to cover 
 the traveling expenses of a child to a s-tate or voluntary institu¬ 
 tion or to a family home in which it is placed, and a bonus for 
 the agency permanently placing a child in a family home. Said 
 sums and bonus shall be uniform under given conditions and 
 shall be paid by the county in which the child is found dependent 
 
116 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF ICANSAS. 
 
 to the state or voluntary institution caring for the child or the 
 agency placing the child. 
 
 d. Adult Delinquency Contributing to Juvenile Dependency. 
 
 Section 29. In all cases where any child shall be a depend¬ 
 ent child, as defined by this act, the parent or parents, or other 
 persons responsible for or by any act causing, encouraging, or 
 contributing to such dependency, shall be guilty of a misde¬ 
 meanor, and, upon trial and conviction thereof, shall be punished 
 by a fine in a sum not to exceed one thousand (1,000) dollars or 
 by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed one 
 (1) year, or by both such fine and imprisonment; provided, that 
 if at the hearing of the child or at the trial of the person or per¬ 
 sons responsible for the child, it is shown to the satisfaction of 
 the court that such person or persons are unable to support said 
 child, such showing shall constitute grounds of innocence for 
 such time only as such inability shall continue. The juvenile 
 court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction in all such cases, 
 proceedings in which shall be in the manner of cases for misde¬ 
 meanors in the justice of peace court; provided, that if the act, 
 or cause, or neglect contributing to the dependency of the child 
 shall of itself constitute a felony under the laws of the state, 
 the person or persons charged with the offense shall be remanded 
 by the juvenile court to the district court for trial. 
 
 Section 30. When any child shall be found to be a depend¬ 
 ent child, as defined in Section 11 of this act, it shall be the duty 
 of the probation officer, or in his absence or non-appointment, 
 the county attorney, to at once file complaint under this act 
 against the person or persons shown in the examination of said 
 child as probably responsible for the dependency of said child; 
 but prosecution shall begin at any time on discovery of the re- 
 . sponsible person. 
 
 Section 31. The court may suspend any sentence imposed 
 under- Section 29 of this act, or release any person sentenced 
 under said Section from custody on condition that such person 
 shall furnish a good and sufficient bond or undertaking to the 
 people of the State of Kansas in such penal sum, as the court 
 shall determine, conditioned for the payment of such amount 
 as the court may order, not exceeding twenty-five (25) dollars 
 per month for each child, for the support, care, and maintenance 
 of such child while under the guardianship or in the custody of 
 any individual, association, or institution to which the child may 
 
PROPOSED LAW PRESENTED. 
 
 117 
 
 have been committed or entrusted under the provisions of this 
 act concerning dependent children. 
 
 Section 32. The court may also suspend any sentence im¬ 
 posed under Section 29 of this act, and may permit any depend¬ 
 ent child to remain in the custody of any such person found 
 guilty, upon conditions to be prescribed or imposed by the court, 
 as seem most calculated to remove the cause of such dependency, 
 and while such conditions are accepted and complied with by 
 any sufth person such sentence may remain suspended, and such 
 person shall be considered on probation in said court; in case a 
 bond is given as provided herein, the conditions prescribed by 
 the court may be made a part of the terms and conditions of 
 such bond. 
 
 Section 33. Upon the failure of any such person to comply 
 with the terms and conditions imposed by the court, such bond 
 or the term of probation may be declared forfeited and term¬ 
 inated by the court, and the original sentence executed as 
 though it had never been suspended, and the term of any such 
 jail sentence imposed in any such case shall commence from the 
 date of the incarceration of any such person after the forfeiture 
 of such bond or term of probation. There shall be deducted from 
 any such period of incarceration any part of such sentence which 
 may have already been served. 
 
 Section 34. It shall not be necessary to bring a separate 
 suit to recover the penalty of any such bond so forfeited, but 
 the court may cause a citation to issue to the surety or sureties 
 thereon requiring that he or they appear at a time named therein 
 by the court, which time shall be not less than ten nor more 
 than twenty days from the issuance thereof, and show cause, if 
 any there be, why judgment should not be entered for the pen¬ 
 alty of such bond and execution issue for the amount thereof 
 against the property of the surety or sureties thereon, as in civil 
 cases, and upon failure to appear or failure to show any such 
 sufficient cause the court shall enter judgment in behalf of the 
 people of the State of Kansas against such surety or sureties. 
 Any moneys collected or paid upon any such execution or in 
 any case upon said bond shall be turned over to the county treas¬ 
 urer of the county in which said bond is given, to be applied to 
 the care and maintenance of the child or children for whose de¬ 
 pendency such conviction was had, in such manner and upon such 
 terms as the juvenile court may direct; provided, that if it shall 
 
118 
 
 THE JUVENILE COUHT SYSTEM OF KA NSAS. 
 
 not be necessary in the opinion of the court to use such fund or 
 any part thereof for the support and maintenance of such child, 
 the same shall be paid into the county treasury and become a 
 part of the funds of such county. 
 
 Article IV. Detention of Children. 
 
 Section 35. No child under sixteen (16) years of age shall 
 under any circumstances be incarcerated in any prison, com¬ 
 mon jail, or lock-up, and any officer or person violating fhis pro¬ 
 vision of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on con¬ 
 viction thereof, shall be punished by a fine in a sum not to ex¬ 
 ceed one hundred (100) dollars or by imprisonment in the county 
 jail for a period not to exceed three (3) months or by both such 
 fine and imprisonment. 
 
 Section 36. In counties having a population of over 40,000, 
 according to the latest census, whether federal or state, it shall 
 be the duty of the Board of County Commissioners to build 
 or purchase, or to rent or lease for not to exceed five years 
 for any one period, a suitable and convenient house for the 
 purpose of caring for dependent or delinquent children as defined 
 by this act, whom it may be necessary to incarcerate or hold in 
 custody by virtue of the order, warrant, or direction of any court 
 having jurisdiction of such children, or by virtue of an arrest 
 by any officer of such court. Said house shall be known as the 
 Detention Home, shall be located at the county seat, but entirely 
 removed and separated from any jail, shall be provided and 
 maintained at the expense of the county, and shall be so arranged, 
 furnished, and conducted that, as near as practicable for their 
 safe custody, the inmates thereof shall be cared for as in a 
 family home and public school. Said inmates shall be deemed 
 probationers of the juvenile court and shall be subject to its 
 orders. 
 
 Section 37. The employees provided for and selected to 
 control and manage said Detention Home shall consist of a man 
 and woman, who are husband and wife, of good moral character, 
 who shall be respectively designated as “Superintendent” and 
 “Matron” of the Detention Home, and shall reside therein, and 
 at least one of whom shall be competent to teach and instruct 
 children in branches of education similar to those embraced in 
 the curriculum of the public schools of the city up to and includ¬ 
 ing the eighth grade. Other employees shall be such help or 
 
PROPOSED LAW PRESENTED. 
 
 119 
 
 assistance as in the opinion of the judge of the juvenile court 
 shall be necessary to the proper care and maintenance of such 
 Home. 
 
 Section 38. The superintendent and matron shall be 
 appointed by the juvenile court of the county, provided such 
 appointment shall be first submitted to the State Board of Con¬ 
 trol for its approval as to the qualifications of the appointees. It 
 shall be the duty of said Board to approve or disapprove such 
 appointment within fifteen (15) days after the submission 
 thereof; such appointment shall be considered approved in case 
 the said Board shall fail within said time to take any action 
 thereon. The superintendent and matron shall jointly receive a 
 salary of one thousand (1,000) dollars per year, payable in equal 
 monthly installments in the manner provided for other county 
 officers. All other necessary employees for the conduct, care, and 
 maintenance of said Home shall be appointed by the juvenile 
 court upon such salary as may be determined by the Board of 
 County Commissioners. Every employee of such Detention Home 
 appointed in the manner prescribed by this act may hold his 
 office until removed- by the juvenile court, but removal shall be 
 for cause only. Inefficiency or failure to act in accordance with 
 the instructions of the court or the discontinuance of the duties 
 for which such employee was employed shall constitute cause for 
 removal, but in any case such employee may appeal from the 
 court’s action of removal to the State Board of Control, and the 
 decision of said Board shall be final; provided, that the resig¬ 
 nation or removal of either the superintendent or matron shall 
 require the resignation or removal of both. 
 
 Section 39. The Detention Home shall be supplied with all 
 necessary and convenient facilities for the care of the inmates 
 as herein provided. The supplies or repairs necessary to main¬ 
 tain, operate, and conduct the Detention Home shall be furnished 
 upon the requisition of its superintendent upon the Board of 
 County Commissioners, and the bills therefor shall be audited, 
 passed upon, and paid as other bills for supplies for the institu¬ 
 tions of such county. 
 
 Section 40. It shall be the duty of the superintendent of 
 said Detention Home to keep a complete record of all children 
 committed thereto, which record shall contain the name, resi¬ 
 dence, address, and age of each child, and the cause or reason of 
 its detention, the length of time detained, the offense alleged to 
 have been committed by said child, if any, and any other useful 
 
120 
 
 THE JUVENILE COURT SYSTEM OF ICANSAS. 
 
 data or information that may be directed to be kept by the State 
 Board of Control. A record shall also be kept by such super¬ 
 intendent of all expenditures made by the county for the care 
 and maintenance of such Home. An annual report to the State 
 Board of Control shall be made between the first and fifteenth 
 days of July by the superintendent, on blanks furnished by said 
 Board, which shall contain the data concerning the inmates 
 and expenditures mentioned above in this section and such other 
 as may be required by said Board. The judge of the juvenile 
 court may at any time demand, in which case it shall be the duty 
 of the superintendent to furnish, such information as said court 
 may require concerning the conduct, maintenance, or inmates 
 of the Detention Home. 
 
 Section 41. In counties having a population of less than 
 40,000, according to the latest census, whether federal or state, 
 it shall be the duty of the judge of the juvenile court with the 
 approval of the Board of County Commissioners to contract at 
 the beginning of each fiscal year for one year with the 
 head of a good family home, when possible the probation 
 officer, to care for in his home all probationers of the court 
 requiring detention not otherwise provided, at a rate per child 
 per day mutually agreed upon; provided, that nothing in this 
 section shall be so construed as to prevent the Board of County 
 Commissioners of any county from establishing a Detention 
 Home subject to the provisions of this act concerning said Home. 
 
 Article V. State Supervision of Child-Saving Agencies. 
 
 Section 42. All institutions and associations receiving chil¬ 
 dren under this act shall be subject to the same visitation, 
 inspection, and supervision by the State Board of Control, as are 
 the public charitable institutions of this state, and it shall be the 
 duty of the said Board to pass annually upon the fitness of any 
 institution or association which may receive or desire to receive, 
 any child or children under the provisions of this act. Every 
 such institution and association shall file with the State Board 
 of Control an annual written report, which shall include a state¬ 
 ment of the number of children cared for during the year, the 
 number received, the number placed in homes, the number having 
 died, the number returned to friends; also a financial statement, 
 showing the receipts and disbursements of the institution or asso¬ 
 ciation. The statements of receipts shall indicate the amounts 
 
PROPOSED LAW PRESENTED. 
 
 121 
 
 received from public funds, the amounts received from dona¬ 
 tions, and the amounts received from other sources, specifying 
 the several sources. The statements of disbursements shall show 
 the amounts expended for salaries and other expenses, specifying 
 the same; the amounts expended for lands, buildings, and invest¬ 
 ments. Such other facts as the said Board may require shall 
 be included in such annual report. The State Board of Control 
 may also require at any time during the year from any such 
 institution or association a written statement respecting any^ 
 phase or condition of such institution or association. The secre¬ 
 tary of the State Board of Control shall furnish to the judge of 
 the juvenile court of each county a list of accredited institutions 
 and associations with a tabulated report thereof, and no child 
 shall be committed or recommended for commitment to the care 
 of any institution or association which shall not have filed the 
 written report for the fiscal year last preceding with the State 
 Board of Control as herein provided, and otherwise satisfied said 
 Board of its competency and adequate facilities to care for such 
 child. Any individual receiving a child or childen under this 
 act shall be subject to such visitation and inspection of the State 
 Board of Control as seems best for the interests of such child or 
 children. All county Detention Homes provided for by this act 
 shall be subject to the visitation and inspection of the State Board 
 of Control. 
 
 Article VI. General Provisions. 
 
 Section 43. Any official who shall neglect or refuse to per¬ 
 form the duties imposed by this act or in any way to comply with 
 the provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misde¬ 
 meanor and on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine 
 in a sum not to exceed one hundred (100) dollars or by impris¬ 
 onment in the county jail for a period not to exceed three (3) 
 months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. 
 
 Section 44. This act shall be liberally construed, to the end 
 that its purposes may be carried out, to wit, that the care, custody 
 and discipline of a child shall approximate, as nearly as may be 
 proper, parental care; and in all cases where the same can be 
 properly done, that a child may be placed in an approved family 
 home, by legal adoption or otherwise. And in no case shall any 
 proceedings, order, or judgment of the juvenile court, in cases 
 coming within the purview qf this act, be deemed or held to 
 
122 
 
 THE JUVENILE OOURT SYSTEM OF I^JUSTSAS. 
 
 import a criminal act on the part of any child; but all such pro¬ 
 ceedings, orders, and judgments shall be deemed to have been 
 taken and done in the exercise of the parental power of the 
 state. 
 
 Section 45. That Chapter 190 of the Session Laws of 1905 
 entitled “An Act to establish a juvenile court and provide for 
 the care of dependent, neglected and delinquent children,” and 
 Sections 2300, 4194, 4199, 4200, 4201, 4208, 4210, 4211, 4213, 
 4214, 4406, 7122, 7123, 7124, 7125, 7136, 7146, 7147, 7148, and 
 •7156 of the General Statutes of Kansas of 1901, Section 4, Chap¬ 
 ter 423 of the Session Laws of 1903, and Chapter 385 of the 
 Session Laws of 1905, and all acts and parts of acts in conflict 
 herewith are hereby repealed. 
 
 Section 46. This act shall take effect and be in force from 
 and after its publication in the official state paper. 
 
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