THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO 3 8198 319 802 367 ON THE TRAIL OF THE Juvenile-Adult Offender An Intensive Study of 100 County Jail Cases By A. P. Drucker Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago 1912 qpHE JUVENILE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION -■- is greatly indebted to the following individuals and associations who have aided in every way this investiga- tion of the boys in the County Jail and who by their co-operation, advice and assistance have made possible this study. Mr. Michael Zimmer, Sheriff Mr, William Davies, Jailer Mr. John L. Whitman The States Attorney's Office The Police Department The Judges of the Municipal, Superior and Circuit Courts The Juvenile Court The Municipal Bureau of Statistics Bureau of Persona! Service INTRODUCTION. A young boy of 18 left his home in Nebraska to come to Chicago, feeling that he could secure a better wage here. On his arrival in the city, with his grip in his hand, he walked the streets, looking for what he considered a cheap and at the same time respectable boarding house. As he was standing on a side street near a show case in front of a store, he saw two boys go quickly up to the case, break the glass, take out the goods and run away. The noise of the breaking glass attracted a policeman, who promptly arrested the Nebraska boy, who was sim- ply looking on, and also secured the arrest of the two boys who had broken the glass and stolen the goods. The Nebraska boy was brought into court and charged with being an accessory after the fact, and was sent to prison for six months. Undoubtedly, he should have at- tempted to prevent the theft by calling for assistance, but a country boy does not always know what to expect in a city and so does not always act quickly. It was cases such as this of unjust imprisonment which called the attention of the Juvenile Protective Associa- tion to the large number of boys, many of them first of- fenders just over the Juvenile Court age, who are con- fined every year in the County Jail of Chicago. Hoping to be of some assistance to these boys by investigating the causes which led them into trouble, and by putting the extenuating circumstances connected with their of- 4 fence before the Court, the Juvenile Protective Associa- tion made a very thorough investigation of the histories of one hundred boys held in the County Jail. The re- sults of this study have been tabulated in the following pages by Mr, A. P. Drucker, one of the officers of the Juvenile Protective Association. Mr. Drucker has made a study of this question of first offenders and has inter- viewed a large number of probation officers, judges, pe- nologists and others who come in contact with juvenile- adult offenders. The results of this investigation I com- mend to those who are interested in the first offender, with the suggestion that since we have a public prose- cutor to see that criminals are punished and that the rights of property and person are respected, so we should have as well a public defender to see that the extenuat- ing circumstances connected with a boy's first offence are brought before the courts. Louise de Koven Bowen. On the Trail of The Juvenile-Adult Offender The recently initiated movement for the protection of the child has brought about many improvements. Among its numerous good results are the beneficent child-labor laws and the Juvenile Court, with its humane treatment of the youthful offender. This humane legislation of necessity, however, excludes older minors from its bene- fits. And yet the boy between the ages of 17 and 21 is almost as badly in need of legal protection and help as is his younger brother, since this period, the Juvenile-Adults final stage of adolescence, is a critical Neglected in qj^^ [^ human life. It is at this age that °*^^^ W^ ^^' ^^^ youth's judgment of right and wrong is being formed, his character is being definitely developed and his whole atti- tude toward life is becoming shaped. Yet insofar as the lawmakers and the workers for social betterment are concerned, nothing has been undertaken either to im- prove conditions of life for him or to keep him from evil ways. Entirely neglected when questions of social amel- ioration have come up, nothing has been planned or done to aid the youth when he has had the misfortune to be arraigned as a delinquent and brought into court. It is in order to direct attention to this class of young delin- quents that the Juvenile Protective Association has un- 6 with social workers, lawyers, the State's Attorney, and judges, and after consulting various specialists in pen- ology, the results of the investigation were tabulated and the following deductions were made : HOME CONDITIONS— POVERTY. "The Great According to Thomas Travis, "The Cause of great cause of juvenile delinquency is Juvenile Delin- ° • r .• i u >. T ^u the non- or semi-iunctional home, quency Is the Semi-Func- '^'"'^^ statement is strikingly borne out tional Home." by the data gathered in the course of the present investigation. Out of 105 offenses, 78 were violations of property rights ; 13 were sexual crimes; 9 were personal injuries; and the remain- der were cases of disorderly conduct. Of the 9 cases of personal injuries, 6 were attempts to commit robbery — hence actually crimes against property rights. The re- markable predominance of this last class of offenses points to the fact that poverty is the prime cause of much delinquency. For it is acknowledged that property of- fenses are mainly induced by poverty.* Indeed the more ♦The statistics obtained in our tables are corroborated by the statistics of other agencies interested in the question of the contributing causes of juvenile crime. All agree that between 80 and 90 per cent of this crime relate to property violation and is induced by poverty. The statistics accumulated by the authorities of the State Reformatory at Elmira, New York, show that 83 per cent of the New York juvenile court children never had a childhood — in the sense that they had to work for a living since they were 10 years old. Only 7.6 per cent of all the inmates at Elmira had had a fairly good home. Only 13 per cent of all the young offenders examined by Raux, of Paris, had had even ordinary supervision by their parents. 9 carefully we study the history of these delinquent lads the more we are convinced that it was poverty first and last which drove them to crime ; for in all cases the boys had to go out to work for a living before they were pre- pared for the struggle for existence. TABLE I Showing the Nature of Crimes of the One Hundred Juvenile- Adult Delinquents. Confidence games 2 Contributing to delinquency 1 Joy-riding 3 Assault and battery 3 Burglary 27 Arson 2 Highway robbery 25 Petty larceny 2 Grand larceny 8 Disorderly conduct 5 Attempted murder 1 Murder 7 Stealing 5 Rape 10 Bastardy 3 Tampering with United States mail 1 Delinquency In order to obtain every possible light Due to Bad q^^ j-j^g delinquency cases in hand, the Homes, Bad ^^^^^ ^^^ investigated was asked to Company, . , . , , . . , j3j.jj^^ give his or her personal opinion as to the contributory cause in each case. From the officers' answers we have these facts: In 37 cases the cause was ascribed to a bad home. In VJ cases the boys were misled by bad company, and in 15 cases they were badly intoxicated when they committed their crime. The rest were either subnormals or perverts. TABLE II Contributory Causes. Bastardy 2 Rape 2 Highway robbery 9 Assault and battery Attempted murder Murder 3 Burglary 12 Stealing Petty larceny 2 Grand larceny 4 Tampering U. S. Mail.. .. Confidence game Contrib. to delinquency. 1 Disorderly conduct 2 Joy riding Arson 37 ^\lready counted. 05Q 1 3 6 Zl 1 ll 3 1 3 5 10 10 18 25 2 3 1 1 5 7 26 27 5 5 2 2 8 8 1 2 1 1 4 5 2 3 2 2 *91 105 A Heavy Price for "Keeping the Family Together at All Costs" More light is thrown upon the home environment of these boys by a study of Table 3 (Family Record). Here we see that 42 boys have both parents liv- ing. Out of this number, in 16 in- stances the mother goes out working; 6 have insanity or disease in the family ; 12 families were deserted by 11 the father. Furthermore, 28 have no father; 11 are motherless ; and 6 have neither father nor mother living. On the face of it, these last statistics are rather surpris- ing, as one vi^ould expect more delinquents in the cases v^here the boys have neither parent living, or among those who had only the mother living. From a study of the records of orphan homes, however, we get the ex- planation of this apparent anomaly. In the orphanages the greater number of children have neither father nor mother. Next come the orphans who have lost their mothers; while lastly come those who have lost their fathers. By comparing these statistics with the former ones, we shall see the reason for the greater number of delinquents among those who have lost their fathers and the smaller number among those who have lost both pa- rents. In the last case the children are placed in an in- stitution, where they are brought up under good super- vision. So, too, where the mother dies, the surviving parent more often shirks his duty and sends his children to a home. Where the father dies, on the other hand, the case is different. The poor mother tries hard to keep her little family together. As she must go out to earn a living for them, the children grow up v/ithout any supervision, and these are the children who later are brought into the court and sent to the jails. From this it will appear that the present tendency to keep the family together at all costs has its dark side; in fact the oppo- sition to placing children in an institution is justified only where the mother is provided with a livelihood by the city or state, so that she need not go to work. In all other cases a good orphanage is far better, since a child without good supervision is almost bound to turn out badly. 12 TABLE III Family Record. Mixed marriage 3 Only son 1 Home conditions bad 8 Home conditions good.... 8 Father insane 2 Mother insane 2 Disease in family 1 Bad blood in family 1 Mother working 16 5^« 3 5 11 1 o £ 1 1 6 6 3 42 28 11 '12 101 ♦Counted before. Preventioa Must Begin at Home From a survey of the tables derived from these reports, it appears that the semi-functional home was the direct cause of 48 delinquencies. Fifteen more cases may be indirectly ascribed to bad homes — not only because the young boys probably followed the bad ex- ample of their father but, in many instances, it was the bad home conditions which drove both father and son to the saloon. The Juvenile Protective Association has evidence to prove that much drunkenness was caused by bad cooking, general shiftlessness about the home, bad economic management and unattractiveness and un- pleasantness generally in the house. Even the 37 cases of bad company leading to delinquency are attrib- utable to bad homes. If then, we would combat de- linquency among juvenile-adults, we must first of all find a means of converting bad homes into good ones. 13 SALOON VS. HOME. Saloon an "Many children are also found who Old Offender have been decoyed into their first wrong- doing through the temptation of the saloon, in spite of the fact that one of the earliest regu- lations in American cities for the protection of children was the prohibition of the sale of liquor to minors." — Miss Jane Addams, in A Neiv Conscience and an An- cient Evil. One Young Of the 9 offenders who had good Highwayman homes, 8 were intoxicated when they ^ f, °TT " committed the crime. This is an elo- to Keep Up i , , • His Courage" quent comment on the saloon regulation in our city, for all these offenders were minors, and hence each case was an instance of viola- tion of the law forbidding the sale of liquor to minors. Not only did these lads get what they wanted, but in several cases it was discovered later that the saloon- keepers were in league with the would-be criminals. Thus Case 23 had been urged to commit robbery by his salboioikeeper friend. Case 31 "had to drink to keep up his courage." The Kauffman murder was perpetrated by youths maddened by drink. The heavy license im- posed upon saloonkeepers and the graft which is almost inseparable from this business, make the saloonkeepers nearly desperate in their anxiety to cover their consider- able expenses, and, as they put it — they are forced to break the laws in every way they possibly can without being caught. 14 Q The pity of it is that at present the Poor-Man's saloon is really the only place where a Club poor youth can go to rest. It is as yet the only poor-man's club. Many a young man goes to the saloon only for the rest and the toilet accommodations he can get in no other public place. Naturally, the saloonkeeper does not provide these ac- commodations out of kindliness toward the public, but rather because he thus gains many customers, since it is understood that every one who comes to the saloon must buy a drink. Indeed, in this respect Chicago is worse off than most of the Eastern large cities. In New York, in the busi- ness district, lavatory facilities are provided in various places not saloons, and the same is true of several other large cities that have learned the evil influence of the saloon as a poor man's club. TABLE IV Neighborhood Conditions. Chicago City Slum Crimes per person 11 4 One saloon to every 212 127 Illiterate 4.65% 25.37% Area of Chicago 194.45 sq. mi. No. of officers on Police Force 4,437 Policemen per square mile 20 (sub. clerks, etc.) NEIGHBORHOOD CONDITIONS. Nearly 90 per cent of our County Small Parks t -i v, x .tu ^ j j- -_ ^ _ , ail bovs come from the congested dis- Must Supplant ■ . - , . , , . , , Saloon and tricts of the city, where the neighbor- Nickel Show hood conditions are very bad. These boys are surrounded on every side by evil influences and have not one place where they may 15 look for help or guidance. The home is bad, the neigh- borhood is worse, saloons line the streets, and at the back doors are the railroad tracks and dumping grounds. The only good influence which these youths and boys may have is the small park with a supervised playground. A broadcast distribution of wholesome outdoor recre- ation for the very poor boy can, in a large degree, offset the perils of the saloon and of the cheap amusement theater, as well as of the summer amusement parks, to which these children and young people are now prac- tically driven. EDUCATION. Delinquents The second contributing cause to ju- Below Average venile delinquency is shown by our sta- in Scholarship ^j^^.^g ^^ ^^ ^^^ company. As this and Ordinary • , , i , , Intelligence cause is closely related to the question of truancy, the latter will now be taken up and considered, together with the educational records of our cases. To begin with the latter — the school record as given by the County Jail youths themselves was made the basis for the figures in Table 5. From their own state- ments it appears that 4 of the boys had had no education whatever; 3 had left school before they were 11 years old ; 2 had left when they were 12 years ; 6 at the age of 13 years ; 55 at the age of 14 years ; 19 at 15 years ; 14 at 16 years; 2 at 17 years, and 3 at 18 years. Considered by grades, 4 boys had left school from the second grade; 7 from the third grade ; 9 from the fourth ; 12 from the fifth; 19 from the sixth; 20 from the seventh, and 20 from the eighth. Seven boys had attended high school, and 2 had gone to college. Inasmuch as these statements were obtained from the boys themselves, however, tliey 16 may not be altogether reliable, as the boys naturally would want to appear to the best advantage. When sub- jected to an educational test, it was evident that on the whole they were far below the average in education, and Mr. McLane, the teacher in the County Jail, considers them far below the average in ordinary intelligence. On the other hand, we find an explanation of the discrep- ancy between their alleged standing and their actual edu- cational equipment in the fact that their own statements take no account of truancy, whereas from other records we know that truancy plays a large part in the delin- quency of such boys as these. Inquiry in the Compul- sory Education Department brought out the following data : Thirty-eight boys out of the 100 had records in this department as truants. In addition there were many whose truancy was due to suspension, or to trouble with the teacher — a phase of truancy not often reported to the truancy department nor noted on the records. TABLE V .: '■''"' ' ■ School Record. Left School at 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Total Grade Second 1 1 1 1 4 Third 1 5 1 2 .. .. 9 Fourth 1 .. 5 2 1 .. .. 9 Fifth 1 9 2 12 Sixth 1 15 2 2 . . 19 Seventh 2 10 2 5 1 20 Eighth 1 10 5 3 1 20 High School 1 .. 4 1 1 .. 7 College 2 2 No education. 3 1 4 5 1 2 6 55 19 14 2 3 106 17 . ^ _, The boys who were once truants are A Truant To- ^ , rr^, (jgy ^ Tramp ahnost sure to go wrong later. The Tomorrow children of the poor have at best a hard time, without parental supervision over their studies. But at least, while they attend school reg- ularly they are forced by the system to keep up with the class. But once they drop out, even for the shortest pos- sible time, they are almost sure to lose what little per- functory interest they have had in their school work ; they fall behind ; if disciplined or suspended they eventu- ally become truants. And these boys who fall by the wayside in their studies usually fall by the wayside moral- ly as well, for they know that in order to be secure from the truant officer they njust hide somewhere. Thus, in vacant lots and even in caves and deserted barns they foregather with the tramp, the criminal, and the vicious of every description. Here they discover another world — a class of people "up against it" like themselves, hid- ing from the authorities. Inspired by such examples, the truants band themselves into gangs and thence the downward path is by a steep grade. Every "gang," as we are told by Dr. Hoben in his recent book, The Minis- ter and the Boy, is led by an older boy, who can provide his henchmen with cigarettes, tobacco, beer, and not infrequently with cocaine and other poisons, physical and moral. Here, in the gang, beneath the glamor of adven- ture, the youth is for the first time consciously and shamelessly familiarized with defiance of law and society. A Study of ^'-^^ truancy, it has been said, is not Truancy by itself a disease but rather a symptom. Gertrude Howe Its causes need to be carefully studied Bntton ^j^(j remedies suggested. Such an in- tensive study of the truancy question was made by 18 Gertrude Howe Britton, in An Intensive Study of the Causes of Truancy (1906), ^ summary of which is given herewith : TABLE VI Truancy Record for 1912. Illness (child or in family) 22,963 Kept home for cause 11, 770 Lack of shoes or clothing 3,405 Home conditions 376 Other causes 2,390 Total, poverty as cause 40,898 Parental inefficiency 4,695 Truancy absences 5,153 Excluded by medical inspection 1,082 Suspended by school authorities 1,011 Cold weather or distance 611 Repeaters 1,352 Incorrigibles 244 Subnormals 105 Total, other causes than poverty 14,273 CAUSES OF TRUANCY REMEDIES I — Problem? trom Without the School. 1. Health— a. Underdevelopment. Ungraded schools or classes. b. Subnormal. Special schools. c. Physical defects : Deaf- Special schools for deaf and ness, partial blindness, dumb, blind and crippled physical deformity. children. d. Malnutrition — responsi- Establishment of school meals. ble for mental dulness and stupidity. e. Illness — child legitimately School nurse. dismissed on account of illness and does not re- turn when recovered. f. Delay in vaccination. School nurse. 19 CAUSES OF TRUANCY g. Lack of vitality. 2. Poverty— a. Home environment. b. Lack of clothing. Lack of cleanliness. d. Unfamiliarity with lan- REMEDIES Establishment of more public playgrounds and directed gymnastics. To be partially remedied by co-operation with neighbor- hood agencies and relief so- cieties. School Children's Aid Society of Chicago. School baths established in 63 Chicago schools. Special schools for foreign- born children. guage, making it hard for foreign-born chil- dren to comprehend. e. Indifference of parents — child does not find any connection between home and school. II — Problems from Within the School. Method of Enrolment — a. Original entry. A cer- tain percentage of chil- dren are never regis- tered in any school. Parents' associations — evening lecture courses — more school training toward increased earning capacity. Transfers — failure to reg- ister when the family has moved into a new district. A school census by districts to be taken every spring or summer, so that at the open- ing of school in September the authorities may know how many children of school age live in their respective district and for whom facili- ties should be provided. Every principal should have a clerk, whose business it should be to look after the whereabouts 'of the children of the district, to follow them up when they move; also to keep track of those in private schools. 20 CAUSES OF TRUANCY 2. Suspension — a. For tardiness — tardy chil- dren sent home for rest of day. b. For absences — dropping children from the rolls when they have been absent for from 4 to 10 days. c. For incorrigibility. 3. Lack of Interest and Initia tive — a. Overcrowding. REMEDIES Discussion with experienced teachers of change in method of deaUng with tardiness. School recorder should ascer- tain exact reason for absence and probable date of return. Abolition of suspension for in- corrigibiHty. If necessary, child should be sent to Pa- rental School, but not turned out on the street. b. Discouragement of child. Teacher in overcrowded room has little chance to establish personal relations with indi- vidual children — 35 children to room should be maximum. Points to needed changes in curriculum — more manual training, more school gar- dens, science work with ex- cursions. Note — Special attention should be paid to work of 3rd and 5th grades, where largest proportion of truancy occurs. Little could be added to the remedies here suggested and these should be insisted upon and carried out. „ ^ ^ A further cause of juvenile delin- Poor Lads , , , •" • , • , Need Vacation Quency and one closely associated with School truancy, indeed leading to it in many cases, is the long summer vacation. This is particularly true in the case of boys in semi-func- tional homes. The law does not allow these lads to go 21 to work under the age of 14 years. The homes are squaHd and ding)'. The streets are full of moral and physical dangers. Where, then, should the boy spend his time during the warm summer days? It is at this season that he usually gets his first taste of idleness, which. he is unwilling to relinquish when the schools re- open. The attempt made in this city to have the schools open for a vacation session is a move in the right direc- tion, but it should make attendance obligatory just as in winter and should maintain the same hours. The school at Gary, Indiana, is an excellent example of what can be accomplished in this respect. OCCUPATION. _ . „, From the data gathered we derived Per Cent Had ^^^ following facts in regard to the oc- a Trade cupations of juvenile-adult delinquents. Forced to enter the industrial world early, without any trade, these boys work at any odd job they can get. These jobs they "hold down" on the average, three months. Then they change not only to an- other place, but in many cases to an entirely different kind of work. One of these lads went from an employ- ment as messenger boy to another as dishwasher in a restaurant. Naturally such a lad grows up without a steady trade or skill in any one occupation. According to the government reports, the wages of the unskilled laborer who leaves school before 14 years of age increase slowly until he is 20 years old — from $3 to $10 per week. There he remains stationary until he is 40 years old, when his earning capacity begins to decline. From the statistics obtained by the Juvenile Protective Associa- tion officers in regard to the present cases we learn that 22 only 3 per cent had a trade, the rest being without any preparation for earning a livelihood. Further, only 6 per cent worked at an occupation they liked, and all the others were obliged to do anything that came their way. To take one illustration : Nineteen boys had the ambition to become machinists. Of these, 4 worked as wagon boys ; 1 as a farmer ; 3 as errand boys ; 1 as an office boy ; 4 as laborers ; 2 as grocery clerks ; 3 as store boys, and 1 as a chauffeur. 23 uouiqiuy o^ •sng WM JS3UJ •jj/\[ ojnv •uioiig; -oujoajg uHpupajg •S}SUJ [BDISnj^ jSATJaSug j3JoqHq ^003 jajjBuiioojL J3>{EUIJ3JI0g j3;u9(Ijb3 ipiiusJiDBig aaquxnjj J3JSUiB3J^ oiuBqaajAj JSIUiqOEJAJ O rt S rt ^ CM ^ ^ ^ --1 r-H r-H 'iii.sigs-s|iil ii ^ ^ u 2 1 o l<- > o w n K-1 OJ ra ^ < H rt uojiiqiuyo^ •sna mm •j^j^ omv •U1SU3 -Dijpaig; UEIDUP3J3 SUTMTJJQ •s;su]; jTJOisnj^^ joaoqEq; ^003 a3>Iuiuioox J3J{BUU3[tOa J3;uuj i3;u3diB3 jaqiunij OIUBqDSJAJ ISIUiqDE^J^ S £ PL, fi, H H lA c/i U Here again, Chicago with all its coiii- Chicago s mercial pride has no trade school where Need— a Free V^^^S people may go after leaving the Trade School grammar school, while cities like New York and Boston have fine free trade schools, and even Cleveland and Milwaukee offer their young people this facility. Neither the truancy laws nor the child labor legislation provide for the youth who, be- cause he is unskilled in any trade, is often without a job and is thus forced to walk the street where he learns things less desirable than an honest trade, at a greater cost to the city and state. Indeed, this matter of a free trade school is the most crying need of the present time in Chicago. Many a poor mother has complained to the officer of the Juvenile Protective Association that "the children were wasting time, that they were forced to go to school in order to provide jobs for the teachers." This naive statement falls in very nicely with the unani- mous objection of the boys themselves that their school- ing did nothing to help them to get and keep positions. A trade school would fit these young fellows for a trade, and it would naturally act as a clearing house, where the employer might come for his skilled w^orkers. A feeling of self respect and independence would thus be engen- dered in the boy, by the consciousness that he was able to take care of himself, that would make for good and useful citizenship. Nationality Taking the oflfenses by the nationality Records of of the offenders, we have in 105 cases : Delinquents Six American white ; 7 colored ; 5 Eng- an Interesting H^h ; 14 German ; 2 French ; 10 Italian ; 19 Polish; 5 Bohemian; 1 Norwegian; 2 Greek; 20 Irish; 8 Scotch; 5 Slavonian; 1 Syrian. 26 A comparative study of Table 8 (Nationality of Offenders) will prove instructive. The statistics of this table, however, are not sufficiently comprehensive to war- rant any hard and fast conclusions. Studied collaterally with the next table, however, its data will be clearer. This table (IX) summarizes criminality in Chicago with reference to nationalitv. 27 FloX rooO^O-<:t-CNr^ll^j33J9 : HBl§3AVaOJ\J : uEiiuaqog : MSHOd'" ^ '^ -^ uBissn^ : uejib;! : HDU3JJ : UBlUjar) : qsiiSua : <^ • ^ rj CM -H ^ ^ ^ >> ?, s & >> g fc >^ S i2 ^ - s •^_S^e . 5 bo c ^< Ill 11 0® 3 — i 1 13 e1 n If i y 1 1 1 Cl If i-i rj 1 i 1 B- B g 1 1 -:i ?? i S i 1 g r 01 ^ 1 all s 1 5 1 1 i i ■3 j i 1 5; i 'i§ ? 1 ^ s S S i s 'S s i 1 1 CJI S' to 1 ,c 1 g p s s ,ii -0 -°! ? s 1 i 1 g b ■2: 1 1? f? p-. 1 — § i i I ^ § i CO S .S s; 1 " s w ^ CO 1 t3 3 1 Table 10 is a report of the Chicago Police Department for 1911. The figures there in a measure corroborate the figures in Table 8, though each has a difi:erent basis of tabulation. Table 10, however, is onl}^ a superficial arrangement, since the police officers are not the best judges in regard to nationality of individuals. Under the heading of "American AA'hite," for instance, can be found many foreigners who speak good English. Again, the heading "Austrian" is somewhat misleading since it omits Hungarians, whereas Bohemians, Poles and Sla- vonians are classed separately. With all its inaccuracies, however, this table deserves a careful study in regard to the national classification of our cases of delinquency and, in a measure, it corroborates our own conclusions. V.'hile the religious affiliation of the Churches ^ -^ ., , , Fc^udiate County Jail cases does not, of course, Responsibility afford any absolute knowledge of the immediate influence of this or that re- ligious creed upon its followers, the very fact that all the lads actually avowed some religious affiliation, is worthy of note and lays a certain share of responsibility upon the shoulders of the clergy of the respective denomina- tions. Among the religious memberships claimed are: Eight Methodist, 2 Baptist, 2 Episcopalians, 8 Luther- ans, 7 other Protestants, 5 Jews, 3 Greek Catholics, anr 65 Roman Catholics (35 of these attended the parochial schools). In fairness to all, it should be said that the South Germans, Slavs, Polish, and Irish delinquents (all Catholics) are among our poorest immigrants, and there- fore experience greatest difficulty in coping with condi- tions. The clergy on the other hand, claim that these oflfenders do not rightfully belong to the Catholic church, 30 Table 10 is a report of the Chicago Police Department for 1911. The figures there in a measure corroborate the figures in Table 8, though each has a difirerent basis of tabulation. Table 10, however, is only a superficial arrangement, since the police officers are not the best judges in regard to nationality of individuals. Under the heading of "American White," for instance, can be found many foreigners who speak good English. Again, the heading "Austrian" is somewhat misleading since it omits Hungarians, whereas Bohemians, Poles and Sla- vonians are classed separately. With all its inaccuracies, however, this table deserves a careful study in regard to the national classification of our cases of delinquency and, in a measure, it corroborates our own conclusions. ^, , While the religious affiliation of the Churches t •, , r ^'e^udiate County Jail cases does not, of course, Responsibility afi^ord any absolute knowledge of the immediate influence of this or that re- ligious creed upon its followers, the very fact that all the lads actually avowed some religious affiliation, is worthy of note and lays a certain share of responsibility upon the shoulders of the clergy of the respective denomina- tions. Among the religious memberships claimed are: Eight Methodist, 2 Baptist, 2 Episcopalians, 8 Luther- ans, 7 other Protestants, 5 Jews, 3 Greek Catholics, anr 65 Roman Catholics (35 of these attended the parochial schools). In fairness to all, it should be said that the South Germans, Slavs, Polish, and Irish delinquents (all Catholics) are among our poorest immigrants, and there- fore experience greatest difficulty in coping with condi- tions. The clergy on the other hand, claim that these offenders do not rightfully belong to the Catholic church, 30 POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT OF ARRESTS FOR 1911 FELONIES % 1 J ..... I ..... ..... ,.3 1 i IS 3 ::::: ..... 10 ..... s -j- .1 ^, i a a b I;;;;; 'I ■■■■■ i 1 a o fe ■gj ..^L .L -4 .J. '1:1 % ...1, "'a' ::::: 1 ■••'• 22 :::: 19 ::::: ..„. ...^. ••■j:;;:: 1 ■■::: S b -a- "is' 1? .|. 1 s s > i ..... 1 58 . i as.. a » b J. «L 1 A sL Abandonnieotot child under one year or age........... AK?"oS°.;:■.^■v.:::■.::v.;:v/^.^j^; ::::;:;: ::::::::::":: ■BSreS;aMei;™VsVD'::'.:;;; '.:.■.■'.■.;;::;::::::: :;:::;;::: Burglary, attempt to commit p«So^„^n^cy„K. Having burglar's tools Re?slvlng stolen pru,.' ri y ■"'ia' 1 1 ;;;■; ■■'a' i. ;;.; ..... :::.: "j ■'ij' ..... ::::: "io' :::;: i W 12; ,i 10 ■v ..... 1 1. ■3 s ..j ::::: :;: i 1 ;;■:; ::::: I ..... ::::: ::::: ::■•: ..... % ::::; I "1 1 j '33 1 1 IB ■3S I J 18 ■■■, Total Aoi5_ 468 792 17S 178 15 81 8 M 7I 17 .... 28 57 1 9 17 7 m_ _6^ 163 3 16" 368 22 J58_ 14 JIL IS 50 2 _620_ 76 J52_ 24 U 2 104 II 1 103 6 8,950 9.11 MISDEMEANORS J fe 6 S < fc, J. b i b 5 i a S s, . a 1 . b ! b 1 a«> 1 S iS fe alb .1 i a^b alb a S b aL a 1 b alb 1 Sub A. 1 4. Abandonment ot wUe or children Adultery and tornlealion Assault and assault and battery Assault with deadly weapon Bastardy Resisting a'o otOcer iiis-"' :■:::: 0:her mfeJemeanors 1 1SC9 i 8843 1 li 1 1 li? J 2ie i ..... "io li '"4, "vs 122 296 1 48 "22' 1 "28' 'ias' "e. •i95- "A ■js' ■351' ■■■8 \ ■2 -a 1 i 1 mi ..... ■362' ;;;:; ::::: 1 J 3. ..... ..... 1 32 :::•: i 90 3S5 "s I37J 1 343 ■io 1 IMO' ;■•■ ■•i6- "is 1 :;::: 27 ::::: 1 ■■]' 61 ■42 J; 1 25 656 i 1 ii 1 ..... 1 ' 1" ' i 16 ■38 40 1 ■3 ..... "si' ::::: 31 "69 '^i^ 2 1 1 !i 2.1 33(1 .... .^.^. 2316 "■Sl 790 8.843 29 6,71? sso TMal 34,973 1849 4263 106D 1536 190 416 81 230 1 326 16 508 119 168 506 1737 4 111 5 2526 .07 1930 427 860 76 519 49 318 273 390 36 280 I.J8 ,66 1 811 8.929 ll inasmuch as they are not in active attendance. Several priests with v/hom the writer discussed this matter, urged him to ask these dehnquents whether they attended Sun- day Mass, went to Communion, and ate hsh on Fridays. "Their answers will convince you," concluded one of them, himself a professor at Notre Dame College, that these boys are Catholics only in name." It is interesting to note that the same kind of explana- tion was given by a Jewish rabbi in regard to the Jew- ish delinquents. "The Jewish boys have no more claim upon Judaism than the others upon Christianity," said he. "At best, their parents happened to be Jews ; that is all the justification they have for calling themselves such." From our statistics it would seem that Environment ,•• ^ • ■ , 11 ■ n ^ religious trammg has had no mnuence More Potent '^ ,^,. t ■ 1 Than Relic^ious "PO" these dehnquents. Jewisn or Training Catholic boys of a decent neighborhood are decent fellows, while those sur- rounded by sordid conditions usually get into trouble. THE POLICE DEPARTMENT AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY. More Un- Since Captain Alexander R. Piper punished Crime ,.,^^q i^;^ famous report to the City Club m }^'^^° of Chicago on the Chicago Police in than m Any ^^ , . Other City 1904, a great many improvements have been introduced into the department, iiis main criticisms, however, still hold good. First, there are not sufficient men on the force for the size of the city. There are 194.45 square miles in the city of Chicago, and this area is policed by 4,437 ofificers, in- 31 eluding officials, detectives, stable men, matrons and clerks. It stands to reason that with such an inadequate force, the work of the police department cannot be done effectively. Hence, the second stricture — the inefficiency of the police. Undetected robberies are constantly com- mitted, and more holdups and more murders are unpun- ished in Chicago than in any other large city in this coun- try.* It is no wonder, therefore, that so much vice and lawlessness should flourish, and that gambling and drink- ing should go on under the very eyes of the police. It is a well known fact, which has been brought out by Mr. Morrison in his book Juvenile Offenders (1897) that lack of vigilance is a great inducement to crime, and that since Scotland Yards has increased its efficiency, crimin- ality has proportionately decreased in London. TABLE XI. Police Record for 1911. Persons arrested 81,649 Arraigned in Municipal Court 80,649 Persons arrested under 16 years 47 From 16 to 20 years of age 8,423 Held to Grand Jury 2,783 Held to Juvenile Court 64 Fined 30,612 Discharged 49,034 Sent to House of Correction 1,116 Occupations. Unskilled laborers 34,536 No occupation 9,619 *Crimcs and Criminals, published Ijy the Prison Reform League; also the Chicago Tribune, March 4, 1906. 32 ^ ,. . r Another factor in the denioraHzation Condition of Lock-ups °^ ^'^^ juvenile offender is subjection to Demoralizing l)rutahzing influences, due to the con- dition of the lock-ups and cells in the police stations. In most of the stations the cells are in the basements, which are always din^/, damp, unsanitary and generally unfit for human habitation. No pure air and no direct rays of the sun ever reach them. The sur- face of the brick walls is rough, unclean and vermin- ridden. A>ry few have sanitary water closets; most of the lock-ups have either buckets which are unspeakably vile, or troughs which are supposedly flushed with water, though as a rule the sewage is quite neglected. Most of these cells are not only filthy but they are actual breeding places of contagion and loathsome diseases. In some stations the cells are often so packed with inmates that the prisoners have to stand all night. In one place which the writer inspected the filth covering the floor of the cells and the stench were suffocating, and this was in the daytime, when there were comparatively few prisoners in the cells. In another station there were 8 cells — 5 for men and 3 for women — all in a row. There was a kind of trough running through the cells which "worked very badly." according to the officer who acted as guide. A small, dingy room next to the women's cells, with wretched water and plumbing accommodations, was shown the visitor as the kitchen, and an old woman who was introduced as the matron said that when the cells were overcrowded she took into her room (the just men- tioned kitchen) the young girls who were arrested. 33 ,, ^>,„ T-v • , That this provision for the prisoners 81,648 Detained ^ . . ^ in Lock-ups ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^ crime against those locked Last Year up, but against the coiiiuiunity at large, is evident to every one who reads the report of the Police Department for 1911. . According to this report, 81,648 persons were locked up in the vari- ous stations last year. Most of this number were kept in prison over Saturday and Sunday nights, as these nights are, in the words of the police, "the busiest even- ings in the week." Of the number given, 9,840 were women and 1,380 were young girls. Under the condition described above, one may realize the utter degradation of a lock-up over night in one of these dens. To appre- ciate fully the danger which these cells are to the com- munity, it must be remembered that in a great number of cases innocent persons are taken into custody. Thus, of the great number of arrests in 1911, 49,934 persons were discharged by the municipal judge when their cases came up for trial. These persons, therefore, must have been innocent. Of the women alone, 1,920 were arrested only to be held as witnesses in cases wherein they were not immediately concerned. The police officer is not a judge and he is not in a position to decide on the spur of the moment whether the accused should be taken into custody or not. He has to do what he is ordered when there seems to be a bona fide charge. Such innocent people then, witnesses and wrongfully accused, are sub- jected to the horrible and disease-breeding surroundings of the station lock-ups, and when freed they bring home with them infections which they spread in the community that is really responsible for this state of things. 34 ^ ,^1 Of There is a federal law in regard to Cattle Safe- ° guarded against placing cattle in stock cars— to the Overcrowding— effect that they must not he so Not So Human crowded that there is no room for the Prisoners cattle to lie down, but there are no laws and regulations which take similar care of human beings. In private houses and hotels the Board of Health has a right to quarantine a place where there is a contagious case, but the police stations, full as they are of infections and contaminations, are free from interference from the Health Department. Another great wrong is committed in Innocent and • , ■ , , r ■■, i Guilty Herded ^'^^ stations by the failure to make a Together good classification of the prisoners. As those arrested are held only for a night or two. the classification could practically be made on the basis of the personal appearance of the prisoners. At present decent men are often made cellmates with the vilest, the innocent are herded with the guilty and men cleanly in person and clothing are placed with the filthy and vermin-covered. No Steriliza- ^'^gain, the drinking cups and the tion of Dishes dishes are never sterilized, notwithstand- ing they are used indiscriminately by all persons. This careless use of the food utensils in the sta- tions is especially dangerous because so many prisoners are diseased in various ways, while others are so lacking in vitality as to be an easy prey to infections and con- tagions. Rumors of ^'^ ^'^^ cases v.diich our Association Police Abuse investigated it was found that there was a good deal of police abuse, much of which calls for investigation and trial of those implicated. 35 In some cases the parents of arrested boys are not noti- fied by the police of the phght of their sons. Indeed, we have had cases where the poor mother learned of the ar- rest of her boy only through the newspaper. Of course the police explanation of this is the fact that the boys frequently give fictitious names and addresses, but there is reason to believe that only in a very few instances were the boys unwilling that their parents should learn of their disgrace. But there are more serious charges o ^u " J ' against these officers, which, if substan- Sandbagged . , , ... . - and Otherwise tiated, show a barbarity quite out of - Terrorized keeping with the spirit of modern times. They betoken a reversion to the inquis- itorial methods of the fifteenth century. Thus there are 10 complaints of as many boys in the County Jail alleg- ing terrible beatings and torture inflicted upon them by police officers for one reason or another. In some in- stances even lieutenants are involved in these shameful charges. An illustration of this practice is afforded by Case No. 25. "He was beaten with a billy and also with a sandbag; knocked down three times and kicked. All this, in an endeavor to make him confess to something he did not do!" Another instance in Case 26. "The boy was taken to a small room in the station and struck with a billy. They knocked him down and kicked him in the stomach. This was done to force him to give in- formation against other lads." Case 53 : "A police lieutenant tried to make this boy confess. Took him by the throat and choked him. Hit him with the fist and knocked out a tooth. He then pulled the boy by the hair." Case 63 : "Police officers at a West Side station beat one of the boys and poured a bucket of cold water 36 over him. When this did not produce the vvished-for effect, they threatened to pour hot water over him." Case 51: "An officer and a heutenant abused a boy shamefully. The lieutenant pulled him by the hair and the officer kicked him." TABLE XII Grievances. ,10 inform Miscellaneous 7 Wrongly arrested 5 Held wrongly in jail 1 Police persecution 2 "Third Degree an Outrage in Civilized Country Police abuse *Police neglect to parents of arrest 6 Lawyer's mistreatment 6 Judge's mistreatment 2 The Central Howard Association also has evidence of cases of police abuse and, in one case, corroborative evidence. Yet when the case was referred to the attention of the Chief of Police, he dis- missed it with the reply that the Trial Board will not con- sider accusations against officers v>'hen brought by crim- inals. Some means should, therefore, be found whereby such practices may be brought to light and eradicated. The whole question of "The Third Degree" of the po- lice is so vitally important to the community that all pub- lic men should unite in the effort to make its practice in a civilized country an impossibility. This investigation brought to light an injustice often perpetrated upon inno- cent boys through the Identification Bureau. Captain M. F. Evans, in his report to the Chief of Police in 1911, stated that 5,338 cases were brought to his Bureau to be Innocent Per- sons Often Photographed for Rogues' Gallery *Police say correct names not always given. 37 photographed and described. Out of this number, 2,383 were found guilty and sentenced to some penal institu- tion, while 2,955 were discharged. As this "mugging system," as it is called, is supposed to be for the purpose of identifying the criminal later, if he escapes after his conviction, it is inexplicable why the photographs of about 3,000 innocent persons should be placed in the rogues' gallery. It seems that the rules are so made that only poor prisoners, who are unable to secure bail, are "mugged," while those who can get bail are not subjected to this indignity, inasmuch as they do not return to their cells even when held to the grand jury after the super- ficial preliminary hearing. It should be the invariable rule of the department that as soon as a defendant is found not guilty, his photograph should be destroyed. THE MUNICIPAL JUDGES. A study of Table 13, on tlie disposi- A Few Short- .^j^^ ^^ ^j^^ ,qq ^^^^^^ ^ ^j^^ different comings m the . . , . , , , , Municipal municipal judges, sho^vs that most of Judiciary the judges are fully abreast of modern methods of dealing with crirnnals of the juvenile-adult class. Nevertheless, one judge, who held 8 cases of these boy offenders to the grand jury had 6 of them discharged by higher authorities ; in 3 cases the jury found no bill; 2 were found not guilty by the juries and 1 was discharged by a higher court. This is a doubtful comment on the discretion of the said judge. In every one of these cases the municipal judge heard both sides ; after this he decided that there was prima facie evidence against the accused. However, when the matter came before the grand jury where only the prose- cution has a chance to present its evidence, the jury did • 38 not find sufficient evidence to hold the so-called criminals. It was therefore either a case of the prosecution not doing its full duty, or of the judge forgetting that the cell and the jail are not reformatory agencies, but that a boy should be kept from them wherever possible. TABLE XIII— Disposition. McGoorty Pinckney Scully . . . Rooney . o bo -o o -^ -g c c S o u U 3 14-3t 2-lt 5 4— It 2 4-lt 9 21 Howe 1 Himes 7 McKinley Kersten Petit Fry Gemmill Decker Dolon Maxwell Newcomer Sullivan Caverly Walker 2 Dever 1 Heap 6 Fake 2 Honore 2 ; Cottrell 10 tXumber of cases not yet disposed of 39 2 ^ .2 ^ £ 3 § 3 -g O S -. S -> .^ u fc tn Q 2 1* 2 2* 1* 9 15 1 3 2 1* 1 1* ' 1* 2 3* 2 * 1* 2* 11 Cases already c ounted. TABLE XIV Number of Arrests and Convictions. Firt Second Third Arrest Arrest Arrest Bastardy *3 Rape *3— $2 $1 Robbery *3_|2— §1 fl t2— §4 Stealing *1 — $1 Assault and battery. ... $1 Attempted murder Jl Murder *1— 12 ^2 Petty larceny *1— $2 *2 Grand larceny *3 *1— $1 Tamp, with U. S. mail Confidence game §1 :j:l — §1 Contrib. to delinquency.*! §1 Disorderly conduct . . . *1 §3 Joy riding §1 $1— §1 Arson Burglary *5— :i:4— §1 *1— $2— §2 *Held to Grand Jury. ^Convicted. fDischarged. *2 :j:2- *3 *1— $2 ^3-$l- *1 *3-t9-§l JParoled. Too Little Discrimination between First Offenders and Habitual Delinquents The investigation disclosed a certain lack of discrimination between the first and repeated offenses. Table 14 shows that in a great many instances the first offender was treated on a plane with the hardened transgressor. To take the cases of burglary as typical of the procedure of some judges — out of 10 first offenders only 1 was put on pro- bation,* while the others were either held over to the grand jury or else convicted. Of the 5 who committed the same crime the second time, 2 were put on proba- tion. Of those who committed burglary for the third *This is done by changing the charge to petty larceny. 40 time, 1 was put on probation. The cases of highway robbery afford a still better illustration of the careless- ness of the judges in this regard. Here, of 6 who per- petrated robbery for the first time, 1 was put on proba- tion, 3 were held to the grand jury, and 2 were convicted. Of the 7 who were brought into court for this crime for the second tim.e, 4 were paroled, 2 were convicted, and 1 was discharged. Of the 6 who committed highway rob- bery for the third time, 2 were put on probation, 2 were held to the grand jury, and 2 were convicted. Of course we have not now before us the records of these cases to ascertain the possible extenuating circumstances. There may have been good and sufficient reasons for the cases to be decided as they were. Nevertheless, the statistics in Table 14 suggest very strongly the need of more regard for the distinction between a first and a second or third violation of the same law. The Juvenile Protective Association oy j^^^ .^^ j^g possession evidence to satisfy Rich Abettor '^ painstaking inquirer that in a few in- Goes Scotfree stances justice miscarried through the dishonesty of a lawyer or the criminal neglect of the judge. In some instances the judge held the culprits but discharged those who instigated the crime or bought the stolen goods, because these well-to-do in- dividuals, the parties to the offense, employed a lawyer who had illicit and undue influence with the magistrate. Case 4 affords a striking instance of this situation. In this case, a gang broke into a house and stole jew- elry, which they sold to a few jewelers. When the lads were arrested they confessed and gave the names of the jewelers who had purchased the stolen goods. When 41 the case came to trial, the jewelers employed a lawyer who had once been a partner of the judge's. The boys were sentenced to prison, while the men went off scot- free. Another point which the judges may Short Sentence ^^ ^^^jj ^^ consider is the question of Injurious , , tv^ r i the short sentence. Many of them still maintain the old custom of imposing a two or three weeks' sentence upon the offenders. This practice is de- nounced by students of penology on the following grounds: 1. It farhiliarizes the delinquents with the jail, without making them afraid of it. 2. It gives them an opportunity to come into contact with criminals worse than themselves. 3. It embitters the offenders against the law and gives them a contempt for it. ^ , . An attempt should be made by the Indeterminate . , , • Sentence Chief Justice to have a law passed whicn Desirable would give the judges more latitude in imposing indeterminate sentences. This power would be an eft'ective instrument in the hands of a good judge. The law should also be changed in re- Ponti^c"shouM ^^''^ ^^ sending young offenders to Pon- Be Extended ^'^^- ^* present only offenders under to 25 Years the age of 18 may be sent there. This age limit should be extended to 25 years.* As this institution is one of the best in the country and really reforms the inmates by teaching them trades, it would seem best to extend its opportunities to a longer period. *In Elmira, N. Y., the New York State Reformatory, the age is from 16 to 39 years. 42 -, _, . A^ain, there are instances where the No Protection , n j i r t • from Shyster lawyers fleeced the parents of their Lawyers youthful clients while the boys were in jail in an altogether unprofessional way. In some instances, when the attorney learned that he could not bleed his clients any further, he simply and unceremoniously failed to put in an appearance when the case came up for trial. Cases 17, 28 and 35c are instances of this outrage. Case 17: "The boy had $20 when he was taken to the County Jail and deposited it with the jailer. The attorney, who came to see him about the case, asked him for a note to the jailer for $10 for this consultation, and taking care of the case. The lawyer, however, succeeded in persuading the jailer to give him $19 of the money. In addition, he obtained $10 from the sister of the boy on the same note." Case 35c: "Boy paid a lawyer $4 and his brother gave the man $10 more, but the lawyer never appeared to defend the accused."* Such experiences are enough to turn the ignorant youth against society and to make its laws seem petty and contemptible. They suggest to the young delinquent that there is no such thing as honesty in the world and that the sole reason for his plight lies not in the fact that he has done wrong, but that he was not astute enough to hide his guilt. THE COUNTY JAIL. The cry of the social reformers against the use of the County Jail for the detention of those awaiting trial and for convicted criminals is not new. Most of our penolo- *These cases were reported to the Chicago Bar Association and were later taken up by the Grievance Committee. 43 gists have denounced the County Jail in no measured terms. Many consider it worse than the police stations, because in the County Jail delinquents Penologists ^j-g j^gp^ longer under the same perni- „ , ., cious influences. The main objections County Jail , . ., , . ,. to the jails are — the unsanitary condi- tion, the barbarous treatment of delin- quents, and the lack of facilities for segregation and classification of criminals. The Cook County Jail, however, is a T °? i^ °"" ^ great improvement on most of the Jail Better, ^ , f,. , . ., i , , but Room for Others. First, the jailers, notably the Improvement present one and his immediate prede- cessor, were selected mainly, not for political reasons but as capable and conscientious men, who were fitted for their position both by knowledge and training. Mr. Whitman is perhaps the ablest penologist in the state, and his successor, Mr. Davis, has already demonstrated in many reforms his capability and his sympathy with the unfortunate people under his care. In addition, the Cook County Jail has good, sanitary cells in the new building. The prisoners are kept outside of their cells as long as possible — about five hours a day, and they are ordered to walk in the corridors at other times whenever occasion permits. The food, too, is wholesome, and to this Mr. Davis attends personally. The jail also has a separate tier for the juvenile-adults, so that the latter are segregated from the older, hardened delinquents. Furthermore, first through the efforts of the Chicago Woman's Club and now under the Civil Service regulations, there is a teacher provided for the boys and a classroom is set aside for them where they are instructed in various branches. But notwithstanding 44 much that is excellent in its regime, even the Cook County- Jail is in certain ways a menace to the morals of the juvenile offender. TABLE XV County Jail Statistics for 1911. Number of offenders received 8,333 Adults 6,944 Juvenile-adults 1,389 Number of Times Arrested (Juvenile-Adults) First 599 Second 464 Third 141 Fourth 41 Fifth 26 Innumerable 27 Total 1,298 Number of persons sent to House of Correction 1,203 Transferred to a reformatory 61 Held to Juvenile Court 8 Discharged 1,118 pp.. I. Even under present improved con- fication of ditions there is a lack of scientific separ- Prisoners ation and classification of the criminals. Persons are placed in the same tiers and made cell mates on a basis of social or national classifi- cation. All colored prisoners are kept on one tier. A murderer and one held for disorderly conduct may thus be put in the same cell. All Italians, Poles, Germans, etc., are classified according to nationality. The degree of intelligence is as little considered as is the nature of the offense. And yet, even here in the County Jail not all the prisoners are really criminals. There are not in- frequently honest persons detained here, as the following prison statistics will show : 45 In the County Jail are detained: 1. Those who await trial. (They may be charged only with disorderly conduct, or on the other hand with murder). 2. Those convicted to short sentences for minor of- fenses. 3. Those held as witnesses in certain important trials concerning whose voluntary appearance the state is in doubt. From these data it will be seen hov/ eminently wrong is the promiscuity countenanced in the present system of grouping the Cook County Jail inmates. „ T, . II. The prisoners are kept two in a iv/o Prisoners ^ ^ in a Cell ^^^^- -'-" *^^ ^^^t place, the cells are not large enough even for one person ; the air is therefore very bad. In the second place — and here all penologists express themselves in no measured terms — the placing of two prisoners in one cell is ob- jectionable on moral grounds. ., ^ , , III. When we come to observe the Juvemle-Adults .,,,., ^ t -i ' No Better off juvenile-adults m the County Jail, we find them not a whit better off than the other prisoners and in some respects even worse off: 1. The tier for minors is still too close to those of the adults, with whom they can easily converse and whose conversa- tion they can hear without difficulty. 2. They also are assigned two to the same cell. IV. The same poor classification seen in the adult section is true among the juvenile-adults as well. All the youthful prisoners irrespective of the cause of their in- carceration, are placed on the same tier. 46 V. While there is an order at the f.- ,/ County Tail store to the effect that no Cigarettes ■' -' through minor can buy tobacco or cigarettes "Trusty" there, several trustworthy persons testi- fied to the writer that minors can get all the cigarettes and tobacco they want from the store through the agency of some adult, either a "trusty" or a S"^""^- TABLE XVI Religion of Prisoners in County Jail, 1911. Religion — Men Boys Women * Baptist 485 67 64 2 Congregationalist 22 2 2 Episcopal 95 7 1 2 Greek Catholic 80 15 13 Jewish 322 106 11 5 Lutheran 568 81 2,2> 8 Methodist 512 50 72> 8 Presbyterian 128 24 9 Other Protestant 39 7 9 7 Roman Catholic 3,326 843 283 65 Xo religion professed 57 6 7 ^Comparison with the ICO cases investigated by the Juvenile Protective Association. , , . VI. In spite of the efforts of many Lack of . , Gymnasium social workers and of the jailer himself to procure a gymnasium, the County Commissioners refuse to provide one. This is a lament- able deficiency in the Jail outfittings since it habituates the boys to idleness and physical inactivity — for these lads especially, the worst thing in the world. In this re- spect our juvenile-adults are worse off than the adult prisoners, because the adults are kept out of their cells a number of hours every day and during this period they are made to exercise as much as possible. The boys, however, have no such advantage, as they are kept 47 in school while the adults are taking their exercise. -. „ . , VII. There is a small library in the No Supervised r n , Library County, Jail,, carefully bestowed in a closet where the earnest seeker may oc- casionally light upon it. But there is no one to take care of the books in the sense of recommending special ones to the boys, reading to them, or otherwise awaken- ing their interest in books. There should be a librarian — one of the teachers might be assigned this office — who should talk books to the boys, trying to ascertain their interests and showing them how they may follow up this interest and get really valuable, practical information from books, acting as censor, too, in allowing only such literature as is wholesome in tone. TABLE XVII Time Kept in County Jail. Weeks— 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 910121415 1618 2022 26 Confidence game 1 Joy riding Assault and battery 1 Burglary 1315324 11 Attempted burglary 1 1 .. 1 Arson Robbery 2.2. .311 1 2 1 . . 1 Petty larceny Grand larceny 1.. . .1.1 1.. 1.... ] Disorderly conduct.... 1 1 1 Attempted murder 1 Murder 2 1 1.. Stealing 2 . 1 .... 1 Rape 1.11.. Bastardy Tampering U. S. mail 1 Totals 26.534975 8 3 3.. 3112 48 „ . , VIII. The prisoners, on the whole, Detention in , .,,,..,,, County Jail ^"^ especially the juvenile-adults, are Too Long kept altogether too long in the County Jail, as Table 17 shows. From this table we see that the duration of imprisonment does not depend on the offense the prisoners committed, for of the 22 juvenile-adult burglars detained in the Jail, 1 was brought to trial after 4 weeks; 3 had to stay 5 weeks; 1, 6 weeks; 5, 7 weeks; 3, 8 weeks; 2, 9 Vvreeks; 4, 10 weeks; 1, 12 weeks; 1, 14 weeks; and 1, 22 weeks. The same lack of uniformity is noticeable in every other of- fense. After long and painstaking investigation, it was learned that this anomaly is due to the following reasons : 1. It depends upon whether or not the prisoner has friends ; if his friends see to it that his name is placed on the calendar, he is brought to trial with little delay. 2. Very often it is the fault of the lawyer. As a rule, he finds that he can fleece his client more by keeping him in custody for a longer period. 3. There is a deplorable paucity of criminal judges in the city. A greater number of magistrates would ex- pedite the bringing to trial of the accused. TABLE XVIII Health of County Jail Boys. _ ^ 5 ^ ^ :? ^ ^ Bastardy Rape 3 Assault and battery. 1 Attempted murder. . 1 Murder Arson 2 Robbery 9 Burglary 11 Petty larceny 4 Grand larceny 4 Disorderly conduct. . 4 Stealing Tampering U. S. M. 1 Contrib. to delinq C. J. figures of dis- eased minors 311 10 62 8 27 65 Suggestions for the improvement of the County Jail. — 1. Minors should not under any circumstances be kept within sight or earshot of the adult prisoners. 2. County jails should harbor only those who await trial. They should be simply detention homes. 3. Those whose trial is pending should be presumed innocent until proved guilty. They are therefore en- titled to decent treatment in a place that is physically sanitary and morally unobjectionable. 50 4. There should be complete separation of the differ- ent classes of prisoners. 5. All jails should be inspected by the local board of health officials as well as by those of the State Board of Charities. 6. Some society should send an investigator to the County Jail to learn the details of each case. This per- son should especially look out for the interests of the juvenile-adult offenders unable to retain a lawyer. (Minnie Jacobs Berlin, of the Bureau of Personal Ser- vice, is doing this kind of work for the Jewish prison- ers). It would be expedient that this investigator have some legal knowledge, so as to be able to be helpful to the judge in suggesting from his more intimate knowl- edge of the individual cases the best possible means com- patible with the law for reforming the offender. 7. "The state should take over the County Jail : "a. The state has a deep interest in jail administra- tion, for the jail is a crime-breeder. "b. State supervision would secure uniform treatment of prisoners. "c. It would be broad enough to secure the character classification. "d. It would promote the public health by compelling scientific adjustment of dietaries and the adoption of sanitary measures which would protect and improve the health of the prisoners. "e. It would establish a higher standard of jail ad- ministration, based upon recognition of the fact that when the state takes away the liberty of a citizen, it is under obligation to make him better morally and physi- cally, and not worse." — Warren F. Spalding, in Penal Reformatory Institutions. 51 TABLE XIX Bad Habits. Drinks 7 Smokes cigarettes 26 21 Smokes cigars Smokes pipe 13 3 Chews tobacco Poolroom 1 Stays out late Gambles S S m CO 03 O Smoke cigarettes 21 Smoke cig. and pipe 3 Poolroom 5 Cocaine 1 Could acct. for no bad habit. 8 Drink only 7 Drink and smoke cigarettes. 26 Drink and smoke cigars.... 2 Drink and smoke pipe 13 Drink and poolroom 1 „ . By far the greatest number of juve- ggjj nile-adult offenders in the County Jail are very poor boys, who are there be- cause they cannot secure the bail imposed upon them by the judge. It is this poverty of theirs which forces the boys to be kept in idleness and in many cases brings merely unfortunate boys in contact with the most crim- inal characters. They are not in the Jail because the law had already pronounced them guilty, and therefore they deserve punishment for their crime, but because they are poor and friendless and have no one to go their bail. "Excessive bail should not be required" is the dictum of the law. But it is left to the individual judge to de- 52 cide what is excessive and what is not. Worse than this, instead of at least giving the judge a chance to use his discretion and decide what might be excessive in each case, there came to be estabhshed certain regulations fix- ing the amount of bail at so much for one crime and so much for another — with little consideration as to whether the offender is fairly well-to-do or very poor. „, . By being held to trial in the County More Elasti- ^ ./, ^ , . , , . ^ city in Fixing J^^^' however, the prisoner loses his po- Bail sition, he may be corrupted by contact with hardened criminals, and his family is left destitute. There should be more elasticity in the fixing of bail. If there seems sufficient reason to believe that a boy or man will appear when his case is called for trial, he should be permitted to have a near relative or his employer sign his bond. Or, if the magistrate feels that there is need of surveillance, the accused may be paroled to a probation officer, who thus assumes the re- sponsibility of bringing him up for the trial. In short, no delinquent, or very few, should be detained in the Jail for lack of bail. THE GRAND JURY. The grand jury is a factor in keeping Grand Jury delinquent boys in the County Jail for Often to Blame ^ . / . , for Keeping ^ ^°"§' ^'"^^ ' ^°^ ^" many cases the young Boys in Jail prisoner is not brought up for indict- ment for a month or longer. It will, therefore, be worth while to inquire into the character, the function, and the need for this important body — the grand jury. There are elaborate provisions governing the drawing, the summoning, and the session of a grand jury. The S3 disposition of the defendant taken before the magistrate is submitted to the grand jury, who also receive testi- mony or witnesses produced before them by the prose- cution. When all the evidence before them is such as would in their judgment warrant, if uncontradicted and unexplained, the conviction of the defendant, it is the duty of the grand jury to find an indictment. To the mind of the layman this pro- ran jury cedure is incomprehensible. Indeed, Superfluous , . , . the entire grand jury system appears superfluous. As it can hear only one side, that of the prosecution, what purpose can it subserve that is not subserved by the duties of the municipal judge, who has heard both sides. Besides, why wait with an indictment so long? Why not allow the municipal judge, who had the defendant before him and allowed him to produce witnesses to his side — why not let him state whether the accused should be indicted or not? The judge has a bet- ter opportunity of learning the facts of the case than the secret body governed by a magistrate and the state's at- torney's office. In some cases even the preliminary hear- ing is done away with and the case is brought directly before the grand jury. This practice is even worse than where the delinquent has to undergo two kinds of juris- diction. For under the grand jury system, whose pro- ceedings are secret, many great wrongs can be done. The proceedings are conducted without the knowledge of the defendant and without having representation for defense. What fearful possibilities for abuse of power, of cruel injustice! Groundless charges brought mali- ciously and supported by false testimony at a secret hear- ing, can easily lead a man to ruin — for the final indict- 54 ment may be the first intimation which will reach the in- nocent victim of a wretched plot. There are, notwithstanding, times and Condemned by i ,i , • „ , ' occasions where the grand jury serves the Bench ^ , ^ , } . a useful purpose — as when there is need to attack a public evil, or when it is engaged upon inves- tigations which must be conducted secretly in order to be effective. But for a body of legally untrained men to review the work of a municipal judge or to investi- gate first instances of criminal cases is preposterous. The grand jury system has already been abolished in several states — as in Minnesota. Judge Gemmill, in an address before the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology at its last meeting in Milwaukee, strong- ly urged the abolition of the grand jury. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE SCIENTIFIC TREATMENT OF JUVENILE-ADULT OFFENDERS. The present report in all its points would thus far have shown that the main causes contributing to the delin- quency of the boys were: Poverty, bad homes, bad company, and sordid neighborhoods. Add to this the influence of bad heredity and lack of moral training, and we have a picture of the boys' helplessness in the strug- gle against temptation and vice. From the beginning it is clear that they have not a chance in the world to with- stand the overwhelming odds against juvenile them. The juvenile-adult offender is no Offender more to be blamed for his crime than is Victim of the mentally defective boy for his weak- Circumstances ness. Both are the victims of circum- stances over which they have no control. 55 It would seem to be needless to argue that no rational being would care to become a public nuisance, a social out- cast if he could help it. There is therefore no place for harsh, blindfold justice in dealing with juvenile delin- quents; rather there is a call for pity and mercy. We should treat these lads as all other diseased persons are treated — they must be cured rather than punished.* The Old ^^ present our courts are still imbued System with the old barbaric notion that a crim- inal, even a juvenile, has outraged the laws of society and therefore should have vengeance visited on him. It is for this reason that the judges would "mete out punishment in proportion to the crime committed." But those days when revenge was the ideal of justice are long past. Today another and a nobler note should take the place of this jarring discord. A new procedure and a new tribunal should supersede the old blindfold justice, where not the crime but the crim- inal should be the all-important consideration, where not the punishment but the reform of the offender should be emphasized. -T , , In the first place, greater care should Need for a , , . , . ., Psychopathic '^^ taken of the juvemle-adult transgres- Department sor than has been taken thus far. These delinquents should not be placed in cells with adult criminals in the police stations, and there should be a separate court for the trial of these offenders. The judge presiding over this court should not only be a *Recent researches of Italian and French criminologists hare proved beyond any doubt that the moral deficiency of our crimi- nals is closely akin to mental deficiency. Both have been found to show the same kinds and number of stigmata. dertaken the present study of representatives of this class of offenders. No selection was made. Every boy held to the Grand Jury who was brought into the County Jail was in turn made the subject of this study. In addi- tion, the purpose is to obtain, if possible, light on the following questions : 1. What were the home conditions of these delin- quents ? 2. What was their schooling, and did it operate for or against delinquency? 3. What were their occupations, and did the voca- tional problem figure in their delinquency? 4. From a study of their nationality, can one discover a national or a racial predisposition for certain crimes? 5. Was religion a factor in preventing their delin- quency ? 6. Are the measures taken by society for combating juvenile delinquency really preventive? 7. In how far did the judges and the prosecuting at- torneys show leniency toward first offenders? 8. Did these youths get a "square deal" in the police station, in the County Jail, and with the judges? 9. What influence did the jail have upon them? 10. What were the main contributing causes to their delinquency ? 100 Typical ^ , , . ,. , , Juvenile- ^'■^ order to obtain reliable answers to Adult these questions, it was decided to ask Delinquents each lad the following list : 7 COUNTY JAIL CASE Date Name , Cell Number Address Age Birthplace Nationality and Name of Mother Father Present Charge Pending Previous Arrests What Charges Imprisonment at any time What Charges Have you been Indicted on Present Charge Pending School Grade Age Leaving School Occupation During School Life, if any Employment After Leaving School Were You Employed at Time of Arrest At What If Not Employed, for How Long a Period What Kind of Work Would You Have Liked How Much Spending Money Did You Receive What were your amusements Theatres Pool Rooms Boy Gangs Organized Boy Clubs Church Societies What do you like to read Do you Drink Do j'ou Smoke How Much. . . .Is your Mother employed Name of your Attorney, if any Is your Picture in the Identification Bureau Bond Name and Address of Person Prosecuting Date Held to Grand Jury by Judge Name of Officer making investigation Remarks Over. Sources of These questions were put by one offi- Information cer of the Juvenile Protective Associa- tion and another officer was sent to the homes of the offenders to verify the answers, and also to investigate home conditions. To make up for some cases in which answers could not be obtained, a few more were later added, so that there might be one hundred fully answered cases. In some instances there are, there- fore, more than one hundred answers. After repeated visits to police stations and County Jail, after interviews specialist in the handling of juvenile cases, but he should have at his command a well organized psychopathic department which should give every defendant a thor- ough examination, so that the magistrate may at once know in how far the accused should be held responsible for his deed. In addition, the judge should be assisted by a scientific penologist who should recommend the treatment most effective toward bringing about the re- form of the offender. TABLE XX Age of Offenders. 15 years 2 19 years 18 16 years 5 20 years 17 17 years 29 21 years S 18 years 23 22 years 2 Jail Records. Juvenile Court record 15 Pontiac Reformatory *3 Arrested once before 19 St. Charles *3 Arrested twice before 8 Parental *1 Arrested 3 times before... 8 Not employed 53 Never arrested before 28 Employed when arrested. . . 59 John Worthy School *14 *Included in the other counts. _□, J r.. , Under the administration of a special Offender a Sick . , , .„ , , , r Man Who Must i^^S^ ^"^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^ ^^"^^ method of Be Restored attempted reform. This magistrate will to Moral send the moral defective — in like manner Health ^g ^^ vvould send a sick man to a hos- pital to cure him of physical disease — to a place where he may be restored to moral health and whence he may return, a useful and law-abiding citizen. The commit- ment will be under an indeterminate sentence. The prisoner's stay in the new reformatory will depend upon his ability to understand and act upon the laws of cause 57 and effect and the sooner he learns to look to future con- sequences and to sacrifice momentary pleasures for per- manent good, the sooner will he be adjudged fit to return to free social activity and intercourse with his fellow- men. As a matter of fact, the prison should B H 't 1 ""^^^ly bs ^ hospital for the morally de- fer Morally fective. Instead of relieving the delin- Defective quent of all responsibility, he should be made to work for a living in prison, under seemingly harder conditions than in the outside world. Instead of depriving him of the opportunity of exerting his will-power by deciding the minutest detail for him, he should be given some chance to choose and decide things for himself. Instead of depriving him of all ambition, he should be inspired with the knowledge that his freedom is in his own hands to be attained when he shows himself worthy of it. Second, he should have some secondary goal held out to him — to learn a trade or to save up money earned by his work, or to develop some special capability he possesses. These results may be achieved when George Junior ^^^ juvenile-adult is sent to an institu- Repubhc and . •" . , , • • i Borstal System ^^^^ where some of the best prmciples Point the Way of the George Junior Republic are in practice. To instil a desire for improve- m.ent, the Borstal English system should be incorporated. With the indeterminate sentence on the one hand and the Borstal system on the other, there is enough incentive for the worst of offenders to be induced to work in harmony with the authorities for a thorough reform in behavior, and what is more — in character. 58 Present Paper In order to arrive at the true causes an Attempt to Qf juvenile delinquency, it would be „ ^^, ' ', , necessary to make an intensive study of Study Method /,..,, ... ^ \, in Juvenile rnany individual cases similar to the Delinquency method now being pursued in the new movement of child-study. The history, home environment and neighborhood conditions of these cases should be thoroughly investigated before trust- worthy conclusions could be reached as to the actual causes of juvenile and juvenile-adult criminality. The Juvenile Protective Association, in collecting and correlating the data in these one hundred County Jail cases has made the beginning of an intensive study of this kind. 59 PUBLICATIONS OF THE JUVENILE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION OF Chicago. A Manual of Juvenile Laws 1908 Harry E. Smoot Five and Ten-Cent Theatres 1909 and 1911 Louise de Koven Bow^en Juvenile Protective Leagues 1910 Allan Hoben A Study in Adult Delinquency 1911 Mary B. Swain First Lessons in Gambling 1911 W. L. Chenery The Department Store Girl 1911 Louise de Koven Bowen Revised Edition of Manual 1911 A Study of Public Dance Halls 1911 and 1912 Louise de Koven Bowen Some Legislative Needs in Illinois 1912 Louise de Koven Bowen The Girl Employed in Hotels and Restaurants 1912 Louise de Koven Bowen A Summary of Work 1912 Gertrude Howe Britton A Synopsis of Work 1912 Louise de Koven Bowen On the Trail of the Juvenile-Adult Oflfender 1912 A. P. Drucker Care of the Illegitimate Children in Chicago 1912 Howard Moore Annual Reports 60 )434 The Hale-Crossley Printing Company, Chieaeo hi BKRM