JUVENILE COURTS, law Courts es tablished to deal separately and in a different way with criminals who are between the ages of 8 and 16. For the last fifty years it has been deemed essen tial by penologists that the State should assume a different attitude toward young offenders, and that its purpose should be their reformation rather than their pun ishment. Massachusetts in 1869 estab lished the office of "visiting agent," the incumbent of which should acquaint him self with the criminals of youthful age and to whom notice had to be sent before the child was sent to jail. The next movement to tend toward a Juvenile Court was the separation of the older criminals from the place of confinement of minors. Illinois, in 1899, passed an act which many regard as having estab lished the first Juvenile Court. Under this act the Circuit Court was empow ered to deal in an especial and different manner with younger delinquents, al though the same processes of the crim inal law such as those of the Grand Jury, District Attorney, etc., had to be fol lowed. Perhaps the credit of establish ing the first real Juvenile Court is due to Colorado, which State in 1899 passed an act permitting the county courts to act for the reformation of young crim inals. Upon this Act was founded the
Juvenile Court of Denver, xvhich Judge Ben B. Lindsey has made so justly fam ous. Paid probation officers to look after offenders are a necessity to the suc cessful working of the Juvenile Court but they came very late in the history of the movement. Comparatively few States have established separate Juve nile Courts, usually choosing some estab lished court and designating this func tion to it. Colorado led the way here, when in 1907 it established a separate Juvenile Court, with a procedure all its own, in every city with a population over 100,000.
An important "phase in the movement to protect the young in our great cities has been the passage of laws by many of the States known as Contributory De linquent Laws, which provide that any parent, g-uardian, or other person who shall encourage or cause a child to com mit a crime shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and punished accordingly. In all acts dealing with the Juvenile Court Colorado, under the influence of Lindsey's g-reat work, has been the leader. A vivid account of his experi ences is given in his autobiog-raphy.