JUVENILE OFFENDERS. A term applied to those violators of the criminal code who have not yet reached the age of full responsibility. There is no general agreement as to the upper age limit, but recent legislation in the United States tends to fix this at sixteen.
Until very recently no special provision was made for juvenile offenders apart from older criminals except that there has long existed a tendency toward leniency in punishing them. The humanitarian movement of the last century led to gzeat interest in the welfare of children. It was felt that they were in the formative period and should he trained rather than punished. This belief ha-s to-day become general, and all efforts are directed toward making useful men and women out of juvenile offenders. It is not claimed that there will be success in every ease, for while the existence of the moral imbecile is admitted, and therefore some of the juvenile delinquents are not susceptible to reform, yet the vastly greater number who have been de praved by a \ eious environment may, it is rec ognized, be morally improved by proper methods. An examination of the juvenile offenders in Eng land revealed that, as compared with normal chil dren in average homes, they were under-developed, physically and mentally, and a much larger per centage were orphans or half orphans. The same is doubtless true elsewhere. Juvenile delinquency has seemingly been on the increase, and this has caused a growing interest in the problem. The early institutions for juvenile offenders were modeled after those for adults. With the found ing of the Halls' at Hamburg in 1S33, and the Colonie Agrieole at Alettray, France, in 1839, which introduced the cottage plan and man ual training, a new system was born. This sys tem has found its greatest development in the United States.
The first special institutions, the House of Refuge, New York, 1824, and Philadelphia, 1828, were under private management, but received subsidies from the cities. The earlier institutions were generally located in the cities and supported by them. Later schools are under public control.
The principle underlying the most advanced treatment of juvenile offenders is that had en lironment rather than innate tendencies is respon sible for their delinquency. The remedy is to
change the environment or to train the child to obedience and respect for law end order in an institution, then place him in a good environ ment. The child for whom institutional treat ment does not seem necessary is not merely ad monished and sent home, but is put in the care of a probation officer, who undertakes to supervise the child. The home is visited; school attend ance is assured; a position is found; work with residence away from home is pi.oeured; board is paid out of public or private funds. as may seem best. The child must report to the officer, and the attempt is made to make him feel that the officer is a friend. If the conduct is not satisfac tory the child may be brought again to the court to be sent to a reform school. The probation of ficers may be volunteers or may be paid from _private or public funds. The hoarding out of juvenile offenders has been successfully carried on in several States, particularly in Pennsyl vania and Massachusetts. It has been possible to find many free homes for these children. Many of the institutions place out numbers of the chil dren sent to them. To secure the best results, the system requires care in selecting proper homes and constant supervision.
For those who must he sent to institutions there now exist, in addition to the older type, State institutions known as reform or industrial school;. Most of these are in country districts. They are built generally upon the cottage sys tem. children live in groups in cottages in stead of in masses in one large building. This enables a better classification to he carried into effect. It is thought to have a better influence on the children, since it is more home-like. In all the reform schools great emphasis is laid upon manual training, and it has happened more than once that these were the best equipped schools in the States in which they were situated. With the transfer to the country. barred windows and heavily bolted doors have disappeared. The cot tage system is very expensive if carried out in the city. Even city institutions are now- being removed into the country.