FOOTNOTES:
[4] The last report of the New York State Probation Commission shows that on September 30, 1916, there were 13,433 persons on probation, and that the number of inmates of the penal and reformatory institutions in the State was decreasing. Probation officers had themselves collected $139,000 for cases of non-support, and had caused to be paid another sum of $206,000 for these cases. They had assisted men to pay, in instalments, fines amounting to $30,000, which meant that these men were kept out of jail and at work, and had helped men who had stolen something or had done material damage to some one to repay those they had injured the sum of $39,000. It is evident that there is a saving of hard cash to the State in this work as well as much of social value.
XV
WOMEN OFFENDERS AND THE LAW
The Constitution of the United States guarantees to a person accused of crime a trial by an impartial jury, or by a jury of one’s peers. The handling of cases against women offenders has little regard for that guarantee. Discriminations against women who have come in contact with the law are the custom.
If any one is inclined to doubt this, let him imagine the case reversed and applied to himself. Suppose a man accused of an offense against the law should be accused by a woman, arrested by a woman, held in jail by a woman, tried in a court-room filled with women, before a jury composed only of women, and sentenced by a woman judge. Would such a man feel that he was getting impartial justice given him by his peers?
Also in the treatment of cases involving sex, the penalty of the law rests heavily on the woman and the man usually goes free. Sex immorality is a crime for a woman, but the man, the partner in the crime, is rarely touched by the law. Until recently in New York State, even pandering, or living off the earnings of a prostitute, was classed, as it still is in some other States, as disorderly conduct, in the same class of offenses as selling a street-car transfer. In some States adultery is still a misdemeanor. It did not become a criminal offense in New York until 1907, and it is still almost impossible to obtain a conviction unless there are some unusually revolting circumstances. Many cases have come into the courts of the State where women have been arrested in a raid on a disorderly house, and where the men found with them have been released, and the women held.
The large majority of the arrests of women are for the two offenses of intoxication, and prostitution or street-walking. The usual sentence for both of these offenses is commitment to the workhouse for from eleven to sixty days. Nearly half the cases of intoxication are of old offenders who are sentenced over and over again. Some years ago the Legislature passed a measure making provision for a State farm where these women could be sent for care and treatment, and where they could have useful occupation; but it has not yet been established.
Prostitution: The same sentence to the workhouse for varying periods of from five to ninety days, or even six months, is the common one for prostitution. It is doubtful if a sentence of this kind has ever been of the slightest benefit to any woman so sentenced. The usual court procedure is a mill through which this class of unhappy beings goes, without either their reformation being accomplished, or their danger being lessened to the community. When it is realized also, that a considerable percentage of these women are feeble-minded or at least sub-normal, the necessity of facilities for examination and classification and proper segregation are apparent.
The entire process of dealing with the problem of public prostitution in New York City is one that is revolting from a woman’s viewpoint. To rid the streets of street-walkers and to keep them “clean,” a force of police in plain clothes patrols the streets. These police are usually the new men on the force selected for their youth and good looks. Promotion often rests on the number of arrests that they make. A smile or a nod, and a girl may respond. If she speaks, an arrest can and often does follow.
This kind of training for the young men of the police force is degrading to them. Also, the fact that arrests in nine cases out of ten are those of women of the street, does not preclude the possibility of the arrest of a silly, ignorant, but innocent girl. Brought into court, the presumption is that she is guilty.
There is always a first arrest for any offender against the law. The records of the magistrates’ courts show that nearly one-third of the women’s cases brought into court are first offenders. Called for the first time before a judge in an open court-room, incoherent with fright, the girl is often unable to say a word for herself. If she is fined, or sentenced to the workhouse, or held in detention pending investigation, and is kept in association with other women of degraded lives, the chances of her being reclaimed are practically gone.
The law holds an accused person innocent until proved guilty, but a woman accused of a crime against morality has to prove that she is innocent. Under the usual court procedure, a prostitute is outside the protection of the law and her word has no value in the court.
Night Courts have been established in order that offenders arrested at night, after the day courts have closed, may come immediately before a magistrate, without having to spend the night in jail awaiting trial. There are separate night courts for women in New York City, and all arrests for prostitution or loitering are tried in these courts.
The motive behind the establishment of the Women’s Night Court is humanitarian, but it is there that one sees the discrimination against women as the fundamental of the proceedings.
Women are sentenced to terms in prison for offenses far less serious than those for which men are discharged. The discrimination against women, and in favor of men, even extends to the cadet, who pursues the most shameful business in the world, that of exploiting unfortunate women. Until a few years ago the maximum penalty for such a man was six months in the workhouse.
The law now permits a sentence of from two to twenty years, but convictions are rare. Nearly every prostitute is exploited by some man who takes her earnings, and on whom she relies to protect her from the police. If these cadets and procurers could be eliminated it would greatly diminish professional prostitution, but they are most difficult to reach. The women they exploit will often perjure themselves to save these men from the vengeance of the law. Also, the fact that no conviction can be had on the testimony of the woman unless supported by corroborative evidence, makes her afraid to testify against one of them.
The Penalty of Fines: Imposing a fine as a punishment for prostitution should be absolutely prohibited. It does not act as a restraint, and simply means that the woman must go out on the street to earn her fine, and it makes the State a partner to her crime. It has been abolished in practice by some judges; but it is still the custom in some courts in New York State, and is even imposed by some judges in New York City. A bill to abolish fines throughout the State was introduced in the Legislature of 1916, but failed to pass.
Young Girls: Girls between the ages of sixteen and eighteen are in the most dangerous period of life. Figures show that the great majority of girls who become prostitutes are ruined before they reach seventeen years of age.
A girl of sixteen in New York State is too old for the Children’s Court. She may therefore be held in jail with the hardened street-walker and the habitual drinker. If she is without the protection of home or family, she may be left alone, for the State makes no provision for a guardian for her unless she has property, when the State is required to provide one for her.
Delinquency, thefts, and misdemeanors on the part of young girls are often the results of natural instincts gone wrong. Love of pleasure, a desire for pretty things, and a wish to be attractive is common to all girls. A false step, a yielding to temptation, followed by an arrest and a trial in an open court-room, often mean an ordeal which leaves an indelible mark on the girl’s soul, and a disgrace which it is almost impossible for her to live down.
Girl Victims: The most pitiful cases are those of very young girls brought into court as the victims of crime. It is difficult to get conviction in these cases, as corroborative evidence is necessary. The shock to the sensibilities of such a girl at having to tell her story to men and having to answer questions in an open court-room can scarcely be exaggerated. The need of women in places of authority, to help in cases of such crimes, is great. Women probation officers are only the first step in the right direction, but there are too few of them, and whenever a movement is made toward economy, they are the first to be dismissed.
Houses of Detention: A great need of New York City, and a need shared by every city in the State, is a proper place of detention for women. As delinquent children are now separated from older offenders, so delinquent girls, first offenders and old offenders, and other classes of women who are held awaiting trial, or for investigation, or as witnesses, should not be obliged to associate indiscriminately with one another while awaiting the disposition of their cases.
The need of a building large enough to provide for the separate detention of the various classes of women who are in the care of the court has been recognized, but so far little provision has been made to meet it. In other places in the State, wherever there is a court, there is need of a place of detention for women where they will be safe from degrading influences, and where they will be under the care of other women.
Women Judges or Judges’ Assistants: The system which has been instituted in Chicago since women were given the vote, of a quiet talk with a woman assistant in the Court of Special Sessions, in her own private office, instead of an open trial, has resulted in saving many a girl who otherwise would have become an outcast. In certain intimate matters it is a woman’s task to question girls. Contrast the picture of an open court-room: the judge on the bench, the jury, if there is one, composed of men, the room filled with men of all descriptions, and the frightened, trembling child, with this private room with the young offender telling her story alone to an experienced woman. Which offers the best chance for saving the girl from a ruined life?
Frequently the girl comes from a family where crowded living conditions make decent living almost impossible. Instead of her first offense coming up for inevitable punishment, it is treated with the sole object of prevention and cure.
Judges in New York State cannot appoint women assistants without authority from the Legislature, and that authority the Legislature has always refused to give.
Policewomen, or Women Protective Officers, are now recognized as a necessary part of the correctional work of a city. The work of the woman protective officer is very different from that of the policeman. The policewoman protects and controls, rather than arrests. In protecting children, in caring for lost children, in acting as mother to the motherless, in watching over young girls, in getting evidence against cadets, she does an invaluable work. The disorderly saloon, the dance-hall, and the moving-picture theater are all hunting-grounds for the white-slaver. In getting evidence in this sort of crime she is more effective than the policeman. There are policewomen now in fifty cities of the United States.
That the whole subject of prostitution and the law is a most difficult one to deal with, there can be no question. It needs the combined intelligence of both men and women engaged not only in theorizing over the problem, but in actual efforts to grapple with it. Until public opinion supports the single standard of morality, the courts will continue to discriminate against women.
Unfortunately, women of all ages, even very young girls, are arrested. Sometimes they are guilty, sometimes innocent, sometimes sinned against, sometimes only the victims of circumstances, but always unfortunate. Their misfortune and its results on their lives are more terrible than they need be, because they are usually deprived of the help of women in places of authority.
In the Chicago Court of Morals women are welcome, and there are women court officers, women police, and women probation officers who create an atmosphere entirely different from the usual court-room. There is also no division of sex; when it is a question of morality, the man and woman are both held. A physical examination is made by a woman physician. When a woman is found to be diseased she is sent to a hospital to be cured.
Some of the most progressive magistrates and judges are endeavoring to improve the methods of handling cases of women offenders, but it would seem that wherever the welfare and disposition of women are involved other women should be part of the machinery which deals with them. This is not so much because of sentimental considerations, for in some cases women would be less influenced by sentiment than men, but there are certain peculiarities, tendencies, and experiences common to each sex which only those of that sex can understand. In all cases of women offenders against the law other women must be concerned, and should be equally responsible with men for their handling and disposition.
XVI
PUBLIC EDUCATION
The best foundation for a democracy rests on free educational facilities for all the people. An ideal school system is one that reaches out to every child and prepares him for a useful occupation, that is also available for the further development of every member of the State, and that will give every individual the knowledge necessary for him to do his part in government. A self-governing people cannot afford a class too ignorant to vote.
In New York State, school attendance is compulsory for children between the ages of seven and sixteen years. An exception is made of children between fourteen and sixteen, who have completed the first six years of school, and have been to school 130 days since their fourteenth birthday. Such children may be employed if they have a duly signed work certificate. In cities of the first and second classes, boys between fourteen and sixteen who are employed during the day, who do not hold certain certificates, must attend night school sixteen weeks in the year. Truant officers must be appointed in every city, town, and village to enforce the law. Parents who fail to send their children to school are guilty of a misdemeanor.
The School District is the smallest division of the State, and must maintain a free common school at least thirty-six weeks in the year. In 1917, an amendment to the school law was passed which abolished the old school-district system, that dated from 1795, and which makes it possible for the children of the rural districts to have some of the facilities for modern education which have heretofore been confined to larger communities.
In place of the former school trustees for the separate school districts, there is now one board of education for each town, and this board has charge of all the schools in the town. There are 4,000 schools in the State which have less than ten pupils each. The value of taxable property in many of these school districts is very small. The school tax has been the only State tax which has been assessed in such small units. The needs of each school district had to be met by the taxation of that one district. For all other State expenses the county is the unit of taxation and taxes are assessed equally all over the county, and the apportionment made according to the needs of each district. Under the present law, by treating the town as a unit for school taxes, all property in the town is assessed equally, and the money raised is used for the benefit of all the town.
In this way the rich and poor districts share more equally in school facilities.
The initial expenses of making the change have increased school taxes in some places for the first year, but the change will undoubtedly work to the great benefit of the children of the State, and is along the lines adopted some years ago by most of the other States. Villages of over 1,500 people are outside the provision of the new town law. If the people of two or more school districts wish to combine, they may vote to consolidate and establish a central school.[D]
The Town Board of Education consists of from three to five members who are elected for a term of three years each and who appoint their own clerk and treasurer.
They have larger power than was given to the former school trustee. They have charge of all school property; they determine the kind of schools that are needed; they may establish high schools, vocational, industrial, agricultural, and night schools; they determine the number of teachers to be employed, and their salaries; they may employ medical inspectors and nurses, and may provide transportation for children attending school.
The Annual School Meeting to elect the Board of Education is held the first Tuesday in May.
Qualifications for Voters: At this meeting any one living in the district can vote who is a citizen twenty-one years old, a resident in the district for thirty days, who owns or rents or has under contract of purchase taxable property in the district; or has had a child, either his own or residing with him, in school for at least eight weeks during the year preceding; or who owns personal property exceeding $50 which was assessed on the last assessment roll.
Candidates for the board of education may be nominated on petition of twenty-five voters. Men and women who are duly qualified electors are eligible to the board.
Annual School Budget: The board of education must prepare an itemized budget of the amount necessary to be raised for school purposes, and must publish it in July for public consideration. Additional money may only be raised by a vote of the school district indorsed by the district superintendent. The building of a school, or repairs costing over $5,000, must be submitted to a vote of the school electors.
A board of school directors is elected in each town, consisting of two men, each with a term of five years, but elected in different years.
The Supervisory District: Each county, except those in Greater New York, is divided into from one to eight supervisory districts. (Villages and cities of over 5,000 people are not included, as they make their own provisions. Each of these has a board of education.)
The District Superintendent is the director of a supervisory district. He is chosen by the board of school directors and is engaged for a term of five years and paid $1,200 a year by the State, with an additional allowance of $300 for traveling expenses. The supervisors of the towns in his district may vote to increase his salary, the increase to come out of the taxes raised in the towns in the district.
A man or a woman twenty-one years of age, and a citizen and resident of the State, is eligible for the office, provided he or she has a State teacher’s certificate and can pass an examination in the teaching of agriculture.
The District Superintendent has the general supervision of the schools in his district. He is responsible for the instruction given in them and the discipline that is maintained. He examines candidates for teachers’ positions, under the direction of the State Commissioner of Education.
Union Free School Districts have been permitted under State law for many years in cities and villages. Some years ago this law was extended to include rural districts, and during the past few years about 500 rural school districts have been discontinued and consolidated with adjoining districts. Many of the discontinued schools had only a handful of pupils, the buildings and equipment were primitive and inadequate, and the small amount of money available made it impossible for the school to offer any advantages. The union of school districts has given better educational facilities to the rural districts. The children have been taken to school by wagons provided for their transportation, and have had the advantages of a larger school, a higher grade of teachers, and better facilities of all kinds for modern education. The new educational law provides still greater development in this direction.
Physical Training is compulsory in all schools, public and private, for children over eight years of age for at least twenty minutes a day. The State gives financial aid in the training.
Military training is compulsory for boys between the ages of sixteen and nineteen in public and private secondary schools and colleges. The name “military” is misleading, for the law provides that the development of “correct bearing, mental and physical alertness, disciplined initiative, sense of duty, self-control, and a spirit of co-operation under leadership” is to be given special attention.
School Money: For many years it has been recognized that sufficient educational facilities could not be provided for every part of the State through local taxation.
Besides the money raised by the school districts, the State contributes large sums of money for the support of public schools. Part of this money is the income from certain educational funds belonging to the State which cannot be used for any other purpose, and part is money appropriated by the State Legislature. This money is distributed by the State Commissioner of Education according to the needs of the school districts.
City schools are subject to the same general supervision of the State Commissioner of Education, but are under the direction of local boards of education, and local superintendents of schools.
Normal Schools for training teachers are maintained by the State out of school funds, and teachers’ meetings are held in the supervisory districts to help and improve teachers.
The University of the State of New York, which is at the head of the entire educational system of the State, is not a university in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a combination of all of the colleges and secondary schools of the State. It is governed by a Board of Regents, twelve men elected by the State Legislature for twelve years each, but whose terms begin in different years, who have large powers of control over all the higher institutions in the State, universities, colleges, technical and professional schools. They have the management of the State Library and Museum. They prepare Regents’ examinations and grant Regents’ certificates, and supervise the granting of degrees.
The president of the University of the State of New York is elected by the Regents. He is also the State Commissioner of Education, and as such is the head of the State Department of Education which supervises the free public schools and normal schools of the State and apportions the State school funds.
The National Commissioner of Education is at the head of the National Bureau of Education in Washington. The work of this bureau is largely to collect and publish information about educational conditions and progress in the United States.
Agricultural Help: There are four free agricultural schools besides the State College of Agriculture in Ithaca. Much assistance is given by the government to the agricultural needs of the State. Special courses are provided at many colleges for the various departments of agricultural work. Short courses are arranged for those who can only attend a few weeks, and at times in the year when farm work is slack.
Farmers’ Institutes are organized, at which experts discuss the best way of doing the varied work of the farm, especially how to increase production and to make the farm more profitable.
Vocational Training:[5] If the public school is going to prepare young people for their work in the world, some guidance in the selection of an occupation, and some practical training in a trade or profession, must be included in their school work.
The great majority of children leave school at an early age to go to work. Without specialized training they have little chance for advancement, but fill the ranks of untrained labor, to the great loss of the world and their own disadvantage.
State Scholarships: Each of the 150 Assembly districts of the State has five free scholarships valued at $400 each. The scholarships are awarded by the Commissioner of Education and the holder may attend any college in the State, and receive $100 for each of the four years he or she attends.
Domestic Training: The majority of girls, even though they are wage-earners for a time, sooner or later marry, and have children and a household to take care of. In the olden days, when the home was a workshop, girls were taught cooking at home; they learned to care for babies through taking care of the little ones in the family. Now they often leave school to go to the factory, and only leave the factory when they marry. They have no knowledge of cooking, housekeeping, or the care of children. Unless domestic economy of the most practical kind is taught in the school-room, there is no way they can be prepared for the important business of housekeeper and mother. If every girl were taught to cook and were trained in the proper care of an infant, it would add immeasurably to the sum total of the comfort and health of family life. It would be an advantage to every boy, likewise, if he were taught to use his hands in carpentering or other manual work. Whatever comes in later life, hands that have been trained to be useful are a great asset to any man or woman.
Schools as Community Centers: Education does not stop at any age. Public free lectures, mothers’ meetings, and the use of schools for community recreation are helping to make the school-house 100 per cent. efficient as an educational center. The school plant that is closed when school is not in session is an extravagance which no community can afford.
The demand for the use of the school-house for political meetings, and as polling-places at election-time, is growing. Outside of New York City school-buildings may only be so used by special permission of the voters. Since one of the purposes of education is to train people in citizenship, the use of the school-house as the center of everything that pertains to the people’s part in government seems legitimate.
Health: Compulsory education is futile unless at the same time the health of children is maintained. It is as much the duty of government to watch over the proper development of the body as of the mind, yet more attention is often given to decoration of schoolrooms than to matters of health.
An appallingly large number of children have defective teeth, poor eyes, or obstructed breathing. Neglected teeth mean an undernourished body and are a common source of disease.
Periodic medical examinations are required by State law, and school nurses may be engaged as part of the regular school force. The value of the law depends on the way it is enforced by local school authorities, and this is often far from satisfactory. These provisions are found to repay their cost in the added strength and productive powers that they give to the community.
Co-operation: The greatest of all needs in connection with our schools is a lively interest in them on the part of women. The woman who cares about the future of her child must be interested in school meetings and the election of school-boards, who should be carefully chosen. Frequent visits to the school in city and country are a help and inspiration to both teachers and parents.