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.