Woman's work in municipalities

by Mary Ritter Beard

Moreover, there is no class line in crime or vice and the need of their correction. No group or class of women has escaped the ravages of these evils, and thus a feeling of solidarity is evolved in the fight against the social evil and various forms of delinquency, which is not as yet developed in the fight against poverty, the sting of which is a class experience.

If, as Abraham Flexner says, “it is the unskilled daughters of unskilled men” that become the prey of traffickers in human souls and bodies, someone pays the money, and as a rule it is not the poor who have that money. The well-to-do pay, not only with silver and gold, but with pain and suffering, and with syphilitic and degenerate offspring.

The revelations made by men to mankind and by some women to all women show how large a part sex plays in crime and vice of all kinds; and women know well that sex cannot be understood by men alone or protected by men alone. At least it is certain that one sex has failed as the arbiter of the destinies of the other, and better results already are in evidence from the combined occupancy of the field of public corrections by men and women.

The full import of women’s advance into the field of criminal law and administration is not yet widely appreciated, even by women themselves, so gradual and unobtrusive has it been, for the most part. Women began quietly as minor assistants to the courts of law, it being thought that the mysteries of that great science were too deep for the feminine mind. As the law schools and the secrets of the guild were opened to women, they began to bring into the administration of the law here and there the spirit of social service. As they acquired the technical equipment, which was soon discovered to be not half as formidable as the gentlemen of the powdered wig and lordly mien long represented, women began to assume even judicial functions.

Probation

Protective and probationary work naturally fell to women’s share very early in the growth of their interest in law enforcement. Even to the most obtuse masculine mind, it became apparent that women were fitted to look after women and children held temporarily under the tutelage of the courts.[^[46]] Even this, however, was a great gain for women. Probation officers were called into daily consultation with judges, members of the district attorney’s office, the chief of police and his subordinates, and the opinions, reports and investigations of women officers were soon shown to be of the highest value to the judges, attorneys and police. Hundreds of women thus won by sheer efficiency the respect of those in charge of law enforcement.

Regular probation officers are called upon to influence children, wives and husbands by members of their families who feel that a formal trial and sentence can thus eventually be avoided. All such officers seem eager to respond to human appeals and their spirit is an indication of the sincerity of their work. It is not only probation officers who thus save the courts both time and money and promote individual and social welfare. While official probation work is a part of the judicial function, a great deal of unofficial probation work is done which, through its preventive nature, relieves the court of labor. Teachers and social workers of various types are doing similar work to that of probation officers in their attempt to prevent crime and delinquency.

There are numerous probation associations and committees in the United States. Sometimes these are composed of men alone and again of men and women.

Probation and parole officers have helpful allies in the “Big Brothers” and “Big Sisters” now coöperating in many cities to prevent further lapses from grace on the part of young delinquents or offenders. The work that the Big Sisters in New York regard of prime importance was the Little Sisters’ Country Home where girls were sent to build up mentally, physically and morally before they were placed in private homes or in employment or again in their families. Such a home was established by Mr. and Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt at Little Neck, Long Island, Mrs. Vanderbilt being the president of the New York Big Sisters, but unfortunately it soon burned.

The Council of Jewish Women also does a great deal of protective work in its various sections. Each section is urged by the national council “to put itself in connection with the police and magistrates’ courts as well as the county or city attorney’s office and all officers of the department of justice and to make it known that wherever a Jewish girl appears or is arraigned, the section stands ready to do whatever may be necessary to help the accused or her family or the prisoner if she be a prisoner.” Preventive correctional work is done by this association along recreational and educational lines.