Judge of the City Court, Indianapolis, Indiana
In the city campaign of 1909 I pledged the people of the city of Indianapolis that if elected judge of the city court, I would introduce a probation system as a means of helping delinquent men and women. The enactment of a law by the legislature of 1907, under which courts may exercise the right to suspend sentence or withhold judgment in the cases of adults, made possible the application of a probation system in the administration of justice in circuit, criminal and city courts.
The probation system inaugurated in the city court of Indianapolis has covered:
The Suspended Sentence.
The power to suspend sentence has saved many novices in crime from undergoing the harsh punishment that would be otherwise meted out to them, and that seems to be contrary to the constitutional provision that “all penalties shall be proportioned according to the nature of the offense.”
During the past year sentence has been suspended in 236 cases and judgment withheld in 3,474. The majority of these were first offenders. In those cases where the judgment was suspended, the court has had to set aside the suspension of sentence and commit the defendants in only two cases, and where the judgment has been withheld less than two per cent. have been returned to court for a second or subsequent offense.
While there is no provision under the law for the employment of paid probation officers, adequate supervision in 352 cases was made possible by good citizens volunteering to serve in that capacity. These probationers were required to furnish the court a monthly report signed by the probation officer. Time will not permit the details of these reports. Each tells its own story of heroic efforts toward right living.
Paying Fines on Installments.
The old method of collecting money fines which compelled the defendant to pay or replevy the same moment he was fined was always a source of great hardship on the poor. It was unreasonable to expect a common laborer arrested late at night and convicted in the morning to be prepared to settle with the state. If he was unable to pay or make arrangements to have his fine stayed for the statutory period, he was sent to prison, not because the court had given him a term of imprisonment, but because he was poor, which is in effect, imprisonment for debt.
To aid this particular class there was introduced as a part of the probation system a plan for the collection of fines in small payments. In those cases where the defendant appeared deserving he has been released on his own recognizance and the case held under advisement for thirty to sixty days, as the circumstances seemed to justify, at the expiration of which time he was required to report to the court that he had paid in the amount designated as the fine and costs to be entered against him.