National Probation Association.—This is the new name of the National Probation Officers’ Association. The change was decided upon at the fourth annual meeting of the organization in Boston in June. The membership of the association includes probation and parole officers, judges and others interested in probation and parole. Judge George S. Addams of the Cleveland Juvenile Court is president for the ensuing year, and Arthur W. Towne of the State Probation Commission, Albany, is secretary-treasurer. Next year’s meeting will be held in Cleveland during the week of the National Conference of Charities and Correction.
The association has published a directory of probation officers in the United States, which shows that there are about 900 such officers working under salary. It also has in preparation a handbook on juvenile court procedure and probation. This is being written by a committee of which Bernard Flexner of Louisville is chairman. The portion of the handbook, relating to investigating the cases of children brought before juvenile courts, was printed in preliminary form and discussed at the meeting in Boston. Following are extracts from this part of the handbook:
“For intelligent disposition of any case a judge must have in his possession the essential facts regarding the life and history of the child before him, and it must be ascertained that these facts come from a reliable source, known to the court. Whenever paid probation officers are employed, the investigations should be left to these officers. An investigation, to be entitled to the name, must include first, an interview with the child and, second, a visit to his home, including an interview with his relatives. That is certainly the minimum standard for adequate investigation. To it may be profitably added the investigation of the school record; of the employment record in the cases of older boys or girls, and of church and neighborhood associations.”
“The business of investigation is one of the most serious defects in our juvenile court system. There are very few courts whose investigations are systematic, uniform and impartial. Cases are often rushed through and the facts learned afterwards. Many cases are decided on partial evidence, many of the most significant facts cropping out after the child has been disposed of by the court. It is better, if necessary, to keep a child in detention a few days longer and to continue the case, if by that method a painstaking investigation takes the place of a hasty, slipshod inquiry.”
A Drugless Institution.—Warden Simpson of the Jackson prison is reported in the Detroit Journal as declaring that he has succeeded in practically abolishing the illicit use of drugs in that institution. “It was the greatest evil I had to contend with on my arrival,” he says. “Dope was present in large quantities, there were numerous drug fiends and they were all disabled by its consumption. The gateways of this traffic were numerous—through the mails, by express, by trusties and visitors, and free men, such as teamsters, having access to the shops and yards. All this has been stopped by proper supervision and guarding, resulting from the organization of the official force. All visiting is now conducted over a table, with an officer sitting at the end, and a partition running under the table, so that no drugs can enter in this way. Visitors are no longer conducted through the shops and yards, and the inmates work with better results under this plan, as before they naturally regarded themselves as curiosities, to be placed on exhibition at a slight remuneration to the state.”
Col. Scott’s New Position.—Governor Dix of New York has recently appointed the well-known penologist, Col. Joseph F. Scott of Elmira Reformatory, to succeed Mr. C. V. Collins, resigned, as superintendent of state prisons. Col. Scott was formerly superintendent of Concord Reformatory in Massachusetts, and has been the efficient head of Elmira since 1903. His appointment is for a term of six years. The institution under his charge are Sing Sing, Auburn, Clinton and Great Meadow Prisons; the hospitals for the criminal insane at Dannemora and Matteawan, and the State Farm for Women at Valatie.
Col. Scott’s appointment followed an official investigation of the prisons, which was made by the Governor’s office. Col. Scott has named John S. Kennedy as warden of Sing Sing, William J. Homer as warden of Great Meadows, and John H. Mealey as warden of the new State Farm for Women. Dr. Robert B. Lamb has resigned from the superintendency of the Matteawan State Hospital, and a civil service examination has been held for the purpose of filling the position; but the appointment has not yet been made.