Is the Juvenile Court Efficient ?
| Date | 01 May 1941 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455054100301407 |
| Author | James Whiteside |
| Published date | 01 May 1941 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
20I
IS THE
JUVENILE COURT EFFICIENT ?
By
the Juvenile Court should be &dquo; news &dquo; . : the person
who seeks to interpret the Court to the public mind
JAMES
can always find an audience, but not always one
that is free from the idee fixe.
WHITESIDE,
One need not look far to find matter for criticism
in a particular Juvenile Court, but to indict the
’
Clerk to the Justices,
institution is rather too sweeping. Mr. Clift makes
some useful points on matters which impair efficiency
Exeter
and he will secure general agreement-but surely he
nodded when he asserted that the provision of
Approved Schools is by law the duty of Local
N
the March issue of Probation Mr. Clift, Senior
Authorities; a glance through the list of such schools
J~ Probation Officer of Wolverhampton, discusses
will demonstrate that the majority of them were
this question in a provocative, interesting and
neither so provided nor are so maintained.
knowledgeable article.
Juvenile Courts, the fre-
Mr. Clift mentions the advanced age of some of
the
quency of their sittings, their composition and
Justices and attacks the system of part-time
&dquo;
staffing, and the insufficiency of Remand Home and
Clerks, writing off the latter as not efficient &dquo; with
Approved School accommodation are subjected to
a speedy decision which I, who know so many of
informed and not undeserved criticism, but the main
them, would not care to endorse. He does not dis-
question remains unanswered.
cuss the practicability of each Court being served by
Is the Juvenile Court efficient?
a full-time and fully experienced Probation Officer,
We, Mr. Clift and I,
but herein
as Christian men, grown-up
seems to be food for sober consideration.
boys, taxpayers and ratepayers, fellow labourers in
That the success or failure of a Court hangs, in the
what
last
seems so often to be the Sisyphean task of roll-
resort, on the strength of its probation service
ing our stones
cannot be
up the hill only to see them roll down
gainsaid.
Many counties by forming
again, regard the
combined
answer to this question
areas have availed themselves of the excel-
as being
tremendously important.
Is the Juvenile Court
lent service available to them and the trainee scheme,
efficient ?
no doubt, could and would be enlarged as greater
I submit that it is.
It shares with
demands were made
every Court in
upon it.
this and
The
every other country the attribute of imper-
shortage of Remand Home accommodation is
fection, and is no worse for a little healthy criticism :
an effect of the large movement of the young popu-
it must be improved (as it
lation combined with the war-time increase in
can be improved within
t~he framework of existing law) but as a working
delinquency and although it is a real trouble the
institution in an imperfect England it can at least
steps now being taken to deal with it should soon
claim to have earned
abate it.
The restricted
a title to efficiency.
Approved School accom-
By what test is efficiency to be measured ? We
modation is more marked in these abnormal days,
know what the Juvenile Court replaced and
but it is
we need
explained (and to some extent, excused)
not permit this to encroach on the discussion. (But
by the time-lag between a rapidly increasing demand
I
and the
may be excused f or mentioning that I was con-
steps taken, as they are being taken, to cope
sulted
with it.
a few days ago by a man who served four-
teen days’ hard labour for stealing a few apples
Mr. Clift makes a criticism which even to one
when he was thirteen years of age.) We know too
who thought himself a seasoned campaigner is new :
that its efficiency cannot be measured by the greater
he mentions some Courts at which 20 to 30 cases are
or less number of cases it is called upon to try; for
taken in a sitting of two to four hours. I shudder :
the most remarkable phenomenon in the statistics
not even able to make up my mind whether I am
of juvenile offenders in recent years is the increase
more horrified at the thought of thirty cases in one
in the number of youngsters charged during the first
list or at the thought of four solid hours spent at one
year that the Juvenile Court, as at present consti-
sitting in dealing with them. As a rule, there is
tuted, was set up. We know too that our English
no more exacting side of a Justice’s work, nothing
genius for publicising tihe black rather than the white
that makes greater demands on his concentration
spot manifest itself by turning the searchlight on
and patience, than...
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