The Treatment of Adult Offenders and Children by the Courts of Delaware County, Pennsylvania

Front matter

PUBLICATIONS of the

Pennsylvania Committee on Penal Affairs, inc.

MARCH 1930

Foreword

THIS study of the treatment of adult offenders and of children in Delaware County, prepared by Leon Stern, Secretary of Research and Field Studies of the Pennsylvania Committee on Penal Affairs, is a careful and analytical survey of the practices of the courts and penal institutions of this county. It is a contribution to knowledge on the subject which should be helpful to both citizens and public officials.

The study was made with the co-operation of the judges, penal adminis¬ trators, and probation officers of the county. We may look upon it, not as a complete plan for the solution of the problems of criminal justice, but in the spirit in which it is presented, as a source of information and as an aid to officials and organizations dealing with these matters.

The stressing of co-operation between private and public agencies in the treatment of crime and delinquency is a point of view we have been developing in the past decade. It provides a sound social basis for our dealings with problems which so often distress our community life.

W. ROGER FRONEFIELD,

President Judge, 32 d Judicial District.

Introduction

HIS pamphlet describing the administration of criminal justice in

X Delaware County is the fourth one of our county series. Similar reports from Berks, Beaver and Luzerne Counties have been made and can be had upon request. This report for Delaware County, as well as the others, describes the treatment of adult offenders and of children in difficulty with the law.

In this report we wish particularly to call attention to the development of the new county jail. About fifteen years ago a meeting was held in Media, the county seat of Delaware County, to discuss modern methods of caring for prisoners. Today, thanks to the prompt action of th Prison Board and the County Commissioners, with the co-operation of the present Board of Judges, Delaware County is one of the two Pennsylvania counties which are leading the way in jail reform, by the establishment of a modern prison farm.

The main purpose of the Pennsylvania Committee on Penal Affairs is the dissemination of reliable information on the treatment of adult offenders and of children in difficulty with the law. Believing that Delaware County has made a genuine contribution to the science of criminology, the Committee takes pleasure in presenting this report to the citizens of the Commonwealth.

LOUIS N. ROBINSON, Chairman, Pennsylvania Committee on Penal Affairs.

Part One Social Factors And County Administration

Page

I. The County and Its People . 11

II. Administration of Delaware County . 15

III. The Courts of Delaware County . 15

IV. The Quarter Sessions Court and the Treatment of Delinquency and of Social Problems:

Procedure . 16

(1) Criminal procedure . 16

(2) Juvenile procedure . 17

(3) Non-support procedure . 17

(4) Fornication and bastardy procedure . 18

The Judges and the Quarter Sessions Court . 18

V. Probation Officers:

Laws Concerning Appointment; Duties; Staff Organizations, Salaries,

etc.; Training and Experience of Probation Officers . 19

Administration of Probation and Parole Work . 21

Records and Reports . 21

VI. Public and Private Social Agencies . 22

Part Two Method Of Case Study And Social Treatment

I. How Statistical Analysis of Cases Was Made . 37

II. How Examination of Treatment Was Made . 38

Part Three Findings Of The Survey

TREATMENT OF ADULT OFFENDERS, FAMILIES AND CHILDREN SECTION A — General Standards of Treatment . 43

SECTION B— Adult Offenders

Page . . 44

I. Types of Possible Official Action:

(a) Police Action . 44

(b) Court Action . 45

Fine; Suspended Sentence and Probation; Parole; Insol¬ vency Discharges; Probation and Parole to Pay Fines.

(c) Penal and Correctional Care in Institutions . 46

II. The Stream of Cases — Classification of Offenses . 46

III. Dispositions:

(a) Individuals Convicted of Adjudicated . 50

(b) Individuals not Convicted, not Tried, etc . 51

(c) Dispositions Compared with Offenses . 52

(d) Recidivists or Repeaters . 55

(1) Arrests and Trials . 56

(2) Convictions in 1927 and in Previous Years . 56

(3) Offense Groups Among Recividists . 56

(4) Character of Dispositions . 57

(5) Serious Crimes . 57

IV. Social Treatment of Adult Offenders:

(a) Intra-Mural Care . 58

Old County Jail; Nature of Jail Population . 58

Prison Farm . 62

Building Plans; Work Program for Prisoners . 64

(b) Extra-Mural Care — Statistical Analysis . 68

Percentage of Sentence Served by Parolees and Insolvents; Follow¬ up System of Probationers and Parolees now in Force; Collections. 69 Future Development of Probation and Parole Work with Adults

and Adolescents . 71

Court Welfare Auxiliary . 71

Comments and Suggested Plan . 72

SECTION C — Protective Work for Women and Girls

I. Organization:

(a) Protective Officer . 74

(b) House of Detention — Staff; Types of Cases . 74

II. Statistical Analysis for Year 1927 . 75

III. Admissions to House of Detention:

Total Admissions; Age and Race of Inmates; Length of Stay , etc . 76

IV. Medical Work:

Types of Cases; Medical Statistics of House of Detention . 78

V. Social Background of Girls:

Home Conditions; Mentality of Girls; Unmarried Mothers . 79

Page

SECTION D — Family Relations

I. The Courts and the Probation Officers:

(a) Justices of the Peace and Aldermen’s Courts . 81

(b) Quarter Sessions Court . 81

(c) Judges . 82

(d) Probation Officers for Family Relations . 82

(e) Legislative authority for desertion probation officers . 82

(f) Duties of probation officers in desertion cases . 82

(g) Records and Dockets . 84

(h) Administration of Probation Work . 84

II. The Stream of Cases:

Number and Types of Cases; Geographical Distribution . 85

III. Method of Initiating Court Proceedings:

(a) The Poor Law . 85

(b) Non-support and Desertion Act of 1867 . 85

IV. Court Action:

(a) Hearings and Social Processes . 86

(b) General Powers of the Court . 86

(c) Support Orders; Other Dispositions . 87

V. Probation Follow-Up:

(a) Collections . 88

(b) Social Treatment in Non-support and Desertion Cases . 88

VI. Co-operation and Exchange of Service . 89

SECTION E— Children

I. The Juvenile Court System:

(a) Jurisdiction and Organization . 89

(b) Judges . 90

(c) Juvenile Probation Officers . 90

(d) Legal Basis for Work of Juvenile Probation Officers . 90

(e) Probation Officers’ Duties in Children’s Cases . 90

(f) Administration of Juvenile Probation Work . 92

(g) Records and Dockets . 92

II. The Stream of Cases:

(a) Type of Cases Studied . 92

(b) Court Intake; New 1927 Cases; Recividists . 92

Age, Sex and Color; How Children Came to Court; The Problems and Difficulties Presented; Neglected Children; Broken Homes; Residence of Juvenile Court Children . . 94

Page

III. Legal and Social Procedure Before Disposition:

(a) Legal Procedure Before Judicial Disposition . 97

Petitions; Information; Arrest and Warrant . 97

(b) Social Procedure Before Judicial Disposition . 99

1. Social Investigation . 99

2. Medical and Mental Investigation . 100

3. Information from the Social Agencies, etc . 100

4. Social Service Exchange . 101

IV. Study, Care and Detention of Children Awaiting Hearing . 101

V. Judicial Action:

(a) Court Hearings . 106

(b) Dispositions . 107

VI. Social Treatment:

Unofficial Cases . 110

Institutional Care . 110

Caseload . Ill

Discharge Policy . Ill

Co-operation in Supervision Cases . Ill

SECTION F — Courts, Correctional Agencies and the Community:

I. General Community Co-operation . Ill

II. Case Co-operation and Exchange of Service . 112

Part Four

I. Summary of Findings . 117

II. Summary of Recommendations . 118

Appendix

Statistical Tables

CONTENT OF STUDY

The study is presented in four parts:

Part One

Part one is introductory and descriptive. The better to understand the county’s problems, its history and social background have been sketched in; the county’s general social and industrial problems have been portrayed; the populational factors have been studied and presented; the administrative departments and their relationship to each other and their function in the treatment of children, families and adult offenders, are discussed. A picture of the activities of the non-correctional social agencies, public and private, dealing with the various community problems, family life, child life, health, delinquency and dependency, is also given in this section.

Part Two

Part two describes the methods used in the examination of cases. It tells how the case problems were analyzed and studied and how the work of the courts and the associated public and private agencies, in connection with treatment of individuals, was surveyed.

Part Three

Part three is devoted to findings in connection with the study of cases and treatment. It shows the results of the study of cases for the year 1928, and of the survey of social treatment given by the courts and the private and public social agencies during that year to the individuals in difficulty: children, adult offenders, and men and women in cases of domestic trouble. There is an explanation of the objectives of this case study, together with an outline of the standards of case handing and treatment which were used as a guide.

Part Four

Part four presents findings and recommendations based upon this study. These are made for the consideration of the courts, correctional authorities and the social agencies of the county and its communities.