A Day in Coutre? Problems in Correctional Guidance
By Anna Speisman Starr, A.B.,
Psychologist for the Juvenile Division, Municipal Court, Philadelphia?
There was an air of restlessness in the crowd outside the Court Room?a kind of an expectancy, mingled with dread, but it was in no wise reflected within the Court Room where a few officials, gathered about His Honor’s desk, were arranging the case records to follow the order of the day’s “court list.” The Court Room itself had a quiet, peaceful dignity, simply furnished, and lacking the heavy, somber trappings of former days. It did not seem like a great public hall of Justice but rather like a friendly council chamber. A clerk came in bringing a small bowl of gay spring flowers and placed them on the desk?casually announcing that the Judge had arrived. Then each official took his place and stood solemnly while the Judge himself entered and the clerk cried lustily, “Oh yea, Oh yea, Oh yea, all persons who stand bound by recognizance or otherwise may have to do before His Honor, Judge of the Municipal Court, in and for the County of Philadelphia may appear and they shall be heard. May God save the Commonwealth and this Honorable Court. Call the first case.” That mandate alone seemed formidable?perhaps it was for this that the crowd outside was waiting.
A slight, dark-haired Italian girl, defiant and yet afraid, entered the room from the rear, while her parents merging from the crowd entered through another door. Angelina had been held in detention while “her case was being investigated” and this was the first time she had seen her father in several days. He still looked stern. Together they stood before the Judge, who turned to the father and asked what was their trouble. In a loud voice assertive of his own dignity the father said: “My girl?she no mind?she say yes?I sa}r no?she go out and I lock the door. I her father and she musta mind me.” The fat, little mother looked pleadingly from one to the other, afraid to oppose her husband, bewildered by their child’s defiance, and hoping that the Judge might understand. Angelina, just sixteen, haughtily interrupted “He is too hard. He is cruel. This is not Italy and I am free. Didn’t I make eighteen dollars last week? That is as much as he ever makes. I can support myself, I don’t have to stay at home.”
And then in a quiet even voice, the Court Representative presented the salient facts of the situation and the outcome of the investigation, and the family group listened while someone else told of their trouble. The parents had come from Italy just after they were married and had settled with friends, keeping to a large extent their racial customs. There had been illness and loss of work so that now Angelina’s wages were a boon, had it not been for the privileges she demanded. Angelina was going with American girls to dance halls, of which parental authority disapproved; she preferred choosing her own friends and scorned her father’s choice of a husband for her? he striving to settle her early and well and she struggling to be unfettered. A week ago, Angelina had retained a part of her pay and had purchased some bit of feminine finery. The father became angry, made harsh demands and she defied him by leaving the house. When she returned, the door was locked. The family bore a good reputation in the community. Angelina had done well in school and was regularly employed.
It was plainly a case of misunderstanding rather than wilful defiance and this His Honor tried to show them?that the father’s idea was not all tyranny but too keenly felt responsibility?that Angelina, being a part of the old as well as the newer order of things, must try to choose the best of each; that being American meant translating her parents’ ideals into hers and not totally rejecting them.
The next case was an American girl of Irish descent, who had already been before His Honor several times, and in answer to his recognition, said, “Sure it is not a bit of my fault this time.” The Judge had first seen Ellen in the Juvenile Court, when at the age of seven she had been sent with four other children to a Temporary Home, for their father had gone to jail as the result of a drunken brawl, and their mother was ill. The Judge had remembered the child because she ran away and on being returned to him, gave as her excuse, that she “wanted to see if Tom really had made their double bike go.” Later she had been back as a truant and another time she followed the circus to the next town. She had always been fearless, scorning whatever recreation convention allotted to girls choosing a freer, more adventuresome role with her brother. At fifteen she had gone to work at the factory and to dances at “the social halls;” at sixteen she was arrested in a raid by the Federal authorities for Violation of Section 13 (selling liquor to uniformed men) and now she was “back again.” This time she was arrested for Disorderly Conduct and admitted that if she hadn’t “sassed the cop by swearing at him she would be still working at the new job she got two days ago.” Being arrested had come to mean the inevitable bad luck which she had learned to endure, but which was becoming more persistently present.
It was reported to the Court that Ellen had not worked for several weeks and that she had lost her last two positions because of her violent temper. She had begun to feel that everyone “had a pick on her, that there was someone watching her.” Her mother complained that she had to handle her with soft gloves; she could change so quick from being like her father to being real nice when she wanted something. She had not been home for three weeks? not since that morning her mother had asked her to go to bank to deposit a Liberty Bond in safe keeping and she had “hocked it.” “Well it was mine as much as anyone else’s and Uncle Jerry might have willed it to me anyway. He always said he liked me and didn’t I go to Flannigan’s for him the last time he was down?I should worry.”
There was something in her feigned bravado, in the nervous restlessness of her behavior that made His Honor read and reread the Doctor’s report and to continue the case “under advisement.” Sally was a wretched creature as she supported herself against the Court rail. All her flimsy finery seemed like tinsel, nor could the bravado of her stare altogether hide the look of craving which changed again to one of pleading. She had made such a brave fight not “to show the habit” but she could not hide it longer and when her needle was presented as evidence, she gasped, then sank on the bench muttering “That’s the dam thing?but, it has been a good friend to me.” That day, there were three others on the list, all suffering and pleading for just one sniff to make them forget.
Case No. 4 was called, and a tall, flushed, loosely jointed woman of twenty-six came in and stood beside her mother. Nellie had been known to the Court for several years, always getting into just enough trouble never to be entirely free from the efforts of some social agency. The question for decision today was “all this being so, what’s to be done.” The difficulty had been noted years before. The school teacher had told Nellie’s mother that she would never learn much and suggested sending her away to a school, where she might be taught things not in the public school program?but sending Nellie away seemed too much like deserting her and Nellie’s mother kept her home, not at all abashed by her school difficulties or failure to progress. In her early teens “Nellie was very sassy” and quite overruled her mother. At twenty she had an illegitimate child which was placed in an Orphanage and died. Since then?six years ago, twenty-five different city agencies have worked on Nellie’s case? seven of the number being Clinics and Hospitals, to one of which she had been admitted six times. She is also known to three divisions of the Court?Domestic Relations, Criminal and Misdemeanants. In the last division alone she has had seven hearings. Her problem is still unsolved. When committed to Institutions, like the House of the Good Shepherd, her behavior would be good until she became restless. In the County Prison she was cowed by fear. Upon her release, she would be home with her mother only a few weeks until her mother would complain that “Nellie acts silly and swears dreadfully” and beg that something be done because when “Nellie is home, everybody fights.”
In 1917, Nellie was employed at house cleaning, where she met a plumber’s helper and a few days later, married him. That adventure had not been successful either, for he deserted her shortly after their baby was born. She said of Tom, “He is too lazy to want to work? I certainly do love him. I don’t see why he left me. He said I had a big mouth. He didn’t have much money and he thought my mother would take me in. When he beats me again, I’ll take my own part. He wanted to get out of the Army. He punches his own head, he does. There must be something wrong?please can’t you get me a job?”
Many attempts have been made to secure the right kind of a job for her?a place which afforded enough variety not to become monotonous, a task not requiring wisdom which she lacked, and a place where the people would accept her limitations and yet encourage her to use her abilities. When she did work the quality was good but never lasted long. Irresponsibility, childish petulance, never seeing her own deficiency, firmly believing she was always right, resenting discipline and not profiting by experience?all these militated against her and as usual Nellie was out of a job. She had worked by the day, on a farm, and in domestic service, but none of these “suited her.”
Physically, Nellie looked very well and although she suffered chronically from one thing or another, she managed to keep fairly strong through her wide acquaintance with Dispensaries and Hospitals. As to her mentality, the diagnoses had agreed; though recognizing her as deficient?no examiner, neither Psychiatrist nor Psychologist, had considered her mentally a “committable case.” I wice she had been held under observation in what Nellie called the “Psycho-patrick Ward,” but both times she was released. Neither could she be long committed for crime, for no single one of her offenses had been serious?begging, violating probation, street walking, disorderly conduct. Vigorously and knowingly did Nellie argue, “I never stole nor did I kill and you can’t put me away.” One must aspire to be an all-wise Judge who, with due regard for personal integrity, shall decide the rights of society in such a case as this. When the next case was called, a neatly dressed girl walked in smilingly and each person about seemed to catch it. The Probation Officer was reporting Mary’s progress to the Judge and was petitioning for her release. Mary had also been known to the Court for some time but never before under such auspicious circumstances. Two years before when the Travelers’ Aid Agent had brought her to the Court for protection, she appeared defiant, skeptical, under-nourished, and revengeful; had run away from home, angered and irritated by her family’s taunts, and determined never to conform. It had been a long fight, a real struggle, for as Mary herself had mused, “I must have been a funny kid in those days.’ ‘? There were but two ideals to which she bowed the knee?one the worship of absolute fairness, the other the ambition to “be polite.” She had been detained at the Court House because she had refused to give her name and during that first week, trying to escape through the window, she had fallen, breaking her leg. Then came an attack of fever and long weeks of convalescence with ample time for reflection. The first person toward whom Mary warmed was her nurse, who, kind and gentle toward her in her loneliness, had never exhorted her to “tell who she was.” The nurse had become genuinely fond of Mary and the experience of being accepted and “treated like a real somebody” stimulated her to have faith in herself and gave her courage to smile at the world. At times, she had lost her temper and thereby her job; once she had run away but later returned, and once she had been falsely accused of theft, but today she “walked into Court just to show him I did make good.”
Following Mary’s case, was Julie, worn, haggard and toothless. She had had a checkered career?in her youth, a power in her underworld realm, now a picture of decay and despair. There she stood, callously, with a cynical sneer, waiting for what Justice would mete out to her, ready to defy it whatever it was. She scorned imprisonment, likewise pity. Against her stood the record of many arrests for drunkenness, pandering and prostitution. She knew the Judge was reading her medical report and she also knew that venereal infection meant enforced medical care, so she had little interest in her sentence?the possibilities were too few. It was more satisfying to remember her former power than to sense her present position and with an effort toward something of her old time spirit, she swept from the room, unheeding what the Judge had said.
The tipstaff called, “All persons witnesses in the case of Barbara Uvensky are now summoned to appear,” but no one answered. Before the Judge stood a stout, well-built country girl, wide eyed, wondering, gullible. ” Where do you live? ” asked the Judge. ” Why are you here?” “I live up the State. He said when I would come it would be fine and I thought I would surprise him. He said there are many good jobs here in the city but I could not find one. It is too big. And I cannot find him.”
Barbara had been brought in by the Station Guard, who discovered her wandering about and bewildered. Her story was a simple one?of ambition, aspiring to reach something the mining town did not afford; of adventure, to try the new as her parents had done; of faith in her power to succeed, then to go back “all dressed rich”; of stupidity in failing to realize what she was doing. But, as she said, the city was too big and no one seemed to know “him.” She was so frank in her expectations, so miserable in her disillusionment, and she tried so hard to keep up her courage and fight back the growing homesickness, that everyone smiled at her in sympathy and shared her joy when the telegram from her father was read urging that she be sent back immediately.
Paet 2.
What spirit moves back of such a Court, to quicken the Judge in his sympathy and insight? In former days, a Court hearing was the first step in administering Justice, and amid unverified accusations he who argued best or talked the most, established the case. It is true that today’s atmosphere was wholesomely free from irrelevant details, for, being a Court whose fundamental concept is to adjust individuals rather than to penalize them, the purpose of such a hearing was to assemble the facts that had been verified and to make clear not only the present situation but also to uncover and deal with the causes involved. Society is not avenged by such a Court, it is protected by it. This shifting of emphasis from the punitive idea to one of social adjustment has increased in those Courts where the offense is against individuals rather than against property and in many such cases, the offenders are their own victims. It means that society recognizes individuals as socially ill, or out of tune as it were with the standards of their race and age; it means that society is beginning to demand that the individual live up to the top notch of his social proficiency, that he respect the desires and pleasures of others, even if such conformity means personal restraint. The socialized Court is far from being sentimental, it exacts the utmost one can give and strengthens them that they may give more. For ages society said “An eye for an eye,” but finally realizing how futile is such a policj’, she has begun to ask “Can I teach you to see?” Such a question is a double one? for it really asks what is it that distorts your social vision and can that obstacle be removed. If it can be removed, every possible effort is required to that end.
In the functioning of no social agency, is it more imperative to study and to know the individual than it is in a Court, for to the Court come only those whose maladjustment is critical. It has been said that criminal responsibility is not a quality of the offender but rather the demand made by society that the offender shall suffer in return for pain that he has inflicted. Obviously the offender should be judged not only by the outward act but also by the state of mind accompanying it. As soon as the offender becomes the object of consideration and not the question of his punishment, the Court must ask ” why did he do it?what were the motives and what the purpose.” To adjust individuals one must know those individuals, and knowing the girl offender does not mean knowing merely a few facts about her recent behavior. It means knowing something of her health and her attitude as she met the different milestones in her life, whether it was whooping cough, school, adolescence or her first factory job?what were her opportunities and what did she make of them? What have been her ideals and ambitions and how far has she realized them? Where does she stand now, physically, mentally, socially? Is she interested in her job; is she making good; where does she play and with whom? What does she hope to do and why? Looking closely one can observe in subsequent behavior the traces of early experiences and so often readjustment means only recognition of the true relationship between cause and effect. For instance, take the case of Mary who had really made good. The first day she appeared in Court, the Judge saw before him a sensitive, defiant and self-pitying girl, whose outlook was at least distorted. She was the elder of several children?a dreamy, proud child, who had resented living in the last shanty of the row. It was not the poverty so much as the family’s meek acceptance of it and their toleration of needless dirt that fretted her spirit. When she tried to keep her things apart from the others, the children called her fussy. One day, when her father heard her imitating the “Book-lady” and grandly say to imaginary guests “Pray do be seated,” he laughed at her scornfully and beat her for putting on airs. She had had little schooling but cherished the little she had; at home she lived in a world all her own, not trusting a person to share it. On that first day the Judge did not know any of this; he did not even know her name, but he knew other things about her. Assembled on his desk were the physician’s reports telling him that she had long suffered from malnutrition, that while there was no organic disease, her general body tone was low; the psychologist’s report noted her intelligence as normal, her trainability good, her quickness of response promising; the psychiatrist warned of an impending nervous break. The picture was before him?human material good enough at the start but now ready to break trying to meet demands far too great. The Judge knew that once the crisis was over, an adjustment might be made? that what she needed was to gain faith in people by having them put faith in her. People who are happy, who are efficient, who are in tune, are those who are adjusted?the social balance of the misdemeanant is not adjusted, it is disturbed. The function and purpose of the Court is to re-establish such balances and through experience thus gained, learn some methods of prevention in other cases. From an analysis of Angelina’s case, the prognosis appears favorable because there the difficulty is one of a material disturbance ?there is physical strength and mental vigor on both sides and the crux is an economic and educational one. Ellen could never be adjusted for any length of time, because she is fundamentally too erratic, unstable and impulsive, with embryo delusions of persecution. Nellie’s handicaps seem almost too many to ever allow her to be competently independent. Her physical strength and mental equipment though inadequate, still are not below the borderline of possible sufficiency?but her motivation and training are. When her deficient competencies function, they must call on the others for compensation in order to meet the situation but the others barely adequate in themselves, have no residue to share. Nellie wants to be busy, to be important and to feel she is choosing her own way. In an environment where her desires and interests would be satisfied, she could do quite well; but that environment is not in the hustle and complexity of competitive city life, especially when her economic status demands that she be self-supporting. Nellie might do very well (that is never get arrested) if she had money enough to pay others to amuse her. The best solution society provides for such as she is the Industrial School, where for undeterminate sentences the Nellies are taught what they can learn, are disciplined toward self-control and kept contented by simple joys and interests. These schools are jails ?if being in jail means forced to remain there, but they are not jails of idleness and revenge. Their function is to afford an opportunity of becoming physically restored and socially adjusted.
A day at Court tends to make one philosophical and to question seriously whether or not the methods employed are the most effective. Granting the progress already made, we feel the insistent demand that every available resource be used to help meet the situation. Should society revengefully punish an individual who has so little to say in the choice of her equipment for life? Do people will their delinquency? Are we social beings simply because of a wiser choice? Must not society come to recognize more fully its responsibility for child life and its adequate training? Every law breaker, every offender was once a child and society had a greater chance then to help make him into a good citizen. But on the other hand we cannot expect that society shall suffer because certain individuals are selfish through ignorance, defiance or evil intent. Society has begun to see that no person should be unnecessarily handicapped, but at the same time to demand the best from each of us in citizenship. To such a concept is the socialized Court dedicated and it works for the fuller realization of its ideal.
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