CHILDREN’S COURTS

Northern Advocate, 16 March 1929, Page 8

CHILDREN’S COURTS

In view of diverse views hold regarding the value of children’s courts, and the ultimate effect they may produce, the Minister of Justice, the lion. T. M. Wilford, addressed a questionnaire to all the Magistrates in the Dominion, It reads as follows: I shall be glad to receive from you at an early date a report setting out your opinion of the working of the children’s courts and making any suggestions that occur to you for the improvement of those courts or of The Child Welfare Act so far as it relates to children’s courts. In particular, I shall be glad to have your opinion as to whether: 1. It is wise to prejudge that in all eases, irrespective of the nature of the'offence and the public interests involved, the Press should be excluded. 2, The offender’s name should be suppressed in all cases irrespective of the offence, the temperament of the offender, and his attempts to inculpate others. 9, The offender should be brought into a room shorn of all the appearance of the surroundings of a court, irrespective of the offence and the offender’s bearing towards authority and the country’s ideals. 4, When charged with housebreaking, burglary, or other serious offences, young persons above the ago of fourteen years should be brought before children’s courts to be dealt with.

I shall bo glad to learn whether the Press are excluded from the children’s courts presided over by you, and whether the police appear in or out of uniform.

All but four ■ magistrates have replied to the*quostionuairo, and until all replies are received and compared, Mr Wilford does not intend to make a pronouncement of any kind. It will be most interesting to all who are com corned with child welfare to hear what the magistrates think about the opera> tion of the courts.