_Resignations Follow Criticism of Juvenile Court of Louisville, Ky._—A somewhat acute situation has developed among those interested in the work of the juvenile court and juvenile probation in Louisville, Ky. As a result of what is by some persons characterized as the courts’ “totally irresponsible methods in caring for dependent and delinquent children,” Bernard Flexner and several other members of the Juvenile Court Advisory Board have resigned their positions. The straw which broke the camel’s back was the appointment by Juvenile Judge Muir Weissinger of a probation officer who is declared not only to be unfit for such a delicate position, but also to have a noteworthy political reputation. The Social Workers’ Conference held a mass meeting on March 16, at which were adopted resolutions calling for the removal of the probation officer in question. Speakers at the meeting declared that for a year conditions in the juvenile court have been intolerable; that children have been dragged into court and brow-beaten, some have been wrongfully placed in unworthy homes, and that all efforts to do something for them have come to naught. Judge Weissinger declared that he would not remove the objectionable probation officer until better evidence that he was unfit had been adduced.
_Domestic Relations Courts._—In view of the interest with which the whole country is watching the work of the domestic relations courts newly instituted in the larger cities of New York, it is important that the court’s own story of its activities be set before the public. Recently such a court was instituted in the city of Chicago. Pointing in this same direction is a recommendation contained in the 1910 report of the Boston Associated Charities that the delinquent husband and father shall be constantly under the supervision of the court during the continuance of its direction to him to pay for the maintenance of his wife and child.
The domestic relations court for the Borough of Brooklyn, New York City, has put out a report of its work for the four months ending December 31st, 1910, these being the first four months of its existence. Judge Edward J. Dooley says:
“That the predictions of the opponents of a separate domestic relations court, that its organization would serve to promote more antagonism in the family, that it would tend to harass the husband, father and provident relative unnecessarily, have not been fulfilled. Statistics show that the number of cases brought herein since September 1st last, a period of four months, has been 574, which would be at the rate of 1,722 cases for the year 1910, for abandonment and non-support in the borough of Brooklyn. The number of cases of abandonment and non-support in the borough of Brooklyn for the year 1909 was 1,907, thus actually showing an apparent decrease of 185 cases of non-support for the year 1910, as compared with the year 1909.