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No. 51.

IN ASSEMBLY,

MARCH 12, 1906.

STATE OF NEW YORK:

EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,

ALBANY, March 12, 1906.

To the Legislature:

I have the honor to transmit herewith the report of the Commission appointed pursuant to the provisions of chapter 714 of the Laws of 1905, to examine into the operations of the probation system.

(Signed)

FRANK W. HIGGINS.

REPORT

105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET,

NEW YORK CITY, March 12, 1906.

Hon. FRANK WAYLAND HIGGINS, Governor:

Sir. The undersigned, appointed by you as a Commission to examine into the operations of the probation system, beg to submit the following report:

The duties of this Commission are defined in sections 2 and 5 of chapter 714 of the Laws of 1905, which read as follows:

§ 2. The duties of said commission shall be to make careful inquiry into the operation of the probation system in the state of New York; including the number of persons appointed as probation officers, the method of their selection; their compensation, if any; the numbers and classes of persons placed under the care of probation or parole officers; the duties performed by such probation officers in relation to persons placed under their supervision; the conduct of persons placed under the supervision of probation or parole officers; and any other matters pertaining to the probation system. The members of the commission and its secretary, counsel, and assistants, when so directed by the commission, shall have access to all court and other records relating to the trial of persons placed on probation or parole, or who might have been placed on probation or parole, or relating to the work of probation or parole officers, or the conduct of persons who have been placed on probation or parole. The said commission may also collect information in regard to the operations of the probation system in other states. The term parole as used in this act shall not be held to include the release of persons who have been committed to penal or reformatory institutions and who after having entered such institutions are conditionally released therefrom.

§ 5. Said commission shall make a full report of its work to the governor to be transmitted by him to the next legislature at its opening or as soon thereafter as practicable. Such report shall include such recommendations as the commission may deem wise to perfect the probation system in this state, and the commission shall cease to exist when such report is made.

METHODS OF INVESTIGATION.

The Commission held its first meeting in New York city on September 7, 1905, and organized by the selection of Homer Folks as chairman. Charles E. Rushmore, Esq., of the firm of Stern & Rushmore, has served the Commission as counsel without compensation, and his advice and assistance have been of great value. Subsequently Kingsbery Foster was elected as its secre tȧry.

The Commission has held forty-one meetings in New York city, three in Buffalo, two in Rochester and three in Albany. In the course of these meetings it has examined representatives of the board of city magistrates of the First and Second divisions in New York city, namely: Ex-president of the board, Hon. Charles A. Flammer; president, Hon. Charles G. F. Wahle; Hon. Charles S. Whitman, Hon. Daniel E. Finn, Hon. Henry H. Furlong, Hon. Joseph Pool and Hon. Peter J. Barlow. Hon. William A. Wyatt, Hon. Joseph M. Deuel, Hon. Willard H. Olmsted, Hon. John B. McKean, and Hon. Robert J. Wilkin of the Courts of Special Sessions, and Hon. Warren W. Foster of the Court of General Sessions also testified before the Commission.

It has also examined at length some of the above-named justices of Special Sessions who have also presided in Children's Courts in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and a number of probation officers attached thereto, including E. Fellows Jenkins, superintendent of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Hon. Elbridge T. Gerry, Ex-President and counsel for the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children also testified.

From the Municipal Civil Service Commission of the city of New York, the Commission examined Commissioner Alfred J. Talley and Chief Examiner F. G. Ireland. Ex-Commissioner

Nelson S. Spencer, and Mr. Elliott H. Goodwin, secretary of the Civil Service Reform Association also testified.

In the course of its examination of witnesses outside of the State of New York, the Commission examined Hon. Julian W. Mack, judge of the Children's Court of Cook county, Ill.; Henry W. Thurston, chief probation officer of Cook county; Miss Julia C. Lathrop of Chicago; Mr. Keefe, chief probation officer 'of Boston; Miss Mary Philbrook, and Mr. Richard Stephens, probation officers of Essex and Hudson counties, respectively; New Jersey.

In Buffalo the Commission examined Hon. Daniel E. Kenefick, justice of the Supreme Court of New York; Hon. Edward K. Emery, judge of the County Court of Erie; Hon. Thomas Murphy, justice of the Juvenile Court of Buffalo; Hon. George A. Lewis, formerly judge of the Municipal Court of Buffalo; William S. Bull, superintendent of police, together with many probation officers of the Juvenile Court, and citizens having special knowledge of probation work.

In Rochester the Commission examined Hon. Arthur G. Sutherland, county judge of Monroe county; Hon. John D. N. Stephens, special county judge of Monroe county; Hon. John A. Chadsey, judge of Police and Children's Court; Mr. Alfred J. Masters, probation officer; William A. Killup, superintendent of the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children; and Franklin H. Briggs, superintendent of the State Industrial School. There were also heard in Rochester, Hon. Frederick Thompson, police magistrate of Syracuse; Fillmore H. Smith, secretary of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children of Syracuse, and Arthur W. Towne, secretary of the bureau of charities of that city.

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