The juvenile court sits for the first time — and sends two boys home to report weekly
Judge Easterday hears Pierce County's first juvenile cases: two lads who burglarized a Buckley store are placed on weekly probation instead of behind bars.
The first cases of the juvenile court were tried by Judge Easterday yesterday afternoon, and turned over to the probationary officers. James McNeeley and J. D. Jones, two lads who were arrested for burglarizing a Buckley store, will hereafter report to the officers once each week. The boys belong to responsible families, and the judge divined that they stole more for the adventure of the things than for the value of the goods.
“The judge divined that they stole more for the adventure of the things than for the value of the goods.”
A court just for children — with probation officers instead of cellblocks — was still a novelty in 1907, and Pierce County was trying it out on two boys who stole for the thrill. A century later the argument has flipped direction: the fight now is over how often juveniles get pushed into the adult system rather than kept out of it.
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