judge is authorized to remove such probation officers or either of them, for cause.

SEC. 5. That the said court shall also have power, and is hereby authorized, to defer sentence, at its discretion, in the case of any juvenile offender under the age of seventeen years, and parole such child under the care of the chief probation officer for a probation period discretionary with him, who shall cause said child to return to court at the end of such term either for sentence or dismissal. Such paroled child shall be under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court for such period and shall be subject to such reasonable rules and regulations touching the welfare of the child as may be prescribed by it. In case such paroled child shall fail to keep or shall disregard the terms of his or her parole the said court shall have full power to cause such child to be brought before it for further proceedings.

SEC. 6. That the said court shall have power to appoint a clerk at a salary of two thousand dollars per annum, who shall hold his office during the pleasure of the

court.

SEC. 7. That the clerk shall give bond, with surety, and take the oath of office prescribed by law for clerks of district courts of the United States. He shall have power to administer oaths and affirmations, and shall perform such duties and keep such records as may be prescribed by the judge of said court.

SEC. 8. That the juvenile court of the District of Columbia shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction of all crimes and offenses of persons under seventeen years of age hereafter committed against the United States, not capital or otherwise infamous, and not punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary, committed within the District of Columbia, except libel, conspiracy, and violations of the post-office and pension laws of the United States, and also of all offenses of persons under seventeen years of age hereafter committed against the laws, ordinances, and regulations of the District of Columbia, and shall have power to examine and commit or hold to bail all persons under seventeen years of age, either for trial or further examination, in all cases, whether cognizable therein or in the supreme court of the District of Columbia. Said juvenile court shall have all the powers and jurisdiction conferred by the Act entitled "An Act for the protection of children, and so forth," approved February thirteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, upon the police court of the District of Columbia, and shall also have orignal and exclusive jurisdiction of all cases involving the legal punishment of children under the provisions of "An Act to provide for the care of dependent children in the District of Columbia and to create a Board of Children's Guardians," approved July twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two (Twenty-seventh Statutes, page two hundred and sixty-eight), and of the Acts

amendatory thereof; also of all cases under the provisions of "An Act to enlarge the powers of the courts of the District of Columbia in cases involving delinquent children, and for other purposes," approved March third, nineteen hundred and one (Thirty-first Statutes, page ten hundred and ninety-three), and said juvenile court may hereafter, concurrently with the criminal court, have and exercise all the powers and jurisdiction conferred by said last-mentioned Act upon the police court of the District of Columbia in the case of parents or guardians who shall refuse or neglect to provide food, clothing, and shelter for any child under the age of fourteen years: And it is further provided, That the court may impose conditions upon any person found guilty under the said last-mentioned Act, and so long as such person shall comply therewith to the satisfaction of the court the sentence imposed may be suspended, and may impose similar conditions in all cases of dependent or delinquent children cognizable under existing laws in any court of the District of Columbia, except in the cases herein before already excepted; and the said juvenile court may also hear, try, and determine all cases of persons less than seventeen years of age charged with habitual truancy from school, and in its discretion to commit them to the Board of Children's Guardians, who are hereby given the care and supervision thereof when so committed. No person under seventeen years of age shall hereafter be placed in any institution supported wholly or in part at the public expense until the fact of delinquency or dependency has been first ascertained and declared by the said juvenile court. All children of the class now liable to be committed to the Reform School for Boys and Reform School for Girls shall hereafter be committed by the juvenile court to said schools respectively. All other children delinquent, neglected, or dependent (with the exceptions herein before stated) shall hereafter be committed by the juvenile court to the care of the Board of Children's Guardians, either for a limited period on probation or during minority, as circumstances may require, and no child once committed to any public institution by the order of the juvenile court shall be discharged or paroled

therefrom or transferred to another institution without the consent and approval of the said court.

SEC. 9. That the terms "dependent" or "neglected" children as used in this Act shall be held to mean and include any child who is destitute or homeless or abandoned or dependent upon the public for support, or who has not the proper parental care or guardianship, or who habitually begs or receives alms, or whose home, by reason of neglect or cruelty or depravity of the parents, is an unfit place for such a child, or any child under eight years of age found peddling on the streets. The term "delinquent" child or children as used in this Act shall be held to mean and include any child who has been convicted more than

Prosecution to be on information

188.

once of violating any law of the United States, or any laws, ordinances, or regulations in force in the District of Columbia.

SEC. 10. That any unlawful removal or attempt to remove any child committed by the juvenile court to any institution or agency shall be a misdemeanor, which, if committed by any person or persons over seventeen years of age, shall be punishable, on conviction in the police court, by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars, or imprisonment not more than three months; but if committed by a person or persons under seventeen years of age, shall be punishable, on conviction in the juvenile court, by a like fine, or by imprisonment in some correctional institution to be designated by said court, other than the jail or workhouse, for such reasonable period as such court shall direct.

SEC. 11. That there shall be no fee charged for any service by the clerk.

SEC. 12. That prosecutions in the juvenile court shall by C. C., etc., ib., be on information by the corporation counsel or his assistant. In all prosecutions within the jurisdiction of said court in which, according to the Constitution of the United States, the accused would be entitled to a jury trial, the trial shall be by jury unless the accused shall in open court expressly waive such trial by jury and request to be tried by the judge, in which case the trial shall be by such judge, and the judgment and sentence shall have the same force and effect in all respects as if the same had been entered and pronounced upon the verdict of a jury. In all cases where the accused would not under the Constitution of the United States be entitled to a trial by jury, the trial shall be by the court without a jury, unless in such of said last-named cases wherein the fine or penalty may be fifty dollars or more, or imprisonment as punishment for the offense may be thirty days or more, the accused shall demand a trial by jury, in which case the trial shall be by jury. In all cases where said court shall impose a fine it may, in default of the payment of the fine imposed, commit the defendant for such a term as the court thinks right and proper, not to exceed one year.

SEC. 13. That in all cases of riot, general disorder, conspiracy, and the like, where two or more persons are charged with the commission of a joint offense, and one or more of the persons so charged shall be under the age of seventeen years, it shall not be necessary to hold the trial of such case or cases in the said juvenile court, but the trial of such offenders shall be conducted as heretofore, anything in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding.

SEC. 14. That the jury for service in said court shall consist of twelve men, who shall have the legal qualifications necessary for jurors in the supreme court of the District, and shall receive a like compensation for their services, and such jurors shall be known and selected under and in pursuance of the laws concerning the drawing and

selection of jurors for service in said court. The term of service of jurors drawn for service in said juvenile court shall be for three successive monthly terms of said court, and in any case on trial at the expiration of such time until a verdict shall have been rendered or the jury shall be discharged. The said jury terms shall begin on the first Monday in January, the first Monday in April, the first Monday in July, and the first Monday in October of each year, and shall terminate, subject to the foregoing provisions, on the Saturday prior to the beginning of the following term. When at any term of said court it shall happen that in a pending trial no verdict shall be found, nor the jury otherwise discharged before the next succeeding term of the court, the court shall proceed with the trial by the same jury as if said term had not commenced.

SEC. 15. That at least ten days before the term of service of said jurors shall begin, as herein provided for, such jurors shall be drawn as herein before directed, and at least twenty-six names so drawn shall be certified by the clerk of the supreme court of said District of Columbia to the said juvenile court for service as jurors for the then ensuing term. Deficiencies in any panel of any such jury may be filled according to the law applicable to jurors in said supreme court, and for this purpose the judge of said juvenile court shall possess all the powers of a judge of said supreme court and of said court sitting as a special term. No person shall be eligible for service on a jury in said juvenile court for more than one jury term in any period of twelve consecutive months, but no verdict shall be set aside on such ground unless objection shall be made before the trial begins. The marshal of said District, by himself or deputy, shall have charge of said jury, and may appoint a deputy for that purpose, who shall be paid three dollars a day while so employed.

SEC. 16. That in all cases tried before said court the judgment of the court shall be final, except as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 17. That the said court shall have power to issue process for the arrest of persons against whom information may be filed or complaint under oath made, and to compel the attendance of witnesses; to punish contempts by fine not exceeding twenty dollars and imprisonment for not more than forty-eight hours, or either, and to enforce any of its judgments by fine or imprisonment, or both, and to make such rules and regulations as may be deemed necessary and proper for conducting business in said court. In all cases where the said court shall impose a fine, it may, in default of the payment of the fine imposed, commit the defendant for such a term as the court thinks right and proper, not to exceed one year. That every person charged with an offense triable in the juvenile court of the District of Columbia may give security for his appearance for trial or for further hearing, either by giving bond to the satisfaction of the court or by de

positing money as collateral security with the appropriate officer of the said juvenile court or the station keeper of the police precinct within which such person may be apprehended. And whenever any sum of money shall be deposited as collateral security as hereby provided it shall remain, in contemplation of law, the property of the person depositing it until duly forfeited by the court; and when forfeited it shall be, in contemplation of law, the property of the United States of America, or of the District of Columbia, according as the charge against the person depositing it is instituted on behalf of the said United States or of the said District, and every person receiving any sum of money deposited as hereby provided shall be deemed in law the agent of the person depositing the same or of the United States or the said District, as the case may be, for all purposes of properly preserving and accounting for such money. And all fines payable and paid under judgment of the said juvenile court shall, upon their payment immediately become, in contemplation of law, the property of the United States or the said District, according to the charge upon which such fine may be adjudged, and the person receiving any such fine shall be deemed in law the agent of the said United States or the said District, as aforesaid, as the case may be; and any person, being an agent as herein before contemplated and defined, who shall wrongfully convert to his own use any money received by him as herein before provided shall be deemed guilty of embezzlement, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or by imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both.

SEC. 18. That the said court shall have a seal, and the judge or the acting judge thereof shall have power to administer oaths and affirmations.

SEC. 19. That the said court shall hold a term on the first Monday of every month and continue the same from day to day as long as it may be necessary for the transaction of its business.

SEC. 20. That all fines, penalties, costs, and forfeitures imposed or taxed by the said juvenile court shall be paid to the clerk of said court, either with or without process, or on process ordered by said court. The clerk of said court shall, on the first secular day of each week, deposit with the collector of taxes the total amount of all fines, penalties, costs, and forfeitures collected by him during the week next preceding the date of such deposit, to be covered into the Treasury to the credit of the District of Columbia. The said clerk shall render an itemized statement of each deposit aforesaid upon such forms and in such manner as shall be prescribed by the auditor of the District of Columbia.

SEC. 21. That it shall be the duty of the auditor of the District of Columbia, and he is hereby required, to audit the accounts of the clerk of the juvenile court at the end