The treatment of aliens in the criminal courts.

• Author: Abbott, Grace

This little study has been confined to an attempt to discover whether, in the matter of arrest, trial and commitment, the foreign-born of Chicago were denied any of the safeguards which protract the American-born who is accused of crime, what abuses and exploitations, if any, exist, by whom practiced, and how they may be prevented in the future. No attempt has been made to learn anything of the relative criminality of the various races or of the foreign-born generally as compared with the native American.

The only material available on this subject is the summary of arrests published by the Department of Police Records. These summaries for the years 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1909 (the latest yet published) are submitted with this statement.

The classifications are not scientific, and the information secured is, in many cases, undoubtedly inaccurate. Discussing these Chicago records of arrests, the United States Commission, in its Report on Immigration and Crime, says (p. 44, Abstract of Report): "Of the several classes of crime, offenses against public policy were most common. More than three-fourths of all arrests made during the period under consideration were for such offenses. In a large city like Chicago, offenses against public policy may indicate anything from ignorance to dangerons criminality." This, the report goes on to say, might be expected from foreign persons, coming from environments and accepting customs and rules of conduct different from those of the people of the United States. Constructive plans to help the immigrant through the night schools, so that he will not innocently commit these offenses against "public policy," should be made, and undoubtedly should make the plans, and interest the public in their execution.

Scope of the Investigation.--In the investigation all the courts in Chicago--Municipal, County, State and Federal, which have any criminal jurisdiction--were visited by the investigator. Various officers of the court, hangers-on, and individuals up for trial were "interrogated. The State Penitentiary at Joliet, the City Bridewell, the County Jail, and some of the cells at the police stations, were visited--wardens, guards and police officers Were" interviewed at each place, as well as a number of the prisoners. The secretaries of the Chicago Bar Association and of volunteer associations, which have representatives in almost constant attendance at some one of criminal "courts, namely," the Legal Aid Society, the Juvenile Protective Association and the Bureau of Personal Service, were consulted as to their knowledge of abuses and remedies which they thought practical. The superintendents of the Central Howard Association and of the Prison League of the "Volunteers of America, to whom a large number of prisoners are paroled every year, were visited. The Austro-Hungarian, Italian and Greek consuls and the editors of some of the foreign newspapers assisted in securing information. Cases of exploitation formerly handled by the league, as well as those which were discovered in the present investigation, were made the basis of the recommendations.

The Courts In Chicago and the Immigrant.--Of all the courts, the Municipal were the most important, so far as the immigrant population is concerned. This is where the foreigner usually has his first and. only contact with the American machinery of justice. These courts were established when the wretched, police and justice courts wire abolished in 1905. They have both civil and criminal jurisdiction. The criminal jurisdiction extends to all cases in which the punishment is by fine or imprisonment, otherwise than in the penitentiary; all criminal cases which may be prosecuted otherwise than by indictment 'by a grand, jury;, proceedings for the prevention of crime, and for the arrest, examination and commitment of persons charged with criminal offenses (R. S., Ch. 37, No: 265). The Municipal Court consists of a chief justice and twenty-seven associate justices. They are all elected at large for a term of four years. The associate justices are assigned to the various civil and criminal branches by the chief justice. He makes a practice of transferring them from time to time, so that the old connection with local politicians has been broken up.

The Municipal Court has from the beginning occupied a very different position in the eyes of the public from that occupied by the old justice courts and the result has been a much higher type of judges than was before possible. These judges have generally tried to protect the people brought before them from the sort of abuses formerly suffered. But in spite of these improvements, a spirit of indifference sometimes characterizes the various branches of the Municipal Courts of the city. Even when the judge is honest" and intelligent, there is often an atmosphere of off-handedness and apparent disregard of the main issues. The inarticulate administration of the oath, the aimless going to and fro; the close, unpleasant odor, the noise and confusion, now lulled, now increased by the pounding of the gavel, these things leave with those who are. having their first experience with our judicial system a scattered and distracted impression. Very often one encounters among the" foreign-born of Chicago the very definite conviction that an innocent man has no better chance of release when brought before the Municipal Court than a guilty one. "This seems to be due not so much to actual misjudgment of facts presented, but to the general haste which makes a man timid about presenting his case and convinces him that the judge has no time to hear his story of how it all happened. This varies very much, however, with the individual .judge. The patience and kindness of some make the stranger to American justice feel that the judge thinks every case important, and is determined to settle it fairly. Unless the foreigner" feels this, his first contact with our courts is worse than" lost. Instead Of learning respect for our. law and our judicial methods, because of the lack of dignity, and. apparent carelessness and what seems b) him the inevitable uncertain outcome, the stranger is apt to feel that the law is not very seriously regarded even by those 'especially charged with its administration.

Judges of the Municipal, as well as the higher courts of Chicago, seem quite free from the sort of prejudice which police officers and juries often display. These latter are quite often convinced that a foreigner, and especially one from Eastern Europe, is guilty of everything he can be charged with, and feel especially indignant when the injured man is an American. In rural communities, where the population is largely American, and the foreigners have no educated or influential spokesman, this is especially true. While usually free from such narrow prejudice as this, among those judges whose intentions are best, one is conscious so often of the feeling that if a mistake has been made, after all it is not so grave if the person affected by it :is a foreigner. The idea seems to be that the foreigner feels disgrace less keenly, that his social position is already so low that he does not suffer very much from the experience of arrest and even of conviction.

An example of the sort of thing this attitude is responsible for is brought out by the story of an Austrian...