The movements in the jail populations are of even more interest. It is to the jails that most of the criminals who are influenced by excessive use of alcohol go. I have been permitted by the State Board of Control to secure from the records of commitments to jails figures for two years, the one 1914, which was probably a normal year, uninfluenced either by the war or by prohibition. The commitments to jails in that year were reported by the county sheriffs as 15,495, in 70 counties. According to the unpublished report of the Board of Control for 1920, in 62 counties there were 6,403. I took the figures from 13 of the counties in which the largest cities of the state are located for commitments, for drunkenness, and disorderly conduct in 1914. Such commitments numbered in that year 1,847. Of the same counties in 1920 six reported none, while the other seven reported but 89. There is a possibility, however, that the judges may have committed under some other name, such as vagrancy, some who would formerly have been committed as drunk and disorderly. Even making such allowances, however, the difference is striking. It is clear that the jails in 1920 were much less used to hold prisoners than in 1914. Whether prohibition accounts for the difference, of course, is still an open question. That it had some influence is less doubtful.

In the face of these facts it is not too much to say that there is a close negative correlation between the enactment of the prohibition law and the commitments to prison, reformatory, and jails.

C. THE TREATMENT OF WOMEN OFFENDERS IN THE MUNICIPAL COURT OF PHILADELPHIA

Leon Stern, Educational Supervisor Municipal Court, Philadelphia, Pa.

A clearer understanding of the treatment of women offenders in Philadelphia might be helped, I think, by first presenting the organization of the Municipal Court of Philadelphia as a whole, for it is in one of the divisions of the Municipal Court that women sex-offenders are tried. The Municipal Court is divided into five divisions: Domestic Relations, Juvenile, Civil, Criminal, and Misdemeanants'. It is in the Misdemeanants' Division that women arrested for sex offenses are tried. Each division except the Civil Division, has a probation staff. The Criminal Division and the Misdemeanants' Division probation staffs are divided into a men's division and a women's division. The attempt in this paper and in the slides illustrating the paper is to describe the work of the Women's Misdemeanants' social staff, probation, medical, etc.

The Misdemeanants' Division of the Municipal Court of Philadelphia has a twofold jurisdiction, first in the cases of all disorderly children between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, and second in the cases of all persons arrested for disorderly streetwalking. For facility of administration and also because certain fundamental distinctions must be made between the handling of the two sexes, the Misdemeanants' Division is subdivided into the boys' and men's department, and into the girls' and women's department. There is in charge of both departments an administrative chief, William M. Rouse; and a probation officer, Miss Bertha Freeman, is placed in direct charge of the women's division.

The diagrams shown here illustrate graphically the new misdemeanants' procedure as contrasted with the old misdemeanants' procedure. Under the old misdemeanants' procedure the hearings were not in a specialized court, but in Magistrates' Courts

Old Misdemeanants'

with lay judges. The diagram shows that there was an ar followed the arrest. There was a hearing then in court, the the time of her hearing. There was no one to present the

"judge"; the courtroom was filled with loiterers, panderers, and tenderloin characters. Lawyers who made it their business to defend these girls were always present. One of three things might happen as the result of the trial; discharge, commitment, or fine. Most of the courts were simply fine mills. There was absolutely no supervision after trial. This system still holds in most jurisdictions throughout the country. Under the new system used in the Municipal Court of Philadelphia, a specialized court, the Misdemeanants' Division, handles all these cases. This court has exclusive jurisdiction in all cases of women and men arrested for disorderly street-walking.

Under the new misdemeanants' procedure, women arrested for disorderly streetwalking are all brought to the Misdemeanants' Court building as soon as the arrest is made, as shown in the diagram. By referring to the diagram it will be seen that there are a number of preliminary steps before the court hearing. This is altogether unlike the procedure under the old system, where there was no step between arrest and court hearing. Now we have preliminary investigation, general medical examination, specific examination, sociological report, psychiatric report, and psychological report. At the court hearing, the case is presented to the judge by the court representative, a woman who is also in charge of the probation work in this division. By referring to the diagram we see also that a number of dispositions is possible. The fine system is not used at all in the new procedure in the Philadelphia court. No woman brought into court is fined and then turned loose on the streets again.

I. Women and girls accused of street-walking or prostitution in every case are brought in as arrest cases-either alone or with the man whom they were found soliciting. The arrests are usually made by a member of the so-called vice-squad. The girl arrested for street-walking is brought immediately to the Women's Misdemeanants' Building which is an old Philadelphia schoolhouse-the Vaux School, remodeled to suit the purposes of the court. She is not taken to a station-house first, nor is she placed in a cell room after she is brought to the court building. She is at once taken to the medical ward dormitory on the second floor of the building. Here she is interviewed by a probation officer, her social history entered on a standard face sheet and record forms. This provides material for further investigation if needed.

The next step is an interview with the house physician in charge of diagnosis. The physician who is a regular paid staff member secures all personal and family medical data. A typist sits behind a screen taking dictated notes of the interview, although she does not see the girl and the girl does not see her.

The next step is a physical examination as to the general physical condition, made by the same physician, the typist still taking notes. The girl now passes into the adjoining room to be examined by the skin (venereal) specialist, who first examines for glandular and other specific condition. A typist also unobserved by the girl makes notes here.

The next step is the taking of the Wassermann test for the The test is made by the same physician. An examination of patches (evidence of specific disease) follows, made by the same

The girl is now referred to the gynecologist who makes an the medical staff may report definitely as to the presence of either geno A gonorrhea smear is taken.

All the collected medical data after being written up, is sent to t room, where it is on file but is not accessible to anyone except the me

hilis.

For the next step, the girl or woman is sent to the psychiatrist who makes neurological and psychiatric tests, which will reveal neurological conditions. The tests given are such as pupillary reflex, knee jerk, Romberg test for evidences of central nervous disease, and other tests useful in uncovering bad habits such as the taking of narcotic drugs, etc.

The next examination is the psychometric, for measuring mental content, viz., tests which reveal feeble-mindedness or low mentality. The Binet Simon tests are used, the Healy form-board tests, etc. It is interesting to note that many of the girls tested are not found to be feeble-minded. The feeble-minded girl has often been discovered at an earlier age, and for other delinquencies than those of street-walking. After all, the psychologists say that street-walking as a business requires a considerable degree of intelligence. These tests are done under the direction of the neuropsychiatric division of the Medical Department of the Municipal Court. The neuropsychiatric work with the women misdemeanants is so important that the staff divides its time equally between this division and the other divisions of the court. Although mental subnormality is more rare than we might think, there are emotional and nervous complexes that occur frequently and which make a routine psychiatric examination imperative. Some of the studies conducted by the neuro-psychiatric department are described by Judge Charles L. Brown in a paper presented at the National Conference of Social Work in New Orleans last year.

In another nearby room a finger-print is made of the girls who have been arrested for street-walking. These prints are classified and identified if the girl has been in court before.

Not until a complete picture, social, mental, physical, and medical has been made, so to speak, is the girl taken to court. This is all done, of course, either on the day before or on the morning of the trial. The judge thus has all the data which will guide him in making a decision of the case before him. The man who was arrested with the girl is brought before the bar at the same time. The court decision in the ordinary course of events will be: commitment to the House of Correction, with medical treatment when necessary; medical treatment for the non-ambulant cases at the Gynecean Hospital-the hospital of the Municipal Court-with probation following cure and release; probation, accompanied by attendance at the genito-urinary clinic for those ambulant cases in need of medical attention; discharge on probation for those having no medical condition; discharge as not guilty. Mowing this a conference of the probation and house staff makes pls in aco the judge's decision.

II. Girls arrested for incorrigibility and waywardness.—The girls who are brought into court because of incorrigibility, i.e., the girls between sixteen and twenty-one years of age, coming under the "disorderly children" act, usually come to court because they are runaways from another city, or more usually, because their parents make complaint. With them as much of the procedure described as may be necessary is used. No finger-prints are taken. They are housed on the third floor and each girl has a separate room; there is also a small dormitory. These rooms are tastefully furnished and in them the girl may exercise her own individuality. They have an attractive dining-room to themselves. There is a recreation room or lounge in which the girls read, sew, and play games under supervision. The girls who come in give up their valuables and when discharged receive them again.

The cases of these girls are also, of course, brought before the judge for disposition. The dispositions may either be institutional commitment, probation, or discharge.

Sometimes these girls who also may have had sex experience, although not as street-walkers, may be infected. They are then either referred to the Gynecean Hospital for treatment and subsequent probation, or for clinical treatment and probation. III. The Gynecean Hospital which is in another building has been turned over by the managers to the sole use of the court. It is devoted altogether to the treatment of specific disease of women and girls committed by the court to its care. The hospital has a capacity of seventy beds. The medical wards are attractive and cheerful. While here they receive the Arseno-Benzol treatment for specific disease administered by the court gynecologist. They have a separate dining-room and attractive china and dishes. They have reading classes conducted by interested individuals from outside. There is a recreation room for dances, games, etc.

IV. The medical building and laboratory of the count is used for medical examinations and to house the laboratory. In the laboratory all the test specimens, urine specimens, etc., are examined. Wassermanns are examined here. Gonorrhea smears are also examined here. In this building the court dentist sees patients. Both the incorrigible girls and the women arrested for street-walking are examined by him for dental care. No charge is made except for materials and when the women and girls cannot pay for materials, some way is provided by which they can get them free. To this building men arrested with women for disorderly street-walking are brought for examination. If the men are found to be infected, medical treatment is made a compulsory part of their probation. Girls or women who are released from the Gynecean Hospital or from the medical ward from the Misdemeanants' Building, must take out-patient treatment at the State Genito-Urinary Dispensary, as long as the medical staff deems it needful. This is called medical probation.

The Medical Department has a nursing staff some of the members of specialize in the social handling of patients with specific disease. It is their f to follow up the patients to see that they take the prescribed treatment.

V. During the period of probation, the probationer is visited by her pr officer and reports regularly to her when required, at the Women's Mideme Building. When physical, medical, social, and moral rehabilitation has been eff then the probationer is discharged. The social and probationary treatme hand in hand with the medical and the scientific handling which have been Careful distinction is made between the work with the young incorrigible girl, older girls and women arrested for disorderly conduct.