November 18. At the City Hall and the Women's Federation Regular meeting. Present: Commissioners Building, Elmira. Folks, McKenna, McCarthy and Wade. OFFICERS AND STANDING COMMITTEES. At the meeting of the Commission held in January, 1908, Commissioners Folks and McKenna were re-elected president and vice-president, respectively. The president appointed the following standing committees: Committee on Publication.- The president, Commissioners Clark and McCarthy. Committee on Finance.- Commissioners McKenna, McCarthy, Warburg and the president. Committee on Investigation.- Commissioners Wade, Clark, McKenna and the president. Committee on Legislation and Extension.- Commissioners McKenna, McCarthy, Wade, Warburg and the president. Meetings Held at the Invitation of Local Officials. At the invitation of Police Justice and Juvenile Court Judge Simon A. Nash of Buffalo, the Commission met in that city January 10th and 11th, and again on February 23d, for the purpose of investigating the volunteer probation work being carried on in Buffalo and of recommending improvements. As a result of the inquiries and recommendations of the Commission the positions of paid probation officer in the Buffalo juvenile court, in the Buffalo morning courts, and in the Erie county and Supreme Courts have been created. Since these meetings of the Commission a paid probation officer has also been appointed in the Buffalo police court. Previously there had been no probation work in Buffalo or Erie county among adults. At the invitation of Mayor Daniel Sheehan and Recorder Lawrence H. Buchanan of Elmira, the Commission met in Elmira on April 13th to ascertain the needs in Elmira and to formulate suggestions for the organization of the probation system in that city. The Commission recommended the creation of the position of paid probation officer in the recorder's court, but the common council has not yet made the necessary appropriation. At the invitation of Police Justice and Juvenile Court Judge John H. Chadsey and of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children of Rochester, the Commission met in that city on October 21st and 22d to suggest plans for the improvement of the juvenile probation system, which had been operating for some years on a volunteer basis. The Commission recommended the appointment of a paid probation officer in the juvenile court, and during February, 1909, the board of estimate and apportionment included in the city budget an item for this purpose. At the invitation of the justices of the Court of General Sessions of New York County, a committee from the Commission conferred with the justices of that court on March 5th. Conferences of Probation Officers. On October 21st the Commission held a conference of probation officers from the western part of the State in Rochester, which was attended by about forty probation workers, representing ten courts and the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The afternoon was very profitably devoted to informal reports and discussions concerning probation methods. On November 18th the Commission called an impromptu conference of about a dozen probation officers from seven different courts, who were attending the State Conference of Charities and Correction in Elmira. Judges were present and spoke at each gathering. The Commission will hold similar conferences in various parts of the State from time to time. Uniform Forms. In response to the requests and inquiries of many courts and probation officers for blanks for probation work, the State Probation Commission has prepared sets of the most essential forms, and is supplying them gratuitously to courts and probation officers desiring to use them. Since the forms were issued in November over 60,000 forms have been furnished for use in twenty-five courts and boards of magistrates. In the preparation of the forms the Commission secured copies of several hundred forms from all parts of the country, and gave several months to their study and revision, after which tentative forms were submitted for the criticism and suggestions of various probation workers. The forms are described in a pamphlet, giving instructions for their use. Some of the forms are for juvenile probation, others for adult cases; and with the forms are also furnished index cards and manila folders for filing case records. Proper forms for probation work are very important, and it is desirable that so far as possible they be uniform throughout the State. In the past, few courts in the State have had any forms for probation records, and some of those used have been unsuitable. The Commission has also issued forms for the appointment of probation officers, as is required by section 11-a of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and for their oath of office, which is called for by the Public Officers' Law. The list of forms prepared and furnished by the Commission is as follows: Part I. Forms for appointing probation officers. Form 1. Commission as probation officer. 2. Oath of office. Part II. Forms for juvenile probation. Form 3. Investigation. 4. Terms and conditions. 5. School record. 6. Home record. 7. Church record. 8. Probation officer's monthly case report. 9. Case history. Part III. Forms for adult probation. Form 10. Investigation. 11. Terms and conditions. (a) In intoxication cases. (b) In payment of fine or restitution. 12. Pledge. 13. Probation officer's monthly case report.* 9. Case history. For monthly consolidated statistical reports to the court, probation officers can use duplicate copies of their monthly statistical reports to the State Probation Commission. Part IV. Filing system. Form 14. Index card of probationer. 14-F. Manila folder for case records. 15. Index card of probation officer. Visits and Inquiries. During the past year the secretary of the Commission has visited judges, probation officers and other municipal officials in the following cities: Niagara Falls, Elmira, Binghamton, Ithaca, Watertown, Buffalo, Amsterdam, New York city, Yonkers, Middletown, Plattsburg, Albany, Troy, Johnstown, Gloversville, Utica, Rome, Little Falls, Hudson, Watervliet, Cohoes, Kingston, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, Auburn, Oswego, Fulton, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Glens Falls, Rochester, Corning, Hornell, Olean, Jamestown, Lockport, North Tonawanda, Tonawanda, Dunkirk, Ogdensburg, Oneida, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, Syracuse, Geneva, Cortland and Port Jervis; he has visited the county judges, district attorneys, probation officers or other county officials connected with the county courts of Erie, Niagara, Chemung, Tompkins, Herkimer, Jefferson, St. Lawrence, New York, Westchester, Kings, Clinton, Albany, Fulton, Oneida, Columbia, Ulster, Cayuga, Oswego, Saratoga, Warren, Monroe, Franklin and Dutchess counties; he has visited police justices, justices of the peace, probation officers or other officials connected with the town or village courts of Owego, White Plains, Essex, Malone, Ballston Spa, Mechanicville and Saratoga Springs; and he has also conferred with some Supreme Court justices and numerous private citizens. Some of the commissioners have also made a few such visits. The Commission has thus obtained first-hand information concerning the probation work in every city in the State and in over one-third of the county courts. In addition to ascertaining how extensively the probation system is being used, and with what methods and results, these visits have afforded opportunity to furnish to local authorities information, and in several instances to offer suggestions and assistance concerning either the establishment of the system or the modification of methods. Several magistrates expressing themselves as desiring to use the probation system, have called attention to the difficulty of securing probation service gratuitously, and to the desirability of therefore having the public better informed regarding the advantages of the system, in order to facilitate securing appropriations for probation work. Several magistrates have asked the assistance of the State Probation Commission in interesting the public in their communities in probation. The conditions which the Commission finds show the need of three special lines of work by the Commission: 1. The extension of the system. 2. The improvement of probation methods. 3. The education of the public concerning the operations and value of the probation system. Diversity in Probation Methods. The visits above referred to have shown great variety in probation methods. In some courts probation is used only among children, in some courts only among adults, and in some courts among both classes. Probation in some courts amounts to little or practically no more than a suspension of sentence, since the probationers either are obliged to report to no one and are subjected to no supervision, or have no requirement except that they report to the probation officer or some other person, more or less perfunctorily. The period of probation in some courts is definitely fixed, while elsewhere neither the court, the probation officer nor the probationer knows when it ends. Frequently the periods are fixed at a stated number of months in all cases, regardless of the individual differences in their circumstances. In some places the probation usually lasts for less than a month, and in some instanccs for not more than two or three days. In some places probation officers, instead of the court, regulate the length of the probationary periods. Previous to the providing of forms by the State Probation Commission, comparatively few courts gave probationers a written statement of the conditions of their probation, which the law requires to be given to all probationers. Some probation officers have been found entirely ignorant that their probationers were, while on probation, still under the jurisdiction of the court; and that they as probation officers were peace officers having authority |