who has been convicted of a crime against the person of such child, or has been adjudged an habitual criminal; or, (As amended by chapter 480 of the Laws of 1915.) 4. Frequenting or being in the company of reputed thieves or prostitutes, or in a reputed house of prostitution or assignation, or living in such a house either with or without its parent or guardian, or being in concert saloons, dance houses, theatres, museums or other places of entertainment, or places where wines, malt or spirituous liquors are sold, without being in charge of its parent or guardian; or playing any game of chance or skill in any place wherein or adjacent to which any beer, ale, wine or liquor is sold or given away, or being in any such place; or, 5. Coming within any of the descriptions of children mentioned in section four hundred and eighty-five, Must be arrested and brought before a proper court or magistrate, who may commit the child to any incorporated charitable reformatory, or other institution, and when practicable, to such as is governed by persons of the same religious faith as the parents of the child, or may make any disposition of the child such as now is, or hereafter may be authorized in the cases of vagrants, truants, paupers or disorderly persons, but such commitment shall, so far as practicable, be made to such charitable or reformatory institutions. Whenever any child shall be committed to an institution under this chapter, and the warrant or commitment shall so state, and it shall appear therefrom that either parent, or any guardian or custodian of such child, was present at the examination before such court or magistrate, or had such notice thereof as was by such court or magistrate deemed and adjudged sufficient, no further or other notice required by any local or special statute, in regard to the committal of children to such institution, shall be necessary, and such commitment shall in all respects be sufficient to authorize such institutions to receive and retain such child in its custody as therein directed. Whenever any commitment of a child shall for any reason be adjudged or found defective, a new commitment of the child may be made or directed by the court or magistrate, as the welfare of the child may require. And no commitment of a child which shall recite therein the facts upon which it is based shall be deemed invalid by reason of any omission of the court or magistrate by whom such commitment is made to file any documents, papers or proceedings relating thereto, or by reason of any limitation as to the age of the child committed, contained in the act or articles of incorporation of the institution to which it may have been committed. If it shall appear to the board of managers, trustees or other officers in charge of said incorporated charitable, reformatory or other institution to which any such child has been so committed that said child be incorrigible and that his or her presence therein is seriously detrimental to the welfare of the institution and other children therein, an application may be made to the court or magistrate who committed the said child to said institution, or to a justice of the supreme court in the judicial district in which said institution is located, for an order transferring said child to another incorporated charitable, reformatory or other institution, governed or controlled by persons of the same religious faith as the parents of the said child, when practicable, said institution or reformatory to be one designated by the state board of charities for the receipt and detention of such incorrigible children. Such application shall be by petition signed by the officer or the person in charge of such institution and shall state the causes for seeking such transfer, and due notice of such application with a copy of the petition shall be served personally or by mail at least eight days before the hearing, on the parents or guardian of said child and the officer of the locality which would be chargeable for the support of such child so transferred, and upon the hearing of said petition such court, magistrate or justice may grant such order of transfer if it appears to his satisfaction that the facts alleged are true and that such transfer should be made; and any child so transferred shall be confined in such institution to which such transfer shall be made with the same force and effect as the confinement in the institution in the first instance and under the same terms and conditions. (As amended by chapter 169 of the Laws of 1912.) 6. No child actually or apparently under sixteen years of age shall smoke or in any way use any cigar, cigarette or tobacco in any form whatsoever in any public street, place or resort. A violation of this subdivision shall be a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding ten dollars and not less than two dollars for each offense. 7. All children actually or apparently under the age of sixteen who desert their homes without good or sufficient cause, or keep company with dissolute, immoral or vicious persons, shall be deemed disorderly children. Those actually or apparently under the like age who are not susceptible of proper restraint or control by their parents, guardians, or lawful custodians, or who are habitually disobedient to their reasonable and lawful commands, shall be deemed ungovernable children. A disorderly or ungovernable child may be dealt with as provided in the fifth subdivision of this section. 8. Any magistrate having criminal jurisdiction may commit, temporarily, to an institution authorized by law to receive children on final commitment, and to have compensation therefor from the city or county authorities, any child under the age of sixteen years, who is held for trial on a criminal charge; and may, in like manner, so commit any such child held as a witness to appear on the trial of any criminal case; which institution shall thereupon receive the same, and be entitled to the like compensation proportionally therefor as on final commitment, but subject to the order of the court as to the time of detention and discharge of the child. Any such child convicted of any misdemeanor shall be finally committed to some such institution, and not to any prison or jail, or penitentiary, longer than is necessary for its transfer thereto. No child under restraint or conviction, actually or apparently under the age of sixteen years, shall be placed in any prison or place of confinement, or in any court-room, or in any vehicle for transportation in company with adults charged with or convicted of crime. 9. Whenever any child is brought before any court or magistrate, to be dealt with under any of the subdivisions of this section, instead of committing such child to confinement in any institution, the court or magistrate may place such child under the custody of a probation or parole officer, and at any time within one year thereafter such court or magistrate, may issue a warrant for such child, and after giving such child an opportunity to be heard, may make the commitment which could have been made in the first instance as aforesaid. The foregoing provision shall not apply to a children's court created by special enactment in cities of the first class but this exception shall not be construed as taking away or limiting any jurisdiction now possessed by such children's courts. If at any time during the proceedings it shall seem to the magistrate that any child brought before him under any of the subdivisions of this section, appears to be feeble-minded, he may cause the child to be examined by two physicians of at least five years' experience in the treatment of mental disease, and on the written statement of the two examining physicians that in their opinion the child is feeble-minded, he may commit him to a public institution for the feeble-minded, and such child shall be detained therein until duly discharged by direction of the board of managers thereof. (As amended by chapter 480 of the Laws of 1915.) Juvenile female delinquents, committed under sections 485 and 486, to reformatories and correctional institutions are to be regarded as disorderly persons rather than as paupers and the expense of their maintenance is a county charge. Supreme Court, September, 1910, St. Agnes Training School v. Erie County, 68 Misc. 648. Detention of children in police department building unlawful. STATE OF NEW YORK, ALBANY, April 7, 1905. Hon. ROBERT W. HEBBERD, Secretary, State Board of Charities, Albany, N. Y.: DEAR SIR.I acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 5th inst. You inquire whether it is lawful, under the provisions of section 291 of the Penal Code, to confine children in the detention room in the police department building in the city of Syracuse, which adjoins rooms used by adult females, charged with, or convicted of, crime. Section 291, subd. 6, of the Penal Code, provides, among other things, as follows: "No child under restraint or conviction, actually or apparently under the age of sixteen years, shall be placed in any prison or place of confinement, or in any court room, or in any vehicle for transportation, in company with adults charged with or convicted of crime." Without reciting in detail the history of this legislation, I think its purpose was to completely separate the child from the adult in places of detention. This particular provision is to be read in connection with other provisions of law relating to the same subject. You will note that, in subdivision 7 of section 291, the law has provided that the trial of children under sixteen shall be had separate and apart from the trial of other criminal cases, and whenever practicable in a separate court room, to be known as the children's court. I think, therefore, that it was the clear purpose of this legislation that a child, actually or apparently under sixteen years of age, which is in custody by virtue of any provision of law, shall be detained in a separate building, wherever practicable, and where not practicable in such part of a building used for the detention of adults, so completely apart from the place where such adults are confined that the child shall not come in contact with the adults under any circumstances, and shall not be near enough to the adults so confined so as to hear any of the conversation engaged in by them. While you have not informed me of the physical details of the police department building to which you refer, I am of the opinion that it was clearly the intention of the statute that children should not be detained in a building of that character. Yours respectfully, JULIUS M. MAYER, § 487. Children's courts. All cases involving the commitment or trial of children, actually or apparently under the age of sixteen years, for any violation of law, in any court shall be heard and determined by such court, at suitable times to be designated therefor by it, separate and apart from the trial of other criminal cases, of which session a separate docket and record shall be kept. All such cases shall, so far as practicable, be heard and determined in a separate court room to be known as the children's court and to be used exclusively for the examination and trial of children, actually or apparently under the age of sixteen years, charged with any offense. And all such cases and cases of offenses by, or against the person of, a child under the age of sixteen years shall have preference over all other cases, before all magistrates and in all courts and tribunals in this state both civil and criminal; and where a child is committed or detained as a witness in any case such case shall be brought to trial or otherwise disposed of without delay, whether the defendant be in custody or enlarged on bail. By this section certain acts or conduct on the part of children render them liable to be arrested and dealt with as vagrants. Supreme Court, January, 1883, Matter of McMahon, 1 N. Y. Cr. 60; 64 How. 285. It is not necessary to show that the children were found wandering in the streets. Supreme Court, October, 1883, Matter of Moses, 1 N. Y. Cr. 512. To justify a commitment of a child under section 291, subd. 2, of the Penal Code, as being "abandoned or improperly exposed such abandonment or improper exposure must be by the parents or the person or persons having it in charge. A child of good character who on a single occasion and while about |