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Page 26
Prior to his arraignment, the best court practice calls for an
investigation by the probation officer, so that the judge may have
substantiated facts before him when the case comes up. Whether this is
done or not here is the time and place for the social worker who already
knows the family to get his knowledge in usable fashion before the
court. How best to do this varies greatly in different communities.
Sometimes the social worker is permitted to talk the matter over with
the judge personally, sometimes with the probation officer, clerk or
other court official. Sometimes a written report is required, to be
attached to the probation officer's report. Occasionally the social
worker gets no chance to be heard unless he is present to testify in
open court. In the last two contingencies, care must be taken to
safeguard information given in confidence, even by the deserter. Letters
marked "confidential" should not ordinarily be submitted in court except
by consent of the writer, as some judges hold that material so submitted
becomes a matter of public record.
The approach to the court, therefore, is governed by local conditions. A
very important part of co-operation in any community is to see that this
channel is kept free from obstruction. In general, the probation officer
should be the best friend of the other social workers, since he knows
their language. Indeed, many social workers themselves combine the
office of probation officer with their other duties.
After the institution of court proceedings the outside social worker has
usually little chance to affect the disposition of the case. This is
made by the judge on the basis of the testimony he elicits in court, and
on that of any preliminary investigation he may have caused to be made.
Disposition may be:
1. In rare instances, to dismiss the complaint altogether.
2. To remand for a later hearing.
3. To induce the woman to drop her complaint and give the man
another chance.[29]
4. To place the man under court order to stay away from home and pay
his wife a stated amount weekly. Custom differs in different places
as to whether payment shall be direct to the wife, through the
probation officer or clerk of court, or through public or private
charities.
5. To order the man to return home and contribute a stated amount.
6. To place on probation (together with either 4 or 5).
7. Commitment--usually to jail or workhouse, and for a period of not
over six months. May be longer for violation of probation or for
aggravated offense.
When the deserting man has gone without the borders of the state, there
is the added problem of securing his extradition, which is often a
difficult one. Wife desertion is in most states only a misdemeanor (in
New York it is even less serious and constitutes in the eye of the law
only disorderly conduct). Since extradition between states has to be
acted upon by the governors of the states, it is unusual (though not
impossible[30]) to secure extradition for a misdemeanor. The reluctance
of the authorities is understandable, however, when it is realized that
to extradite for wife desertion would be to create a precedent for
extradition for any sort of misdemeanor. There is in most states a law
which makes the abandonment of a minor child or children a felony,
punishable by a long term in state prison, and it is this law which is
generally invoked when the man has been traced to another state.
Complaint then has to be made to the district (or county) attorney, the
matter taken before the grand jury and an indictment secured before
extradition papers can be granted. The man, if captured, must usually be
tried in a higher court than the domestic relations court; if convicted
he is likely to be more severely punished. Extradition means expense to
the state; it is usually difficult, moreover, to get an active interest
taken in extraditing a family deserter who, to the legal eye, has
committed an offense neither against the person nor against property,
and cannot therefore be a serious offender!
If extradition for family desertion is difficult between states, with
other countries it is impossible, as no treaties exist even with
contiguous countries like Canada and Mexico.[31] By special arrangement
with the Canadian authorities, states which touch the Canadian border
can sometimes obtain the person of a deserter without actual
extradition. Information is submitted to the police of the Canadian town
where the man is known to be, who thereupon arrest him as an
"undesirable citizen" and arrange for his deportation. The neighboring
state is notified, and an officer with a warrant meets the Canadian
officer and the prisoner at the boundary, arresting the latter as soon
as he sets foot across the state line.
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