The case was dismissed. The gentleman with the false teeth departed in triumph’ bearing his molars. And the lady who had attempted to rob him of them slunk away. The court grinned, but the woman on the bench was not amused.
Turning, she said, “That is the sort of petty thing I meant.”
Anna Moskowitz Kross, city magistrate and chairman of the Committee on the Prevention of Crime, Correction and Courts, is chiefly concerned with the human values involved in the dispensation of justice.
“It is almost criminal in itself,” she said, “to be in this position. It is so difficult to appreciate the situations in the lives of all these people who pass before one. They have so little opportunity to present the real meaning of their cases as they affect their lives. And we magistrates have the power to make or wreck, however petty the issue. Our judgment is necessarily based upon a superficial understanding of the significance of the case to the individual. We are not careful enough, I think, about this responsibility.”
NOT WARPED BY EMOTION
Her point of view, though universally sympathetic, is not warped by emotion. She learned, she said, when she was very young to weigh matters in a masculine fashion. And that is not the only spirit of emulation of the male. For her knowledge of things, as they arise in cases, must be extraordinarily diverse. She is called upon, in the course of one session, to be wise about spark plugs and the intricacies of plumbing, as well as the nuances of the kitchen and the psychological implications when one woman hurls into the face of another a bowl of burning oatmeal.
Psychology interests and perturbs her. In her social work with the Federation of Women’s Clubs, her wide practice in civil and criminal courts, and experience with the many labor organizations that she has represented, the need for psychological treatment was striking. And Magistrate Kross feels keenly that there should be an official psychiatrist in every court. Funds for this are lacking at present. But she thinks that some provision will be made for this in the near future.
THE SUBWAY SLEEPERS
Another outgrowth of her concern with the human values is a desire for an official social agency in the courts. There is a tremendous need for them, and the present manner of treating incipient crime is highly unsatisfactory. Her disposition of several people arraigned for sleeping in the subway illustrated that. She was quite unconvinced of the value of the arrest. After all, where could they go? In jail at least there was shelter and food. Instead she sent them, with a rather maternal lecture and a nickel apiece, to a flophouse–and the threat of the work-house for the next offense.
She would build new schools instead of new prisons, and eradicate evil intelligently and effectively.
In a court of men, fighting for issues that mean much to them personally, or fees that are equally dear, it might well be difficult for one of the allegedly weaker sex to inspire confidence and respect. But Magistrate Kross overwhelms the difficulty by ignoring it. Coolly she dominates the proceedings.
The question “how do you reconcile your private and professional careers?” elicits an amusing reaction. She doesn’t. They are one–her life, And everything runs smoothly. Her husband, a prominent surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital, and she are much interested in the theatre and music. In the little leisure they have they go to meetings, lectures and dinners, concerned with their myriad mutual interests.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
