The only cities in the State of 20,000 population or over not as yet employing salaried probation officers are as follows: Schenectady, Troy, Niagara Falls, Elmira, New Rochelle, Oswego, Cohoes, Rome and Gloversville.

Of the sixty-two counties of the State, thirty-three now employ salaried county probation officers.*

COURTS USING PROBATION

Of the persons placed on probation during the past year, the following table shows the distribution by groups of courts:

NUMBER OF PERSONS PLACED ON PROBATION DURING THE YEAR BY GROUPS OF COURTS

From the above it is seen that 62 per cent. of all cases are from the courts of New York City; 29.2 per cent. were received from other city courts; 6.1 per cent. from county and Supreme courts outside New York City and only 2.7 per cent, from the courts of towns and villages. The great bulk of cases comes from the cities principally the larger cities. This is probably not because of the disproportionately greater percentage of criminality in the larger cities, but because of the fact that crime and delinquency is more looked after in the cities, especially in so far as the use of probation is concerned. The probation system began in the cities and has been chiefly developed there. The Commission has constantly labored to extend the probation service to the smaller cities and rural districts of the State, believing that on account of the successful development of the work in the cities the need has now become greatest in the rural districts.

*Three counties, Kings, Queens and Bronx employed county detectives detailed as probation

officers.

During the past year all of the fifty cities of the State of over 10,000 population used probation, except the following six: White Plains, Olean, Glens Falls, Little Falls, Rensselaer and Oneonta. Out of the sixty-two counties in the State, forty-six used probation in their higher courts and thirty-six in one or more town and village courts. The courts in the following cities which used no probation in 1914 reported cases last year: Beacon, Canandaigua, Lockport, Middletown, New Rochelle, North Tonawanda and Ogdensburg. There were no cities which discontinued the use of probation in 1915. Cities showing the largest gains in the number of cases placed on probation were Hornell, Kingston, Lackawanna, Newburgh and Niagara Falls.

The counties of Delaware and Niagara used probation regularly for the first time last year. Counties showing the largest increase in the use of probation in their county and Supreme Courts were Bronx, Dutchess, New York (Court of General Sessions), Orange, St. Lawrence and Steuben.

Counties which reported cases placed on probation from the justices' courts of the towns or villages last year, but not in 1914, were Chautauqua, Chenango, Rensselaer, Essex and Sullivan. On the other hand, four counties, Genesee, Greene, Livingston and Yates, did not place cases last year but did so previously. Counties showing the largest gain in rural work were Cortland, Dutchess, Franklin, Onondaga, Nassau, Suffolk and Orange.

The explanation for all these gains is generally to be found in the employment of salaried probation officers for the first time. The table which follows shows the widespread use of probation in the various courts of the State:

NUMBER OF PERSONS PLACED ON PROBATION DURING THE YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1915. ARRANGED BY PLACES