Senator Barret introduced a new and revised Juvenile Court bill, which became Act No. 83 of 1908. This amendment to the 1898 Constitution was approved by the electors in November. It specifically created a Juvenile Court of the Parish of Orleans, and provided for its jurisdiction. It also enacted that each District Court outside of the Parish of Orleans, "when in session under the provisions of this Act, shall be known, for convenience, as the Juvenile Court; and all sessions of said Juvenile Court shall be held apart from all other sessions of said Court; and the records of the proceedings of said Juvenile Court shall be kept separate from the records of all the other proceedings of said District Court."
"Section 9. Be it further enacted, etc., That the Juvenile Court in the Parish of Orleans and the District Courts outside of said Parish, sitting as Juvenile Courts, shall have jurisdiction of the trial of all neglected and delinquent children, and of all persons charged with contributing to the neglect or delinquency of such children, or with a violation of any law now in existence or here-after enacted for the protection of the physical, moral and mental well-being of such children; not punishable by death or at hard labor and of all cases of desertion or non-support of children by either parent." The definitions of neglected and delinquent children included those aged 17 years and under.
Judge Andrew H. Wilson held the Juvenile Court's first session on January 1, 1909. Judge Wilson swore in Thomas H. Agnew, the Superintendent of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, as his Chief Probation Officer. Inspector O'Connor, at the request of Mayor Behrman, detailed four of his officers to work at the court: two in the daytime, and two at night. The court was located at 823 Baronne Street.
