Chap. 180.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 1, as amended, of an act
entitled “An act making it a misdemeanor for a husband to desert or ne-
glect his wife or for a parent to desert or neglect his children; prescribing
the penalty therefor, and making provision for the apprehension and punish-
ment of persons charged with or convicted of non-support; providing for
the taking of recognizances, and for the forfeiture and enforcement of the
same; providing for the appointment. of probation officers, prescribing their
duties and powers, and repealing certain acts’, approved March 27, 1918,
in relation to desertion and non-support. [H B 195]

Approved March 18, 1938

I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion one, as amended, of an act entitled an act making it a misdemeanor
for a husband to desert or neglect his wife or for a parent to desert
or neglect his children; prescribing the penalty therefor, and making
provision for the apprehension and punishment of persons charged
with or convicted of non-support; providing for the taking of recog-
nizances, and for the forfeiture and enforcement of the same; provid-
ing for the appointment of probation officers, prescribing their duties
and powers, and repealing certain acts, approved March twenty-seventh,
nineteen hundred and eighteen, be amended and re-enacted so as to
read as follows:

Section 1. Any husband who shall, without just cause, desert or
wilfully neglect or refuse or fail to provide for the support and main-
tenance of his wife, and any parent who shall desert or wilfully neglect
or refuse or fail to provide for the support and maintenance of his
or her male child under the age of sixteen years, female child under
the age of seventeen years, or child of either sex of whatever age
who is crippled or otherwise incapacitated for earning a living (such
wife, child or children being then and there in destitute or necessitous
circumstances), shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction
thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding five hundred dol-
lars, or in the case of a husband or father, be sentenced to the State
convict road force at hard labor for a period of not less than ninety
days or more than twelve months, or both; or in lieu of such fine
being imposed, he or she may be required to suffer a forfeiture of an
amount not exceeding the sum of five hundred dollars and said fine
or forfeiture may be directed by the court to be paid in whole or in
part to the wife or to the guardian, curator, custodian or trustee of said
minor child or children, or to some discreet person or responsible
organization designated by the court to receive the same.

In the event that the cities or counties of this State or any of them
shall establish workhouses, city farms, or work squads on which
prisoners are put to work, persons convicted of nonsupport under the
provisions of this act may be committed to said farms, workhouses
or work squads, instead of to the convict road force. Persons sen-
tenced to the State convict road force or to a workhouse or city farm,
under the provisions of this act, shall when released therefrom, be
returned to the court or justice having exercised original jurisdiction
in the case and by said court or justice be placed on probation upon
the terms .and conditions and in the manner hereinafter prescribed
for the probation of original offenders. = 9 © >

* Tt shall be the duty of the board of supervisors of the county, or
of the council or other governing body of the city within the boun-
daries of which any work is performed under the provisions of this
act to allow and order payment, at-the end of each calendar month,
out of the current funds of said county or city, to the court which
originally sentenced such prisoner for the support of the wife of
such prisoner a sum not less than fifty cents nor more than one dollar
for each day’s work performed by such prisoner, and twenty-five cents
per day additional for each child coming within the provisions of this
act, but in no event shall the amount paid to. such wife and children
exceed one dollar and seventy-five cents per day. In the event that
no wife is included in the order of support, payments hereunder for
the support of a child or children of such prisoner shall be made to
the said court at the rate of not less than fifty cents nor more than
one dollar for the first child and twenty-five cents for each additional
child, provided that the total amount so’ paid shall not exceed one
dollar and seventy-five cents per day. “y 8, ne

. If, however, such prisoner shall be sentenced to the State convict
road force, the sum or sums provided for above shall be paid by the
State Highway Commissioner out of the funds provided for the con-
struction and maintenance of the public roads, for each and every day
such prisoner shall work on any. such road force.