ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, January 1, 1996                TAG: 9601020106
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA

RETIRED JUVENILE COURT JUDGE DIES

Judge James M. Davidson Jr., 80, died in a Lynchburg health care center Friday.

He served in the 25th District for 18 years as a juvenile and domestic relations judge.

Davidson retired in 1980.

A firm proponent of regional courts for juveniles, Davidson was quoted in 1967 as saying the child in trouble is somebody else's failure.

The child who ends up in juvenile court is usually a school dropout, usually from a broken home or is illegitimate and from ``what is not a home at all in the accepted sense,'' he said.

Davidson served as president of the Rockbridge Bar Association.

He was a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College and the Washington and Lee School of Law.

He is survived by his wife and stepson.

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