Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-16
JUVENILE CRIMINALS
A POLICE OFFICIAL TELLS HOW
THEY ARE MADE.
Yellow Literature, Newspapers and
Magazines Responsible for Down
fall Of Most Boys.

boys and young men Is becoming appal-
ling" said a headquarters police official to
a Star man this morning. From all over
the country come reports of mere boys
shooting and stabbing. committing burgla-
ries and highway robberies. derailing trains,
committing suicide. and other acts OF vio-
lence and atrocity, which would appear to
indicate that there IS something wrong in
the training, environment or management of
our youth.
In a single column of The Star few
days ago appeared two headlines which read,
Boys awful work; kills his mother and
sister and wounds four Others and, Young
teacher commits suicide after shooting
three trustees and three teachers
Opinions will, of course. differ as to the
operating causes Of these capital crimes,
which should be accredited only to the hard
ened offender. From police standpoint I
offer three suggestions contributing
causes:
First, the lurid, Illustrated exploiting of
crime and criminals of the tional press
In the large cities, in which crime and Grim
inals, lovers quarrels, domestic brawls and
marital infelicity are accounted the chief
news of the day and SO displayed.
Second, the debasing, exaggerated al
legged literature for boys in the form of So
called 'weeklies' and 'monthlies.' such as
men see In the hands Of boys everywhere.
These alleged periodicals contain the most
sensational and stupendous falsehoods as
to real life, in which killing, shooting and
assassination occur almost on every page
at the hands of boy heroes. or the opera
ton OF impossible machines and engines of
terrestrial and aerial flight, which also kill
and destroy by the dozens the enemies of
the boy hero who invented, built and oper-
ateS them
Third, evil associates and environment
Result Of the Contributing Causes.
s1Tha ArStt ro
easy or rapid steps. depending upon the
boy, along broad pathway to the third
The youthful mind, fired by the prominence
given by the sensational press to crime and
the practical laudation Of criminals, and
the numberless Instances of the horrifytng
results OF the use Of the ready revolver, i'm
pels the boy to do what he falsely consid-
ers to be deeds of daring, and before he
fully realizes the gravity of his acts he is
criminal with blasted life or the electric
chair before him.
In the debasing. Notwithstanding, crimi-
nal-mak1ng Juvenile literature which floods
the market the hero Of the outrageously
false and exaggerated tales told is always
mere boy, usually under or about sixteen
OUT capable OF the most stupendous feats
OF proWess and monumental examples of
heroism. He possesses capabilities to kill
bare-handed villains of mature age and
giant strength; to invent the most remark
eipie eighties ol war that the distorted inn
aslnatlon can divine, and he always shoots
by the dozen with unerring aim the bad
men who pursue him and the heroine
IN erief, these tales are simply gross
and grotesque caricatures upon real life
that build terribly false ideas in the bow
readers mind of a boys position in life
and they have been instrumental In sending
thousands of lads into confinement from
penitentiary.
''Ninetyfve per cent of these stories
hlnge upon one or a dozen murders. This
IS most distressing thing to contemplate,
out II is murder in the opening chapter to
make the tale open well, and 1t is murder
all through the book and almost Invariably
at the conclusion. Associated with murder
are an the crimes in the category of crime
mink OF a literature based upon murder
ana crime consumed at a time when the
youthful mind Is in a sensitive. receptiye
condition. 1t is small wonder that the press
dispatches TEEN with accounts of how nm
derers, boy robbers boy suicides etc until
one is shocked and sickned
Inspiration to Commit Crime.
"On the front pages.of nearly all of these
alleged stories appear in brilliant colors
imaginative scenes of the shooting and
killing of human beings in all degrees and
FORMS from a charge during the Spanish
war, led in person by the daring boy hero.
who ultimately routs In dismay the fright
ened Spaniards, who fled at the approach of
the intrepid youth of fourteen, to where the
boy hero, a revolver in each hand, placidly
shoots ten men, heavily armed, at once
Ihus are the minds of the youth of our
land debauched and ruined. Among the
better classes of boys there are always
some who will drift in the ranks of the
tough, drawn by impressions created by
the effect of having absorbed THE wretched
contents of these spurious publications. To
the real tough boy these stories are inspi-
rations to the commission of crime for in
them the hero always comes out on top and
the youthful would-be or actual criminal
supposes that he, too, can outwit as cev-
erly the officers of the law as the boy hero
outwits his enemies.
In the pockets of Juvenile offenders we
have had brought to headquarters we have
found pieces of this alleged literature the
titles of which are often a subject of lest
in the funny columns of the press But the
question of dealing properly with the juven-
lie offender is one of the most serious which
confronts the police and penologists today
There ought to be a remedy, but 1t is diff
cult to suggest a practical one. These pub
LEGATIONS should be ruthlessly confiscated
by parents and guardians. and the teachers
in the schools, when instances are brought
to their notice. should endeavor to direct
the mind of the youthful reader into better
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