The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-02-15
Lack Of Fairgrounds Causeof
Increase in Juvenile Crimes
oPer Cent of the Ctys Children Use the Streets for Their
Play, Which the Law Calls Crime-.Gve
the Youngsters Chance
the Youngsters a Chance

|TE social GENRE committee of the
Peoples institute has been MAX
ing Il careful study of street
play 10y children ia the hope Of
c.,fus .1r ,uildreu 81 better chance and
dssoc,aung their pastimes from
sine. In report 10y Edward NJ.
Burrows. soon 10 be Submitted to the
,,unu.p.. the Investigator makes some
interesting statements.
Play Is the way Of life to the child,
says Mi Barrows 1t j. his means of
growth. h.s motive for study and work.
Ms greatest asset. New York city has
made uf pay the child's pitcall. his ves-
..b,lc to crime. his title to he ccnsid-
cred au intruder and a public nuisance.
Child crime IN New York is built on
wholesome. educational play,
which the law treats as crime and which
street conditions gradually pervert until
innocent play becomes moral crime.
crime is Increasing I'm all parts Of
America. Juvenile crime Is increasing
more rapidly than "iult crime. II IL
tue tuu. juvenile crime as shown In
statistics is rather statutory or legal
Fact than q spiritual fact. In New York
.l,y mos child crime Is not crime at
III In "a moral or spiritual sense. But
this report vii! show that the crime
. children, which begins as II purely
'e-d fact. becomes, through normal
evolution under street conditions. a
nora, ryl, and results in criminal types
and criminal gangs.
child crime begins with the attempt
20 play ou streets In violation Of Jaw
o. ,respass'rg The first arrest Is nor
ma'ly a punishment for the attempt to
play and to play IN ways which are In
t-'nsicaiiy good.
This condition presses on the child
llf- If all the tenement districts Of New
york city II Is a uniformly operating
cause which results in fairly uniform
method 0f resistance on the part Of the
children. Not only are the statutory
crimes II fighting and stealing regarded
as play by the children. but the more
innocent kinds 81 play, like baseball, are
"a law regarded as crimes and are SO
punished. This is not, on the one hand
dete't ~ child character, nor on the
other hand a mere stupidity Of law. but
= real condition, inherent IN the fact
~, .ie street wi.h lts traffic and the
street 'front.' with its stores and windows
ale ,he only playground of 80 per cent.
~ more Of the c.ty's children.
The result Is a fundamental sch!srn
between the child community and the
adult immunity. The child community
81 nuisance. the adult community Is
''rant Neither ia 20 blame. our
avs, our court procedure and our pro-
na.7n system, imperfect though they
5c. are not TO blame. The blame res.s
VITA The city. which he's not provided
n.y pace and which does not intelli-
gently use even the little play space
1. j. provided. Juvenile crime ia a
pay ironlem not only In the sense that
play = an alternative 10 crime-a cure
'- crime; but In more specific sense
namely in the streets of New York.
''t'' .--sent conditions. play is crime
an. crime s play.
What +, street play really like Is /,
essentially eood or essentially bad? II
street play we're transferred and carrie,,