The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-05-01
Improper Parentage Cause of
Juvenile Crime in Kansas.
Annual Report for Last Year Is.
sued by Secretary Howe.
FORCED OUT INTO THE WORLD
Children Required to Seek Own
Company and Pleasure.
Idleness and Lack of Education
Contributing Causes.

Idlesness, poor homes, lack of pa
rental care. mental deficiency, lack of
educational pportunities--those were
chief causes of Juvenile crime in Kan
sas last year, according to report pre-
pared by J. w. Howe. secretary of the
state board of control. Howe's record
covers. conditions in the state reform
atory and boys and girls industrial
schools.
Improper home life was found al
most exclusively in homes where the
parents had received limited educa-
tional opportunities. That poor homes
follow in the :rai1 of poor education,
IS the emphatic statement of the con-
troll board secretary. Improper pa
rental care of children. Howe declares,
is a natural result OF conditions. And
the result has been somewhat alarm
ing. 1t has meant that children have
been forced into the world to seek
their own amusement, select their own
companions and shape their own
course in life. The story is told in
most of the cases in the state penal
and charitable institutions which care
for juvenile criminals and deficients.
Lack of home environment is the
cause of most of the trouble of the 14S
girls in the Industrial school at Beloit,
Howe declares. Broken homes, loss of
parents, contributed largely to the
delinquency of these girls and caused
them to be placed under state super
vision. A study of 14S cases at Beloit.
Howe's report shows. was responsible
for the commitment of 81 girls in the
school Loss of father or mother is
shown in 81 other cases and 1 8. of the
girls are orphans. In 80 cases girls
were sent up for incorrigibility and 81
girls are registered as delinquents.
Further study of conditions, show
that poor homes have in the last few
years caused 240 girls sent to the in
dustrial school to leave the parental
roof. These girls left home while be-
tween the ages of 16 and 90 years.
In ITO cases properly investigated,
girls left home between the ages of
s and 16 years OF the $40 cases, 215
had no occupations and develops the
relations between idleness and crime.
OF sos girls sent to the school for
some form of crime, $50 were con-
victed or pleaded guilty to some form
of theft.
Out at the Hutchinson state reform
atory, conditions are equally alarming.
Reports from 248 cases, show 100
were convicted of some form or de-
gree of robbery or larceny. In 265
cases invest gated. records showed di-
vorced parents, poor home environ
n1ents, or death of one. or both par
ents. In Sc of 3e6 cases, inmates of
the reformatory could neither read
nor write
Lack of Education.
Carrying out the study of iili.eracy
as applied to crime. Howe states that
$50 inmates of the reformatory had
never passed the first grade in the
common schools, while 1872 had been
limited to the second grade in educa-
tional opportunities.
In 2O2 cases, inmates of the reform
atory used liquor in some form, while
275 used tobacco.
At the boys industrial school, To-
peka, 156 boys were committed for
some form of theft, while "a were reg
istered as incorrigible and 80 were sent
to the school for truancy. In AZ cases,
parents of the boys were divorced,
while in "a other cases the parents had
separated. In 90 cases one or both
parents were dead. A total of 240
boys sent to the school during the
biennum were from the poorer classes
OF homes. Eight boys sent to the
scnool could neither read nor write.
Many "Floaters."
State penitentiary records show that
81 per cent of the Total received by
Warden Botkin are "floaters,'' and
have no definite residence. In the
main these convicts are dope fiends,
excessive users of liquor and In some
degree mentally deficient. In 20 per
cent of the cases, crime mania is as
cribed to lack of proper mental train
Ing in youth.
OF total of ga cases investigated
at the state prison. "A prisoners could
neither read nor write, while 208 had
received less than one years training
In the public schools and 229- had
never passed the fourth grade. OF
nearly 500 convicts In the prison, 43
have received high school or college
educations.