Evening star., 1925-08-17
FAIRGROUNDS FAIL
TO HALT JUVENILE
CRIME, MAP SHOWS
Most De,inquents Live Near
Recreation Spots, City
Survey DisCIoSes.
SUPERVISOR OF LOTS
DISAGREES ON ISSUE
Child Lawlessness in Northwest
Greater Than Elsewhere Here's
According to Chart.

Fairgrounds are not a panacea for
juvenile delinquency.
This is the declaration of Chief
Probation officer Joseph w Sanford
of the Juvenile Court. While admit
ting the value of Fairgrounds for
recreation purposes. the court officer
takes strong exception TO statements
of Government authorities on child
welfare 10 the effect that Fairgrounds
and delinquency are interrelated
He bases his radical opinion on
data obtained by him in his official
capacity al the local court substan-
tiated by long personal experience
with juvenile problems
ideas Differ.
His ideas in this connection differ
sharply from those Of Mrs. Susie
Root Rhodes. supervisor of pIay-
grounds for the District Of Columbia.
Mrs. Rhodes contends that play
grounds are a strong factor in dimin-
lshing child delinquency. although
she does not attempt TO support her
cldlm with figures. nor To dispute the
statistics cited by Air Sanford.
To prove his conviction that play
grounds have little or no" relation
TO delinquency, the probation officer
has had prepared for The Star a
large map OF the District. on which
is indicated the number Of children
brought into court last year. arranged
according To place of residence
ON TINS map We're designated al of
Nashlngton'S municipal and school
Fairgrounds, and. by means of beaded
pms, the approximately thousand ju-
venlle dehnquents were located by
street addresses. The completed chart.
off hand, would tend TO corroborate Mr..
Sanfords s views, as the pins. on the
whole, are clustered around the play-
grounds.
Mrs. Rhodes previously had ven
tured the prediction that such a map
would show an almost complete alb
sence of pins in the immediate vicin-
lty of each playground. The play
ground supervisor. on being advised
of the outcome of the experiment.
came back with the observation that
no distinction was made between white
and colored children or Fairgrounds
and added that possibly many of the
pins around white Fairgrounds repre-
sented colored children whose nearest
playground was several blocks away
and similarly with colored play
grounds.
Races Are Separate
This contention was not shared.
however. by Probation Officer Sanford
He pointed out many of the play.
grounds showing the densest aggrega-
ton of pins were white Fairgrounds
located in strictly white neighborhoods,
or colored ones in colored neighbor-
hoods
The map shows that child delin-
quency is more rampant in the north
west section of the city than in any
other single section.
Mr.. Sanford diSa grees with the as
sertion of Prof. T. L. Sullenger OF
the University of Omaha. that de-
linquent children live far from places
of supervised play. at least in 50 far
as Washington is concerned. He
makes a point of ascertaining in each
court case the distance the child
lives from playground. and his
judgment has been that the number
of delinquent children who do and
who do not live near the Fairgrounds
in Washington is about equally
divided.
Il get lots of cases in which chill
dren live right across the street from
or Immediately adjoining play
grounds Mr.. Sanford declared In
fact, l have had cases where the de
linquency actually Matched on play
grounds. Understand me, | am not
preaching against Fairgrounds, for
believe they are absolutely essential
in large city. where the streets arc
fraught with potential hazards. But
l do wish TO record my belief that
Fairgrounds are not playing any great
part in the serious delinquency prob
lem confronting the Nations Capital.
They should not be expected to. De-
linquency has a deeper root than
that"
Lived Near Playground.
Selecting at random from 45 cases
recently before the court. Mr.. Sanford
pointed out % of the children resided
within five blocks of a playground.
Thirteen of these lived within three
blocks of play center. OF the 20
whose homes were more than five
blocks away, eight lived within six
blocks of a playground. two lived
within seven blocks. four within eight
blocks, one with nine two within ten,
two lived fifteen blocks from the near
est municipal recreation ground, and
three had no Fairgrounds al all avail
able.
Results of the survey conducted here
i in 1920 by the United States Chill
/ dren's Bureau, in which ii was OBJ
! served that ''in general, those having
/ the poorest play facilities also had the
greatest amount of delinquency" are
Idiscredited by the Juvenile Court pro
! baton official Whoever wrote that
/ couldn't have spent much time in
vestigating the facts" Mr.. Sanford
said THE records in my office do
not show it,