Evening star., 1925-08-16
CHILD DEL|NQUENTS
ON INCREASE HERE
|NPAST TWO YEARS
Capital Leads Nations Cities
in Number of Young
Offenders.
INVESTIGATION BY STAR
BARES STARTLING FACTS
Special Study Is Made of Cor
rective Effect of Play
grounds.

Washington's reputation for having
the highest percentage of delinquent
children appears to be secure, IL rec
ords Of the Juvenile Court are a
criterion.
This doubtful honor was awarded
the Nations Capital several years ago
by the United States Children's Bu-
reau, and since that time, despite in
creased playground facilities and other
measures calculated to combat de.
linquency, the number Of children
being brought into the court each
year has not appreciably declined. ac-
cording to Chief Probation Officer Jo-
seph W. Sanford.
As a matter of fact delinquency has
shown a slight increase during the
past two years, following a drop noted
in 1923.
During the fiscal year 1s24-25 ap-
proximately 1000 children were
brought before Judge Kathryn Sellers
of the Juvenile Court for various Of
fenses. The previous period was
marked by 1,073 arrests The 1923 fig
ure was S84. During the year 1920,
when the Children's Bureau survey
was instituted, LIPS was the total.
This figure rose TO 1906 in 1921, and
stood at 1,123 in 1922.
These data show an annual average
of 1885 children brought into court
during the past six years, an average
decrease since the 1920 survey Of only
80. 1t should be taken into considera-
ton, however, that the population has
increased since that time.
The survey conducted under aus.
pices of the Children's S Bureau in 1920
disclosed that of five large cities ex-
amined Washington had the largest
quota of wayward boys and girls in
relation to total number OF children.
with a percentage of 3.S. Boston was
next, with "a per cent. New Orleans
followed with 1.9 per cent, Seattle had
IA per cent and Buffalo IL.
The report at that time declared
that 'in general, those having the
poorest play facilities also had the
greatest amount of delinquency
This statement, supported by Mrs.
Susie Root Rhodes, supervisor of play
grounds, is in line with a bulletin
recently issued by the Childrens
Bureau, in which Prof. T. L. SullenSer
of the University of Omaha was
children brought before the Juvenile
Court in Omaha live one-half mile or
more away from Fairgrounds. Omaha S
Juvenile delinquency rate for l922-23
was 81 per cent.
Remedies for Juvenile delinquency
urged by Prof. Sullenger were more
Fairgrounds, enforcement of poolroum
laws. censorship of moving pictures,
fewer boys in street trades, more Boy
y,F
school laws.
In a spirit of public service, The
Star has just completed an extensive
survey of Washington's juvenile prob
lens with a view to ascertainins the
causes for the city's alarming delin-
Quency rate.
The investigation brought TO light
number of facts of a more or less
startling nature regarding the rela-
ton of Fairgrounds to child delin-
quency in Washington, in addition
to a number of widely varying opin-
ions on the causes and remedies for
delinquency in the Capital
Each of the major discoveries
will be treated in detail in a series
of articles to follow.
The general subject of the series
will be Fairgrounds and Child De
linquency."
The facts cited in these articles
will be authoritative, having been OBJ.
tanned from official records of the
Juvenile Court, Playground Depart
ment or other bureau. or having
been secured by representative of
The Star during the survey of play
ground and court conditions.
The opinions will be those of of
ficials best qualified to speak on the
subject at hand.
Out of the mass of facts and opin-
ions obtained The Star hopes that
some way will be found to
ameliorate Washington's delinquency
situation, to the end that this citys
fame as a metropolis of bad boys and
girls may be dimmed.