Evening star., 1936-06-14
PENAL METHODS
FAIL WITH YOUNG
Survey Shows Few Succeed
After Experience With
Present System.
BY VESTA CUMMINGS.

BY VESTA CUMMINGS.
Success rarely comes to boy who
has served time in penal institution,
under the present system.
The records of ISL boys who had
been under treatment at five State
schools for delinquents show that, five
years after being released, 112 OF them
were back in prisons and jails and
that less than a third had adjusted
themselves to a normal life. Results
Of the survey, made under the super
vision of the United States Depart
ment of Labor, were announced yes
terday by Katharine F. Lenroot, chief
OF the children's bureau.
None Of the young malefactors had
achieved fame or distinction, and only
o few were settled in permanent jobs.
Records Of court convictions after
parole were found in So per cent Of
621 cases.
Adjustments Not Made.
Evaluating outcomes on a general
basis, field workers decided that 35
per cent of the boys they interviewed
had failed to make the hoped-for ad-
justment to community life. Others
were conducting themselves in such
fashion that 1t seemed uncertain
whether the community could count
on having no further difficulty with
them.
This is not a record with which
any institution could be satisfied"
hn dna
ately suggests that a thorough exam
ination Of the treatment methods in
vogue at the time these boys were in
training might reveal where some Of
the weak spots were"
Field workers began tracing what
had happened to these ISL boys In
the Fall Of 1929, and finished in 1882,
the list being selected from youths
discharged from institutions between
1922 and 1926.
The schools selected for study, To-
Gated in various parts of the country,
were the Whittier State School,
Whittier, Calf; Boys Vocational
School, Lansing, Mich; the State
Home for Boys. Jamesburg, N. j., and
the State Agricultural and Industrial
School, Industry, N. Y, and the Boys
Vocational School. Lancaster, Ohio.
Changes Made in Program.
Some changes for the better have
been made in the plant and program
of all these institutions since the last
of these ISL boys were dismissed. In
some both academic work and voca-
tional training have undergone ex-
perimental development in an attempt
to meet individual problems. Some
programs have been enriched by the
addition of many extra-curricular and
recreational features. Attempts have
been made to improve parole work in
both amount and character of service.
The boys traced through the events
of five post-prison years had not re-
ceived instruction in training schools
to fit them for jobs and placement
services at the institutions are made
uuate. Mrs. Elizabeth Shirley Enochs
of the Children's Bureau said, analyz-
ing the report.
Institutions still tend to place in
mates on maintenance work around
the school and grounds, supplemented
by labor on State institution farms.
Mrs. Enochs says. After the boys leave
the school most of them never see a
farm again. Three-fourthS OF the 75l
boys reported upon came from cities
of more than 10000 inhabitants and
two-fifths came from cities with a
population of more than 100000. The
proportion of youths from farm homes
was only 6 per cent OF the total group.
More Shops Are Needed.
More shops and instructors in
schools for the delinquent Is crying
need, Mrs. Enochs says, the report re-
veals. Youth is sent back to the city
streets no better equipped for wage
earning than when taken away from
them.
Boys whose homes are largely re-
sponsible for their anti-social behavior
should not be returned to those homes
until welfare agencies have attempted
to change conditions there contribut-
ing toward delinquency, according to
Mrs. Enochs. The group whose ad-
justment after release was not salts
factory contained large proportion
of boys from families whose standards
were low.
Closer working relations between
schools for delinQuents and local agen-
cieS, such as the juvenile courts, guild
ance clinics, schools, and recreational
and social welfare agencies, is suggest
ed in the report. If parole workers were
numerous enough to devote more time
to corrective work in the home, CO.
operating with social agencies, while
the boy is in the institution, there
would be far less need for intensive su-
pervision when he returns, 1t is said.
Half of the ISL boys came from
homes that had been broken by the
death of one or both parents or by
divorce, separation or desertion. This
is considerably higher incidence of
broken homes than exists in the gen.
eral population, Mrs. Enochs points
out The nativity of the parents was
ascertained for SOL boys and showed
that IS per cent were Of foreign par
entage.
Come From Poor Homes.
Nearly two-thirds of these boys were
committed for stealing, and most of
them come from poverty stricken