Evening star., 1944-01-27
Easy Money,
Housing |! Blamed
For Delinquency
Judge Bentley
Cites Cases at
D'Alesundro Probe
BY DON S. WARREN.

BY DON S. WARREN.
Bad housing, the drafting of
trained personnel and easy money
being earned by Washington's youth
were described today by Judge Fay
Bentley of Juvenile Court as i'm
portant factors contributing to jul
venile delinquency in the District.
Testifying before the D'Alesandro
subcommittee of the House District
Committee, which Is searching for
answers to the delinquency problem,
Judge Bentley said that housing
"still is shockingly bad" in the Dis
trict. To show its relation to the
delinquency problem, she cited a
case in which family Of 10 was
found to have been living in one
rccm of a four-room shack, after a
boy in the family group was brought
to court on truancy charges.
Asked whether she thought a cur
few law would be of any help, Judge
Bentley said to force the children
off the streets at given hour at
night would in nowise answer the
problem Of proper supervision of
children's activities.
Opposes Curfew.
at might merely force children
who lack proper parental or other
supervision into hidden places be-
yond the limits Of the curfew law"
she said. "It does not strike me as
offering anything constructive, but
merely adds just one more don't" 4"
Judge Bentley told the committee
her court had lost the services of IA
men trained in juvenile delinquency
work, owing to the war. She added
that women in many respects are
unable to handle the duties as eff
fectively as men. She protested that
today she learned that another of
her staff who had been with the
court for nearly seven years and
who is the father of four pre-Pearl
Harbor children, had been denied
draft deferment.
She described such loss OF trained
help by her agency and others deal
ing with youth problems as "very
serious" and reminded the commit
tee that England had found it nec-
essary to bring many such special
lists" back from the armed services
to be re-engaged in necessary work
on the home front.
When Mr.. D'Alesandro asked her
If additional police could not be
assigned to serve her court, Judge
Bentley said Maj. Edward j. Kelly,
superintendent of police, did not
have available the men trained to
do the required work.
Tells of Eviction Case.
When the committee chairman
said it seemed to him "the Com
mlss1onerS were at fault" for not
having condemned the shack" de-
scribed by Judge Bentley, she replied
that about the time the case reached
her court eviction notices were
served and that the tenants had to
be given 80 days time to move.
Referring to the family of 10 in
the single room, Judge Bentley said
there were only two beds, and
crib for the youngest child. The
four families in the shack" she
continued, shared outside toilets.
Cooperating agencies found a six
room apartment for the large family,
she said.
Judge Bentley said that while this
was dramatic case" it was never
theless typical of many"
Wha1o Mr.
salaries earned by minors was con-
tributing cause, Judge Bentley
agreed. She said children have to
be educated as to spending, just as
in earning money, and that lacking
experience, youth with money would
be inclined to drift into bad COM
pany."
Maryland Official Testifies.
Another witness during the morn
ing was Judge Vincent A. Osterman
of the Orphans Court of Prince
Georges County, who said on the
basis of IS years of careful study"
of the juvenile delinquency problem.
he had reached the conclusion the
only remedy of wrong doing by chill
dren is through education. He
urged adoption by the Board of Edu-
cation of system of teaching the
District laws and regulations, par
ticularly those applicable to child
activities, to all pupils.
At the outset of the hearing, Rep
resentative D'Alesandro called for
Thomas E. Lodge, chairman of the
Alcoholic Beverage Control Board,
to question him about women who
take their children with them into
beer parlors late at night and
learned he was not present.
Hes probably out checking up
on beer-guzzling mothers" Mr..
D'Alesandro said.
Miss Mable Haller, clerk of the
committee, informed the chairman
Mr.. Lodge had reported he was
delayed by hearing at the District
Building and would be along
shortly.
The three Baltimore detectives
who have been assigned to study
juvenile delinquency and came here
yesterday to see what Washington
was doing about it were presented
to the committee by Maj. Kelly.
They sat with the committee at
the hearing at the invitation of
Mr.. D'Alesandro.