Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1944-11-18
rinciples Of Religion
Can End Delinquency
BY JUDGE EDMUND P. MAHoNEY
Municipal Court Portland Me.

at the present rate IL is increasing Tor years aIler
the war; Much is being done to penalize juvenile
delinquency and to control it, BUT WHAT is
BEING DONE TO CURE 1T?
We have institutions to which to commit
offenders, to penalize them. They also designed
in some measure to correctathe offenders. But |
submit that our present. Institutions are more
penal than corrective.
We have inaugurated schemes and methods
to control the prospective juvenile offender.
Supervision and control of public places
usually frequented by the juvenile are, of course,
important and preventive measures in controlling
the delinquency of the juvenile.
We give attention to the dance hall, to the
bowling alley and the pool room, to the theater
and other places of amusement.
"A constant vigil should be maintained to cur
tail the sale and distribution of obscene and
filthy books, pictures and magazines
-Curfew laws will not solve all the delinquency
and predelnquency problems, but they can give
police an added implement in dealing With
juveniles, and stimulate stricter parental control
But any law should be so framed to PENALIZE
THE DELINQUENT PARENT, as well as the
delinquent child.
YES, we have laws and institutions to penalize
ana correct. we nave HetNOQS 10 cOHCrOl, OUT
what are we doing to find cure.
To find cure, we must first find the cause.
We seek to find the cause when 15-year-Old,
unmarried girl, pregnant with child, stands before
the court and states that she does not consider she
has done wrong no more than thousands of other
young girls are doing
We seek to find the cause when 14-year-od
boy, apprehended roaming the streets of a city,
in the early hours of the morning, stands before
the court with tears in his eyes and asks to be
sent to the state school, BECAUSE HE KNOWS
THAT HE COULD BE HAPPIER THERE
THAN IN HIS OWN HOME.
Yes we seek to find the cause but we need
not look far for behind every delinquent child, is
A DELINQUENT PARENT; BEHIND EVERY
BROKEN YOUTH. IS A BROKEN HOME;
BEHIND EVERY BROKEN HOME is
NEGLECT OF GOD IN THAT HOME.
The mother who, except in case of strict neces-
sity, leaves that home and child for outside
employment, and leaves that child on his own,
contributes more to the delinquency of that child
than the child itself.
The father who believes he has fulfilled his
obligation by turning in his pay check, and negects
to give that child supervision and training in his
morals and education, is father, but delinquent
one.
TN THIS present epidemic of youthful crime
delinquency and truancy, with sex delinquency
among girls as young as II and Is years of age,
with illegitimacy at high rate, with immature
mothers, many of whom know only the first name
of the child's father with venereal disease among
the young mounting to national scandal, we
should be talking more of parental failure,
rather than youthful failure, for the cases are
many where the parents are the children's worst
example of intoxicatOn and sexual immortality.
What is the cure? We must first give God his
rightful place in the American home, and recreate
in the delinquent parent a sense of responsibility
to that child that will guide him by proper super
vsion training, and religious education, through
the trying period of his youth.
If we cannot bring the home to the church,
then let us bring the church to the home. Let the
churches send out their priests, ministers, and
rabbis into the streets and lanes of the Cities into