Evening star., 1945-08-13
Experts SeeCut
In Delinquency
Possible Here
D. c. Has Advantage
On Labor Problems,
Judge Bentley Says


Washington may hope for
marked Improvement in the problem
of juvenile delinquency with the end
OF the war, provided the community
takes advantage of the opportunities
peace affords to reduce it, the war
time leaders of the fight against
delinquency said today.
Judge Fay L. Bentley of Juvenile
Court said the District will start the
postwar period with a great ad-
vantage over other communities
where peace will bring as great a
disruption to family life as the war
precipitated.
Job displacements here will affect
largely the younger workers, many
OF whom have no children. Reports
that private employment will in
crease rather than decrease promise
greater family stability.
The return of fathers from the
armed forces should restore the
normal patterns of living in many
homes, she said.
Concerned Over Jobless.
That is the pleasant side of the
picture. On the other hand, she
pointed out, the end of the war is
bound to cause confusion which will
upset the lives of the Districts
children and create new emotional
Embellishments.
The community still will have the
problem of children who became
emotionally maladjusted during the
war. Many of them, she noted,
never came to the attention of the
authorities. They have not bene-
flied from the corrective work of
social agencies.
From the experience of 26 years
in working with children, Linn C.
Drake, retired area Boy Scout exec
utive, expressed concern for the
children who no longer will have
war work to do.
inexperienced youngsters, kept
busy during the war on part-time
jobs. will be the first group en-
ployers will drop. When paper and
tin can collections stop, children
will find fewer constructive ways Of
expending their energies, he warned.
Fewer Social Workers.
Children have expressed their
desire for adventure in war work"
he observed. I'VE will have tre-
mendous problem to face in pro-
viding constructive activities for
them when peace comes"
There is no doubt, he added, that
children who have become juvenile
delinquents under the stress of war
will swell the adult crime popula-
ton as they grow older.
Although the war has helped to
arouse public interest in the old
problem of juvenile delinquency, it
has seriously cut the number of ex-
f. perienced social workers dealing
| with children, Mr.. Drake said.
He believes it will require stren-
uolls effort to get experienced per-
sonnel now in the armed forces to
return to their prewar jobs and to
recruit requirements for those who
will not come back.
AS manpoWer becomes available
public and private agencies engaged
in youth activities must attract and
train the most promising material,
he said.
Asks Redoubled Efforts.
Mrs. Henry Grattan Doyle, pres
ident of the Board of Education
and chairman of the boards Ad-
visory Committee on Wartime and
Postwar Problems of the Child. en-
phasized that community groups
formed to meet the wartime prob
lem must redouble their efforts
when peace comes.
The school system, she reported,
intends to continue its school can
teens, guidance services and special
classes organized for problem chill
dren during the war.
When the war ends it will be pos
sible to give serious consideration
to the suggestion for special school
for pupils with such maladjuSt-
ment problems as truancy and class
room misbehavior, she added. A sub
committee now is studying the work
of the Monteflore School. similar
project established in Chicago.
Returned Normal.
The whole purpose of such special
treatment, she emphasized, is to re-
turn the child to his normal sur
roundings mentally and emotionally
adjusted to them.
In the end, how well we cope with
the problems of juvenile delinquency
will depend on how we'll the commu-
nifty succeeds in renewing home ties
when the war ends, the authorities
agree
While church, recreation and edu-
cational groups have increased their
activities during the war, the major
ity of parents have paid less atten-
zion to their children. The great
danger is that the habit will con-
tinue after the cause of it disap-
pears, they warn
The basic causes of juvenile delin-
quency always go back to the home
environment, they agreed, adding
that social groups will have a Hercu-
lean task in rebuilding the sense of
parental responsibility corroded by
war.