Evening star., 1953-09-09
Delinquency
Continued From First Page.)

UCS corrections section Execu-
tive Committee. This section
has been assigned to carry
on the work of the UCS
Committee on Juvenile Delin-
quency which made a city-wide
study of the problem last spring.
The lack of machinery to CO.
ordinate the work of the agen-
cies dealing with juveniles was
brought out In a Star survey of
juvenile crime in last Sundays
Star. 1t was shown that agen-
cieS with direct responsibility
for juveniles suffer both from
lack of staff and lack of Joint
effort.
Following are statements urg-'
ing a co-ordinated attack on the
juvenile problem:
Canon Williams: The problem
has become such a terrific one
that to expect a committee of
UCS to attack it is out of the
question. UCS doesn't have any
real authority to delve into what
each agency is doing to CO.
operate. UCS could only be a
fact-finding committee as to the
needs. It is still unofficial as far
as the District government goes.
What is needed is a co-ordi-
mating group appointed by the
Commissioners which would be
able to go back to the Commits
sioners and tell what the needs
are. 1t could work with UCS and
its member agencies in learning
on a grass-roots basis where CO.
ordinated effort is needed to
start preventive work.
The Commissioners and those
interested in prevention have to
come face to face with the fact
that we don't have a commu-
nifty minded community. When
the Community Chest Fedora
ton fails to meet its minimum
goals each year, I don't think
the community can raise the
money for this work except
through taxes. 1 don't think the
whole answer is spending money,
but it will cost something. Com
batting juvenile delinquency is
going to take a lot of community
support, which should be chan
nelled through an official COM
mittee.
Mr.. DOnOhue: Until now, nu-
merous groups have been work.
ing toward the same end with
out any attempt at a co-opera-
tive effort. A group appointed
by the Commissioners with au-
thority from the Commission
ers could expect that it's recon-
mendations would be favorably
received.
We can't solve this problem
by attacking one phase of it,
even if we attack that one phase
successfully. Once an official
plan is formulated, no individ-
ual agency could hold back. The
pressure of public opinion would
be too great.
The time to start is right now.
There is a tremendous social
cost in juvenile delinquency and
it goes on every minute we just
keep on talking about it. This is
not an academic problem, but an
actual one.
Judge Walsh, vice president of
the Metropolitan Police Boys
Club and Catholic Youth Organ
ization and former member of
the Juvenile Court Advisory
Committee: Nobody in the city
can cope with this problem ex-
cept through the leadership of
the Commissioners. Agencies
shoot off in all directions but
with no pattern.
Take the schools. There are
millions of dollars in facilities
lying dormant during the hours
when the great problem of ju-
venile delinquency exists. To
have children sneak into play
ground after hours, without
supervision, is ridiculous. We
need co-ordinated effort to avoid
delinquency.
Closer liaison between Juvenile
Court and the teachers, who see
these children every day, would
be one advantage to be gained
from a co-ordinating group.
There is a great, a demanding
need. for a group to organize
and to direct. All these agencies
are separately working for the
same objective, without any CO.
hesion. Why not try to recog-
nize the problem and make a
JOINT ef1ort to do something
about it?
Mr. Flynn: I am whole heart
edly in favor of a co-ordinating
council under the direction of
the Commissioners. There doesn't
seem to be any real clearing
house or tangible cooperation
in dealing with juvenile delin-
quency.
We are faced with problems
of inadequate budgets, workers
with too heavy case-loads, over
crowded institutions, more and
younger juvenile deliquents.
This co-ordinating council, for
instance, might set up a proc
ess for dealing differently with
juveniles who are adult crimi-
nails in all but chronological age.
This is probably the most