Evening star., 1953-10-06
Juvenile Delinquency


The Sunday Star recently set forth
items of property damage in the amount
of $274,500 resulting from the activities
of youthful vandals.
The aim of the city wide effort to
correct this situation is stated thus
Ito see how much can be done without
spending a lot more money" 1t ap-
pears from the statistics stated that the
city and its residents are going to spend
some $275.000 yearly, whether they want
to or not. The question is whether 1t
is to be spent constructively or to re-
pair destruction. If these juveniles are
going to be dismissed from social
thought and supervision from the time.
they leave school in the afternoon until
the school bell rings in the morning,
and during the vacation months, then
society must expect to have to pay the
bill. Boys will "raise hell" if they have
nothing else to do. They must have
constructive work and interesting rec
reation if they are to be kept out of mis-
chief. Society must somehow fill the
gap left by inefficient parents.
There are exceptions to every general
ity, but generally speaking the parents
of these delinquents are rather uncon-
cerned and Indifferent to their children
and their children'S activities. II these
parents were made financially response
BILE for the property damage done by
their children, to the extent of some
thing like 25 per cent of the parents
earning capacity Cor enough so that
they would definitely feel the pinch)
their indifference might undergo an
amazing Transformation.
When these juveniles graduate into
adult criminals, they are going to
cost society great deal more. 1t might
be cheaper to furnish few bicycles
at a playground than to have boys
stealing bicycles, etc. Organized super
vision of constructive recreation and
games, on a scale large enough to
make it accessible for all parts of
the city, would cost lot of money,
but it might be the lesser of two
evils. On the other hand, such
program carried out on scale that
would reach only so per cent of the city
might spur the viciousness of the ju-
veniles in the other so per cent.
A city-wide effort to have each and
every group of boys volunteer to do
some little thing for civic improvement
might help turn the trend of juvenile
thinking toward civic pride.
C. Oakley Mcintosh.
Being as uneducated as I am and
unable to understand any facet Of child
psychology, feel exceptionally quail
fed to make the following comments
about the present attention being
focused upon the juvenile delinquency
problem
I fully appreciate and approve OF the
role of the newspaper and our demo-
cratic society. 1t is necessity.
However, I am sometimes given to
rejecting on the effect of various
articles upon our population. can
recall several times in the past few
years when serious problems have been
called to the attention of the public
through the press and I have also
noticed, that following this attention,
there has usually been increased activ-
ity in the fields publicized.
A case in point is what has hap
pened here in Indian Head. Perhaps it
is just a coincidence that after the at
tention that has been given to Juvenile
delinquency recently, we have had to
COPC WILL oOAA1C VI OAAC PAONASAAAo' OAAoV
were mentioned in the various articles.
sometimes sincerely wonder whether
publicity of this type does not do more
harm than good.
Richard A. Barr,
Principal, Lackey Senior High School,
Indian Head, Md.
X X
Recently Judge Edith H. Cockrill, of
Juvenile Court, took issue with those
who propose parental responsibility
law. At the same time Capt. John
Ryan of the Juvenile Bureau, suggested
some bottom warming" to curb some
of these unruly teen-agers.
I find myself out of accord with the
honorable jurist and in full accord with
Capt. Ryan
A parental responsibility law, in eff
feet, says to the parent: If you cannot
control the actions of your child the
law will control you That is the very
thing, in that far too many parents
have virtually surrendered to the will
of their children, permitting them
to rear themselves. This sort of thing
had it's beginning about the time of
World War I when parents forSook
their responsibilities toward their Off
spring in quest of personal pleasures
and money. Mothers ceased being
mothers and fathers permitted their
duties to go with the winds. Today,
some of them do not have the instincts
of a barnyard hen or an alley cat
who will do everything within their
power to protect and teach their young
until they are able to take care of
themselves.
E. F. Harris,
Past President, D. c. Federation OF
Civic Associations.
Regarding your September % edi-
torial concerning parental rights and
duties, take care lest in your rejection
of inadequate child training methods,
you lead the reader to another mis-
take. The matter of corporal punish
ment is on the whole being treated
rather carelessly for something that
involves human dignity (not only by
Star writer's but by letter writers). E.
TH;o @N4 IT,