Evening star., 1958-05-12
Teen Parties
Mean Trouble,
Noyes Says
BY JOHN A. GILES
star stan Writer


night dancing, early breakfast
and a motor trip to the beach
should be drastically curtailed
in the opinion Of one Of the
areas veteran juvenile court
judges.
Judge Alfred D. Noyes OF
Montgomery County, Nd, be-
lieves the activities of auto
happy teen-agers during such
frolics can only lead to trouble
and possible court appear
ances.
1T gives me great alarm
and concern when parents let
youngsters experience sophis-
ticated and adult things too
early in life," he said in an
interview. I'VE are letting down
the bars slowly for permissive-
ness far too early in life.
Those June graduation par.
ties should be kept within rea-
son and certainly should not be
all-night affairs"
Not Critical of All
Judge Moves, who has been In
Office IL years and has handled
upward of 10000 cases of all
types. involving juveniles and
broken homes. first became
aware Of the big annual parties
last year.
But, while he is against all
night proms. he goes overheard
to make certain that his state
ments do not condemn all teen-
ayers.
overall. the children are
doing a good job in the commu-
nifty and are not all delinquent
and it is unfortunate that we
adults oftimes think all of them
are as a result of the isolated
cases that get publicity" he
said. "In Montgomery we have
less than 2 per cent of our
children actually becoming in
volved in delinquency action.
"Of the 1911 cases reported
last year-which was drop
from 2,046 cases in l956-860
were auto violations and could
not be classified as serious mis-
demeanorS or crimes"
Stresses Population Rise
In 1949 there were less than
500 cases before Judge Noyes'
court but he points out that
Montgomery's rapid increase
in population must be taken
into consideration. The county
now has some 10000 inhabi-
tants. of which about $4,000 are
under l8 years Of age.
"Of course, there has been
a Slight increase in the num-
Der of delinquency cases-we
have to admit that" he said.
1T has been brought about by
several factors.
First there is the increased
mobility of the times brought
about by fast motor cars which
make it possible for the chill
dren to speedily get out from
under the control of parents"
he continued. Then there is
a general cultural change-a
social upheaval affecting our
family life particularly in areas
where tremendous growth is
taking place.
And there is the problem OF
transient populations. Changes
are particularly upsetting for
youngsters"
FavOrs Restraints
What's the answer to the
problem. The mlld-mannered,
graying jurist makes these
points:
l. Auto driving-"We should
take a real good look at this
thing. have advocated junior
driver licenses which would all
low those under l8 to drive
alone in the daytime only. They
could drive at night only with
an adult passenger. At present
all a teen-ager has to do is
answer a few questions and be
able to park car to get an un-
restricted permit. There are just
too many autos with high
speeds for the youngsters to
cope with and our accident rec
ords in too many cases show
that they are caused by lack
OF mature judgment"
2. Religious training - I'VE
also should sit down and think
seriously about the religious
training our youngsters receive.
1t is very important not only
from a moral standpoint but
also because they must have a
faith to fall back on in emer-
gencies, Otherwise. they are
pretty much lost"
3. Dating-"I have found
too many instances where 12-
year-old girls are allowed to
date and stay out quite late
at night. Generally speaking, I
think they should be IS or l6
and before that they should
be in groups under parental
supervision. I fear that we let
our children experience at too
early an age privileges and sit
uations with which they are
too immature to cope"
The judge said he was con.
vinced that delinquent juve-
niles who "show a pretty def
mite pattern have difficulties at
home.
"We seldom find those in
difficulty who have congenial-
ity in the home" he said.
when maladjusted in other
areas, we generally find some
thing wrong at home"