Show f THEY'RE CALLED CRIMINALS t. I l v 11 e a 4 r i X 1 1 a I s i ia a i d H t i p Q C s k e r a a yr r O S r Juvenile Delinquency Is Public Delin Delin- Delinquency Delinquency quency Say Child Specialises P s Parents Pare rats and Authorities Held Responsible e L By B JOSEPH W. W LaBINE IT T HAPPENED in a midwestern community t. t t Jim was a farm youth who wanted good clothes candy and cigarettes His position in life made such lux lux- luxuries luxuries luxuries uries impossible but Jim found a way Occasionally hed he'd take not steal a chicken from his mothers mother's flock selling it to the village meat dealer Jim began having the luxuries he desired His dad bought him an old car and Jim instantly became a hero among the community's younger crowd But one luxury led to another and eventually Jim was taking not steal steal- stealing stealing stealing ing more chickens When his mothers mother's supply began dim dim- diminishing diminishing diminishing Jim used to take chickens from nearby farmers Eventually the meat dealer became suspicious and had Jim im arrested arre ted At seventeen this boy who wanted nothing more than a few luxuries was sent to the reform school for stealing chickens Who Vho knows what may happen when Jim is freed More l pertinent still perhaps is the question of who is to blame The neighbors pity Jims Jim's parents and mor mor- moralize moralize moralize alize about his deplorable delinquency Perhaps it was just unfortunate circumstance maybe no one is to blame 4 In crowded Boston the investigator will stumble on a somewhat similar problem That staid old Massachusetts t city is battling the menaced mena e e. of 0 young thrill thieves boys boy and girls who steal au au- automobiles automobiles au- au automobiles for neck break-neck midnight m rides in il a mad heedless h and puzzling search s arch for thrills The cars are not stolen to sell but are usually found abandoned or wrecked when w en the joy riders have fin fin- finished finished finished with them What causes this peculiar mental adolescents adolescents adolescents kink in modern cents But the most fascinating ing and ing-and and probably funda funda- fundamental mental phase mental phase of juvenile delinquency is the boy gang a group of neigh neigh- neighborhood neighborhood neighborhood youngsters who join forces for well meant well meant compan compan- companionship companionship companionship and often end up behind prison bars More than one child psychiatrist seeking the basic cause cause of child crime has placed his finger on the old wooden shack which sits unnoticed on a vacant lot a hangout for tor boys who have no other source of recreation Kept Diary of Loot One psychiatrist living in an east east- eastern eastern eastern ern city purposely frequented an anarea anarea area area where gangs flourished His story makes interesting reading First of all I had to gain the boys' boys confidence by taking part in their every-day every activities After that it was merely a matter of tion There were two smart boys in inthis inthis inthis this particular gang who obtained their star staff from rom stealing They went into a store and while Joe attracted the managers manager's attention Tom lift liff lifted ed a green record book This was their diary after a fashion in which was kept a complete record of the gangs gang's criminal activities I A few months later I succeeded I in getting possession of that diary by telling Tom about a survey I Intended to make An interview was arranged at a downtown ho hotel hotel tel where the boy was made to feel his Importance by the gift of ofa a cigar He handed over the diary I can tell you it was rich with criminal escapades That's Juvenile delinquency But In the mind of J. J Edgar Hoo Hoo- Hoover Hoover Hoover ver director of the federal bureau of Investigation theres there's another an an- steer Hoover who may some day have to cope with adult criminals who are today child criminals calls caUs it public delinquency His analysis Is not without logic y J What's the Cause yOur y 7 Our youthful criminals of to- to today tot t day says Mr Hoover come from homes broken by death or divorce divorce- from rom homes where discipline was often an unknown factor from homes where there was little or no opportunity to see sec anything but the drab side of 01 life life or or from homey homes er 1 i. i where parents by their own lazi lazi- laziness laziness laziness ness lack of common sense disrespect disrespect for law or bad example care- care carelessly carelessly lessly tossed their children into the maw of crime The experience of several cities who have approached child crime from rom an intelligent viewpoint bears Mr Hoover out Chicago while far from rom a free crime city has aided boys to go straight by giving them proper attention Chicago park police are a sepa sepa- separate separate separate rate organization from the regular city police department and are trained drained to encourage juvenile ac ac- activities activities activities on city sponsored play play- grounds A soft ball instead of a agun agun gun is their motto The Parents' Parents Responsibility So much for the publics public's part But how low about the parents from whom hom every child must get his fundamental tal background Psychiatrists point out that many a youngster has been forced into a life of crime because he was misused at home and had to look elsewhere for recreation What many parents forget say the specialists is that the physical fact of fatherhood or motherhood does not endow a man or woman with su su- supernatural supernatural su- su supernatural qualities The art of par par- parenthood parI parenthood parenthood I has to be learned the same same I as anything else Listen to Dr Paul noted counselor on family relations who feels proper parental treatment will dissuade potential child criminals The first thing for a parent to todo todo todo do is to keep the emotions of anger and severity on cold storage A surgeon cant can't give away his emo emo- emotions when he has a serious opera to tion-to to perform and a parent cant can't go blind with feeling when he has a problem to deal with in relation to his children Parents need patience in deal deal- dealing dealIng ing with their youngsters They cant can't treat their children as some some- something something something thing to be kicked about or locked up in the closet They are human beings When they misbehave their action must be considered as a symptom the same as a fever or an ache and not a cause If parents go into causes they very likely will find fwd themselves to blame Will Delinquency Decrease The problem of juvenile delin delin- delinquency delinquency delinquency quency is especially pertinent right now because soon thousands of school children will be released for forthe forthe forthe the annual vacation many of them left to their own ingenuity to find summer recreation But each year this problem becomes less pressing because more communities are in in- instituting instituting instituting comprehensive playground programs for children of all ages Designed to keep youngsters busy all day these activities encourage healthy bodies clear heads and and at at night drowsy night drowsy eyes that welcome sleep Today's teen age generation is a problem because public responsibility ity for juvenile delinquency was not recognized until a few years ago Who can tell but that tomorrows tomorrow's youngsters aided by the healthy recreation their communities now sponsor will crime for a nobler life Its It's possible so long as we re re- remember remember re- re remember member the trouble isn't juvenile delinquency but public delin delin- delinquency delinquency delinquency quency e 0 Western Newspaper Union s. s 4 c w It t 1 z t t th h tb r rr a r x xI Ii I k l f L 1 3 9 K i Y ale k I Ix x t. t y 7 r r 1 a x r e x Miss 1 Genevieve Owens left 17 and Mrs 1 Ethel Strouse Sohl 20 who confessed they had killed William Barhorst a bus driver In a holdup that netted them only The killing took place at Belleville N. 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