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Show TREATMENT, NOT PUNISHMENT, IS NEEDED FOR YOUTH IN TROUBLE A few months ago the Chicago Sun Times ran a series on a man who will probably spend the rest of his life in the Illinois State Prison at Stateville. Convicted of murder when he was in his late? teens, the man is now is his 30's. The point of the story was that this man has, in prison, gained faith in himself, and now devotes his time to many worthwhile worth-while activities, such as writing and playing musical instruments. instru-ments. At Stateville, under the enlightened direction of Warden Joseph Ragen, such accomplishments are possible. It is unfortunate unfor-tunate that this man did not have a better chance when he was still young before he shot a storekeeper during a holdup. He had been in juvenile court and detention homes, and had served a term at St. Charles, the boys' industrial school in Illinois. Did this help? His own comment indicates it did not. Since being in Stateville, he told the Sun Times, he' has run across numerous men he knew at St. Charles. As for himself, him-self, he said the only thing St. Charles did for him was to increase' in-crease' his bitterness toward society. Well, perhaps it did one more thing for him. From older boys, he learned a few useful tricks of the criminal trade. Tricks that led him to buy a gun, and attempt the holdup of a store. Our purpose is not to criticize St. Charles. Like most state industrial schools, it is overcrowded, and simply doesn't have the facilities to really .help all the boys who come there. And these boys need help. A new public affairs pamphlet by Justine Wise Polier discusses dis-cusses the role of punishment of juveniles, and concludes that this is not the solution. Titled "Back to What Woodshed?" the pamphlet makes a plea for treatment, not punishment. Judge -Polier is a justice of the domestic relations court in New York City, and has studied juvenile delinquency for many years. She has a large number of case histories to draw from, and her experience has been that", if given proper treatment, many erring children can be made into useful members of society. But a "taste of jail" isn't what Judge Polier considers treatment. She believes a cure is available the scientific and humane methods which some juvenile and children's courts have developed' de-veloped' over the last 50 years. The problem? Lack of funds and personnel to properly apply these techniques. Ideally a juvenile court will conduct a complete investigation in-vestigation of the child's background his medical and psychological condition, family life, problems and needs. On the basis of such an investigation, the judge can decide how the child shall be treated. But, too often, such an intensive in-tensive investigation is not possible. And, even if it is conducted, the judge may not be able to find the facilities the child needs. Perhaps probation would be the answer, under the guidance of a socially trained probation officer but probation officers are overworked. Perhaps he needs psychotherapy but clinical facilities are overcrowded. Judge Polier is concerned over the fact that, in her own state, there are not enough well equipped institutions to treat those who need it. She is even more distressed that many states have no such institutions at all. In these states, she points out, the court must rely on industrial in-dustrial schools where, for the most par1, "children are fed, housed and iocked up . . . within their wa'.is you find an assortment as-sortment of youngsters, indiscriminately thrown together retarded children, emotionally disturbed children, psychopathic children, sexually deviant children, and aggressive delinquents. Solution to these problems is not easy. What works for one child does not necessarily apply for another. It is the responsibility of the juvenile judge to determine what treatment treat-ment is needed in each case. The judge can only do this with the help of specialists such trained people as social workers and psychiatrists. As Judge Polier puts it "There is a truth that every juvenile court judge knows. It is that every child brought before him is there because his parents were not able to protect him. The court's duty is to provide the same protection that a wise parent par-ent would have provided. Then, within that protective shelter, the court seeks to do its job. "Once we can look upon the role of the court in this light as a fundamentally parental role then the 'back to the woodshed" philosophy poses more questions than it answers. Back to what woodshed? we must ask. "A good parent may sometimes punish, often he must discipline dis-cipline his child. But both he and the child know that it is his child, that the disciplines of the family is for the good of all, including the child. Above all, the' child knows that he is loved, is wanted, and belongs to the family. . "Tongue lashings, public ridicule, night sticks, official paddlings in no way resemble this picture . . . such measures meas-ures increase their resentment, their sense of being outcasts. out-casts. . ." These steps, of course, need to be taken for children who have already been in trouble. But it reminds us of the need for parents to realize their basic responsibility to rear their children with the proper mixture of love, care and discipline, to prevent trouble in the first place. Newspapers have been helpful in bringing this need to public attention, and we are sure they will stress it even more in the future along with an urge for better facilities for those children who do not have to. be cared for by society. Publishers' Auxiliary 30 |