Juvenile delinquency

“ JUVENILE CRIME AND DESTITUTION.
The increase of juvenile delinquency has become alarming. The criminal statistics of the country show that one-eighth of the offences which occupy our courts of justice are committed by mere children, and one-fourth by transgressors under twenty years of age. The depredations daily and daringly committed, especially in towns, and the destitution continually exhibited by crowds of young persons, have, during the current year, caused the public to manifest a very general anxiety to inquire into causes of so great and augmenting an evil. ”

“ We must, therefore, add those children, along with the Reformatory population, to the number of juveniles in gaol if we wish to form a proper estimate of the extent of juvenile delinquency. If this is done we arrive at the conclusion that the criminal and semi-criminal juvenile population is at the present time more than 25,000 strong in England and Wales alone; if Scotland be included it is more than 30,000 strong. These figures are enough to show that it is only compulsory detention in State establishments which keeps down the numbers of juvenile offenders ”

“ Furthermore, most juvenile crime apparently goes undetected or not formally punished. Wheeler & Cottrell, supra, observe that ' (A) lmost all youngsters have committed at least one of the petty forms of theft and vandalism in the course of their adolescence.' Id., at 28-29. See also Nat'l Crime Comm'n Report, p. 55, where it is stated that 'self-report studies reveal that perhaps 90 percent of all young people have committed at least one act for which they could have been brought to juvenile court.' It seems that the rate of juvenile delinquency is also steadily rising. ”

“ In 1816 another body of well-meaning people, moved by the “alarming increase of juvenile delinquency in the metropolis,” formed a society to investigate its causes, inquire into the individual cases of boys actually under sentence, and afford such relief upon release as might appear deserved or likely to prevent a relapse into crime. ”

“ When one assesses the consequences of an erroneous factual determination in a juvenile delinquency proceeding in which a youth is accused of a crime, I think it must be concluded that, while the consequences are not identical to those in a criminal case, the differences will not support a distinction in the standard of proof. First, and of paramount importance, a factual error here, as in a criminal case, exposes the accused to a complete loss of his personal liberty through a state-imposed confinement away from his home, family, and friends. ”

“ It can scarcely be doubted that it is within the State's competence to adopt measures reasonably calculated to meet more effectively the persistent problems of juvenile delinquency; as the opinion for the Court makes abundantly plain, these are among the most vexing and ominous of the concerns which now face communities throughout the country. ”

“ Supplemental to the juvenile law is the adult delinquency law, now on the statute books of certain states, which makes it a misdemeanor for any parent or other person to encourage, cause, or by any act contribute to the delinquency of a child, punishable by a fine not to exceed $1,000 or by imprisonment not to exceed one year or by both such fine and imprisonment ”

“ In Miami Beach, December 11, 1945, President Truman in a personal message called on the nation's police officials to organize a country wide crime prevention drive aimed at the roots of juvenile delinquency. Mr. Truman said in the message read to more than 700 delegates to the International Association of Chiefs of Police Convention that he looked [Pg 97] upon the rise of juvenile delinquency as perhaps the most alarming problem faced by law enforcement officers. ”

“ It has already been said that whatever the reaction, the training of the children usually takes place without visible disaster to the family group. This is especially true while the children are young. As they grow older the dangers that are inherent in such a situation become more marked. The figures on juvenile delinquency show that an unduly large proportion of juvenile offenders are children of foreign-born parents. ”

“ When a public security organ, people's procuratorate or people's court deals with a juvenile delinquency case, it may, in light of the specific circumstances, conduct investigation in respect of the growth experience, reasons for committing the crime, guardianship, education and other situations of the juvenile criminal suspect or defendant. ”

“ In an examination of the factors which promote juvenile delinquency special attention must be given to the type of community in which children grow up. The more normal and well balanced a community is, the greater are the child's chances of developing a well-balanced personality. The teaching at school may be good, the home training satisfactory, but these good influences may be upset by defects in the neighbourhood. ”

“ The adult delinquency law punishes such parents and drives home the consciousness of their responsibility to their children. Practically all delinquent boys who appear in our juvenile courts have one or both parents delinquent—delinquent either in the active, direct sense stated above, or in the passive, indirect sense of indifference or ignorance whereby their sons do not receive the moral training which is their birthright. ”

“ Hence juvenile delinquency and crime increase proportionately with the crowding of the modern city, the boy offending five times to the girl's once, and directing 80 per cent of his misdemeanors against property rights. In the city of Chicago alone the 1909 records show that in one year there passed through the courts 3,870 children under seventeen years of age, 10,449 under twenty years, and 25,580 under twenty-five years of age. ”

“ If no juvenile delinquency or criminal proceeding is brought against a youth who has been the subject of a recorded custodial interrogation, the related recording shall be preserved by law enforcement personnel until all applicable State and Federal statutes of limitations bar prosecution of the youth. ”

“ The relation of play to juvenile crime is coming to be more and more recognized by the student of juvenile delinquency and the discerning social worker. But the problem has not been studied intensively. The facts which show how the most celebrated gangster in New York City can get his start playing kick-the-can or baseball in the city streets have only but been regarded in a general way. ”

“ The surest method of permanently reducing [350] the number of criminals lies in the comprehensive employment of agencies especially devoted to the prevention of juvenile delinquency. Anti-social habits formed in childhood are in after years only eradicated with the greatest difficulty, the criminal child too often being the father of the criminal man. ”

“ Objectionable publications, films, broadcasting, and television have been the subject of expert appraisal in many countries. The Committee has made its recommendations in this section of the report fully aware that many authorities can describe these matters as no more than secondary influences in the causation of juvenile delinquency. ”

“ Appalling as the effects of juvenile delinquency are, I think we may discover a principal cause of them in the present condition and habits of the adult part of the labouring classes. We shall find, very frequently, that infant crime is the only natural produce of evil, by the infallible means of precept and example. I do not intend to assert, that the majority of parents amongst the poor, actually encourage their children in the commission of theft; we may, indeed, fear that some do ”

“ The Police Department appreciates that if increased numerically and used more generally policewomen may be a great factor in the prevention of juvenile delinquency, provided that through their frequent association with children, both in the company of their parents and at all grades of school, they become accepted by these young persons from infancy. The help and guidance of women police could be sought on grounds similar to those of the school dental nurse who in her particular sphere is banishing the fear of dental treatment. ”

“ This Rhode Island Commission was formed for the laudable purpose of combatting juvenile delinquency. While there is as yet no consensus of scientific opinion on the causal relationship between youthful reading or viewing of 'the obscene' and delinquent behavior, see Green, Obscenity, Censorship, and Juvenile Delinquency, 14 U. of Toronto L.J. 229 (1962) , Rhode Island's approach to the problem is not without respectable support, see S.Rep.No.2381, 84th Cong., 2d Sess. ”

“ Article 53 Juveniles who are detained or arrested or who are serving their sentences in reformatories for juvenile delinquents shall be detained, administered and educated separately from adults. Community corrections for juveniles shall be carried out separately from adults. ”

“ A thorough physical and mental examination is necessary in many cases before the court can proceed intelligently in its treatment.47 A fundamental need also in the treatment of juvenile delinquency is the conferring of equity powers on the court, in order to avoid the hindrances of purely criminal trials and to reach the child and his family more directly. ”

“ Article 66 Where the state organs and their staff members abuse powers, neglect duties, practice favoritism or make falsification in the prevention of juvenile delinquency, the directly responsible persons in charge or other directly responsible persons shall be given disciplinary sanctions according to the law. ”

“ It is common knowledge that lack of mental balance, retardation, and physical defect are responsible for much juvenile delinquency, and it is therefore essential that if the children appearing before the Courts are to be dealt with in a scientific manner there should be provision on the lines recommended above. ”

“ If I appear to lay too much stress upon the importance of play and recreation, it may be well to point out that it is one way of recognizing the dignity of the child. The study of juvenile delinquency shows how often the young offender’s presence in the courts may be traced to a play-impulse for which there was no safe outlet. ”

“ In the case of more serious offenses, or of repeated wrong-doing, or of violation of parole, offenders are sent to reform schools or industrial schools. The entire effort is to set the young offender on the right road to honest self-support and good citizenship. Unfortunately, however, this machinery for the treatment of juvenile delinquency is so far found almost exclusively in cities. ”

“ If that premise be correct, then I do not see why, given Duncan, juveniles as well as adults would not be constitutionally entitled to jury trials, so long as juvenile delinquency systems are not restructured to fit their original purpose. ”

“ State organs, people’s organizations, social organizations, enterprises, public institutions, residents’ committees, villagers’ committees, schools, and families, among others, shall respectively assume their responsibilities and cooperate with each other, work together to effectively prevent juvenile delinquency, eliminate various negative factors that give rise to juveniles’ illegal and criminal activities in a timely manner, and create a favorable social environment for the physical and mental health and development of juveniles. ”

“ In the new housing settlements the younger age groups predominate. They are without the stabilizing influence of older people and established institutions.
16. The work of all organizations which aim at building character is warmly commended as they help to prevent children from becoming delinquent; but facilities for recreation and entertainment will not cure juvenile delinquency.
17. Liquor and gambling are symptomatic of some homes where there is child neglect. The Committee deprecates the growing practice of parents conniving at the consumption of liquor at young people's parties. ”

“ Many delinquents are found to be apparently wrongly placed in school relative to their intellectual development. They form a group for which not isolation but training is needed, a group notably larger than that which should be sent to institutions for the feeble-minded. This bad adjustment of juvenile delinquents to their school work is not the same problem as backwardness in school. It means attendance in school classes unsuited to the child's mental ability. ”

“ It is generally agreed that much of the cause of child delinquency is due to unsatisfactory home influence and parental control and example, but the fact that many of the offenders come from good homes and fine parents is strong evidence, I feel, that there is some important deficiency even in those good homes, and it may well be that that deficiency lies in the fact that the parents do not really know how to give their children the knowledge that they should have in the way they should receive it. ”

“ Article 40 Where the public security organ receives a report or finds that a juvenile committed a serious misbehavior, it shall stop the serious misbehavior in a timely manner, and investigate and handle it in accordance with the law, and may order his parents or other guardians to eliminate or mitigate the consequences of the violation of law, and take strict measures to discipline him. ”

“ On the contrary, criminality among the youth of this country has been amazingly on the increase. Over half of the inmates of jails, reformatories and prisons combined are under twenty-four years of age. They are there largely because of uncorrected delinquency in childhood. While the Juvenile Court and probation system will not, and cannot, entirely overcome delinquency and waywardness, it will do a great deal better than the jail and criminal court ever did. The Juvenile Court generally deals with cases in which there has been a failure in the home, the school, and often the church. ”