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JUVENILE
DELINQUENCY
CHILDREN'S BUREAU PUBLICATION NO. 380 • I960
Contents
Foreword i
What Does Juvenile Delinquency Mean? 1
Extent of the Problem 2
What Causes Delinquency? 3
Can It Be Prevented? 5
Importance of Research 6
Need for Trained Workers 6
How About Single Solutions? 7
What Helps Prevent Delinquency 15
Parental Guidance 15
Community Climate 16
Finding Those in Danger 18
Services Which Can Help 19
Schools and Prevention 31
Churches and Prevention 33
Helping Delinquent Children 34
The Police and Control 35
Detention Services 37
Juvenile Court and Probation Services 38
Training School and Aftercare 40
Laws and Juvenile Delinquency 42
Citizen Action 43
Federal Government's Role 46
Children's Bureau Publications on Juvenile Delinquency 47
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington 25, D.C. - Price 25 cents
Boston Public Library
Superintendent of Documents
F^ipjS^qfd I960
DEPOSITORY
With juvenile delinquency being talked and written about so
much it is understandable why some persons may suspect that today's
boys and girls are different and might even be regarded as a "delinquent
generation."
Actually, today's youngsters are not much different. They have
the same basic needs and drives as yesterday's children. Of the small
percentage who lapse into delinquency, most are confused, frightened,
unhappy children in need of help.
What is vastly different today is the world in which these chil-
dren are growing up. As we realize this, we are able to understand
better some of the aspects of modern juvenile delinquency. Never in
past history has the pace of change been so rapid in our values and
how we live. Of all of us, the young feel this the most. Atom bombs
and atomic power, the thrust towards automation, shifting cultural pat-
terns, rapidly increasing population, family mobility, the incalculable
influence of television and other mass media in shaping reality for
youngsters, and shrinking needs for unskilled workers, more working
mothers and unprecedented prosperity— these are just some of the in-
gredients in our way of life which strike children with tremendous
impact.
The world faced by youngsters today has implications for the
adult generation as we strive to reduce juvenile delinquency. We have
to realize that we must make special efforts to understand and keep in
communication with our boys and girls.
As we plan programs and services aimed at reducing delinquency,
we must learn all we can about the interests, attitudes, and problems
of the young generation. What better way than to ask youth them-
selves and listen to what they say? We must reject the false idea that
the two generations cannot understand each other and give youth oppor-
tunity to speak about today's world and about juvenile delinquency.
Many of them are ready and eager to assume more responsibility in
improving themselves and life around them. We adults often err in
not recognizing this and being more willing to work with them.
This short non-technical pamphlet "A Look At Juvenile Delin-
quency" was written by Lincoln Daniels, Chief, Community Services
Branch of the Bureau's Division of Juvenile Delinquency Service. It
is addressed to the general public — particularly community leaders.
The emphasis is on prevention, and it is recognized that better han-
dling and treatment of already delinquent boys and girls is an important
part of this.
Obviously, it's more sensible to prevent delinquency than to
try to unmake delinquents. Progress will come as each of us become
concerned enough to take more responsibility for prevention as a part
of our daily lives. As we do this, a groundswell of activity can be set
in motion to improve the quality of family and community life and
services for children. This will go a long way toward slowing down
and halting the 'upward trend of juvenile delinquency.
V-.oV\xA,.x^ (ii , ^^zJiLc.^^
Katherine B. Oettinger
Chief. Children's Bureau
a look at
JUVENILE
DELINQUENCY
WHAT DOES
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
MEAN?
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY means different things to differ-
ent people. To some, a juvenile delinquent is a boy or girl arrested
for a law violation. To others a single appearance in juvenile court
identifies the delinquent. To many the term covers a variety of anti-
social behavior which offends them, whether or not a law is violated.
In a strictly legal sense, the term should be applied only to those
adjudged delinquent by a juvenile court. Yet, young offenders who
become involved with the police and courts are only a part of juvenile
law violators. There is no way of telling how many youngsters com-
mit delinquencies and are not caught.
State laws differ as to the upper age which determines whether
a young offender will be handled as a juvenile delinquent or as an adult
criminal. Most States have age 18 as the upper limit, others 16 or 17.
Some State laws require persons of juvenile age to be tried in an adult
criminal court for certain crimes such as murder. In many States, the
juvenile court can wave jurisdiction so that a juvenile is tried in an
adult criminal court for offenses like a felony.
These variations in juvenile court laws are confusing. For ex-
ample, a child from one place who commits a specific offense may be
handled as a juvenile delinquent while one from another place who
commits the same offense may be handled as an adult criminal. This
makes an accurate count of juvenile delinquents difficult. More uni-
formity in laws and practices will help to clarify the meaning and ex-
tent of juvenile delinquency.
EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM
Juvenile delinquency in the United States, as measured by the
number of delinquency cases handled by juvenile courts and police ar-
rests reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has increased each
vear for the past decade. The Children's Bureau estimates that roughly
.1 half-million delinquency cases (excluding traffic violations) are being
handled yearly by the courts. In addition, juvenile courts handle a
substantial volume of traffic violations involving juveniles.
Almost half of all delinquency cases referred to court are dis-
missed, adjusted or held open without further hearings. In about a
quarter of them, the child is placed on probation, and in about one-
tenth the young ofitender is committed to an institution for delinquents.
Increases in both police arrests of juveniles and juvenile court
delinquency cases have far outstripped increases in the population of
children age 10 through 17 over the past 5-10 years. Recently, how-
ever, the increase in delinquency has not been as great as in previous
years, and only slightly higher than the increase in the child popula-
tion. A sizeable increase is predicted in the 10-17 age group in the
years ahead.
Boys outnumber girls by a ratio of 4 to 1 in court delinquency
cases, excluding traffic cases. The most frequent offisnses of boys are
stealing and malicious mischief, like window breaking and other dam-
age to property. Girls get into court most frequently for being ungov-
ernable, running away, and sexual promiscuity.
Rates of delinquency court cases in urban areas are about 3V2
times higher than in rural areas. More and more of the population is
centering in metropolitan areas, where 60 percent of all people now live.
Recent rate of growth in these areas has been four times as great as in
non-metropolitan areas.
WHAT CAUSES DELINQUENCY?
There are many kinds of juvenile delinquents and no one cause
can explain all delinquency. Numerous causes which vary from child
to child in significance and number contribute to delinquency.
To begin to understand the persistent delinquent behavior of one
youngster requires that as much knowledge as possible be learned about
him. His physical and mental makeup are important. In one child,
a physical defect may be a significant factor and in another a mental
deficiency. These can interfere with a child's adjustment to the world
around him no matter how wholesome his environment may be. Emo-
tional and social forces that have played upon him from birth have to
be uncovered. Above all, it is important to know how he feels about
himself, his family, other people and things in general. The reasons
why he is the kind of person he is and behaves as he does will emerge
as this kind of information is put together and interpreted.
Every child has certain basic needs. Failure to meet these rea-
sonably well increases the danger ot a serious maladjustment develop-
ing, including juvenile delinquency. Every child needs food, clothing,
and shelter. He needs love, affection, and the feeling of being wanted.
Every child needs to succeed in ways that will give him recognition
and self respect. Every child has social needs to be with others and
enjoy their company. How and to what degree these basic needs are
met depends in good part on a child's environment, especially his home.
Home and community are difficult to separate in explaining how
delinquency evolves.
Adverse factors in a child's early home life, such as parental con-
flict, neglect or mistreatment, can predispose a youngster to delinquency.
Feelings of being unloved and unwanted can impel him into delinquent
behavior which he hopes will yield substitute satisfactions.
Many children learn unlawful behavior outside the home either
from delinquents or youngsters with delinquent traits. Stealing and
vandalism most often involve more than one youngster. Hostile youth
gangs involve a group of youngsters with varying degrees of experience
and inexperience in breaking the law. Environmental conditions out-
side the home are important in explaining much delinquency. How-
ever, the danger of a child who has a physical, mental, or emotional
handicap becoming delinquent is increased when he encounters adverse
influences in the community. Social services can be of great help to
such a child.
All delinquents are not mentally or emotionally sick, nor can
all delinquency be attributed solely to environmental influences outside
the home or association with other delinquents. Each delinquent dif-
4
fers. The makeup, background, and life experience of each youngster
have to be studied to uncover the basic factors contributing to his
delinquency.
The boy beckoned into a car by his chums who lands in juvenile
ourt because the car was stolen may well be a chance delinquent. Court
appearance, warning, and release may suffice to assure that this boy's
first brush with the law is his last.
The youngster who stealthily starts fires in building basements
may be a different type of delinquent. He may be emotionally dis-
turbed. If this is the diagnosis, psychiatric treatment should be ar-
ranged.
Boys in a gang which viciously assaults someone in a deserted
street at night may all seem to be alike in their sullen defiant attitude
when taken into custody. The study and diagnosis of each individual
will reveal differences which should be considered in the disposition of
each case. For the hardened delinquent with a record of repeated serious
offenses, intensive psychiatric treatment or commitment to training
school may be indicated.
Investigation may uncover that a youth recently pressured into
joining the gang has no record of previous law violations. The en-
couragement and supervision of an able probation officer may be all he
needs to turn him away from unlawful activity once and for all.
A boy who grows up in an area where crime and disrespect for
the law are widespread may drift into juvenile delinquency because it's
the accepted way. Opportunities to get into trouble lure from all sides.
He may begin to mend his ways as soon as he is placed in a more whole-
some environment.
CAN IT BE PREVENTED?
The idea of wiping out juvenile delinquency through preven-
tion has tremendous appeal. The dream of a discovery which might
make oncoming generations of children virtually immune to delinquency
as they may be to polio may never come true. For years, social scien-
tists and others have sought to isolate specific causes of juvenile delin-
quency. Since it is a form of behavior and not a physical disease, the
discovery of a single cause or distinct combination of factors that al-
ways causes delinquency in children is unlikely. However, research
and experience will continue to reveal more about causes and the ef-
fectiveness of preventive measures.
Importance of Research
More and better research is needed into the causes and preven-
tion of juvenile delinquency. This does not mean that some preven-
tive and rehabilitative measures now in use are not effective in varying
degrees. Efforts to reduce delinquency should not wait for research
to come up with final answers as to what works best with whom.
Research should be an integral part of prevention and treatment pro-
grams. Various techniques to reduce delinquency should be tested by
research to measure their effectiveness as they are practiced.
Although research is expensive, in the It^ig run it represents
economy. If well designed, it contributes to more efficient use of time
and money for prevention and treatment. Many Federal, State and
municipal governments and private foundations, aware of the impor-
tance of research, are making more funds available for this purpose.
Need for Trained Workers
Persons who work with youngsters to prevent or treat juvenile
delinquency require special training. Many workers do not have this.
For example, thousands of probation officers have no specialized prepa-
ration for this work. They cannot be expected to be as effective in
rehabilitating youngsters as they would be if properly prepared. Those
who work with youngsters, whether full or part time, need a back-
ground of study in human growth and behavior. Full-time workers,
with or without social work education, need inservice training to im-
prove their skills and keep abreast of new knowledge. A worker needs
to counsel with a youngster with delinquent tendencies, or one already
delinquent, over a period of time to help him overcome his problems.
There is no way to shortcut this. Yet, qualified social workers, guid-
ance counselors, psychologists and psychiatrists to work with problem
youngsters are scarce. To begin to overcome this personnel shortage is
one clear way to help prevent delinquency and to rehabilitate more
delinquents.
Citizens can serve as volunteers under supervision of trained
people in neighborhood and day-care centers, settlement houses, clinics,
and many other child-caring agencies. But diagnosis of a problem or
treatment of a delinquent youngster on a one-to-one basis requires a
person with more than good intentions. Treatment of individual
youngsters requires persons trained to do this.
How About Single Solutions?
If a single change, program, or method could solve juvenile de-
linquency, its steady increase would have long since been checked.
Many single solutions or panaceas are proposed and tried. They fail
because they are usually based on false assumptions. For example, it
is often said that juvenile delinquency has a single dominant cause and
that if this can be eliminated the problem will be eliminated. This
brings forth proposals for a single law, a single practice, or expansion
of a single program or service aimed at a single cause.
Progress toward sound measures for the prevention, control, and
treatment of juvenile delinquency comes easier when people are skepti-
cal of single solutions and discount popular panaceas. This clears the
way for sound thinking and long-range planning. What can be ex-
pected from some of these popularly held cures for juvenile delinquency?
Punish the delinquent
Punishment alone or the "eye for an eye" method of crime con-
trol has been tried for centuries and found wanting. Just holding a
533037 O-60-2 7
youth in a reformatory does nothing constructive to make him want to
be a law abiding citizen when he gets out.
Today, the trend is away from punishment toward corrective
treatment. Especially is this true in the handling of juvenile offenders.
Walls and bars which keep wayward youth out of sight solve neither
their problems nor the problem facing society of what to do with these
boys and girls so that they aren't an ever-increasing financial burden.
Some success in rehabilitation is bringing about the gradual abandon-
ment of harsh punishment as uneconomic as well as inhumane.
A criticism frequently leveled at juvenile courts is that they are
too soft; that they coddle young ruffians and law breakers who should
be dealt with as criminals in adult criminal courts. People who criti-
cize juvenile courts for apparent leniency often advocate lowering the
upper legal age of a juvenile delinquent so that more young offenders
go directly to criminal courts. Those who hold this belief assume that
delinquents will be more severely punished in adult courts. Actually,
some evidence points to the opposite conclusion— that the adult court
may be more lenient with youth waived to it by the juvenile court.
When youth are regarded and treated as criminals, they are likely
to begin to think of themselves in this way. This hardly brings out
the good in them. Proposals to handle juveniles like adult criminals
thrusts aside much that has been learned about preventing the recur-
rence of juvenile delinquency and treating delinquents. The belief that
more severe punishment of delinquents will deter them from delin-
quency has not been proved by experience.
A simple change in the law will not reduce delinquency. The
psychological and social factors which cause youth to seriously misbe-
have have to be dealt with constructively. Changing a law in hopes
of punishing more delinquents does nothing about these factors.
People who treat juvenile delinquents feel challenged to help
these youths gain self respect and an acceptable place in society. Many
delinquents don't like themselves, other people, or their communities,
and this can block the possibility of their achieving reasonably happy
and productive living. The person treating the delinquent who has
hostile feelings tries to draw these out by helping the boy or girl un-
derstand their causes and how to overcome them. This process which
8
helps develop feelings of more trust and friendliness toward other peo-
ple is a key to a youngster acquiring some self respect and purpose
\\ hich can modify his behavior for the better.
Punish parents
The laws of most States now give courts the authority to hold
parents, as well as other adults who contribute to the delinquency of
a minor, criminally liable. More and more men and women who be-
lieve punishing parents will reduce juvenile delinquency are demanding
more vigorous enforcement of these laws, and new legal measures
to hold parents firmly accountable. Some States have enacted parental
responsibility laws. For example, one such law enables the owner of
property which has been damaged by a minor under 18 to recover dam-
ages up to $300 from the child's parents.
Negligence by parents doesn't have to be proved. Imposing
this responsibility on a mother and father is questionable legally and
socially. It presumes that parents arc always responsible for the delin-
quency of their children because of willfiil neglect or abuse or failure to
control them. Not enough delinquency cases can be explained in this
way to justify the automatic punishment of a parent, regardless of his
or his child's situation when the delinquency is committed. Frequently,
the authority of the court can be used wisely and effectively to regulate
the conduct of flagrantly irresponsible parents.
Punishing parents indiscriminately for the delinquency of their
child seldom yields hoped-for results. It ignores all that is known
about the disrupted family life of many delinquents. Punishing parents
does nothing to improve the relationship between them and their child,
which may have much to do with the delinquent behavior. A great
many parents of delinquent children seem to lack the character and
emotional stability to succeed as parents, even though they want to.
They need help themselves, rather than punishment.
Recreation
Many people believe that more organized recreation will prevent
a great deal of delinquency because it will keep children occupied and
supervised. Many youngsters waste much of their free time. Some do
this from lack of guidance and opportunity to do otherwise. Others
waste time for more complicated reasons. Wise use of leisure time
can be expected only from fairly happy, well adjusted young people.
Most potential and actual delinquents don't have these characteristics.
Many children become involved in delinquency when away from
home and not in school. But it doesn't follow that lack of playgrounds
or supervised recreation during a child's free time is a cause of juve-
nile delinquency. The fact that delinquency occurs during free, un-
10
supervised time tells us little about its underlying causes or how to pre-
vent and treat it.
Recreation's strength lies in what it does to enrich the lives of
everyone— children, adolescents, and adults. Learning to play con-
structively, alone and with others, helps develop a healthy personality.
Recreation skills can be used throughout life to achieve proper balance
between work and play. A sound recreation program improves a com-
munity for all children just as do good schools. Recreation doesn't
have to be justified as a direct means of delinquency prevention. Re-
search indicates that providing additional recreation facilities in an area
usually does not bring about significant change in the volume of juve-
nile delinquency.
It is impossible to fill all children's leisure time with organized
recreation — nor would we want to do this. ' Children should not be
kept busy every waking moment. They need some unoccupied time
as they grow up to imagine, to wonder, and to daydream.
Youngsters tending toward delinquency are seldom attracted to
recreation programs which interest well adjusted children. They like
activities which promise risks and excitement not found in the usual
recreation program. Recreation won't solve the deep-seated problems
which beset delinquent or pre-delinquent youngsters who need indi-
vidualized guidance and treatment, nor is it supposed to.
Some recreation departments now assign workers to contact seem-
ingly delinquent youngsters and develop special activities to fit their
interests and abilities. This contributes directly to delinquency preven-
tion, as does the recreation leader who spots a youngster in his program
who is a serious behavior problem and arranges specialized help for him.
Youth curfews
Curfews are local ordinances which require youth under a speci-
fied age to be off the streets at night after a certain hour unless accom-
panied by an adult.
When public concern about juvenile delinquency runs high, a
curfew is often proposed as a measure to control the problem. Court
decisions in some municipalities where the strict enforcement of cur-
fews has been attempted cast doubt on their constitutionality. Never-
11
theless, such laws continue to be passed when public pressure for quick
action is mounting. Although curfew laws have existed for many year*,
there is scant evidence that they are effective in reducing delinquency.
A danger of the curfew law is that it may induce unjustified com-
placency. No law can correct delinquency. Since a curfew does noth-
ing constructive about the behavior and needs of youth picked up as
violators, its value as a preventive measure is questionable.
The most effective curfew regulation is applied by parents. Chil-
dren are more likely to obey this. It can be flexible to meet different
circumstances. Certainly, parents have the legal right to insist that
they and not the police have the authority to allow their children to be
out at night for legitimate reasons.
A community considering a curfew should first find out what it
hopes to gain. The legal authority for police to pick up children on
the street late at night may already exist in other ordinances or in gen-
eral State laws. If so, better law enforcement rather than a curfew may
be needed.
Enforcement problems of curfews should be weighed before such
a law is passed. Are the police able to check on all possible violators
and still meet their other responsibilities? Is there a reliable method
to determine the age of suspected violators.^ Are children to be ex-
empt under certain circumstances, such as evening school and church
activities, which conflict with the curfew hour? Should curfew hours
differ for weekday and weekend nights? Because of such problems,
curfews often aren't rigorously enforced.
Youth employment
Success in a paid job develops self respect, maturity and self
confidence in young people. Many boys and girls are eager for part-
time jobs while going to school, to gain work experience. Most
whose education ends before or with high school want full-time work.
For both groups, employment is desirable and should be regarded as
part of their education for successful living. Unfortunately, suitable
full-time jobs for them are not easy to come by.
It cannot be stated with certainty that some youths become de-
linquent because they want a job but don't find one. Well adjusted
12
boys and girls are more likely to find and hold jobs than youngsters
with serious behavior problems. Research into whether lack of em-
ployment is a valid cause of juvenile delinquency raises doubts that it is.
The case for more youth employment is strongest for educa-
tional and mental health reasons. The adolescent years of 14-18 are
difficult for most boys and girls. Many. are unsettled by feelings of
inadequacy as they struggle to make the transition to adulthood. A
work career and the responsibility of a job can be stabilizing influences
during the crucial years after age 16 for out-of-school youth.
A job seldom helps the emotionally disturbed delinquent. He
needs individual treatment which employment cannot provide. A job
may actually aggravate his problems.
Boys and girls who fail in school because of lack of interest or
ability present a different problem. With limited education and no
training, they have little to offer in the open competitive job market
which has few positions they can fill. However, school programs of
supervised Vork may enable some of these boys and girls to enjoy feel-
ings of success which they are unable to attain through academic work.
A community needs a professional placement service as well as
school vocational guidance to promote sound employment of youth.
Approximately 1,800 public employment service offices throughout the
country are financed in part by Federal funds. They study the job mar-
ket, for young people as well as for adults. Trained people in these
offices provide employment counseling and occupational aptitude tests.
They work closely with employers and the schools which issue the em-
ployment certificates boys and girls must have before starting paid work.
One logical way for a community to approach youth employ-
ment is for a citizen group to survey local youth work possibilities and
promote cooperation among employers, unions, schools and placement
services in opening up more jobs for boys and girls. Concurrently, citi-
zens should build community support for a sound program of job
preparation which will increase youth employment in the long run.
Vocational guidance and placement of young people in jobs should be
done by persons trained for this.
Apprenticeship programs developed jointly by employers and
labor unions are possible means of meeting the needs of many youths
13
who must go to work after high school. More aggressive programs
are needed to inform young people while still in school about trades
and other employment which may offer them a future.
Child labor laws
Child labor laws are not meant to prevent children from work-
ing, but rather to protect them against working in certain kinds of jobs
at too early an age. Although most exploitation of children has been
eliminated, it still persists in some areas, particularly in agriculture.
Child labor laws should re-enforce school attendance laws to
keep children in school at least until age 16. It is important not to
compromise this principle. In practically all States, children can leave
school legally on reaching 16. However, many employers make 18
14
the minimum age for employment because they prefer their employees
to be high-school graduates. The close supervision required for
younger workers is costly and their accident rate in manufacturing in-
dustries is higher than for persons above 18.
Most youngsters who enter the labor market without a high
school education are unlikely to find and hold jobs with a future. Low-
ering the age when children can leave school legally would further
crowd the unskilled labor market. For youth to gain a foothold in the
world of work, they have to learn what is expected of them in finding
and holding a job.
Schools usually have the authority to issue work permits to
youngsters. Persons eager to expand youth employment sometimes
propose that this authority not rest with schools alone. In this regard,
it is well to remember that many schools have trained employment
counselors who are able to keep youngsters in safe jobs, and out of
hazardous or unsuitable ones. Extending the authority to other agen-
cies to issue work permits might open the door to persons without
special competence to make decisions as to when and where youngsters
will work.
WHAT HELPS PREVENT DELINQUENCY
Parental Guidance
During a child's early years, the day-to-day example of his parents
is the strongest influence in shaping his personality and behavior.
Children tend to pickup their parents' prejudices and intolerances as
well as their moral values and standards of conduct. Mothers and
fathers have no more important job than to teach their children the
rules for living together in harmony. At the same time, children should
be taught that they have responsibilities as well as rights and privileges.
Parents should learn all they can about the growth and behavior
of children in general to better understand the growth and behavior
533037 O-60-3 15
of their own children. Children grow at different rates mentally and
emotionally as well as physically. This means that two children in
the same family will not necessarily behave the same way at the same
age. They are individuals with many differences. When parents rec-
ognize or suspect a child of serious emotional upset or the beginning
of delinquent traits, they should seek professional help at once.
To know a child's needs, feelings, and problems, parents have
to spend time with him talking, listening, and watching. Children
whose parents give generously of their time in this way are less likely
to develop serious behavior problems that may lead to delinquency.
No real substitute exists for the feeling of well being a child gets from
parents who remain close and understanding.
The child who is taught to do tasks well and to get along with
others has a good measure of protection against delinquency. Most
delinquents lack those characteristics. The delinquent is frequently an
unhappy child because he has been steadily neglected by parents who
are either too busy, too distant, or too inadequate.
Parental discipline is important to children. Boys and girls really
want to know that limits are set for their behavior and what these are.
To be effective, discipline should be consistent. A child is confused
when disciplined one day for certain misbehavior and not the next.
Wise and consistent handling of incidents when they occur is sound
prevention as well as sound discipline.
All parents need to be prepared for the trials of their children's
adolescence. During this period, children often act as though they
don't want control of any kind. Parents must exercise patience and re-
straint as the teenager struggles to find himself and become an adult.
Community Climate
The child from the emotionally healthful home emerges better
equipped to withstand the harmful influences that he is exposed to in
the community. It is true, however, that many children grow up with-
out lapsing into delinquency in spite of homes which are emotionally
deprived because of parents who fail to meet their responsibilities. This
16
suggests that a poor home environment which might predispose a
youngster to dehnquency can be offset by outside influences and per-
sonal relationships which encourage right conduct.
The community that plans and works to protect the welfare of
children will have less delinquency than a community similar in other
respects which is too preoccupied with other things to do this. The
17
temptations and pressures for youngsters to seriously misbehave are
stronger if the area or town where they Uve is disorganized and apa-
thetic. Children are often confused about acceptable behavior stand-
ards because the community does not clearly express what its standards
are. Youngsters at loose ends in such a community are likely to get
into trouble. How individual boys and girls feel about their home
town is important for delinquency prevention. A healthy community
marked by cohesiveness and a sustained interest in children will give
them a feeling of belonging. When a youngster feels that nobody cares
about him, the danger of delinquency increases.
Finding Those in Danger
No magic formula exists that makes it possible to screen out
those children who will become delinquent. Predicting delinquency
in individual children has yet to be demonstrated.
Early discovery of children with serious behavior problems,
however, is fundamental to delinquency prevention. So it shouldn't
be left to chance. It requires planning and trained personnel who can
recognize the emotionally disturbed children whether or not they are
in danger of becoming delinquent.
In their visits to homes pediatricians, general practitioners, child
welfare workers, and public health nurses often encounter children
needing help. Pre-school clinics, schools, and social agencies also have
an important role in identifying children who may be headed for de-
linquency. Yet, finding problem boys and girls is unproductive unless
there are facilities and professional people to diagnose their difficulties
and provide needed preventive treatment or guidance.
Social agencies have no legal authority to hold possibly pre-
delinquent children referred to them for treatment. However, voluntary
arrangements should assure continuous treatment of children with seri-
ous behavior problems until professional judgment rules it can be dis-
continued. When agencies maintain an efficient referral and follow-up
system, one agency is accountable for a child until responsibility is
shifted to another. This protects the child and contributes to delin-
18
quency prevention. Each agency which serves children should know
other resources to turn to when a child needs help it cannot give.
Services Which Can Help
A wide range of services is necessary to help all kinds of young-
sters who may be in danger of becoming delinquent. Unfortunately,
some of these services are sparse or totally lacking in many commu-
nities. Generally, urban and semi-urban areas have more social agen-
cies, youth serving organizations, and special services available to help
children than most rural and semi-rural areas.
Every community should inventory its resources to protect the
welfare of children so that the citizenry can be informed on those avail-
able and those most needed.
The inventory will include many agencies providing services to
parents as well as to children directly, such as public welfare depart-
ments, family service agencies, mental health clinics, and social service
programs in schools and hospitals. In counseling and assistance to
parents in the solution of personal and family difficulties, such agencies
contribute in a vital way to the prevention of delinquency. Parents
who are in marital conflict, overly worried about debts or demanding
perfection from their children may, against their own wishes, foster
delinquent behavior.
Examples of some programs directly related to children which
can help prevent delinquency are as follows:
Child welfare services
Although parents are primarily responsible for the care and
guidance of their children, some need help. Social work help to chil-
dren, which usually involves their parents, is the child welfare program.
Its aim is to preserve and strengthen family life. To do this often
means providing services to parents and to the child when necessary in
order to keep children in their own homes. Homemaker service, for
example, places a woman skilled in child care and household manage-
19
ment in the home during the temporary absence or incapacity of the
mother.
Child welfare services can help children exposed to such condi-
tions as neglect or mistreatment which may seriously impair their well
being. When a child welfare worker helps a family to function better
or removes a child from a home that fails hopelessly to meet his basic
needs, the danger of delinquency is reduced.
State and local welfare departments are primary sources of child
welfare services. All State departments to some degree provide local
public services for children. In large cities, various private agencies
also furnish services to children and their families. The Federal gov-
ernment plays an important role, too. In 1935, it began making finan-
cial grants to States to help them establish, improve, and extend public
child welfare services. This program sparked a wide expansion of these
services, but they are still lacking or inadequate in many communities.
To extend and improve basic child welfare services is one way to help
prevent juvenile delinquency.
The major method used by social workers to help people with
personal problems is known as casework, and it is applied more or less
in all social services to children and their families. Trained social case-
workers help people to help themselves. They are able to help children
to talk about themselves and their problems and thereby gain aware-
ness and understanding of them. Only then can they begin to deal
constructively with their problems.
Recently, some agencies have begun to seek out and offer help
to families so overwhelmed with problems that the will to overcome
them may be gone. This kind of family is least likely to ask for help.
Youngsters in danger of delinquency often cannot be reached in any
other way. This kind of initiative opens doors for potentially effective
preventive work with the small percentage of families which research
indicates produce far more than their proportionate share of delinquent
youngsters.
Services to children living at home. — There are a variety of
services to children living in their own homes. Some of these are basic
to delinquency prevention, when help is provided as first signs of diffi-
20
culty appear. These services are particularly effective when children
are neglected or abused by their parents or others responsible for their
care.
When a young child is discovered locked alone in a car late at
night while his parents are out on the town, someone must act to stop
this parental neglect. Where neglect or abuse is reported by someone
other than one of the child's parents, the services used to meet the
situation are known as protective. The aim of these services is to pre-
vent further mistreatment of the child.
It is necessary in all instances to determine if the complaint is
justified. Complaints are sometimes investigated first by the police. A
study of the child and his family may be made by a social agency or
the court if a petition has been filed, and a plan developed for his fii-
21
ture. The plan may call for sustained casework service to the child
and parents in the home through a public or private social agency or
for court action. When the family situation is beyond repair, court
action may be necessary in order that a better plan of care may be made.
Services which remedy parental neglect or abuse and home con-
ditions of danger to children represent sound delinquency prevention.
When the need for protection of a child is met and a better future as-
sured, it seems safe to assume that he is less likely to become delinquent.
Responsibility to protect children from neglect is often shared
by several agencies such as law enforcement, private or public social
agencies, and the court. Agencies should clearly understand the divi-
sion of responsibility.
Every community needs adequate services to safeguard children
suffering from gross neglect or abuse, whatever the circumstances.
Foster care. — While child welfare services enable many children
needing special help to remain in their own homes, some have to be
removed. Different kinds of foster care are used for the child who
must be separated from his natural family. He may be cared for by
relatives, or in a family not related by blood, or in an institution. The
availability and quality of this care is important to the well being of
the children who need it.
Shelter care. — Each year the temporary care of thousands of
children becomes a community responsibility because of unforeseen cir-
cumstances. Children may be abandoned, made dependent for other
reasons, or need protection from abuse or neglect in their homes.
Emergency care which the community has to provide on short notice
is known as shelter care. A child may be placed in a boarding home
or an institution until he is returned to his home or arrangements are
made for more permanent care. A detention facility, jail, or juvenile
training school should not be used for this purpose as secure custody
is not needed for shelter care.
Foster family care. — The care of children in substitute homes
with substitute parents is known as foster family care. Parents and
22
child have to be prepared for this. It should be used selectively and
only when necessary to protect and promote the well being of the child.
Foster parents have to be selected with great care and casework
service used to help the child and foster parents develop an intimate,
satisfying relationship. At the same time, the child's relationship to
his own family must be strengthened.
Institutional care. — The need for institutions to care for de-
pendent children has declined in recent years. Some reasons for this
are fewer deaths among parents of young children, improved economic
conditions, assistance programs for parents, and increased use of foster
family care. Although the child population has been increasing, the
number of full orphans has dropped to one-tenth of one percent.
Further, many children who formerly would have been placed in insti-
tutions for dependent children are remaining in their own homes or
are in foster family care.
Many private institutions, originally built for dependent chil-
dren, are reshaping their programs to care for boys and girls whose
needs cannot be met initially through foster home care or other com-
munity facilities. More institutions are now serving children who must
be temporarily removed from the community; for example, the child
whose behavior or condition cannot be tolerated or treated in his own
home, a foster home, or in the community. Many emotionally dis-
turbed children and adolescents with serious behavior problems who
require residential care and treatment are now placed in institutions.
More institutions are developing individualized treatment for these
children with casework and clinical staff.
Day care. — Day care is a method of caring for children away
from their own homes for part of the day. This service supplements
parental care, but doesn't assume parental responsibilities or substitute for
a child's home. The number of employed mothers has increased steadily
since World War II, and this trend will probably continue. Their
small children represent the largest group requiring day care, which
fact intensifies the need for this service.
Family day care is given in a day care home which usually cares
535037 O-60-4 23
for children only by the day. Such a place is usually best for young-
sters of pre-school age who are not ready for group activity. Some
older children who need more individualized attention will use family
day care too.
Group day-care facilities, often called day-care centers, are pri-
marily for pre-school children age 3 to 6, and for older children after
school hours. These centers should have a trained staff, and there
should be close cooperation between welfare, health and education per-
sonnel on program planning.
Aid to dependent children
In 1935, as part of the social security program, the Federal gov-
ernment began a program of financial aid to needy dependent children
24
under age 18. Aid to Dependent Children seeks to help maintain and
strengthen the family life of children deprived of adequate parental
support or care. It encourages care of these children in their own
homes or with relatives. When possible and appropriate, it helps the
home achieve self-support without impairing proper care of the child.
About two and a quarter million children now benefit from this
program, which contributes indirectly to the prevention of juvenile de-
Imquency by preserving family life for most of these children. In
uldition to money, ADC seeks to provide medical care, casework, and
idler social services.
• While the father is missing because of death in a number of
ADC families, this proportion is declining. The largest percentage of
ADC families need help because the father is continuously absent from
home for such reasons as divorce, separation, desertion, or unmarried
parenthood.
Wide variation exists between States in the adequacy and cov-
erage of Aid to Dependent Children. This can be partly explained by
variations in the financial ability of States to meet the costs of the pro-
gram. However, there is a basic conflict in this country between con-
cern for the welfare of children and anxiety about the mounting social
problems of divorce, desertion, and illegitimacy which increase the costs
of child care. Without the ADC program, however, juvenile delin-
quency, which is also a symptom of family and social disorganization,
might be even more prevalent. The ADC program was established to
back up the determination that in the United States "no child should
be deprived of care in his own home because of poverty alone."
Family life education
Instruction, by all practical means, of parents and prospective
parents in the mental health aspects of family living is a vital com-
munity service. To serve a delinquency prevention purpose, this
teaching should emphasize the importance of a happy family to a
child's life.
Parents who are having serious difficulty with their children
sometimes gain the understanding and the courage to resolve these
problems through parent discussion groups under trained leaders.
25
Through practical in-school programs of family life education,
young people can become more aware of the positive values of parent-
hood and family living. In the past, this phase of their education has
often been neglected. Today, many American schools include child
and family development in the curriculum. Many communities en-
courage the expansion of this teaching as a part of a community
program of education for family living.
Group work
Children and adults with behavior difficulties also can be helped
in groups. Under leadership of a social group worker, each group mem-
ber not only enjoys program activities but grows in understanding of
himself and others.
Group work services are provided by a wide range of social agen-
cies and organizations such as settlement houses, community centers,
youth serving organizations, recreation departments, child guidance
clinics, rehabilitative institutions and hospitals.
When these services are designed to reach and serve pre-delin-
quent or delinquent youth, they contribute to delinquency prevention.
A striking example of this method in action can be seen in the streets
of some of our big cities as group workers strive to redirect the atti-
tudes and behavior of youth gangs.
Youth gangs in conflict. — Belonging to a teen-age group is a
natural part of growing up for most adolescents. Teenagers like to be
together and what they do in most groups usually harms neither them-
selves nor the community.
But some groups can be harmful to those in them and to the
areas where they flourish. The worst, often called street gangs, breed
juvenile delinquency and are a constant threat to the community.
These are the hostile, angry youth groups which seem to be in open
rebellion against the community.
Periodically these gangs engage in vicious fighting with other
gangs, go on sprees of property theft and destruction, and may even
carry out the most serious crimes such as assault, larceny, and homi-
cide. For the most part, these highly organized gangs flourish only in
26
ertain sections of our largest cities.
How to reach and work with these gangs poses a difficult prob-
cm. The members remain aloof and don't want to be a part of or-
ganized youth programs. An experimental method being used bv some
5ublic and voluntary agencies is to have trained young men seek out
he gang in its own haunts. The worker tries to overcome its hostile
ccHngs and gradually channel the energies and interests of the gang
i\\ ay from destructive pursuits into constructive activity.
To be effective, this approach to the gang problem should not
be used in isolation. Parents, police, churches, social agencies, schools,
27
and neighborhood organizations should also try to give these youths a
more positive outlook on life. The entire community has to under-
stand the problem to support those working directly with these gangs.
In the big city with a gang problem, central planning for this work is
essential for determining where and how available workers in different
projects can be used to best advantage.
It is hard for workers to make lasting changes for the good in
youth they work with. This is particularly true in crowded rundown
neighborhoods where gangs flourish. However, the violent fights be-
tween rival gangs — which often lead to serious casualties — have been
somewhat reduced by workers acting as mediators.
The vicious youth gang corrupts younger children who hang
around and acquire its disrespect for law and order. In time, they may
be recruited into the gang or form one of their own. Hopefully, serv-
ice which reaches out to youth gangs can be extended to susceptible
younger children and their parents. To prevent hostile youth gangs
from forming is the best way to prevent their delinquency-breeding
way of life.
Health services
Many workers in the health field can contribute to delinquency
prevention. These include physicians, especially pediatricians, general
practitioners, obstetricians and psychiatrists, school health staff, public
health nurses, medical social workers, and other personnel in public
health departments.
These people probably see more children during their early years
when personality is shaped than any other professional group serving
families. When they are concerned with the "whole child" and his
family, they can help parents to understand better themselves and their
children. They can anticipate common behavior problems in children,
and counsel parents on how to deal with them before they become
serious.
Adolescents often discuss emotional problems with their doctor
while he is treating them for medical problems ranging from serious
illness to facial blemishes or for being overweight.
Traditionally, psychiatrists were called in when a serious prob-
28
lem already existed. Today, their increasing consultation to health
personnel is being given earlier.
Health workers have the close contacts needed to help "high
risk" children such as those born out of wedlock. They can cooperate
with social agencies to assure proper care for unmarried mothers and
help them plan a future for their babies. Similarly, they are often in
a position to help "high risk" families in which the children may be
delinquency prone because of many adverse home factors. Public
health nurses, in particular, frequently come face to face with seem-
ingly hopeless family situations dangerous to children. Their initiative
can open the possibility of improving these situations.
Children with physical, mental and emotional problems need
the specialized services of health personnel. Progress in overcoming
physical handicaps strengthens a child's emotional health. Federal
funds are available through State health departments for preventive
29
health programs of maternal and child health and also through State
agencies for crippled children to provide services to many physically
handicapped children.
Child guidance clinics
Child guidance clinics study, diagnose, and treat children show-
ing behavior or personality disorders. If left untreated, some of these
conditions can result in delinquency.
The staff of a typical clinic has a psychiatrist, either full or part
time, a psychologist, and several psychiatric social workers. Juvenile
courts often turn to clinics for psychiatric diagnosis and consultation.
A clinic may be attached to a school, a court, or a hospital. It
may be part of the State or local public health or welfare service or it
may be an independent agency. Some are supported by public funds
and others by private. It's important for the clinic to make itself part
of a coordinated community program, since it must ohen seek the help
of other community agencies in carrying out treatment plans for in-
dividual youngsters. Thus, the effectiveness of a clinic depends in good
part on the availability of other resources in the community, and the
30
cooperation of other agencies. For example, after studying a child, the
clinic may conclude he should have foster home care as a part of his
treatment plan. If there is no agency to arrange this placement, its
efforts to help the child are hampered.
Child guidance clinics treat children having a wide range of be-
havior problems and personality disorders. A child suffering from
deep emotional conflict may require long intensive treatment by a psy-
chiatrist. One whose misbehavior is largely a product of the environ-
ment in which he lives may be helped by an entirely different type of
approach. In most instances, the total situation to which the child
reacts must be treated rather than just the child himself Perhaps his
school program should be changed or a physical condition remedied.
Perhaps he needs several services plus a friendly relationship with a
worker who understands his problems.
The attitudes of parents toward the child often need to be modi-
fied. Research indicates that child guidance clinics are most effective
with children whose personality disorders are not of the extreme type,
and those who are not up against hopelessly adverse home factors.
Many clinics prefer to work only with children whose parents are will-
ing to participate actively in treatment along with their youngsters.
Improving the relationship between parents and the child is often the
first step in overcoming a child's behavior disorders.
The child guidance clinic interprets the needs of children to
parents, teachers, nurses, social workers, probation and juvenile police
officers, recreation leaders, and others dealing with children. Through
lectures, discussion groups, and other means, the staff spreads knowl-
edge of the principles of mental health and child behavior. Most com-
munities have no child guidance clinic to help emotionally disturbed
youngsters because of high cost and the shortage of psychiatric
personnel.
Schools and Prevention
School is one of the best places to discover problem children
whose behavior may signal danger ahead. All children go to school
31
where they can be observed at work and play in groups over a period
of time.
Truancy is a common forerunner of delinquency. While all
truant youngsters won't become delinquents, the records of many adult
criminals show truancy. This is the kind of evidence on which specific
preventive measures can be based.
The angry, hostile child, the overly aggressive child, and the
withdrawn child can be spotted early in the classroom by the teacher.
When a trained person works with the child and his parents at this
point, the chances of clearing up causes of this behavior are favorable.
Undue slowness in school work is common among juvenile de-
linquents. This backwardness often leads to delinquent behavior.
Schools can help minimize these causes of misbehavior by providing
special educational helps.
When a school is unable to meet the needs of a problem child,
referral to a community resource is the alternative. A shortage of
32
treatment resources in the community reduces the dehnquency preven-
tion potential of the schools. Little is gained by discovering problem
children in schools if adequate resources to help them are not available
in the community. Parent-teacher associations can work for more spe-
cialized school services to help children with personality and emotional
problems.
Most schools have come far from the days when they were iso-
lated from the rest of the community, with their doors open only dur-
ing school hours. A child's education starts long before he enters the
school building and doesn't stop when he leaves it. More and more
schools are concerning themselves with the total life of the child— his
home, neighborhood, companions, and play. The more leadership for
youth welfare the schools can provide the better. The trend for schools
to serve as community centers and offer educational and recreational
activities to adults as well as children is good. They should be an in-
tegral part of any comprehensive community plan to reduce juvenile
delinquency. Close working cooperation with persons or agencies pro-
viding treatment outside of the school assures coordination of a child's
treatment program with his school activities.
Churches and Prevention
Whether a child has moral standards or lacks them is determined
largely by his parents. Their example of living and teaching shapes
his basic outlook on life and his moral and ethical standards of right
and wrong. The church can reinforce the family in helping a child
achieve personal and social integrity.
When children begin religious education outside of the home,
churches have a unique opportunity to help them to a sense of self-
identity and to foster their moral and spiritual growth. By effective
teaching of the meaning, dignity and positive values of life, churches
can be a force for the prevention of juvenile delinquency. Whatever
churches do to help boys and girls achieve a basic inner harmony and
more purposeful living helps insure their well being.
To contribute in other ways to delinquency prevention, church
33
leaders can begin by taking an active interest in community life and
encouraging their members to do likewise. They can inform them-
selves on the local juvenile delinquency problem and cooperate with
other agencies to make the community a better place for children.
The church which learns firsthand about community conditions and
experiences harmful to the welfare of children is most likely to help
improve the situation.
In small towns and rural communities without social agencies,
the church can carry a major responsibility for youth welfare. In larger
communities, churches can be a strong force in building public opinion
and support for specific measures to reduce delinquency.
Moralistic preaching has little or no effect on the delinquent
child. The challenge facing all churches is to find concrete functions
for themselves by tying in with the total community effort to deal with
the problem of juvenile delinquency.
HELPING DELINQUENT CHILDREN
The community that wants to reduce juvenile delinquency can't
overlook youngsters who are already delinquent. A vital part of total
prevention is to prevent these boys and girls from getting into further
trouble with the law.
The child or youth who repeats his delinquent pattern is diffi-
cult to rehabilitate and is a costly liability to the community. The
hardened repeating delinquent is a source of infection for more delin-
quency because of his influence on other youths.
To help delinquent children, someone must learn what factors
in the personality, home, or environment of the young offender may
explain the offense. It means weighing these factors to determine
whether treatment is needed, and if so, what kind.-" Three basic ap-
proaches to treatment which are not mutually exclusive are: remove
the child from his environment, improve the environment, or modify
the negative ideas the child may have about himself, other people and
his environment.
34
Four official agencies have crucial contacts with children in
trouble— the police, detention, juvenile court, and the training school.
What they do may well determine whether a delinquent youngster
straightens out or goes on to more serious trouble.
The Police and Control
All police departments have two basic responsibilities: to protect
life and property, and to preserve the public peace. One way they do
this is to apprehend persons who violate the law, and arrange for pros-
ecution, treatment, or other action. Another function of the police
is to enforce regulations, such as traffic controls, imposed by law on
people's daily activities. In carrying out these functions which apply
35
to juveniles as well as to adults, the police encounter all kinds of de-
linquency and have to take action.
The police should play a major role in the control ot delin-
quency and the protection of children because they observe firsthand
where, when, and why juvenile delinquency develops in a community.
They deal with between one and a half and two million children each
year — more than any other official agency. Most juvenile delinquents
come to police attention for violations of law, but some are reported
as neglected or abused. Generally throughout the country, one of every
four children dealt with by the police is referred to the juvenile court.
The police through their screening process dispose of the other three
by warning or referral to another agency.
Today, most police departments in urban centers of 100,000 or
more persons have juvenile units as a part of their organization. About
one-half of our middle-sized cities, between 25,000 and 100,000, and a
quarter of those with less than 25,000 population, have them.
While this specialization is desirable, officers who regularly pa-
trol neighborhoods continue to have initial contacts with most children
apprehended as law violators. They are in the best position to investi-
gate and dispose of cases at the time and place where offenses occur.
A police juvenile specialist should always be available on request
to advise other officers on disposition of children's cases which they
have investigated. The juvenile bureau investigates and disposes of
cases referred by other divisions of the police organization. Usually
all referrals of children's cases to community agencies for guidance or
treatment are made by the juvenile unit.
An important function of a juvenile unit is keeping the police
department in close touch with the court, schools, and other commu-
nity agencies which serve children. Juvenile officers should participate
in community planning to improve services for children and youth.
Generally, expanded training opportunities in child growth and
human behavior for all officers are needed to improve police handling
of children's cases. This should be emphasized because of the poten-
tial effectiveness of patrol officers to control delinquency. The juvenile
specialist requires additional training.
Early case finding and referral are essential for the prevention
36
and control of juvenile delinquency and the police are in a strategic
position to do this in the community at large.
Detention Services
Some children who appear in court for delinquency must be
detained in a secure place until the court decides what to do with them.
Only when there is reason to believe that a youngster may run away
or get into further trouble if allowed to return home should he be held.
A detention facility should be used sparingly, and the detention
period kept as brief as possible. Careful screening of children by police
as well as the court supports this policy.
Detention should provide good physical care, and maximum
opportunity for observation and study of the child while he is held for
disposition by the court. In general, it should promote his physical
and emotional well being.
\\ v[>4
37
Every year over 100,000 children are held in jails for lack of ade-
quate facilities. Most counties don't have separate detention for chil-
dren. Generally, detention care is a local responsibility. Most locali-
ties which use jails would like to have a separate detention facility.
Rather than detain them in jail, some communities without separate
quarters will release children who should be held or send them to a
State institution which should not be used for this purpose.
When few children require detention in any one community, it
is understandable why costly special quarters are not built. It is doubt-
ful whether many communities will ever provide these facilities as long
as they must bear the full cost.
More and more States are assuming some responsibility for deten-
tion care. A possible way of achieving more adequate service is for a
State agency to assume partial responsibility for providing detention
on a regional basis. A Statewide detention plan would assure service
to children in all parts of the State. At present, the less populous sec-
tions of States are usually without decent detention service.
Juvenile Court and Probation Services
Many people think of a juvenile court either as doing little or
nothing with children who break the law or as a place where punish-
ment is meted out. Neither of these views reflect what a juvenile court
is supposed to do or how most courts function. Their philosophy is
one of individualized justice fitting court action to the child. The
juvenile court was founded on the principle that its prime responsibility
is to understand, protect, and help the child or youth — not to punish
him. This means that the court is more concerned with the delinquent
child himself than with his specific offense.
Every State has laws which provide for juvenile or family courts
or specialized procedures in children's cases. The effectiveness of these
courts depends upon such things as an adequate juvenile court law, the
qualifications of the judge, a well trained court staff, and good com-
munity resources.
Facing a juvenile court judge can be a turning point for better
38
or worse in a child's life. The judge should be legally trained, under-
stand child growth and behavior, and be informed on social problems.
He should have time to consider each case carefully, and not be under
pressure when he makes decisions affecting a youngster's future. Many
judges have to decide cases hurriedly because they are overburdened
with other legal work.
Every judge needs able probation officers to perform the follow-
ing functions: screen cases to see if children and families referred to
the court require court services or should be referred to other agencies;
make a social study of the child and his family to help the judge reach
a decision; supervise children placed on probation by the court.
A probation officer needs a working knowledge of human behav-
ior as well as skills to help children and parents. Trained probation
officers are effective in preventing children found delinquent from get-
ting into further trouble. There is an acute shortage of probation
personnel. Those without specialized training far outnumber those who
have it. Strengthening probation services is a clear way of reducing
39
juvenile delinquency. More State governments are assuming some
responsibility for improving the quality and coverage of probation serv-
ices. Recent model legislation proposed by national standard setting
agencies provides for State operated probation services, juvenile and
family courts. State governments should provide consultation and
training to help local court and detention programs.
» Every juvenile court should have the services of a doctor, psychia-
trist and ^ychologist for assistance in diagnosis and treatment planning
when needed. Trained probation staff are necessary to use these services
properly.
A well staffed and well run juvenile court needs community
resources to do a good job of rehabilitating delinquent children. Vari-
ous kinds of foster family and institutional care should be available to
the court as well as family counseling, special educational services, and
vocational training. The court should take an active role in developing
and strengthening these community services.
Interest is increasing in establishing a family court which pro-
vides one court jurisdiction over family problems, many of which
vitally affect a youngster's future. It is usual for juvenile, domestic
relations, and other types of courts to have partial jurisdiction over fam-
ily problems. A family court would replace the piecemeal handling
of family problems with an integrated system. It should have juris-
diction over children alleged to be delinquent, neglected, or dependent.
It should have jurisdiction over proceedings for adoption, determination
of custody of a child, establishing paternity, divorce and separation, and
related matters.
Training School and Aftercare
State governments provide some of the major resources for the
care and treatment of delinquent children. Among these are public
training schools which are usually too costly for local communities to
build and operate. It is important that all State and local services for
delinquent children work together. State planning for the care and
treatment of delinquent children should be vested in a single agency—
40
preferably the same one responsible for other public child welfare
services.
The training school is but one of a number of rehabilitative
services for the treatment of delinquent children. The child com-
mitted to a training school, for example, may neec^ casework in his
own or a foster home when he is released.
Generally, training schools receive an assortment of children with
a wide range of problems. It is a mistake to treat all of them the same
way. To prevent this. States need diversified institutions for different
treatment programs. A State diagnostic center which studies delinquent
children to determine the course of treatment most likely to benefit
each one may be indicated. Small residential treatment centers for
seriously disturbed children, and separate institutions for mentally
retarded and psychotic children, should also be available.
The purpose of training schools is to retrain, educate, and treat
delinquent children committed to them by juvenile courts, so that they
can live successfully in their communities. A modern physical plant
and equipment are important. However, an environment which helps
the normal development of youngsters while maintaining control of
them is essential to achieve this purpose. The creation of this kind
of environment is primarily the responsibility of training school admin-
istrators and staff. When the staff is genuinely interested in the wel-
fare of the children, a training school can have a fair measure of
warmth and friendliness.
Although the right training school environment is crucial to
treatment, this has to be supplemented by adequate specialized services
and program activities. Social work, psychological, medical and psy-
chiatric services are needed as well as education, vocational, and reli-
gious programs. Most State schools are overcrowded and because of
insufficient trained staff don't have a fair chance of rehabilitating many
of the youngsters committed to them.
Far too many children again become involved with the law after
release from training schools. These institutions have the most diffi-
cult task in the entire correctional program for juvenile delinquents.
Youngsters are usually committed as a last resort after other plans and
services to modify their anti-social behavior have failed. While a
41
youngster is in training school his family may need services. After he
is released he should have adequate professional supervision. When
these two important aspects of rehabilitation are slighted, the released
boy is more likely to repeat, and the training school is usually held
responsible for the failure.
More local residential treatment centers might ease the over-
crowding in some big State institutions. A few States are experiment-
ing with smaller treatment facilities where fewer youngsters with simi-
lar problems can be treated without the rigid regimentation which is
difficult to overcome in large institutions. The use of forestry camps
for the treatment of more stable delinquent youngsters is increasing.
These camps may provide a better environment for rehabilitating cer-
tain kinds of youngsters. This experimentation with alternatives to
the large and often isolated training school for treating youngsters
committed by juvenile courts is a promising development.
When a youngster is released from a training school, he needs
help to fit into normal community life. How he is received at home
by those who know him may determine whether or not he lapses back
into delinquency. What happens to him day-by-day during the first
months back home should not be left to chance. An aftercare pro-
gram which provides trained workers to assist and supervise these boys
and girls is essential. The aftercare workers may be supervised by the
training school or by a State or local welfare agency.
The aftercare worker should help a youth plan his future before
his release. In the community, the worker prepares the family for his
return. A youth returning home from training school needs affection
and support as never before from his family. The worker should pave
the way for his enrollment in school or guide him into a suitable job.
He should give guidance and encouragement until the youth shows that
he is ready to stand on his own feet.
LAWS AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
Good laws will not of themselves guarantee an effective pro-
gram to reduce juvenile delinquency. However, they are essential for
42
public programs and without them program improvement can be held
back.
State anti-delinquency legislation should provide:
Sound laws covering court jurisdiction over children's cases.
Sound laws which define the legal responsibilities of the State
agency or agencies which administer State services for the con-
trol and treatment of juvenile delinquency.
Sound laws which are regulatory and protect the welfare of
children and youth. Examples of these are laws covering com-
pulsory school attendance, child labor, and the sale of intoxi-
cating liquor or dangerous weapons to minors.
CITIZEN ACTION
More citizens must become active in preventive efforts. The
juvenile delinquency problem is too big and all pervasive for police,
courts, and other agencies to handle without the help of organized citi-
zens. These citizens can work at overcoming root causes in homes
and communities which may predispose some youngsters to delinquency.
Concurrently, they can work to strengthen services which must be
available to help children in danger and to rehabilitate more delinquents.
The citizen interested in helping reduce delinquency should join
forces with others who share his concern. To find them, he should
express his interest as widely as possible, especially to community
leaders. Almost every community has an organization which can serve
to involve citizens in a planned, coordinated approach to the problem.
When a citizen or public official is asked about delinquency, he
is apt to say "we don't have much delinquency in our town." Com-
placency about juvenile delinquency is never justified. It takes digging
below the surface to uncover the full range and nature of the problem
so that it can be studied and discussed. The facts about juvenile delin-
43
quency must be brought out into the open before a community can
mount an attack against it.
What is being done to help boys and girls in trouble? What
is being done to help those in danger of becoming delinquent? How
many children were picked up by the police in the past two years and
for what? How many children with serious behavior problems are
known to schools?
In getting answers to these questions, some things which should
be done will come to light. Various possibilities for constructive action
probably will be apparent. It is wise to decide on one and get to work.
Starting without undue delay toward a concrete goal is important.
Once a citizen group goes into action to do something worthwhile for-
children, interest and support seem to snowball.
Citizens can help improve the community for children in many
ways. For example, they can make sure that land in sprawling devel-
opments of tract homes is left clear as play space for children or they
44
can encourage youths to execute a project of their own to improve the
community.
In mixed communities everybody has a chance to strengthen
tolerance so that all youngsters can feel accepted, regardless of race or
religion.
Any citizen can call praiseworthy achievements of youth to the
attention of the newspaper he reads. He can write them up or ask the
editor to do this.
Concerned citizens can organize groups to discuss the problems
and needs of adolescents under a trained leader. Parents, teachers, and
all who work with youth need this learning and sharing of experience.
A parent-teacher association can see that the school has remedial read-
ing instruction, a school social worker, guidance counselors, and other
services for youngsters with special needs.
Citizens have many opportunities to help combat juvenile delin-
quency by serving on agency boards or on committees which survey
the kinds of help available for children with serious behavior problems—
(ir the quality of services for delinquent youngsters. Developing the
means to select a qualified juvenile court judge may be needed or expan-
sion of foster homes for different kinds of children may be needed.
Local citizen action is frequently stimulated and supported by
official State agencies. Over one-third of the States have special youth
agencies or youth commissions which offer guidance and consultation
to local citizen groups and officials seeking ways to curb delinquency.
State governments have to provide certain services for delinquents such
as training schools. However, the strategic and least costly place to
prevent apd deal with delinquency is in local communities where it
occurs.
Consequently, a growing number of States have employed con-
sultants to give communities technical help on the delinquency prob-
lem. Some States have a separate agency which operates State facilities
and programs for the diagnosis, care and treatment of juvenile delin-
quents. In others, the youth commissions do not operate services for
youngsters. However, all commissions are concerned with planning,
coordination and consultation to reduce juvenile delinquency. In
States with a youth commission or similar agency, services for the pre-
45
vendon, control, and treatment of juvenile delinquency are likely to be
comparatively well developed and coordinated. Similarly, citizen action
is likely to be more widespread and productive when there is sustained
leadership from the State level.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S ROLE
Many agencies of the Federal government have a part in strength-
ening this Nation's effort to reduce juvenile delinquency. Their con-
tributions—which sometimes are preventive and sometimes treatment-
come from the fields of education, health, housing, research, labor, law
enforcement, and welfare.
Representatives from each of these agencies comprise the Inter-
departmental Committee on Children and Youth to exchange informa-
tion, pool thinking as to needs, and keep an up-to-date picture of
programs for boys and girls and young men and women.
Of these agencies, the Children's Bureau has a major responsi-
bility in combatting juvenile delinquency. In carrying out the man-
date contained in the basic Act of 1912 under which the Bureau was
founded— to investigate and report "upon all matters pertaining to the
welfare of children and child life among all classes of our people"—
delinquency among children and young people has always been a
concern of the Bureau.
When the incidence of juvenile delinquency began its upsurge,
the Bureau expanded its staff of specialists to help States and commu-
nities develop more effective programs to reduce delinquency and treat
juvenile delinquents.
The Bureau prepares guide materials for distribution, and develops
standards for some of the key services combatting juvenile delinquency.
It advises on pertinent legislation and analyzes program information
which may be helpful to the States and communities. It helps plan
and coordinate aspects of State and local programs to prevent and con-
trol juvenile delinquency; improve specialized services provided by the
police, juvenile courts, probation, reception and diagnostic centers,
46
training schools, forestry camps, and group work projects; and develop
concepts, standards and materials for inservice and professional training
of personnel working with or planning to work with juvenile delin-
quents. The Bureau also collects and analyzes juvenile court statistics
furnished by States and gathers information on certain State services to
delinquent children. It helps design research and interprets research
findings.
CHILDREN'S BUREAU
publications on
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
(The following publications can be ordered from the Superintendent of
Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C. except
as noted)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
*A Selected Bibliography on Juvenile Delinquency. An annotated
bibliography prepared primarily for professional workers. 44 pp.
Revised 1958.
COMMUNITY PLANNING
Helping Delinquent Children. Describes the functions of various
agencies officially concerned with delinquent children and points
up how they can be improved. Children's Bureau Publication
No. 341. 47 pp. 1953. (20<)
What's Happening to Delinquent Children in Your Town.-' A sim-
ple guide to help citizen groups obtain facts about certain agen-
cies serving delinquent children. Children's Bureau Publication
No. 342. 26 pp. 1953. (15^)
47
COURTS
Standards for Specialized Courts Dealing with Children. Standards
for organization and procedures in juvenile courts and other
courts that hear cases concerning children. Children's Bureau
Publication No. 346. 99 pp. 1954. (35(^)
DETENTION
Detention Planning. This technical pamphlet covers general sug-
gestions and a guide for determining capacity. Children's Bu-
reau Publication No. 381. I960.
FILMS
Selected Films on Child Life. Listing with brief descriptions selected
films on child life, reviewed by the Children's Bureau. Includes
eighteen on juvenile delinquency. Children's Bureau Publica-
tion No. 376. 79 pp. 1959. (30^)
HEALTH SERVICES
Health Services and Juvenile Delinquency. A report of a conference
on the role of health services in preventing anti-social behavior.
Children's Bureau Publication No. 353. 54 pp. 1955. (25(!:)
JUVENILE INSTITUTIONS
Institutions Serving Delinquent Children— Guides and Goals. Pri-
marily for directors of State agencies administering such institu-
tions and for superintendents and their staffs. Children's Bureau
Publication No. 360. 119 pp. 1957. (40(^)
LEGISLATION
* Proposals for Drafting Principles and Suggested Language for Legis-
lation on Public Child Welfare and Youth Services. Working draft
of a guide to help develop legislation for programs of public
child welfare and youth services operated by State and local
administrative agencies. (Single copies available from Children's
Bureau to those helping to develop legislation.) 130 pp. 1957.
48
NATIONAL CONFERENCE REPORTS
Report on the National Conference on Juvenile Delinquency. This
is the report of the conference held June 28-30, 1954, under the
sponsorship of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.
It includes reports of the various work groups as well as a sum-
mary of work group findings. 77 pp. 1954. (30(2!)
Youth Groups in Conflict. This reports a national conference
sponsored by the Children's Bureau on problems and practices
in extending services to groups of hostile anti-social youth.
Children's Bureau Publication No. 365. 52 pp. 1958. (25<)
PARENTS
Parents and Delinquency. A discussion of the relationship between
delinquent children and their parents. Such questions as
whether parents should be held legally responsible for delinquent
acts of their children, and how parents can be helped, are cov-
ered. Children's Bureau Publication No. 349. 43 pp. 1954.
(20<)
POLICE SERVICES
Police Services for Juveniles. A general guide for police practices
with delinquent and neglected children who come to their atten-
tion. Children's Bureau Publication No. 344. 91 pp. 1954.
(35<)
RESEARCH
New Perspectives for Research on Juvenile Delinquency. A report of a
conference, held May 1955, on the relevance and interrelations of
certain concepts from sociology and psychiatry for delinquency.
Children's Bureau Publication No. 356. 92 pp. 1956. (30(^)
^Studies in Juvenile Delinquency. A selected bibliography 1939-
1954, prepared for both practitioners and research workers.
37 pp.
The Effectiveness of Delinquency Prevention Programs. An appraisal
of evaluative studies which have been made of delinquency pre-
49
vention programs. Children's Bureau Publication No. 350. 50
pp. 1954. (25<)
STATISTICS
^Statistical Reporting of Probation Services in Juvenile Courts. A
Report of a workshop held in 1956 to help stimulate and improve
State and local reporting of probation services. 10 pp. 1957.
^Juvenile Court Statistics. An annual summary of juvenile court
reports on children's cases handled. Children's Bureau Statisti-
cal Series No. 47. 16 pp. 1958.
^Statistics on Public Institutions for Delinquent Children. An an-
nual summary on child population, personnel, and expenditures.
Each year supplemental detailed data on varying aspects of the
institutional program are included. Children's Bureau Statistical
Series No. 48. 40 pp. 1956.
TRAINING
Administration and Staff Training in Institutions for Juvenile Delin-
quents. A report of a workshop sponsored by the Children's
Bureau to consider a new approach to administrative uses in
inservice training and staff development. Children's Bureau
Publication No. 377. 47 pp. 1959. (200-
Staff Training for Personnel in Institutions for Juvenile Delinquents.
Report of a workshop held April 6-13, 1957, to identify new
means of accomplishing staff development in institutions for
juvenile delinquents. Children's Bureau Publication No. 364.
56 pp. 1958. (IH)
Training Personnel for Work With Juvenile Delinquents. A report
of a conference on ways and means of training personnel, mainly
in courts and institutions working directly with delinquents.
Children's Bureau Publication No. 348. 90 pp. 1954. (35^)
*Single copies available on request from Children's Bureau.
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
50
3 9999 05708 6942
I960 OF— 535037
children's bureau publication no. 380 — 1960
I
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