1940: Juvenile Delinquency

Trends in Delinquency Cases.

The best and most complete source of information regarding the volume, character and trend of juvenile delinquency throughout the country is the report of the U. S. Children's Bureau, Children in the Courts. Unfortunately this report is usually three years late. The report published in 1940 therefore refers to the year 1937. In that year there was a reversal in the downward trend of juvenile delinquency cases coming before 28 courts that reported to the Children's Bureau since 1929. This reversal followed decreases in the number of delinquency cases referred to the courts, that occurred each year from 1930-36. Delinquency in 1937 was 11 per cent greater than 1936. Independent evidence, however, shows that the downward trend of juvenile delinquency continued in the year 1940. Of ten courts which answered a questionnaire, nine indicated that the number of official delinquency cases in 1940 was lower than the average number of cases for the prior eight to ten years.

Types of Delinquents.

According to the report of the U. S. Children's Bureau, 85 per cent of the delinquents were boys and 15 per cent were girls. White children were involved in 78 per cent of the delinquency cases and Negro children in 22 per cent. Of the total number of children under 21 in the areas covered by the courts reporting to the Bureau, white children formed 93 per cent and Negroes 7 per cent of the population. Negro children therefore tended to be brought before the courts on delinquency charges more often than white children. About three-fourths of the boys were referred to the courts either for some form of stealing or for acts of carelessness and mischief. Only 19 per cent of the girls however were referred for stealing and for acts of carelessness and mischief. Three-fourths of the girls' cases came to the attention of the courts for being ungovernable, for sex offenses and for running away and truancy.

Most of the boys' cases were referred to the courts by the police. Parents or relatives however brought a considerable portion of the girls' cases to the attention of the courts. The most frequent disposition of juvenile delinquency cases was 'dismissed, adjusted or held open without further action,' 49 per cent of the boys' cases and 38 per cent of the girls' cases being handled in this way. Supervision by a probation officer was used for 29 per cent of the boy offenders and 27 per cent of the girl offenders. Institutional commitment was had in 18 per cent of the girls' cases as compared with 11 per cent of the boys' cases. More boys than girls however had prior juvenile court experiences; 36 per cent of the boys had been previously before the court as compared with 20 per cent of the girls.

Preventive Measures.

The problem of preventing juvenile delinquency received considerable attention in 1940. In New York City a Bureau was set up for the prevention of juvenile delinquency and Stephen S. Jackson, a Justice of the Domestic Relations Court, was relieved of court duties and placed in charge. In New Jersey a thoroughgoing state-wide survey was made of the problem of juvenile delinquency by the State Juvenile Delinquency Commission. The Commission recommended the establishment of a State Children's Commission to coordinate the operations of various state departments and local agencies concerned with youth problems and the control of delinquency. The Commission also recommended that a Child Study Institute be established where emotionally disturbed children could come for specialized study and observation. In addition the Commission recommended the establishment of county or municipal children's bureaus to be in general charge of local efforts to prevent delinquency. These bureaus would work with individual children and could 'focus public attention upon social and economic problems in the community' and assume leadership in community planning and education directed toward the eradication of hazards to childhood and youth.

This notion of mobilizing local resources to combat delinquency is explicit in the community child welfare program of the White House Conference on Children in a Democracy held in Washington in 1940. The report of the Conference calls for the development in every county or other appropriate area of a comprehensive program of 'social services to children whose home conditions or individual difficulties require special attention.' Public and private child welfare agencies in each community should cooperate in such a program 'which will assure the proper service to every child in need.'

In California active work in crime prevention was done by a committee of the California Bar Association which sponsored an active 'legal guidance' program throughout the state. This program is a recognition of the fact that 'one of the crying needs of our day is adequate education and training of youth in the understanding of the law, the reasons for having laws and the part that law observance plays in a well-regulated and peaceful society.' Legal guidance is 'essentially an informative process designed to create a proper attitude of law observance on the part of youth.'

Adolescent Offenders.

Considerable attention was paid in 1940 to the problem of the adolescent offender between 16-20 years of age. A study of the New York Law Society for example, 'The Forgotten Adolescent,' condemned the indiscriminate commingling of adolescents with older offenders in police cells, detention pens, jails and transportation vans. It recommended the establishment of a separate Adolescent's Court with a socialized procedure, implemented by an adequately staffed probation department. It also recommended the segregation of adolescents from older offenders through the construction of an adolescent detention home operated according to the standards of juvenile detention homes.

The same notion of a specialized court and a specialized procedure for adolescent offenders was considered by the American Law Institute at its meeting in Washington. This project, known as the Youth Court Act, was not acted on by the Institute but was referred back to the experts for further study. (See also CRIME: Youth Correction Authority Act.)

Without waiting for the creation of a specialized adolescent's court, the Court of General Sessions of New York County undertook to use a specialized procedure in cases of adolescents coming before it on felony charges. In appropriate cases a charge of being a wayward minor will be substituted for the specific felony with which the adolescent is charged. This substitution will be had after careful preliminary probation investigation and after it is determined that the adolescent is a fit subject for the wayward minor procedure. Where it is used, the latter procedure will eliminate most of the incidents and handicaps of a felony conviction such as loss of civil rights, disqualification to hold a civil service job, and similar penalties.

Another technique of giving the adolescent the benefit of an individualized and socialized procedure is the simple expedient of raising the juvenile court age limit. This was adopted in Pennsylvania where the juvenile court age limit was raised from 16 to 18. The Juvenile Court of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) reports a 67 per cent increase in the number of delinquency cases coming before it as a result of this change. A similar change in the Children's Court age limit was recommended in New York by a joint legislative committee.

Research in Juvenile Delinquency.

One of the most important pieces of research on juvenile delinquency during the past year was Sheldon and Eleanore Glueck's book Juvenile Delinquents Grown Up. In 1934 the Gluecks published the results of a five year follow-up study of one thousand juvenile delinquents who had been brought into the Boston Juvenile Court and who had been examined at the clinic of the Judge Baker Foundation. The major findings of that study was the high degree of recidivism among the delinquents during the period studied. In Juvenile Delinquents Grown Up the Gluecks studied the same delinquents for an additional ten year period. Their major finding is that with the passing of the years there is a steady diminution in the number of youths who continue to be offenders. By the time the juvenile delinquents had reached the average age of twenty-nine, almost 40 per cent had ceased to be criminals. Even among those who continued to commit crimes, the seriousness of the criminality tended to diminish. According to the Gluecks 'the physical and mental changes that comprise the natural processes of maturation offer the chief explanation of these improvements in conduct with the passing of the years.' See also CHILD WELFARE.