JUVENILE CRIME.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 81, 3 April 1908, Page 3

JUVENILE CRIME.

WHAT. IS CAUSING .ITS INCREASE?

The tendency towards oblique morality among our young people that the growing frequency of juvenile cases in the Police Court would seem to indicate, presents a problem for the grave concern, not only of those in authority, but for the parents and guardians of the coming generation. That .juvenile crime is alarmingly on the increase is obvious to the least observant; but not so easily seen are the methods of rectifying the evils responsible for this reproach upon the fathers and mothers of the nation's young. It is generally conceded that the ranging of children of tender years before a magistrate, although often itself a necessary course for corrective purposes, can in no wise be regarded as a remedy—it is merely the effect of a pernicious cause, a cause which lies quite beyond the remedial power of a law court. Neither will the establishment of industrial homes, excellent in their way, eliminate the reason for their existence. There appears, in short, to be a growing conviction ' among those who seriously consider the situation and who are qualified to speak in terms of more than casual speculation, that the increase of juvenile crime is but a reflex of the woful and increasing negligence of parents to recognise their moral obligations toward their offspring. The general looseness of opinion and in many cases maudlin sentiment that permeates society at large respecting evil and the evildoer" the carelessness of a great class of parents' towards even attempting anything like the spiritual training of their children, and the laxity of control in general under wtiich the present day child, especially if he develop a precocity of disposition, has to labour his young way to decent citizenship, all assist in moulding the elements of even a noble nature to a very indifferent maturity, while the morally weak and deformed struggle under such a burden of handicapping influence that the achievement of a passable standard of reputable manliness is a matter for wonder.

Why is juvenile crime increasing among us?— Simply because a false modern sentimentality exclaims ' Save the child from the degrading and sullen recollection of the rod,'" ventured one vigorous believer in the chastening influence of corporal punishment. "Parents find that it is much easier to shirk the responsibilities of parental correction under society's ready-spun cloak of ' moral suasion,' and a tender regard for the 'highly strung and sensitive temperaments' of children nowadays. The result is that a lax and thoroughly erroneous idea leavens insidiously the whole of society, from the parent who pays for a young scamp's escapades until he is shipped ofi" with a few pounds to pester some conveniently distant community, to the parent who casually declares that his hopeful of six or seven mature years is beyond his control, and is rather relieved to see it committed to an industrial school. If parents won't be responsible for their children, how can you expect those children to recognise the onus of- responsibility? Spare the rod of discipline and you spoil, no.t pnly. ..the child, but the child's children.". "The deplorable for things sacred- has-rmich to do with the increase of crime in New Zealand," opinioned another gpntleman appealed to for an expression of view on the sub- , ject. I

Do you think young people who are constantly hearing their elders airing superficial and vapid but damnably pernicious views in ridicule of religion and its teachings, grow up self-respecting and law-abiding citizens. The receptivity of the young mind is proverbial, and nothing is more fatal to its well-being than an atmosphere of scoffing levity touching matters which should be held inviolate. No matter how fine may be the weft and woof threads of a mind, the weaving of them can result in a very sorry ft'ece of work, and what are regarded by some as the primitive virtues are indeed but the products of environment, for the elemental instincts of man are not in the direction of honesty, nor predisposed to a respect for the common good. The root of the whole evil the sinister tendency to irreligiousness and consequent absence of moral training for the young," he summed up in warm conviction. " To hear parents calmly admit that their children of seven and eight years of age arc incorrigible and beyond their control is, in my opinion, a shameful admission that no true and proper parental control was ever exercised over them. Such parents can have no human and moral sense of obligation respecting the welfare of their offspring—merely the brute and physical one of seeing that they are supplied with food sufficient to nourish bodies for what end they care not, and clothing enough to meet the demands of a decency which, to the young victim,, must remain an incomprehensible quantity, except he learn a hasty and enforced smattering from a tired school teacher, or become seared with the hot brand of knowledge acquired in the Police Court. School may not be the ideal place for inculcating the young with the great principles underlying religion, but if parents will not discharge their obligations, in God's name is it not time that the State should directly or indirectly see to it that the children of the nation have every chance afforded them of developing to healthy manhood and womanhood?"