YOUTHFUL CRIMINALITY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 151, 29 June 1927, Page 10

YOUTHFUL CRIMINALITY.

EDUCATION SYSTEM BLAMED. COMMENT BY MAGISTRATE. U-.v T- lf.craph.—Own CorrespouuVnt.) CHRISTCHURCH, Tuesday. "The number of young people on probation is so great now." said Mr F S Mosley, S.M.. to-day, "that the expert probation officers who are appointed cannot keep in touch with all tha» are iu their charge. •The present probation system is onlv filling iu what should have been don'o by the education authorities in their omission to train the youth on a roallv vocational afctom." he added. s.uvh a largo jH?rcem«gi< of our youth to-dnv not trained for any particular empiovment. Alter leaving m-lioo| they drift into whatever is handy, and if" tl lev prove failure* at that* they diitt into unemployment. Some of them becpn.e ol the vagrant type, and all face a great danger of becoming criminals. Training for life work should be one of th.most important features of education.'' Mr. Mosley said it was undeniable that the law was gradually undergoing a system of change, so fa"r as the administration of criminal law was concerned Yet the authorities had got to be verv careful not to lose their grip too much on the administration of the criminal law, or else the probation s t cm Wou |j tail, and tail very badlv.