DELINQUENCY OF JUVENILES

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23747, 19 September 1942, Page 4

DELINQUENCY OF JUVENILES

DECREASE SINCE 1937 (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 18. Figures showing a decrease in the number of children coming before the Courts were quoted by the Minister of Education (the Hon. H. G. R. Mason) when referring in an interview to a statement - reported to have been made at a public meeting in Christchurch on September 5 to the effect that in the years 1935-39 there was an increase of 42 per cent, in cases heard in juvenile Courts. The same report published the text of a resolution carried by the meeting in which it was stated that the meeting expressed its deep concern at the growing incidence of juvenile delinquency. The resolution called on the Government to take certain action.

The figures reported as having been quoted at the meeting referred to the total number of charges and not to the total number of children appearing before the Courts, the Minister said. It must also be remembered that children appeared before the Children’s Court for reasons of indigency, neglect, etc, The statistics quoted referred to a period which closed over two years and eight months ago and were of little value in indicating the effects of war conditions in juvenile delinquency. Comparing 1937 and 1942, there was a decrease of approximately 1 per cent, in numbers coming before the Children’s Courts for all offences, including delinquency, mischief, and breaches of by-laws. Though the figures showed a reduction, he fully agreed that there was a need for some concerted action to meet the present-day problems affecting young people, 1