THE DELINQUENT CHILD

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25553, 22 July 1948, Page 2

THE DELINQUENT CHILD

WOMAN MAGISTRATE’S VIEWS

She thought at times that if there was a court of correction for parents there would not be the need for a court for children, said Mrs E. L. Holmes, a special magistrate of the Children’s Court at Essendon, Australia, who is at present visiting Gore in the course of a tour of New Zealand.

In her work as a special magistrate she dealt with juvenile delinquents, but she considered the court more a court of correction, its purpose being to help and not hinder the child, said Mrs Holmes. The ideal was to bring out the best that was still in delinquent children, and give them an opportunity to reconstruct their lives so that they could become good citizens. It was her firm belief that there were no bad boys and girls—only misguided ones. She had sometimes been asked why there was delinquency and what caused it. The broken home, she thought, was a very big contributing factor, and another factor had been mothers working during the war years and leaving their children alone too much. A lot depended on the understanding of the mother. Often it was the over-indulg-ent parent who caused deliquency. During the last two years there had been definite evidence that juvenile delinquency in Australia was declining, said Mrs Holmes. This was because many mothers had more time to care for their children.

One of the biggest factors in delinquency was fear, continued Mrs Holmes. Often a child was afraid to go to his father when he got into trouble. Once that fear was broken down through comradeship between father and son, or mother and daughter, the child could go to his parents when things went wrong and ask for advice. Mrs Holmes will return to Australia by air on August 30.