DELINQUENCY

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 3, 5 January 1938, Page 15

DELINQUENCY

A NUMBER OF CAUSES

Some very interesting remarks were made recently by Miss Doris Potter when discussing the question of child delinquency (which has come to be a prominent problem.of the day) with an assemblage of interested women.

1 She said she felt that nothing was gained by an ostrich-like attitude, and Ift was far better for the factsto come out in the open, and for people to realise the extent of the trouble. It was more possible to deal with delinquency at the earlier ages than for them to be ignored or covered up till the age of 25 or thereabouts was reached, when there was great danger of young people being branded as definitely criminal. ' ,-, ' Among the causes were heredity, environment, and poverty, and in reference to the first a temperament might be inherited with a predisposing weakness along a . certain line, , while examples'were a definite danger. However, fortunately because a child's parent had been either a drunkard or a thief, there was no reason why. the child should automatically follow suit. Environment was not always a certain cause, for delinquents came from good homes where it -might be supposed that they would learn better social ethics, but still enter on to a definitely wrong course in life. Bad examples or lack of decent home teaching are factors that count. Sometimes mental or physical deficiencies, the results of certain illnesses, deep-rooted complexes, or marked exhibitionist complexes were .<all the causes of child delinquency, and different treatment was needed in each1 case. Corporal punishment was found on the whole to be ineffective and sometimes damaging. Removal from home was undesirable unless there were very grave reasons as it was not good policy to damage the family unit. The probation system was, so-far, the best way found of treating delin-i quency. . i