JUVENILE DELINQUENTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19906, 28 September 1926, Page 10

JUVENILE DELINQUENTS.

HOME INFLUENCES BLAMED GUIDANCE OF BOYS EASY. GIRLS PRESENT A PROBLEM. (From Odb Own Correspondent.) WANGANUI, September E 7. It is rarely that a magistrate discusses publicly the question o£ juvenile delinpuencies, but to-day Mr J. S. Barton gave a moat interesting address at the Rotary Club Juvenile delinquency, he eaid, could be traced in most cases to lack of parental control, and lack of all training. Parents frequently had hot the slightest idea of what moral control meant. One man’s idea of training his boy, who was to be given another chance after wrong-doing, was to thrash him severely every time he went outside the gate. The neglect of parental control was also sometimes due to the parents desiring to adopt the line of least resistance. The epeaker also pictured the mother where the father had died, and she was engaged in working hard all day in order to bring up her children, and did not have the time to give the necessary instruction in the home Mr Barton said that for the first two years of its life a child knew nothing but the gratification of its desires. As it grew older it was gradually taught that, by gratifying all its desires, it was interfering somewhat with another person’s liberty, and that to get certain things it desired someone else had to make a sacrifice. If the child were not taught the meaning of sacrifice in this way, and curbed when it followed its selfish inclinations, it was not receiving the proper moral training. There were children like this who received no moral training, but were allowed to follow their own inclinations right along. It was only natural for them to associate with others with the same inclinations —those who had never learned any dont’s of experienced any prohibitions. Some parents, said Mr Barton, trained their children in the wrong direction. They believed that they were oppressed, and had a kick to deliver against society. There were boys brought up in homes governed by such parents. In giving evidence at the court when their children were charged _ with delinquency parents would show their resentment and a grudge against society in general. The treatment of these oases was obvious: the State had to step ip and supply the training which was lacking in the homes. When the parents did not supply the training, and the ignorant and untrained -habits of their children became a menace to society it was the State’s duty to train the children itself. The tendency now was to have the children left with their parents, but supervised by the child welfare officers. At one time juvenile offenders were herded together in large institutions, but the present method was more effective. Some of the children treated in the present way got their first taste of discipline when the welfare officers began their supervision, but the State training could not compare with that given by good parents to their children. It was easier to find the cause and motives of crime with boys than in cases where girls had been the offenders, continued the speaker. A boy usually went wrong when prompted by the acquisitive instinct, and the- hunting, roaming, and sporting instincts that led him to do things with other boys that he would not even contemplate alone. Mr Barton said that it was obvious that girl offenders wore coming before the courts in increasing numbers, and that it was a difficult problem to know how to deal with them. In the case of boys charged with theft they could generally trace it back to some impulsive act, or possibly team work through coming in contact with other boys. That being the case, it was an easy matter to direct the boy into team work of another'nature, and the guiding influence of other boys soon led him to take an interest in his team. They also had the Big Brother Movement where the delinquent boy was taken in hand and received proper guidance. In the case of a girl it was different. Where could they expect to get the same results from? A big sister might talk to a delinquent girl for an hour, and there would be no guarantee that the girl had learned anything from the big sister, but it was certain that she could tell everything the big sister wore. He had talked to delinquent girls who had looked at him with the mild eye of a heifer, but it was impossible to tell what was passing through their minds, or whether they were being the least benefited by the advice given. A girl waa led chiefly by her love of finery, but there was also a feline way about it too. A boy could be made to see where he had fallen, but it was difficult to get any clear-cut reports as to the motives and causes of crimes committed by girls. Incidentally, Mr Barton said that man’s inhumanity to man was nothing to woman’s inhumanity to woman, and as a rule women were the worst employers, paid less wages, and made those in their employ work harder.