TO BE BIRCHED

Otago Witness, Issue 3594, 30 January 1923, Page 9

TO BE BIRCHED

YOUTHFUL CRIMINALS. INFLUENCE. OF PERNICIOUS LITERATURE. The influence of pernicious literature and a certain class of pictures was said to have inspired a quintette of youthful burglars to their nefarious deeds in Grey Lynn, when th°v came before Mr J. "W. Poynton at the Auckland Police Court on Saturday morning (says the Star). The story of their breaking and entering a number of private properties, covering a period of six weeks prior to Christmas, showed that loot to the value of £l5O was stolen, and of this a quantity, valued at £6B, is deemed to be irrevocably lost. The ages of the boys - ranged from 14i years to 12 years, and their escapades we re finally trace'd to their source by De-tective-sergeant Isell. The clerk of the court scratched his head contemplatively as lie attempted to individualise the formidable list of charges, Which aggregated as high as 26 in one instance and as low as six in another, and it wa3 left to the chief detective to bring the charges before the magistrate in the legal way. The “chief” stated that the charge of breaking and entering would be reduced to one of theft, as he did not want to send the young desperadoes along to the Supreme Court for trial. He explained that the parents were all working folk, but would endeavour to make restitution of the property not traced. The juvenile probation officer gave it as his opinion that the misdeeds, which were performed in broad daylight, were attributable to inferior literature and pictures. Mr Poynton remarked that a good whip ping was an inevitable punishment. The parents should not have all the blame thrown on their shoulders, though they would have to make restitution within six weeks. The case before him showed the necessity for stricter censorship of the class of literature these boys had apparently read. There was a censorship on the reading of adults and it was equally desirable that youths should be restricted in what they read. Regarding the censorship of pictures, the knowledge of the depraving effect some films were having in every community would no doubt lead to a still further censorship. The birching will take place before the juvenile probationer officer, and will be administered by., the boys’ parents.