DELINQUENT YOUTH

Chronicle (Levin), 22 August 1946, Page 4

DELINQUENT YOUTH

Work at Levin Centre GOOD RESULTS ACHIEVED An insight Jntg. the work being larried out at the Levin Boys' Trainiiig Centre in leading delin_3uent boys back to the path of good citizenship was given by the manager, Mr. E. J. Stanley, in an address to the Levin Rotary Club's Luncheon this week. The speaker detailed the methods used and said that in 80 per cent. of tHe cases they proved successful. Mr. Stanley's talk was listened to with rapt interest throughout, and at the conclusion he answered a number of questions. In his preface Mr. Stanley said that the majority of the people of Levin knew the centre by the abscondings of inmates, but few had any real conception of its inside activities. It was the only centre of its kind in New Zealand for delinquent boys, and the number there was between 60 and 70boys from various parts of the Dominion. The boys who were admitted to the centre, Mr. Stanldy proceeded, were those who had been taken from poor city homes, and who had been plaeed in a better invironment and had failed. They were boys who had been taken from noor homes and had been placed in homes, orphanages and - foster homes where they had failed. Within the last two months some Australian doctors had visited the centre. One had asked the condition of the homes from which the boys had come, and on *studying the history of the last 100 admissions at that time it was found that 95 had come from broken homes — parents divorced, or perhaps both parents dead. "By that I would not suggest that a broken home means a delinquent child, but I do think that the home training and the serenity of home life have a great deal to do with keeping the child on the right lines." Mr. Stanley said it was almost impossible to find a single case which was common to another. Everyone was different and no common rules could be worked on. That made the job Ewice as hard, or he preferred to say twice as interesting. He had taught in prirhary and secondary schools, and had been a house master, and his experience was that the boys at the centre were easier to manage inan were the pupils of these other schools. In the centre there were remarkably few disciplinary problems of boys quarrelling among chemselves and rroubles with the staff. The speaker went on to say that the big difficulty in institutions as he saw them was that a boy could commit a tremendous number of offences, many of them quite trivial, which merited punishment, and -i&hat" was where they deviated from the methods used at the centre. At the centre the boys were encouraged to do just as tney would in a good private home. It was worthy of note that coincidental with a change in methods gradually being developed at the centre there was an appreciable and ever-growing decrease in the number of abscondings. Under the present system the boys were conscious that although they were delinquent they were getting good ureatment, could live together in harmony among themselves and with the staff, and could do an excellent job. A system had been instituted whereby a group of senior boys had control of the whole of the tone of the centre, by which ihey had no power but could suggest, direct or recommend: At the same time a scheme of greater freedoimhad been adopted, and in .that connection he owed a. debt of gratitud'e to various bodies in the town for. allowing boys to attend their v functioris, ; aird to the churches. • After referring to the fine work of the late Mr. J. W. Gibson in ^conducting an interdenominational church service at the centre each Sunday, the spegker said the boys now attended the seryice at their own church unaecompanied, and since that had been started there had not been one incident. The aim of the centre, Mr. Stanley continued, was not to try and prevent a boy from getting into trouble and ensure for society that he was kept away for a period of months, but to set out and simulate in the centre's own boundaries all the conditions the boy would experience when he reached outside living again. There had to be temptations in that scheme — opportunities for theft and telling lies and so on. It was much better to be able to say when a boy's case was being reviewed that he had not stolen in a period of months although there .had been ample opportunity, ratlier than it was to say that he had not stolen. because he had been given no opportimity to do so. _ In. conclusion, Mr. Stanley said that the work of the centre was only one end of the task oi tryiiig to remedy delinquent youths. The job shoult start with the community in which the boy resided. One could take practically any' town in New Zealand and it would be found that there was practically no community effort to plade 'Civic conditions so its youth had q chance. The important storm and stress period was from 14 years of age to 18 „or 19, many of whom went straight on to the f arm or into a factory or shop if they did not go to secondary school. Very little opportunity was giyen to that ciass of boy to work out his probfems in tune with approved community methods. ' Levin was 'a small community, but eyen so £here wa5 room for some c'a-Qr^inated body to take

up the battles of tffis class of boy. Though there were sports bodies such a boy might not belong to any of them, and having tfme on his hands went into parks and other plaees and committed vandalism. It woul'd thus be seen that dealing with the problems of youth was not solely a matter for his department. A very hearty vote of thanks was carried tp Mr. Stanley by acqlamatidn.