JUVENILE OFFENDERS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1132, 20 May 1911, Page 14

JUVENILE OFFENDERS.

9 THE NEW METHOD OF DEALING WITH THEM. (By TelcEraph—Special Correspondent.! Christchurch, May 19. A recent cable message from Sydney quoted tho president of the State Children's Relief Board as saying that juvenile delinquency is rapidly increasing in New South Wales as a result of the humane methods made possible by the passing of the Neglected Children ar.d Juvenile Offenders Act. Tho result of a "Press" reporter's investigations, Jiowover, was to show that in the opinion. of-those best.qualified to judgo tho methods pursued in this Dominion in checking juvenile delinquency aro being followed by happy results. Mr.'H. W. Bishop, S.M., speaking "without the book;" and with no statistics.'to go on, declared that his general inpressiou was that tho present methoc.s of dealing with youthful, offenders at juvenile courts had resulted ■in -a distinct improvement: In' fact, in a subsequent' remark,"he declared himself absolutely certain on tho point. Ho admitted that' he might ho prejudiced- in favour of the system, as he himself was the author of it, but he took it that tho comparative fewness of.tho occasions on which a sitting of tho Juvenile Court was necessary, and tho generally trifling nature of tho offences of tho delinquents, lvero a proof that tho Juyenilo Court system was working satisfactorily and producing the results aimed at. There were, Mr. Bishop said, plenty of "hard cases" to bo found among our boys, but there was Tcmarkably little of what could be called crime. Throwing stones, riding bikes on the footpath, or.at night with : out lights, and fighting, and similar offences, were charged against boys witi a certain degreo of frequency, but real crime was conspicuous by its absence. A valuable check was exercised on those parents who might bo inclined to ho cjreless about the behaviour of their boys, by tho ('act that tliey were called on to niako good any damage done by their children. There was power under the Act to enforce these orders, and this tended to mako parents careful. An allied matter that Mr. Bishop touched on was tho enormous increase in tho number of children committo to homes as being indigent, or not under proper control. That, however, was duo not to tho fault of the juveniles, but to the degeneracy of tho parents. Mr. Koily, tho Inspector of Police, said that it could not bo said that the Now Zealand Act had had any such effect as that indicated in the cablegram, the contrary rather being tho case. The Rev. F. Rule, agent and secretary of tho Presbyterian Social Servico Association, whoso work takes him frequently to tho Juvenile Court, expressed gravo doubts as,-to tho accuracy of the cablegram. Ho said tho contents of tho message wore so contrary to all that ho heard in Sydney on his visit there a year ago. when ho moved round with an officer of the Department, that he could not accept it as correct.