JUVENILE CRIME

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 June 1939, Page 9

JUVENILE CRIME

MARKED INCREASE SHOWN IN AUCKLAND. CRITICISM OF PARENTS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, June 8. Juvenile crime in Auckland has shown a marked increase specially in recent months, and a return furnished by the senior welfare officer, Mr J. S. Cupit, to Mr W. R. McKean, S.M.. shows that the majority of children who give trouble are those between the ages of 13 and 17 years. The welfare officer, in his report for the year ended March 31, showed that there had been a considerable increase in the number of petty thefts by children. Under the heading of delinquency, which includes petty theft, 215 children were before the juvenile court, compared with 143 the year before. By far the greater number of children were brought under this charge than any other. The aggregate of 429 children (374 last year), who appeared before the Children’s Courtj registered an increase of 14.7 per cent., and of that total 12.35 per cent were girls. Those who were admonished and discharged numbered 185 as against 165 the year before. It is significant that out of a total of 429 there were 310 children between the ages of 13 and 17 years. , “There is not the slightest doubt that, in the majority of cases, the troubles lies in the lack of parental control,” Mr McKean said, in commenting upon the welfare officer’s report.