Atlanta Daily World

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY ON INCREASE
THOMPSON

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

TOPEKA, Kans.-(SNS)- Juvenile delinquency in the United States has increased more than 25 per cent in the last fifteen years.

Economic conditions have caused a let-down in moral fibre with the result of lax parental guidance for thousands of children. The result is that the current annual crime bill in the United States is 15 billion dollars. Stated simply, that amounts to $120 a year or $10 a month for every man, woman and child in the United States. Every year our prison population increases by 25,000 inmates. According to one authority, 135,000 murderers are at large or 5,000 more than all the policemen in the land.

"How to beat the law" for too long has been an accepted attitude in this country. Citizens have passively connived with gangsters in producing a lawless condition which has no equal in modern times.

Instead of more laws we need fewer well enforced ones. A general revision of our laws should be made so that the numerous regulations which no man can understand would be simplified. Seventy-two per cent of the boys discharged from reformatories and other correctional institutions return to a life of crime. Nearly three out of four boys who land behind the bars return to a life of crime after his release. We must get to the boy before he gets to the institution and then we will not only stamp out crime but we can save the boy as well.

In our local community juvenile delinquency is rapidly on the increase. It will take the combined efforts of parents, schools, civic bodies in conjunction with the law enforcement bodies to check this discouraging condition. There are many delinquent and predelinquent children in the community who would make useful citizens if they only had someone who would take time to give them the friendly advice and guidance they do not receive from their parents. The Big Brother and Big Sister movement of clubs and other interested persons is doing wonders in various parts of the country toward saving these unfortunate and underprivileged children.

These clubs and persons sponsor children recommended by the Courts in various activities. They sponsor boy and girl scout troops and other children clubs. They provide a building to be used as a club-house and recreational center for underprivileged boys and girls and organize recreational programs so varied and attractive that the children of the community are drawn to them.

Interested persons sponsor a boy or girl by advising and guiding them in their choice of shows and other entertainment, by choosing their books for leisure time reading and by looking after their choice of companions. They see that medical attention is given when necessary and that they are properly clothed and fed.

These clubs and interested persons take steps toward seeing that the beer parlor evils are removed when they have a bad influence on the neighborhood. These fights, however, must have the cooperation of all parents in seeing that their children do not attend unsuitable places.