We are gratified to see that S. 1088 regarding the return of runaway children to their communities in another State raises the age limitation to the 18th birthday for the expenditure of Federal funds. It is also good to see that a separate appropriation is provided for the program. From the very beginning of this program Mississippi has budgeted funds providing such a service regardless of the child's residence being that of Mississippi or another State. In reference to S. 1832, while we are not in variance with the intent of the act, the provisions in section 6 regarding eligibility for enrollment raises some serious questions. These are questions which time does not allow us to make a proper study. Consequently, at this particular time we do not endorse the establishment of a National Youth Rehabilitation Corps. We wish to express our appreciation to the committee for giving us this opportunity to express our views and suggestions. This is a subject all of us are interested in and concerned for the doing of that which is most constructive for children and youth. Yours very truly, Hon. HERBERT H. LEHMAN, J. A. THIGPEN, Commissioner. STATE OF COLORADO, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE, Denver, Colo., June 30, 1955. Chairman, Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, DEAR SENATOB LEHMAN: As chairman of the advisory committee to the childwelfare division of the Colorado State Department of Public Welfare, I wish to share with you our interest in legislation on delinquency now being considered by the Senate. (The advisory committee is composed of a group of 20 citizens representative of different parts of the State whose interest in children is known.) We have discussed this proposed legislation from time to time in our advisory committee. It is the consensus of the group that there should not be any new bureaus or agencies established within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Therefore, we concur with the language in Senate bill 728 introduced by Senator Kefauver, which provides that the Bureau of Juvenile Delinquency and such other bureaus as may from time to time be established or transferred be set up in the United States Children's Bureau under an extended program for children and youth. However, we think the grant-in-aid program now under title V, part III of the Social Security Act should remain in the Children's Bureau wherever the Bureau is placed. There are two sections of the bill S. 728 which have caused us some concern. Section 302 (d) (A) which relates to the establishment and maintenance of personnel standards on a merit basis and which exempts portions of a State plan from this requirement under certain conditions. The reason for our concern is that if unqualified people are blanketed into the program without their having been selected on a merit basis, it will deter the development of the program for many years. We wonder if provision must be made to waive the selection of people on a merit basis in order to get the program started; or if it is necessary, could the language of the bill be restated to provide that people coming under this exemption must secure the necessary training to fit them for their job within a reasonable period of time, such as from 3 to 5 years. We also have some concern regarding the wording of title IV, section 402. It is our conviction that basic casework services which are the responsibility of a social agency-the departments of public welfare in the different States have the broad responsibility of providing such services in even the most remote and rural of its counties or parishes-are a strong tool in the prevention of juvenile delinquency. In urban centers social services have been developed both qualitatively and quantitatively because the majority of people securing training prefer to work in an urban setting. Therefore, we would like to request that the departments of public welfare be given a direct appropriation for training of personnel, especially for those in rural areas, or in other words, wherever needed. Sincerely yours, Mrs. E. L. SURVANT, Chairman, Advisory Committee to the Child Welfare Division of the Senator HERBERT H. LEHMAN, STATE OF COLORADO, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE, Denver 2, Colo., July 6, 1955. Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR LEHMAN: I very much appreciate your kind letter of June 29, 1955, inviting me to write you concerning my views and suggestions concerning juvenile delinquency in general, and, in particular, with regard to Senate bill 728 and Senate bill 894. The Colorado State Department of Public Welfare and the 63 county departments of public welfare in this State are very much concerned with the problem of juvenile delinquency. This problem has been on the increase in many of our communities, especially in the metropolitan ones. Those of us who have worked for a period of years close to this problem realize there is no single answer, no magic formula, no onetime campaign that can be put into effect that will totally and permanently solve the problem of juvenile delinquency. I would like to offer the following comments and suggestions. I would like to suggest that your committee and the National Congress give special attention to the possibility of strengthening the basic casework services for children and families that are now provided by State and county departments of public welfare throughout the country. Although we are proud and have no apologies for what we are doing, we readily admit that there is room for considerable improvement in providing these services. In Colorado we are consistently seeking better skilled personnel. Recently, Federal legislation has been passed providing money for training of people going into mental health and rehabilitation programs. No money has been provided, however, for training the people who are providing the basic casework service that is given by the county welfare departments. In most of our 63 counties the local welfare department is the only public agency and, frequently, there is no private agency providing these services. I think it is as important to have trained and skilled people doing the basic job as to have such people doing a specialized job. It is my personal opinion that the home and the parents are the ones who are primarily responsible for delinquency and are going to have to help in solving the problem. Many parents want help with their children's problems and many of these come to county welfare departments seeking service. As we strengthen this service we will be helping to solve the problem about delinquency. I would also like to comment that any special bureaus or agencies that are established by the National Congress to deal with the problem of juvenile delinquency be placed under the Children's Bureau. It is only by coordinated attack that we can help solve this problem. Too many agencies mean competition, lack of coordination, and duplication. Thank you very much for this opportunity to make these few remarks. Hon. HERBERT H. LEHMAN, COLORADO STATE DEPARTMENT OF GUY R. JUSTICE, Director. NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN, INC., Chairman, Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, United States Senate, Washington 25, D. C. DEAR SENATOR LEHMAN: Enclosed you will find a statement on juvenile delinquency prepared by the National Council of Jewish Women pursuant to a resolution adopted at its biennial convention held in March of this year. Its inclusion in the record of the hearings held by your subcommittee will be greatly appreciated. Respectfully yours, Mrs. THOMAS PARSONNET, Chairman, Committee on Public Affairs. STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN, INC. The National Council of Jewish Women, which was established in 1893 and now has a membership of over 100,000 throughout the United States, has been vitally interested in all problems concerning children since its inception. The question of juvenile delinquency is, therefore, of primary concern to this organization. It has been estimated that close to 500,000 youngsters were referred to the juvenile courts for delinquency in the past year. Statistical reports on the increase in delinquency reflect a 45- to 50-percent increase between 1948 and 1953. Evidence of the many complex forms of social maladjustment among children and youth, called juvenile delinquents, should be recognized as a symptom of social and emotional illness. To attack this problem effectively, we must search for and correct the basic flaws in adult social practices which leave our younger generation a prey to social illnesses. The members of the National Council of Jewish Women believe that in order to help give our youth a chance for better social adjustment, a preventive program, based on broad goals, should be adopted. These goals were embodied in the following resolution adopted at the 21st national convention held in New Orleans, La., in March of 1955: Whereas there has been an alarming increase in juvenile delinquency in recent years, with an almost 50-percent increase in reported cases from 1948 to 1953, the last year for which statistics are available; and Whereas our youth, as the coming generation, is our greatest national asset, without whose active future participation in good citizenship, freedom, and democracy must necessarily perish; and Whereas we believe that in order to deal with this problem effectively, a twoprong program is essential: (1) to search for and correct the basic flaws in adult social practices which leave our younger generation a prey to social maladjustment; and (2) a community and State program for effective rehabilitation of delinquent youngsters in order to make them useful and productive citizens; and Whereas we have already placed ourselves on record in a series of resolutions dealing with pertinent aspects of the problems involved, notably those of family life, health, housing, labor, and public education: Therefore be it Resolved, That the National Council of Jewish Women urges the adoption of a comprehensive program by private organizations, communities, State and Nation: 1. To permit no family or child to suffer from want because of economic insecurity. 2. To see to it that children are not brought up in slums and overcrowded, impoverished homes. 3. To help parents to a better understanding and care of their children. 4. To provide qualified teachers and school programs that answer the individual needs of children. 5. To provide adequate play space and recreational facilities. 6. To provide preventive health services in order to insure their physical, emotional, and social well-being. 7. To provide proper moral and ethical training and instruction. 8. To help protect children from exploitation by evil influences in the community. And, for the rehabilitation of delinquent children 9. To train special police officers who will deal wisely with young people. 10. To provide sufficient and suitable detention quarters equipped with trained probation workers and other treatment services. 11. To establish, staff, and equip training schools for treatment of the seriously delinquent. 12. To establish a single State agency in each State that will be responsible for all coordinating and developmental services. 13. To provide a means of collaboration by Federal, State, and local governments and private agencies for joint solutions of the problems of juvenile delinquency and its prevention. Perhaps not every means by which we can make life full and satisfying for our children is listed here. But those that are listed are all very important. Some of them may require action in our communities, some at the State level, while still others may require Federal action. In any case, they are goals that we should seek to attain by any and every means and, once we have achieved them, to maintain them. They offer the truest way of preventing the largest number of our young people from becoming delinquent. For the achievement of these goals cooperation among Federal, State, and local governments and private agencies and groups which have the responsibility and facilities for coping with juvenile problems is essential. Hon. HERBERT H. LEHMAN, CITY OF DULUTH, POLICE DEPARTMENT, Duluth 2, Minn., July 2, 1955. Chairman of Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, Senate of the United States, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR LEHMAN: As officer in charge of the Duluth Police Juvenile Bureau and president of the Minnesota State Juvenile Officers Association I am writing in regards to four bills that your subcommittee will hold hearings on July 6 and 7. In regards No. 1088 I feel that something should be done to aid in returning runaways. This is a very big problem with our youth of today. Things go wrong at home and they take off and many times there is no money to get these children back where they belong. Some are held in jails or other detention while authorities try to figure who will pay for the transportation and the keep. In regards Nos. 728 and 894 there is a very great need for trained personnel to handle our boys and girls in trouble. In Minnesota we are trying to help our juvenile officers by having institutes at the University of Minnesota. We had one in January of this year and are planning one for January of 1956. There are many who would like to attend but they are unable to do so because of lack of funds. In regards No. 1832 the Government is passing up a good supply of men for the Armed Forces by not taking boys who have been in trouble. A good majority of these boys would not have been in trouble if they had half a chance. Why can't we give them a chance to serve their country. Why kick them when they are down. Many people in this country worry about the corn crop and the price of hogs but they seem to forget the best crop the country produces, our children. The future of this land of ours depends on them getting the right start in life. Let us help them as children and we won't have to worry about them as adults. Sincerely, Sgt. THOMAS G. O'HEHIR, Juvenile Bureau. CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS, Mr. STEWART E. MCCLURE, Minneapolis, Minn., July 1, 1955. Staff Director, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. MCCLURE: The Minneapolis Police Department is very much in favor of the principles embodied in Senate bills 894 and 728. I am not familiar with bills 1088 and 1832. In brief, we are extremely anxious that some type of legislation be passed which will provide for grants which will assist local authorities in training personnel and enlarging their delinquency prevention programs. If there is anything we can do to further such legislation, please communicate with us. A copy of your letter is being sent to our Community Welfare Association and I am hoping that they also will write regarding their feelings on this matter. Sincerely yours, T. R. JONES, Superintendent of Police. BISMARCK, N. DAK., July 1, 1955. Hon. HERBERT H. LEHMAN, Chairman, Special Committee on Juvenile Delinquency, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C.: Thank you for June 29 letter enclosing four bills pertaining to youth. The State Welfare Board of North Dakota backs wholeheartedly Federal legisla tion to strengthen existing services and tried and true machinery in child welfare. It remains adamant in its conviction that adequate and properly financed child welfare services is the best way to guarantee prevention in this field. It therefore endorses more Federal help financially to State child welfare programs including measures designed to help financially State child welfare programs including measures designed to enhance and explain the training of professional personnel. Juvenile delinquency is health and mental health and courts and justice, but much of this deals with treatment and it is in prevention where hope lies and where State child welfare services operate. We in North Dakota are handicapped increasingly by limited Federal and State funds for the employment of constantly increasing and available trained workers, Likewise we speak with many years of experience in public services and in State government for administration of child-welfare services on a sum certain administrative basis. All We question seriously provisions in Federal legislation which would hyphenate direction and create hydraheaded machinery. The administrative pattern is as important as the substance for if the administrative pattern is faulty, substance will not follow. Therefore, let not there be planning which will complicate preventative services because no one has overall responsibility in the State. services participate cooperatively in the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency. If there is to be responsibility for successful operation, there must be authority in one official agency for operation. There is grave doubt in our minds as to the wisdom of Federal legislation attempting to spell out State machinery for operations in this area. Lessons of the past only too vividly underscore the reason for our skepticism on multiorganizational combines or rigid patterns of operation imposed which create uniformity as if uniformity was the goal to be attained. Likewise we doubt the wisdom of legislating for supplements from the Federal level on financial help to complete this program and at the same time mixing it up with internal operations of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. We are concerned also about the overtones in S. 1832 which on the surface would seem to indicate a wholesale treatment of individual problems so sensitive that they defy dumping with a corps or a concentration camp approach. The sad fact is that the operators of the proposed treatment rehabilitation corps would probably be so busy trying to defend the obvious reaction to the nature of the corps that they would have little time left to carry out the otherwise fine principles as represented by the bill. There is a danger in the "narcotic" of change. We cannot run away from the problem by creating Federal legislative mirages. The same people essentially do the work, they just need more help, not a new workbench. The hard plain fact is that the problem has to be done in the States according to the individual State and local community ideas as to what is the best approach and with the Federal help in expanding and improving the services in the prevention area. CARLYLE D. ONSRUD, Executive Director, Public Welfare Board. [From the Saturday Review, May 28, 1955] SOME THOUGHTS ON JUVENILE DELINQUENCY (By John Steinbeck) The daily papers are full of it. Bad kids. Burglary. Rape. Murder. A 16-year-old boy shoots his mother, father, and his sister because they wouldn't let him use the car on Saturday night. A gang of boys murders a nurse and can't even say why they did it-not poor kids-kids from apparently normal families. The mother and father, brought into court, say, "We didn't know. We didn't know where he went or who he was with." The kids run in gangs. The Scarlet Cavaliers. The Shining Knights. They manufacture pistols, carry switchknives and use them. They are loyal to nothing except the gang. They rarely tell on each other. When after a tragic series of events a boy finally reaches the end, kills someone, he says, "Get it over with. Put me away. Give me the chair." Young girls long gone in harlotry grin defiantly. "It's my life. Let me alone." And always the parents: "We didn't know. We thought everything was all right." Either that or else, "I couldn't do a thing with the child." |