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JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 3 In our earlier report we recommended several ways in wliicli the Federal Government conld speed along this decrease in delinquency. For instance, we reported that inadequately staflFed schools contrib- uted to the delinquency problem. Crowded classrooms and meager counseling staffs prohibited the schools from carrying out its role in preventing delinquency. We say that the community has the choice of paying out money now for better schools or paying out more money in the future for bigger jails and larger police forces. We also made recommendations for better housing and better mental health pro- grams. Some 25 other bills have been introduced by this subcommittee to correct other more specific aspects of the juvenile delinquency pro- gram. But when Congress handed us our assignment it asked us to do more than just draft a legislation; it instructed us to probe into the causes and cures of juvenile delinquency—to make a nationwide sur- vey. It ordered us to focus public attention on juvenile delinquency, and this we are trying to do. We are here in Los Angeles today to focus attention on how California is meeting the challenge of rising juvenile delinquency. Today we will hear from the public officials who have the final re- sponsibility for caring for California's young people. Many fine efforts have been undertaken and carried out in California, which we will discuss later, and many in Los Angeles. Their experience with juvenile delinquency control makes them especially qualified to speak to us and to the Nation about their work. I have long admired California's enlightened approach to this serious situation. Your youth authority, your ranch and forestry camps, all are activities which other interested groups should know about. But for all the fine work here in California, it takes more than just State and local authorities to handle this complicated problem. A part of the solution rests with other institutions. Three institutions exert a major influence on the course a child will follow in later life: that is, of coui'se, the home, the church, and the school. Although a child who comes from an insecure home can grow into a fine outstanding citizen, he will nevertheless, have been handicapped by this earlier environment. In the last analysis, it is the parent who can exercise the strongest authority in the development of the well-adjusted personality. The witnesses today, I am advised, w^ill show how the parent can better meet this responsibility. The church, too, has an added responsibility. The church is no longer a 1-day-a-week affair. Society expects the church to extend its influence and activities into ever}^ day of the week. The citizen has now looked to the church as a weeklong gathering place. This is especially true of the children of this country. Churches with pro- gressive attitudes on the handling of teen-agers can and do exercise a strong preventive hand in curbing juvenile delinquency. Today church representatives will tell us of their activities to pre- vent delinquency, prevent children from going wrong. One last word about delinquency : In our national hearings we found that one of the weakest links in the attack on this problem was the lack of proper rehabilitation programs. It is true today that 100,000