Juvenile delinquency (1955)

28 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Looking at our statistics for 1954 we find such crimes as offenses against family and children. You find none in our area and you find none also out in the West Los Angeles area along those lines. I would like to feel that it is a fact here that the parents are giving good supervision, because I don't think any witness will testify before you and not say that it is up to the parents primarily to give good leadership to their children. And I don't care who you are you just can't give what a parent can give if they are willing to give to their children. We have hired professionals to try to fill the vacuum and sometimes they have to, and I am glad that today we are at least ex- pending a little money for that. Of course, there is a lot of argument that we spend money this way, but I would rather be spending it in preventing than later saying that we have to put them in penal insti- tutions. Of course, this is an old argument as to where you are spend- ing your money. And looking down at the figures in my district we find that for crime—I'll give you an example of it—on the east side or the central area we have a total of the various crimes such as homicide, Inirglary, auto thefts, assault, and all the crimes with which you are familiar. I found in an area such as the central area, which would be more or less down here, that we have about 1,500 committed. In our area you will find crimes amounting to 467 in comparison. So you see, there is quite a difference. As I say, I think it is due to the tact that we have proper housing and we have proper facilities. Someday maybe we will get to the realization that we need more police officers and various influences around in the areas where there are broken homes and where there are people who have no place to play—no recreation. I don't think a kid wants to bring a friend home unless he has a place to bring them. He would rather hang out on the street, which I think is a very bad situation. Chairman Kefauver. Don't you usually find that in slum areas you have a much higher juvenile delinquency rate? Mrs. Wtman. Yes, much higher, Senator; and that is why I said "overall," in my councilmanic district, where you have proper facili- ties, the crime ratio goes down. There is also a great move by the younger people toward religion, and I think this is probably one of the healthiest things we have seen in a long time. I was listening to Reverend Lindquist very closely. I happened to know him, and he and his group are doing an excellent job. I think we will find that over the last 5 years the adult groups and church groups have increased, and I think every church should have a teen- age or a young adult group. I think the tendency has been to take care of the very young or the old and to forget the teen-agers. For example, we have the deputy auxiliary police group in the city which is doing a fine job, but it is not getting to this group of youngsters. In other words, these 15-, 16-, and 17-year-olds need someone to look up to as a leader, and they can't get into organizations like the deputy auxiliary police group, and I do feel that we must provide recreation for these teen-agers. As chairman for the parks and recreation committee in the city, I am trying to do what I can along these lines. Chairman Kefauvek. You are the chairman of the recreation and parks committee of this council ?