ARENTS THE REAL DELINQUENTS?

ve always had some delinquency on the part of

n, we probably always shall have some until we root

u

Thc Real Delinquent The ParcnttM article by Judge Jacob

Domestic Relations Court, New York City. New York Times

ine.
December 22, 1946. Reprinted by permission.

e basic cause of this social disease. The best we have

ne so far is to attack the problem obliquely, seeking to

re and rehabilitate children who are already delinquent.

dges, social workers, psychiatrists and psychologists have

veloped techniques for their treatment, and these children

ould be treated by all techniques available....Obviously we have

t been very successful in prevent-

g juvenile delinquency. I think we can succeed in solving

is community and nation-wide problem with a long-range,

rmanent program of prevention. But, first, we must ac-

pt this fundamental premise: No child is born into the

orld to be bad or to be sood. He is as bad or as sood as

e make it possible for him to be.Under this premise the question,

What causes juvenile

linquency? instead becomes, Who, in the first instance,

akes it possible for a child to be bad or good ? And there

only one answerthe parent.It may appear to be

ersimplification to recommend im-

oving the parent in order to bring up a younger generation

at will not, except perhaps for a normal allowance for

ceptions to the rule, become delinquent children. Yet a

ief examination of the influences that shape the develop-

ent of each of us, through childhood to responsibleor

esponsiblecitizenship, supports this contention.

Most delinquent conduct and crime stern from neglect
of children. Neglect is not merely failure to provide the
physical needs, the clothing, shelter and medical care
needed.
Failure to provide proper .supervision, leadership and guidance within the home is a more serious form of neglect; its
consequences are often the most telling factor in the development of delinquency patterns in the child. The community may step in to cure sickness and supply physical
needs; that is fairly easy. But antisocial characteristics

learned in early childhood in the home are not easy to eliminate or even to modify. They are too deeply rooted.
For it is in his very early years that the child acquires
the characteristics which fashion his personality and pattern
his life. It might be said that he begins to learn how to live
and how to act and react, and his personality begins to form
at his mothers breast. The childs earliest teachers are his
parents and his siblings.
His gods are his mother and father. If his gods are bad,
he is going to be bad. If parents are inadequate to their
responsibilities, their children will be the victims. If, therefore, parents are unfit because they were never taught how
to guide their children, or if by their acts they inspire antisocial attitudes, prevention of juvenile delinquency by the
community becomesas it is now~~merely an unrealized
bit of wishful thinking.
Often delinquent conduct is a form of exhibitionism to
compensate the child for a lack in his daily lifea feeling of
rejection and insecurity. The human being is gregarious
and the child wants to belong. We must bear in mind that
children, no less than adults, are subject to conflicting emo-

tions. There is always a conflict between the good that is

awakened and the bad that beckons, the bad that gives a
sense of belonging, of being sought after, or a sense of
loyalty to the gang that provides interesting activity.
The resolution of this conflict decides where the child
is to belong~with the good or the badand the direction,
whichever path he takes, he learns from his home environment and the example and influence of his elders. He can
be taught, and with not insurmountable difficulties, to respond to the finer things rather than to the evil in life.
Most delinquent children are asocial rather than antisocial; they have no moral sense because it was never taught
them. They have no sense of responsibility, no consciousness of social cooperation, because these essentials were
never taught them. But children can be taught not to become delinquents. There are exceptions, of course, where
the individual is incapable of distinguishing right from
wrong and is unable to appraise the quality of his acts because of mental defects or insanity.
Since it is the parent who makes it possible for children
to grow up good or bad, training for parenthood is the road

to prevention of juvenile delinquency. Parents, being the

first teachers of children, must themselves be trained in their
duties. We who work with children realize that anew as
each delinquent child and his parents appear before us.
Daily we see proof that the mere fact of parenthood does
not automatically endow men and women with the knowledge and understanding mothers and fathers need.
I recall a boy who came before me charged with delinquency for having at the point of a knife robbed another
child of his pennies and then beaten him. The relationship
between his mother and father was revealed as contributing
materially to the childs misconduct. The husband beat her
repeatedly, the mother told the court. The husband denied
this, explaining, I only slap her.
Do you think it proper for you to slap your wife? he
was asked. You know that has a bad effect upon your
children. His reply was shocking: I think a woman
should be slapped once in a while any time.
He had learned this precept, he said, as a child, from
watching his father slap his mother once in a while. And
now his son is learning the facts of human relationship

from his father, who learned them so badly from his father.
A vicious circle!
So, too, is the case of a juvenile delinquent in which I
punished the father~actually sent him to jail. I do not
like to send anybody to jail, but this father had purchased
from his son's friends the goods that they and his son had
stolen. Children cannot be helped by punishment, nor can
adults, but when an adult contributes to a childs delinquency
it is a good thing to take him out of circulation for a while.
And yet I do not know that it was right. Can it be said
that these untrained parents who contribute to the delinquency of their children by neglect or example are at fault?
Were they not also neglected by their parents and by society
so that they grew up to be maladjusted and in turn exposed
their children to maladjustment?
Some think that the answer is schools for parents. San
Francisco has established such a school. But in many cases
it is too late to teach parental responsibility to those who
are already parents. Many have first to unlearn bad techniques, others refuse to learn and many more cannot or will
not attend such schools.

As I see it, the solution is to teach men and women how

to be good parents before they become parents. The place
to begin is with our children, teaching them now how to
teach the children they will some day liave. And the place
to do that is in the schools.
Our high school pupils take courses in botany, science
and higher mathematics. That is good. But only a small
percentage of high school pupils carry on their studies in
college, and a smaller number make use in later life of the
knowledge they acquire in these subjects. I do not propose
the elimination of these subjects from the curriculum. They
are part of the process of education.
It is even more important, however, that our children receive training in the marriage relationship and parenthood,
since nearly all of them will marry and have children. Yet
nowhere in the high schools or junior high schools throughout the country are courses given to fit our young for the
responsibilities of marriage and parenthood.
We train men and women to improve agricultural products, to become expert in animal husbandry and the care
of trees. But we do nothing about preparing prospective

fathers and mothers for the most important of all life's

functions: the bringing-up of the next generation. If we
would end juvenile delinquency, we must train parents-to-be
in the art of helping their children grow up into good boys
and girls rather than bad ones. To that end we should
require all high school pupils to take courses in parent responsibility and child guidance.
They should be taught child psychology, hygiene, the care
of the physical needs of the child; the effect upon children
of the relationship of parents to each other; the ability to
discover and encourage the child's talents and special interests ;the child^ proper place in the home as a personality
and as a member of the social unit. It is in the latter field
especially that the child develops a sense of security and respect for himself and for those around him.
What this amounts to is that, while teaching our children
how to be good citizens, we teach them also how to be good
parents. A comprehensive course covering the subjects
mentioned above would awaken interest in the high school
student body. The course should be required, and graduation from high school should depend upon its satisfactory

completion.
This may not be a cure-all, but it is certainly a long step
in the right direction. In one generation we should be able
to eliminate a high percentage of the original cause of juvenile delinquency~the delinquent parent~and thus solve
the problem, in time, at its source....
Left to chance and to themselves, good parents are more
apt to have good children than bad; bad parents are more
likely to have bad children than good. We can no longer
leave it to chance. We must make it our business to see that
all our children have good parents.
subtle direction and the frank group criticism, they soon
begin to see some of the factors which motivate their behavior. When a boy shows a genuine understanding of his
delinquency, he is released. Even after that specially trained
probation officers keep in helpful touch trying to assure
that final good will come out of the dedicated work of the
state and the boy's own efforts to redeem himself.

WHAT PARENTS CAN DO2

A decade ago most delinquents came from the slums.
This is not hard to understand. It is easy for a child of the
slums, pushed out on the street because of inadequate housing, to become delinquent. He has only to imitate the delinquent acts of adults in his own neighborhood. However
abnormal delinquency may seem to the larger society, for the
child of the slums it may be normal behavior.
The delinquent act is one of hating, destroying, and
injuring. Those who commit such acts are striking at the
community of which they do not feel a part. Slum dwellers
in our giant cities are not truly part of the community; they
are exiles. Why? Because they lack money in a society that
values so highly the possession of material things. Because
many of them, members of minority groups, are denied opportunities open to others. Because their daily life is often
a battle with representatives of authoritythe public assistance worker, the public health worker, the police officer.

Up to now delinquency has not been a major problem in

rural areas, in the suburbs, and in so-called better neighborhoods. Children from these areas have their problems, but
in the past their conflicts have rarely showed up in the form
of delinquency because the church, the home, and the school
have had a restraining influence. For the most part young
people from homes with social and economic advantages
have taken out their problems on themselves rather than on
the community.
But today delinquency has spread to these so-called better neighborhoods. This is a danger signal that must not
be ignored. It is a sign of social decay, a warning that our
social institutions~the home, the school, the churchare
losing their power to instill social and moral values.
There is a strong relationship between war and acts of
aggression on the part of youth. In time of war or preparation for war, families are on the move; schools are overcrowded; facilities for health, education, and welfare are
taxed. These are some of the roots of delinquency today.
To the child the community is delinquent. Why shouldnt
he strike at it through acts of delinquency? Seeing only a

cloudy future for himself and the world, the child wonders,
What difference does anything make?
But, you may ask, why arent all children delinquent?
Studies show that most nondelinquents have had good
parent-child relations during the first six years of life.
They have a sense of belonging that inoculates them against
delinquency. Their parents have guided them so skillfully
and have offered such admirable examples that no matter
what happens, in school or out, they remain fine members
of the community.
Yet it does not follow that our sole emphasis in controlling delinquency should be directed at parent-child relations.
However important parents are, they are not the sole influence on children. They are not solely responsible for the
results, good or bad. Qiildren may be forced into delinquency by social and economic pressures over which parents
have little or no control.
thinking of some Puerto Rican boys who moved
into an old neighborhood in Brooklyn. These boys, unwelcome in that community, were beaten up. Although they
had been taught not to fight, the abuse proved too much for

them. Gang war broke out, and one boy was killed.
This delinquency resulted from prejudice, which cannot
be corrected parent by parent. It is a social, economic, and
cultural problem that demands civic as well as individual
action. Although programs designed to aid parents are a
necessary part of delinquency control, our programs must
rally the entire community to this cause.
The delinquent is hostile. He strikes out, and the common reaction is to strike back at him. Again and again we
see the urge to punish. The punishment may be directed at
the delinquent himself, at his parents, or at various community facilities, including the school. Yet we would accomplish far more by directing our hostility against the
evils that cause delinquency.
What can we do? you ask. Plenty. We can expand
PTA programs and study-discussion groups to help more
and more parents in child rearing. We can work to change
attitudes Arough casual group discussion under trained
leaders. We may perhaps have to adapt materials to reach
parents of various backgrounds. We may have to set hours
for meetings to accommodate mothers who cannot afford

baby sitters. In Austin, Minnesota, for example, all the

mothers in a single block meet every morning for half an
hour, over a cup of coffee, to discuss child guidance and
child development.
For parents with pressing economic problems, programs
for urban redevelopment, city planning, and adequate housing may be more immediately effective than parent education classes. Broad civic and social projects would give
these families a feeling of belonging to the community and
a healthy conviction that we can do something about our
social problems.
To gain conviction on this point, you may want to try a
simple project in your own home. Do you know, for example, how much your state allots to families who must rely
on community assistance? Try living for a day or two a
week on the budget your state allows to mothers who must
support their children in their own homes without help
from a spouse. In almost any state such an experiment will
demonstrate the need for more adequate allowances

.
While one phase of our effort is aid to parents in rearing
their children, the other is civic action, so that all parents
mayreartheirchildrenindecency.
We also need to strengthen the influence of the church
and the synagogue. After the family, these institutions are
the major vehicles for transmitting moral and social values
to the young. To strengthen these institutions calls for the
spiritual rejuvenation of the entire community.