Causes of juvenile crime

CHRISTCHURCH: Mr M’Carthy, S.M., when dealing with some youthful burglars, briefly expressed his opinion regarding the cause of juvenile crime, which appears to have broken out in epidemic form in Christchurch lately. The fact that the average of all the juvenile cases for the year ended June 30 was 52, whereas for the quarter ended September 30, but only including

cases heard up to September 10, the number was 128, indicates clearly enough the seriousness of the position today. Speaking to a Star reporter, Mr M’Carthy gave his opinion as a magistrate on such matters in more detail than when speaking from the bench. In the first place, he said, ‘‘we have an absence of religious training. Most of the parents born in the dominion have been brought up under the system of purely secular education, and it is having its effect in many homes today. There is an absence of parental control and of home training directly leading to the production of children having very few ideas of what is right and what is wrong. In many cases, the father spends his evenings in a club or an hotel and leaves a tired wife with a number of unruly boys.’’ Mr M’Carthy was careful to explain that he made no attack on the system of secular education which, so far as it went, was good. If a right use were made of the text books used in the schools, the moral training could be and was inculcated by the teachers themselves. The freedom with which boys and girls of tender age were allowed to walk the streets at all hours without control, he regarded as another cause of youthful crime.