In making comparisons it should be noted (as explained later) that during recent years the Department has undertaken much preventive work which may account for a return to the pre-war rate in spite of the existence of other factors leading to an increase in delinquency.

(c) Juvenile Delinquency in Maoris and Non-Maoris

Another illustration of the care required in the use of statistics is afforded by a comparison as between Maori and non-Maori offenders in the 10—17-year-old group. (For the purpose of these figures "Maori" means of the half-blood or more).

For the year ended 31 March 1954 there were 565 Maori delinquents, or 28 per cent of the total number of juvenile delinquents. During this same period there were 1,433 non-Maori offenders, or 72 per cent of those delinquents. But the Maori offenders came from 10 per cent of the juvenile population, whereas the non-Maoris came from 90 per cent of that population. On that basis juvenile delinquency among Maoris was three and a half times that among the rest of the child inhabitants of New Zealand.

The Committee has been unable to arrange for a dissection of the figures to ascertain whether there was a bigger percentage of sexual offenders among young Maoris than among other sections of the people. A considerable portion of offences may come from factors inherent in the culture and traditions of the Maori and their difficulty in conforming to another mode of living.

(d) Children Under Control or Supervision

It is interesting to find that after the war there was a steady decline in the number of children committed to the care of the State, or placed under supervision, until the year 1953. This is shown by the following table:

(e) Comparison Between New Zealand and England

Almost coincidentally with the publication abroad of reports of immorality in the Hutt district and of juvenile murders in New Zealand, an extract from a brochure of the Justice Department was published. This extract was to the effect that, in relation to population, there were one and a half times as many adults convicted of sexual offences in this Dominion as there were in England and Wales. That statement results from a comparison of the figures in the two jurisdictions, but it may create a wrong impression unless it is remembered that in England only 47 per cent of the indictable offences reported to the police are "cleared up", whereas in New Zealand 64 per cent of indictable offences are "cleared up". A comparison which takes this and all other relevant factors into account could probably place this Dominion in a much more favourable light.

Whatever inferences may be drawn from the statistics presented in this report—whether juvenile immorality has increased or not—any nation is wise that, from time to lime, surveys its moral health.

When this inquiry was mooted all members of the Committee heard the oft-repeated comment that sexual delinquency was not new—it had been going on through the ages and always would go on. Many people also said "You cannot make people moral by Act of Parliament".

Although there is some truth in each of these statements the Committee does not feel that the matter should be dismissed in that way. First, such an attitude is not a desirable one to adopt when seeking a remedy for a social evil. Secondly, the continued existence of a vice, however far back it may be traced, is not a reason why special measures should not be used to deal with it when it assumes considerable proportions.

Similarly, in this matter of improper sex behaviour among children, it is not merely its extent, but certain features in its new pattern, which command attention. These features are:

(1) Younger Groups now Affected

Immorality appears to be more prevalent now among younger groups in the community. In the Hutt, and also in Auckland, most of the cases were of boys and girls whose ages ranged from twelve to fifteen years; but some of the young girls also associated with boys several years older than themselves.

(2) Precocity of Girls

In former times it was the custom for boys to take the initiative in seeking the company of girls; it was conventional for the girls to await any advances. Nowadays, girls do not always wait for an advance to be made to them, nor are they as reticent as they used to be in discussing intimate matters with the opposite sex. It is unfortunate that in many cases girls, by immodest conduct, have become the leaders in sexual misbehaviour and have in many cases corrupted the boys. At one school there were 17 children involved—10 of them were girls of an average age of 13.2 years and 7 boys of an average age of 15 years. Another disturbing feature is that in the case of boys more than half were committing their first offence, whereas only one-fifth of the girls were offending for the first time. The Committee has not overlooked the fact that the offending girls may themselves have been corrupted by a male in the first place. But the fact remains that four-fifths of the girls involved in the particular cases that prompted this inquiry had an admitted history of prior sexual misconduct.

The following extract from the evidence of a headmaster is impressive of this new feature:

(3) Organization of Immorality

(6) Homosexuality

The Committee has read reports from Great Britain of an increase in homosexual practices there. Recent New Zealand happenings might be taken to indicate a similar increase in this country. The Committee has made no investigation of these matters, but considers it wise to remind parents that sexual misbehaviour can occur between members of the same sex.

The conclusion of the Committee is that the above pattern of immorality is of a kind which was not previously manifest in New Zealand. It cannot be dealt with on the footing that it has always been with us. The attitude of mind shown by those who have planned and organized sexual parties, and sometimes caught others within their net, is something which demands serious consideration. The subject cannot be dismissed in the light, airy way of those people who, without any adequate knowledge of the facts, have been saying that there is nothing new about the sexual misbehaviour of young people and that nothing can be done to improve matters. The situation is a serious one, and something must be done.

Many have been the views expressed as to the reasons for this immorality and the suggested remedies. After considering the evidence, after reading much literature on the subject, and weighing up all the suggested factors, the view of the Committee is that the matter is not capable of simplification by regarding any, or even all, the causes suggested and discussed below as being the main cause. In seeking to remedy the evil it must steadily be borne in mind that we have not only to deal with the immediately apparent causes. Letters to the press, letters to this Committee, and many of the submissions made reveal a failure to dig below the surface or to look beyond the factors which came immediately to the mind of the writers or those which, from personal experience, appeared to them to be the decisive or motivating factors.

The Committee has carefully considered many suggested causes (whether precipitating or predisposing) and now sets out its views on those which merit special mention.

If, as the Committee believes, immoral behaviour should be regarded as a phase or facet of juvenile delinquency, the same influences which tend to incite other anti-social behaviour are in operation here.

Much has been written in textbooks, in journals, and in various scattered articles about the causes of juvenile delinquency. What applies in other communities, and in other aspects of juvenile delinquency, must apply with much the same force in this Dominion as elsewhere, and to the sexual deviant as to all other juvenile delinquents. In searching for the real or substantive cause it must be borne in mind that juvenile delinquency, of the type now being considered, is a new feature of modern life and a facet of juvenile delinquency which does not appear to have engaged the attention of research workers.

The state of affairs which has come about was uncertain in origin, insidious in growth, and has developed over a wide field. In searching for the cause, and in suggesting the remedies which may be applied, the Committee must not be thought to be laying the blame on any one section of the community more than another.

(1) Objectionable Publications

There has been a great wave of public indignation against some paper-backed or "pulp" printed matter. Crime stories, tales of "intimate exciting romance", and so-called "comics" have all been blamed for exciting erotic feelings in children. The suggestiveness in the cover pictures of glamour girls dressed in a thin veiling often attracts more attention than the pages inside.

The Committee has been deluged with periodicals, paper-backed books, and "comics" considered by their respective senders to be so harmful to children and adolescents that their sale should not be permitted. But, while all the publications sent are objectionable in varying degrees, they cannot be rejected under the law as it at present stands because that law relates only to things which are indecent or obscene.

An Inter-departmental Committee set up in 1952 to report on worthless and indecent literature similarly found that, while publications intended for adults are controlled by the Indecent Publications Act (which in the opinion of that Committee, was adequate providing the public initiated action under it), comics and other publications outside the scope of that Act might be objectionable for children.

When considering comics it is essential to appreciate the difference between the traditional comic, intended exclusively for children, and the more modern style which is basically designed for low-mentality adults. Both styles and variations of them circulate widely in New Zealand among children and adolescents. In general, however, younger children buy, and even prefer, the genuine comic which is not harmful and may even be helpful. Adolescents, and adults also, are attracted by comic books that have been denounced by various authorities as anti-educational, and even pernicious, in moral outlook.

The Inter-departmental Committee recommended that all comics be registered and that it be made an offence to deal in unregistered comics. There are strong doubts whether the adoption of those proposals would provide a satisfactory solution. Once registration were obtained (which would be almost automatic on application) much damage might be done by the distribution of a particular issue before registration could be cancelled.

Surely a simpler, faster, and safer procedure would be to make initial registration more difficult and subsequent deregistration more speedy.

A banning, rather than a censorship, of printed matter injurious to children should be the subject of immediate legislation for three reasons:

In order to meet the situation, it would be desirable for the Government to promote special legislation along the lines of the Victorian Police Offences (Obscene Publications) Act 1954.

The Victorian legislation is particularly effective since not only does it widen the definition of "indecent" and "obscene", and enables the police themselves to institute proceedings for breaches of the Act, but it also compels all distributors to be registered. Then, should a distributor be convicted of an offence, he may be deregistered, and in that case would be unable to distribute any other publication whatever.

Despite frequent reference to distributors dumping objectionable publications on a newsagent or bookseller, who has to accept the bad before he can get the good, the Committee has not received any definite evidence of this practice occurring in New Zealand.

(2) Films

The cinema is the only field of entertainment in New Zealand where official supervision in the interest of juveniles is exercised by a public servant with statutory powers. The Government Film Censor interprets his role chiefly as one of guiding parents. On occasions he bans a film; more often he makes cuts in films; most often he recommends a restriction of attendance to certain age groups. The onus is then on parents to follow the censor's advice, on theatre managers to adhere to his rulings, and on the Government to see that the law is enforced.

Few prosecutions have ever been taken for such offences, and it is even doubtful whether, if they were taken, convictions would be recorded. Some regulations (essential for this purpose) under the 1934 Amendment Act have never been gazetted; nor have any under the 1953 amendment.

Although the censor receives few specific complaints, and although film distributing and exhibiting interests state that they are complying with the spirit of the unwritten law, the following undesirable practices irritate a large section of the thinking public:

Appropriate steps recommended are:

(3) Broadcasting

Disapproval has been expressed of many of the broadcast serials and suggestive love songs. If considered dispassionately by adults, most of these are merely trashy, but quite possibly, and particularly in times like the present, the words of a song, or the incidents of a serial, may more readily give offence. Obviously, the New Zealand Broadcasting Service can never please each individual listener, but, equally obviously, it should seek to avoid giving any public offence. The Service seems conscious of its responsibilities and tries to make its programmes generally suitable for family audiences; but it also aims to reflect the standards of its listeners, and some may feel that it should try to raise those standards.

Although the Service considers that it should never give the appearance of dictating what listeners should, or should not, hear, it has its own auditioning standards that should satisfy the morals of the most particular. Records must first conform with the very strict code of the Broadcasting Service, after which they are classified as suitable for children's sessions, for general sessions, or only for times when children are assumed not to be listening. The Service can, and does, reject episodes from overseas features, and in doing so experiences no difficulty with either overseas suppliers or local advertising sponsors. Restrictions on dollar purchases and the nonavailability of "sponsorable" programmes from the United Kingdom curtail the availability of commercial features, and generally restrict them to those produced in Australia.

On the other hand, the Service points out that listeners have a wide choice of broadcast programmes, advertised well in advance, and it assumes that listeners will be selective in tuning in their sets, and restrictive in not allowing their children to listen after 7 p.m. when programmes specially suited for them cease. This assumption, however, is not well founded. Once switched on, the radio frequently stays on, and children are then allowed to continue listening far too long. Consequently, they not only lose part of their essential sleep, and sometimes even the mental state conducive to sleep, but they hear radio programmes not intended for them.

Crime serials for the young, and the not so young, are another target for criticism, but provided that the Service is adamant in its rule that "crime must never pay" loss of sleep is, possibly, the most serious consequence of over-indulgence by child listeners.

Some people claim that they can detect a definite pattern of suggestive songs and unsuitable thrillers in the programmes. In times like the present the Service should critically re-examine its programmes in order to remove any wrongful impression that might be created, either by a too frequent repetition of items where sex and crime are prominent, or by the possibility of a meaning being taken out of them which was not intended.

The Broadcasting Service should similarly review its ideas about children's listening hours and rearrange its classified times accordingly.

When crime serials are broadcast it should be made obvious that crime does not pay.

A married woman might well be included on the auditioning panel.

Even if the Service does all these things, the major responsibility will still rest upon the parents, who should select their children's programmes and see that their listening hours are reasonably restricted.

(4) Press Advertising

An examination of advertisements in New Zealand newspapers during recent years clearly shows how far the bounds of propriety have been extended. What was a generation ago considered improper is now generally accepted as a subject for display. Advertisements, more and more based on sex attraction, horror, and crime, occupy a large and increasing proportion of all advertising. Because this trend is obviously objectionable to a section of the community, such advertising must partially fail in its object of attracting. In addition, this advertising may be harmful to those juveniles and adolescents with whom this Committee is primarily concerned. Advertisers should, in their own interests, raise their standards—perhaps by establishing a voluntary Advisory Council similar to that in the United Kingdom.

(5) Television

The arrival of another visual and auditory influence will add weight to the suggestion made to the Committee that liaison should be established between all the various censoring authorities.

Objectionable publications, films, broadcasting, and television have been the subject of expert appraisal in many countries. The Committee has made its recommendations in this section of the report fully aware that many authorities can describe these matters as no more than secondary influences in the causation of juvenile delinquency.

To what degree these things are directly causative no one can say. Their influence is imponderable. But whatever their influence, the Committee is firmly of the opinion that practical measures to control what is offensive to many would be an indication of a renewed concern for the moral welfare of young people. The result would be the replacement of undesirable material with something much better.

(1) Teacher and the Child

For several reasons, there has been a change in the relationship that used to exist between teacher and child. Earlier the teacher lived in, and was part of, the community and so knew something of local conditions and the tensions of his pupils' lives. This gave him a more intimate knowledge and sympathetic understanding of a child's difficulties.

Today in the cities, and particularly in the quickly growing urban areas, there are different conditions. Schools are new and big, without a tradition of long community service; teachers have difficulty in finding accommodation in the district from which their pupils come; to meet the shortage of permanent staff many partially trained persons have to be used as relieving teachers; even qualified teachers have to move frequently to meet promotion requirements.

As a result the knowledge that once came to a teacher from sharing the same environment as the child has now to be acquired in some other way and, probably, from within the school. This knowledge is of great importance in diagnosing maladjustments that might lead to delinquency.

In pos t-primary schools there is at present no official system of linking the home and school in the investigation of problems. Traditionally the headmaster has done this, but with the increase in the size and complexity of schools he has now too little time for this work.

Post-primary principals, in their evidence, appeared worried by the problems of conduct arising from the inability of pupils to leave school until they have reached fifteen years of age. It has already been shown that the pattern of juvenile delinquency which is the subject of this investigation is found particularly in this age group.

The Committee was not concerned with the relative values of the different types of school, except in so far as they had an effect on juvenile delinquency.

Statements were made that co-educational schools did, in fact, increase the chances of immorality, but although the Committee investigated these charges it could not find that acts of immorality among pupils did in fact arise from their association at school.

There was evidence that one girl had incited seven boys to sexual misbehaviour on the way home from a co-educational school. Thorough investigation proved to the Committee that the group came from the same neighbourhood and had become known to one another from their home and street association. Acts of indecency had occurred long before they went to the post-primary school.

Senior pupils of an intermediate school were concerned in depravity, both heterosexual and homosexual. The trouble probably spread through the acquaintanceships made at school, but in all cases the history of the instigators, in intelligence and environment, showed either that they were already concerned in immoral acts outside the school or that they had home circumstances conducive to delinquency.

In many of the cases that were brought to the notice of the Committee the name of the school was associated with the offender, even although the offences did not occur within the school or arise from it. This linking of the school with the offender is unfortunate, as it is unsettling to the other pupils of the school and disturbing to the parents of the district.

(3) School Leaving Age

(4) Relations With the Child Welfare Division

From the evidence received it is clear that principals of schools would welcome a closer liaison, by regulation, with the Child Welfare Division. A high degree of co-operation already exists in some places, but it depends on the personalities of the people concerned and is not general.

With a full realization of the desirability of secrecy in the affairs of a delinquent child, but also with the knowledge that the principal of a school should know as much as possible of his pupils, and in most cases has known them longer, and in conditions of less tension than the Child Welfare Officer, it is suggested that:

(5) Sex Instruction in School

The views of the Committee on the whole subject of sex instruction are given elsewhere in the report. Here it is emphasized that, apart from the biological aspect as a part of nature study in the primary schools and general science in the post-primary schools, the school in general is not the place for class instruction in sex matters.

Incidental features of sex hygiene will arise naturally from physical education and can be adequately treated there.

(6) "New Education"

Several witnesses have claimed that the philosophy underlying the New Zealand education system is a predisposing cause of sexual delinquency, but in the absence of direct evidence, which is obviously difficult to obtain, such claims can only be an expression of personal opinion. Similarly, the terms "play way" and "free expression" have been quoted to show that traditional external disciplines have given way to a concentration on the development of the personality of the child—a development which could lead to licence. But as there are not sufficient comparative figures available for New Zealand, and as reports from overseas suggest that the pattern of immorality is a world-wide one, the Committee is unable to reach a conclusion on this matter.

It does, however, feel justified in suggesting that nothing but benefit could come from representatives of the Department of Education attending meetings of Parent-Teacher and Home-and-School Associations to enable responsible and interested parents to obtain a clearer understanding of modern educational aims before expressing their views.

In an examination of the factors which promote juvenile delinquency special attention must be given to the type of community in which children grow up. The more normal and well balanced a community is, the greater are the child's chances of developing a well-balanced personality. The teaching at school may be good, the home training satisfactory, but these good influences may be upset by defects in the neighbourhood. When the atmosphere of home or school is unsatisfactory, the chances of normal healthy development are made progressively worse for any child whose community environment is also poor.

(1) Housing Development

(a) Fewer Adults

Large-scale housing is primarily for married people with growing families. Eventually the number of young people is much greater than the number of adults. There is a pronounced difference between a settlement of mushroom growth and one that has developed gradually with large family homes and smaller homes, grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, and children.

In order to illustrate the disparity between the adult and juvenile population in all such areas the Committee obtained from the Education Department a statement of the primary and secondary school children in Wellington and the Hutt Valley as at 30 August 1954:

It must not be overlooked that the homes of many children who attend schools in Wellington are situated outside the ordinary confines of the city; many of the children are resident in the Hutt Valley. For instance, 250-300 of the girls at Wellington College come to that college from the Hutt, and many more children from outside the city attend other city schools. The exact total is not readily assessable, but it is known to be considerable. On the other hand, it is not thought that the rolls of Hutt schools are increased by the attendance of pupils from outside that district.

Another statement shows that in Wellington city 70.4 per cent of the total population are adults, whereas in the Hutt only 60.1 per cent are adults.

If that abnormal distribution of population is a causative factor in juvenile delinquency, the situation will have to be carefully watched because: