(i) A graph compiled for the Committee shows that the biggest number of children is in the two-to-four-year-old group. When one considers that the delinquency now being considered is in the 13-to-17-year-old group, the period of greatest danger will not be reached until about another nine years have elapsed. This is a disturbing prospect and demands serious consideration.
(ii) There are many similar housing settlements in New Zealand. The absence of public disclosures of delinquency in any of those places must not be taken to mean that they are free from it.
(iii) In areas settled largely by people with growing families the rate of increase is striking. In planning one post-primary school the rate of 0.7 children to a family was adopted. Three years later the rate was found to be 1.5 per family.
(b) Absence of a Community Spirit
In the normal development of towns and suburbs a community spirit comes from an ability to make one's own choice of dwelling. A newly-married couple prefers one district or one suburb to another, either because their relatives or friends are there, because it is handy to the husband's work, because of "the view", or for similar reasons. The house they build or buy or rent was the house of their choice. In that way they develop pride of ownership or of possession. They join such of the local churches, societies, and clubs as already exist, and themselves organize and support other agencies of community value.
In quickly settled housing areas this community spirit has not yet had time to develop. The people have not chosen to live there: a house has been "allotted" to them. With a feeling of relief that their immediate problem is solved, they move in; but they soon find themselves in an area without any established traditions or the buildings associated with those traditions. Churches, schools, halls, and monuments are entirely non-existent or very new. The areas left for sports grounds, parks, and reserves are still largely undeveloped. The occupants of the new houses have not the financial capacity to provide these things, and there are seldom any private benefactors, because there is not a stratum of wealthy people in or near these settlements who might be benevolently inclined to help the district where they reside. The help which the new residents can give, or obtain from the State, churches, or other organizations to provide a community fellowship, must fall far short of what is usually obtainable in areas which grow up normally and naturally.
(c) Overcrowding of Houses
Houses in the new areas are often found too small as the boys and girls grow up. The result is streets of overcrowded homes unsuitable for family life. The tendency for the young people to seek their pleasures away from their home and district is therefore greater than it is in mature communities.
(d) Tendency to Form Groups or Gangs
Where a large number of children live near one another, and many of them are left by their parents to their own devices, the formation of groups or gangs is inevitable. Some of these children are not moulded into the activities of churches or other helpful organizations. They simply coalesce by the accident of their circumstances, and make their own fun, in which, unfortunately, the influence for good of the better among them is often outweighed by the misbehaviour and dangerous propensities of others.
(e) Emotional and Mental Factors
New housing areas tend to be populated by a large proportion of those people whose outlook on life has been affected by disturbances in their early married years. Marrying during, or soon after, the Second World War, they were obliged to live in small apartments or transit camps and were thereby unable to live the normal life of a married couple. Either because of this, or because of conditions existing in the housing areas, there does not seem to be the same group willingness to improve their conditions as is seen in older communities. Indeed, individual cases show a virtual lack of self-reliance.
There is the further factor that when the breadwinner has to travel a long distance to work he is not able to spend as much time with his family as is desirable, or to share in the work of the community.
(f) Little Variety in Amenities
Young communities cannot immediately provide, from their own resources and enthusiasm, all the amenities normal in an established settlement. Necessarily, these must be added one by one, and in the meantime the residents have to participate in a restricted range of activities.
All the above matters show how difficult it is to expect a community spirit in any area which is just an aggregation of houses. Many years must pass before there can be anything like a desirable balance of community interests in such an area. Juvenile delinquency in new housing settlements might conceivably be reduced, if, in future, State houses were not erected in extensive blocks, but were built in such smaller numbers as could be more easily integrated into existing communities of people.
(2) Recreation and Entertainment
As in other forms of delinquency, the recent outbreak of immorality or, more correctly, the revealed evidence of it has directed the minds of many to an assumed dearth of organized recreation and entertainment. Such a thought more easily rises to the mind when it is known that many cases have occurred in new settlements where the building of State houses has gone far ahead of the ability of the community to arrange for the provision of playing fields, halls, and clubs.
Further, those who have special ideas of the importance of hobbies, pet animals, square dancing, and things of that sort have been active in urging upon the Committee that greater attention should be given to such matters as possible ways of alleviating the trouble.
It is true that a child who joins sporting and other clubs, or has its mind directed towards hobbies or other interests, is less likely to become a delinquent than one whose thoughts are not similarly occupied. But it is wrong to assume that the present trouble can be cured by the extension or encouragement of such activities. The reason is that the pre-delinquent is not attracted by such forms of recreation or healthy pleasure. If he is persuaded to join a club or society, he may soon make such a nuisance of himself that the leader will be obliged, for the good of the club, to rebuke him or warn him that he will not be allowed to attend in future unless he behaves. The pre-delinquent, therefore, either does not join, or else soon leaves, a club where he cannot feel happy. He is inclined toward a friendship with somebody else whose nature is compatible with his own. From this companionship a group of wayward children may be formed. They incite one another; they conspire together; they attract the attention of others; the group may become a gang. From the pairs, the group, or the gang, mischief or immorality soon begins, while all around there are many clubs and societies suitable and available for them.
Furthermore, single-sex clubs will not provide the answer for those who desire the companionship of the other sex. In our society, boys and girls must meet socially. It is part of the growing-up process and, if supervised carefully and unobtrusively[4], the mixing of boys and girls can be very advantageous.
From the evidence given by witnesses, the following four points emerge:
(a) The school today provides so many interests and activities that the time of the pupil is fully occupied. Since it is essential to retain the family group as much as possible, in general, children should not be encouraged to go out excessively on week nights. The competition of organizations for good school children as leaders can become unsettling to the young.
(b) Adolescents who have left school provide a field in which club organizations are able to provide interests and activities for those who have left the directed conditions of school life and are entering on the freedom of adulthood. Many of these activities will be for both sexes and their success depends upon trained leadership.
(c) There is much advantage in having the clubs and organizations within a community locally co-ordinated. Over lapping can be avoided, facilities are more easily provided, and the opportunity is given to youth to share in the interests and efforts of the adult community.
(d) The Committee warmly commends the work of all those societies and clubs which have been active in promoting the well-being of young people. Chief among the difficulties faced by these character-building organizations which have made representations to the Committee is the lack of trained leadership. Their appeal is for more leaders and for some means by which these leaders may be trained.
But however desirable and commendable all these services to youth are, and even allowing for the fact that without them some children might slip into bad ways, their further development will not provide the cure. Indeed, much of the immorality which has occurred has been among children who have had the fullest opportunity for healthy sport and recreation.
(3) Liquor and Gambling
It was strongly urged by religious and benevolent organizations, and also by many private people, that juvenile delinquency could be attributed in part to the effects of drinking and betting.
The Committee realizes that drinking and gambling to excess may well be symptomatic[5] of the type of home where there is child neglect. There is no need to stress the obvious. But the matter does not rest there. Much danger is inherent in the view that no social occasion is complete without liquor. It has come to the notice of the Committee that many parents are conniving at the practice of having liquor at adolescent parties. Such parents are being unfair to young people, and the Committee considers that if right-thinking parents took a firm stand in this matter a sound lead would be given to the community as a whole.
(1) Feelings of Insecurity: The Unloved Child
A harmonious emotional development during childhood is one of the most important factors influencing human behaviour. Any child who feels unloved, unwanted, or jealous of the care and attention given to other members of the household suffers from a feeling of insecurity. This feeling of insecurity renders the child more susceptible to influences leading to delinquency.
The mother's attitude to the child is of prime importance. There is a psychological link between mother and child from the very moment of birth—a link that can be substantially strengthened by breast feeding as far as it is practicable. The attitude of the mother to the child, even before birth, may well have a marked effect upon the child's sense of security. If pregnancy was not welcomed by the mother, her child may come into the world under a distinct handicap, that of being an unwanted child. Subsequent adjustment may not be as satisfactory as she imagines it to be.
There is often, however, a vast difference between the parents' love of a child and the child's subsequent idea of being loved. The love that every child needs is affection combined with wisdom—a wisdom that will show itself in a watchful concern for the child's well-being throughout childhood to late adolescence. It can be summed up as the kind of love found in a warm family life where all the members—father, mother, and children—are in a proper relationship the one to the other. This relationship is mere difficult to obtain where the child was unwanted or where one parent becomes unwilling to share with the child the love which he or she formerly alone received from the other parent.
A child living in an abnormal family environment, whether that abnormality arises from the birth of the child or the maladjusted personality of a parent, is the type of child which may later seek compensation in irregular sexual behaviour. But the child who, during its early years, lives in an environment where it feels secure, loved, and accepted is not likely to become a deviant.
Evidence has been presented to the Committee of many cases of delinquency which may fairly be traced to one of the following causes:
(a) Emotional Disturbances that have arisen out of a divorce, separation, or remarriage. An emotional upset may arise from a home that is broken by a divorce or separation or, equally important, from a home in which tension follows discord between the parents.
(b) Poor Discipline arising out of a parental notion that love for the child can be shown by gifts in money or kind, or by allowing the child to do what it wants to do. Many of the parents of delinquent children are in that category of people who have been far too indulgent with their children and have been unable to say 'No'. It is a big mistake to suppose that the respect and love of a child will be lost by firm, kindly guidance. The Committee has evidence that a large group of delinquents detained in an institution attributed their situation to the failure of their parents to be firm with them in early life.
(c) Lack of Training for Parenthood: It was somewhat alarming to find that many parents have found the responsibilities of home life too much for them. They had entered into matrimony without having had their attention drawn to the ways in which a home can, and should, be managed.
The duties which one spouse legally owes to the other are fairly well known. Thanks particularly to the efforts of the Plunket Society, great help is available in the rearing and management of babies. But there is a big gap in the knowledge of the art of home-making possessed by many parents. Much of that gap has been filled in by the school, the church, and various youth organizations, but the more these outside agencies do the less inclined are some parents to shoulder their own personal responsibilities. The home should be the place in which all these activities are co-ordinated: they should supplement home training and not subtract from it.
(d) Lack of Responsibility: There was no need for anybody to stress this factor before the Committee—it stood out as a matter of grave concern. Many of the parents of children affected by recent happenings throughout the Dominion showed a deplorable lack of concern for their responsibilities not only to their own children, but to the associates of their children. It is one thing to trust a youth; it is quite another thing for parents to go away for a day of golf or to spend their week-ends away from home leaving the boy to his own devices. It is one thing for Mrs A to give her daughter permission to stay the week-end with Mrs B's daughter, and for Mrs B, to give permission for her daughter to stay the same week-end with Mrs A's daughter. It is quite another thing when neither Mrs A nor Mrs B shows that interest in their daughter which would prevent their being shocked on finding from the police weeks later that the week-end was spent with other adolescents in the house of Mr and Mrs X, while those parents in turn had trusted their son. A simple inquiry by the parents of A, B, or X during or after the week-end could not be resented, and, indeed, children would respect their parents more if such an inquiry were made.
Of lesser import, but still indicative of a lack of awareness of responsibility, is the attitude of parents who give money to their children to go to the pictures in order to get them out of the way without even bothering to look at the programme to see if it is a suitable one for children.
Admittedly, parenthood, if it is not to end in disaster or the fear of disaster, is a great responsibility. It involves a continual struggle against harmful influences from outside. It demands also parental interest in the activities of the children and sometimes a measure of self-denial for the children's sake. Wisdom and experience combine in suggesting to all parents that they should guide their children, and not be governed by them.
Those who read this report might usefully ponder the question whether the ever-increasing way in which responsibilities in character building are being assumed by schools, libraries, clubs, and many other organizations has not made parents less heedful of their own personal responsibilities for the training of their children.
While the Committee realizes that the care shown by some parents for their children has proved to be inadequate, there are many parents who are examples of what parents ought to be. Above all, the Committee wishes to stress that parents should not suffer from feelings of inadequacy owing to a spate of modern knowledge often expressed in semi-technical terms. Parents should enjoy their children, and this enjoyment will lead to increasing co-operation within the family.
(2) Absent Mothers and Fathers
Many persons have expressed the opinion that sexual immorality among young people arises, in part, from the fact that mothers are frequently absent from their homes at times when their children need their care and guidance.
Mothers who leave children to their own devices are in three categories:
(a) Nearly one-third of the delinquent children whose cases were considered by the Committee belonged to homes where the mother worked for wages. Another survey showed that, in a closely populated area, 25 per cent of the mothers of pupils of a post-primary school went out to work. Some mothers may need to work; but many of them work in order to provide a higher standard of living than can be enjoyed on the wages earned by their husbands, or because they prefer the company at an office, shop, or factory to the routine of domestic duties.
(b) The second category comprises those wives and mothers who extend their social, and even their public, activities beyond the hour at which they should be home to welcome their children on return from school. Happy and desirable is the home where the children burst in expectantly or full of news concerning something that interests them!
(c) The third category of absentee mothers consists of those who give their children money to go to the pictures, while they themselves go to golf, or to a football match, or pay a visit to friends.
When dealing with this kind of thoughtlessness it should be pointed out that fathers are not free from blame. As breadwinners they have necessarily to be away from home throughout the day, but they have opportunities in the evenings and at week-ends to identify themselves with their children's interests and activities.
A satisfactory home life can be attained only by the co-operation of both parents in the upbringing of their children.
(3) High Wages
In striking contrast to the contention that the cost of living is so high that mothers are obliged to work is the complaint that many young people have too much money. This applies both to school children and to boys and girls who have commenced working.
It cannot be denied that many children have too much spending money, and that others show too great a desire to have it.
It is also a well-known fact that many children are not content to do normal tasks at home when they are able to obtain good pocket money by doing odd jobs for others.
The starting wage for adolescents is often somewhat high, and thrift is not practised by them. A few years hence, these adolescents may be in the ranks of those who complain of their inability to obtain homes. This has prompted people to urge that a compulsory savings scheme should be instituted to guard young people from the evils of misspent leisure and to develop in them that sense of reliability which is so often lacking.
There is certainly something wrong when mothers work to increase the income of the household while youths, who may be paid nearly as much as parents with family responsibilities, spend their earnings on expensive luxuries.
If juvenile delinquents were admitted to probation instead of being admonished or placed under supervision, it might be practicable for the Courts, in suitable cases to make it a condition of probation that the offender paid a portion of his earnings into a compulsory savings scheme. Even if such a procedure could be devised it would apply only to those who have become delinquents when the major consideration should be given to the problem of the pre-delinquents. This is a matter to be considered further in Section XVI of this report.
For many years the expression "sex instruction" has been used and understood by most people. The Committee makes clear its appreciation of the fact that the term is inadequate as not indicating that the sexual relations of man and woman should be a harmonious blend of the physical and the spiritual. Many parents of children will agree that they themselves obtained only a knowledge of the mechanical aspects of sex from school companions. Even this information was often gleaned from undesirable conversations. Such parents wish that their children should receive this knowledge in a totally different fashion.
The terms "sex instruction" and "sex knowledge" are employed here for other terms are not yet in common usage.
In some of the cases investigated by the police the children concerned appear to have been very ignorant of the rudimentary facts of the subject. In other cases they showed knowledge far in advance of what would be expected. This advanced knowledge was, however, only in respect of isolated portions of the subject.
The striking contrast between ignorant and precocious children confirms the view that a statement is required as to when the information should be given, who should give it, and what should be its source.
(1) When Should This Information be Given?
The best time to give any information is when a child asks a question. The simple answer giving no more than is necessary is the desirable one. The question "Mummy, where do babies come from"? should not involve a dissertation on sex. If this method of approach is clearly understood, the parent need never be worried about the time to impart information.
(2) Who Should Give This Information?
As children show varying degrees of curiosity concerning the subject at varying ages, the initial information should not be given as part of school instruction, but should come from a parent or parent-substitute.
Since parents are obviously those best suited for imparting this knowledge, why do they so frequently fail to carry out this duty—a failure that is not restricted to any intellectual or economic group?
First, there is a sense of guilt in parents concerning sexual relations, born out of their own unfortunate initiation into a knowledge of a subject discussion of which was generally frowned upon in their young days.
Secondly, there is a real difficulty. As the sex organs are also the channels for the elimination of waste, exaggerated modesty often hinders discussion.
Thirdly, there is often a genuine ignorance on the part of parents concerning what to say in answer to the natural questions of a child and what terms to use in reply—terms that will be neither embarrassing to the parent nor unintelligible to the child.
Fourthly, many parents are not convinced of the necessity for any special action by them. They feel that, as the child grows, it will assimilate this knowledge, but they do not give consideration to the source from which the knowledge may be obtained, or the manner in which it will be imparted.
(3)The Source of Information
There is a need for reliable sources of knowledge for the parents. Suitable literature with a matter-of-fact approach that may yet include the spiritual factor will remove self consciousness. An indirect approach is not helpful. Specimen conversations between parent and child can be readily adapted for any family.
Not all available literature on this subject is of equal quality. Several religious organizations already have publications suitable for the members of their respective denominations. The Committee is also informed that the Federation of Parent-Teacher and Home and School Associations, in conjunction with several experts, is now in the course of publishing pamphlets suited to different age groups.
The barrier between parent and child can be lifted by meetings where talks are given and films shown. Heads of schools, in conjunction with Parent-Teachers' Associations could invite, on separate occasions, mothers with their daughters, fathers with their sons, or both parents together. The special value of such gatherings would be to enable those with adolescent children to do what they regret having avoided doing in earlier years.
It will be argued that, whatever is done to help parents, there will still be a proportion likely to baulk at giving the information. Some may even remain indifferent. There could be no objection to some unaccompanied girls or boys attending the meetings for parents and children. The Committee states its views on sex instruction in schools elsewhere in the report. It is stressed here that sex instruction given in the absence of the parents may well increase the number of parents who neglect what should be a jealously guarded privilege.
In conclusion, parents should remember that, even though adolescents may appear to possess a great deal of knowledge, it may be factually inaccurate and, above all, may require putting into correct perspective. This applies particularly to the older adolescents who have been involved in criminal charges. That group may have practical experience of the mechanics of sex; what they require is a more wholesome outlook on the intimate relations of man and woman.
A common element in many of the statements made to the Committee is a desire for a better spiritual basis in our society on which a sound code of morals may be built.
(1) The Need for a Religious Faith
The consensus of opinion before the Committee is that there is a lack of spiritual values in the community. This is not merely because the majority of people do not go to church, but because of the general temper of society and standards of morality. Most people would affirm some sort of belief in God, but are unable to relate it to their daily lives.
It may be a matter of argument that morality is dependent on religion, but the structure of western society and our codes of behaviour have, in fact, been based upon the Christian faith. If this faith is not generally accepted, the standard of conduct associated with it must deteriorate.
Signs are not lacking that people are turning away from a purely materialistic conception of life, and seeking a more spiritual basis for conduct.
The recent disclosures in the Hutt Valley indicate a largely nominal church affiliation in most of the cases under review. Although it was stated that thirty-six per cent of the offenders attended church or Sunday School regularly, and that sixty-four per cent had never attended or had ceased to attend, closer examination of the individual cases would be required before any deduction could be drawn from the figures given to the Committee. It is, however, safe to assume that there was little religious teaching; and it is unfortunately true that there was a failure to observe moral standards. The acceptance of the Christian position cannot fail to promote good conduct in all fields including the relationship between the sexes.
(2) The Need for Religious Instruction
The Committee considers that the Nelson system of religious teaching in schools should be encouraged and developed. In so far as the basic philosophy of education in New Zealand may not be religious, the Committee notes that a conference between the Department of Education and the New Zealand Council for Christian Education is being arranged.
Church activities among youth affected were criticized on the grounds that they appealed only to the "good boys and girls", or to those who already belong to a church. This situation presents a challenge which needs to be met, and it will demand, in particular, a consideration of how young people are to be encouraged to spend their time on Sundays.
(3) The Need for Family Religion
As family life is vital in this inquiry something must be said about religion in the home. It is clear that, other things being equal, a home with a real religious atmosphere is a good safeguard against immorality, and a sound background for moral teaching, particularly for the development of knowledge about sex.
The practice of family religion is to be strongly endorsed.
(1) The Importance of the Family
From all that has been above written it will be seen that there is not any one cause of the sexual delinquency among children which has provoked this inquiry. There are many predisposing and precipitating causes. If there be any common denominator in the majority of cases studied by the Committee it is lack of appreciation by parents of their personal responsibility for the upbringing and behaviour of their children or, if they do appreciate their responsibility, they are unable to guide them correctly and to maintain control of them. This finding is in harmony with the current of public opinion expressed in the statements that "it all comes back to the parents" or "the parents are to blame". That much cannot be gainsaid.
But what is the root cause of this failure or inability on the part of present-day parents? This is an aspect of its assignment to which the Committee has paid great attention.
It should be made quite plain that the Committee does not subscribe to the view that the sexual immorality which has recently been brought to notice is entirely of the pattern which prevailed in former generations. Nor can the Committee be content with platitudinous recommendations as to how this immorality among young persons may be kept in check within the existing processes of the law. It is the view of the Committee that during the past few decades there have been changes in certain aspects of family life throughout the English-speaking world leading to a decline in morality as it has generally been understood. A remedy must be found before this decline leads to the decay of the family itself as the centre and core of our national life and culture.
(2) The Place of the Family in the Legal System
The emphasis which the Committee places upon this section of its report calls for a statement of the place of the family in English law.
The family (meaning thereby the father, mother, and children) from time immemorial has had a definite and recognized status in our national life—a place which it has not always occupied or enjoyed in other cultures and other systems of law. There is in our culture an air of sanctity about the home where parents and children dwell. The rights of a parent against any intrusion into his family affairs have been expressed in such statements as "A man's house is his castle".
Our law of domestic relations centres upon the home. When the Legislature or the law-courts have interfered in the conduct of a home it has only been because one member of the family has failed to discharge the duties which an individual is required to perform towards other members of the family or towards society. Speaking generally, the rights and duties of individual members of the family have been preserved and enforced in our statute law. Illustrations are to be found in the Infants Act, the Destitute Persons Act, the Child Welfare Act, the Family Protection Act, and the Joint Family Homes Act.
The policy of English law is, and always has been, to keep the family together and to uphold the rights of parents. Those rights have correlative duties attaching to them. It is the failure of some parents to perform those duties which has now become a matter of grave concern.
The irony of the situation is that this slipping of parental responsibility has occurred contemporaneously with the granting of financial and other help to parents. Family allowances and State homes should be concomitants of an increased sense of responsibility. Despite all that the State has done, and is doing, for families, the moral standards of the community have somehow been undermined. Is this because of a general lowering of the moral standards of adults? Is the attitude of children towards sexual matters a direct reflection of the thoughts and conduct of their elders? To borrow the words of a Jewish proverb "the apple never falls far from the tree". It has been firmly urged upon the Committee that there has been a "breakdown of the moral order and moral standards". That may be putting the matter too strongly, but there can be no denying the fact that the sanctions of morality today are not as strong as they were, say, forty or fifty years ago.
(3) The Sanctions of Religion and Morality in Family Life
Up till early in this century the chief sanctions operating in society were those dictated either by religion or by wisdom and past experience, i.e., religious sanctions and moral sanctions. The standard of religious morality is that which is prescribed in the Bible, interpreted perhaps in different ways by different denominations at different times. The standard of conventional morality is that which has been handed down from generation to generation. There have at times been differences between the religious standard and the conventional standard. For instance, the Church has always reprobated adultery, but even as late as the nineteenth century society accepted, without very much concern, the conduct of a man who had both a legal wife and a mistress. Despite those occasional differences between the religious standard and the conventional standard, our system of morals has been based on the standards of Christianity.
(4) The Moral Drift
During last century it was strongly urged by some scientists that a religion based on faith was untenable. Man, it was contended, should accept only what could be proved by reasoning from observed facts. Once again there emerged, particularly in scientific and literary circles, the belief that there could be a code of morals entirely devoid of religious content.
This intellectual standpoint helped to undermine the authority of the churches. The views of the scientists were not the cause of, but undoubtedly did accelerate, the drift from organized religion.
There is evidence of the effects of beliefs developed during the present century in another field of learning, that of psychology. On the one hand, it is held that there was in former days suppression of the natural development of human personality and, on the other, that a great deal of misery has been caused by feelings of guilt. Ill health, even mental illness, has been attributed to these two factors.
Between the two world wars much of the material of the new psychologists began to drift into circulation in so-called popular editions. Doubtless much of the writing was from reputable sources, but the new views, good in origin, began to suffer as had religious faith in the past from poor exponents.
A desire for scientific accuracy is understandable, a wish to understand the working of the human mind wholly commendable, but many people whose loose behaviour was instinctive, rather than inspired, now had apologists for their conduct. The moral drift had become moral chaos.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century the undermentioned aspects of a changed social order have become evident. It is not within the province of this Committee to make an appraisal of the tenets implicit in any of them. Ecclesiastics may preach against the sins involved; opposition may arise to the philosophy of education; commercial and professional interests may inveigh against the inroads of the State, but this Committee is concerned only in their effects on the sexual behaviour of young people whose habits and characters are being affected. It is now necessary to examine them.
(1) Contraceptives
Perhaps the first major shock to "respectable" society regarding sex was when it became known, soon after the beginning of the First World War, that the Army authorities were distributing "condoms" to troops about to go on leave. Probably this was the first recognition by the New Zealand Government of contraceptives. This decision by the Army was accepted by society, not without misgivings, on the basis that it was much more important to guard against the spread of venereal disease than to endeavour to enforce continence among the troops. Society was obliged to choose between two evils, and it chose what it regarded as the lesser. Contraceptives thereafter came into common use, are now purchased by a majority of married couples, and by many unmarried persons. Their acceptance by the married has posed some problems which have required the attention of the Courts in England. It was not foreseen, when they came into use, that questions would arise as to the validity of certain marriages where one party used contraceptives to avoid having children.
The Committee has found a strong public demand that contraceptives should not be allowed to get into the hands of children and adolescents. Whatever views may be held concerning the use of contraceptives by older people (married or unmarried) no responsible father or mother would countenance their possession by their young sons and daughters.
The Committee is unanimous that adolescents should not buy or have contraceptives in their possession.
(2) The Broadening of the Divorce Laws
The subject of divorce was very fully discussed in the Houses of Parliament in England, in New Zealand, and elsewhere after the First World War.
If parents are unable to live happy lives together or to become reconciled after differences have arisen, the interests of the children may be improved, or may be worsened, by a legal separation or a divorce. Tension in the home may be just as big a factor in the causation of delinquency as a divorce or separation of the spouses.
Juvenile delinquency in all its forms is frequently associated with homes where the marriage is broken either by a divorce, separation, or discord. It is not so much the separation as the tension which precedes and succeeds it that results in children getting out of control.
The matter is noted here solely because, if parents cannot agree together, they are less likely to discharge their duties to their children. Greater is the responsibility which rests upon them in these unhappy circumstances. If parents are unwilling to shoulder the extra burden caused by the break-down of their marriage, some action by the State may be required if it seems likely that children may suffer.
(3) Pre-marital Relations
One aspect of the moral drift is the number of people who entertain the nebulous idea that it is somehow not wrong to have pre-marital relations or to live together as man and wife without marriage.
Such a view is opposed to all the ideas of chastity which are inherent in our morality. Apart from that, an irregular sex relationship may be psychologically[6] disadvantageous.
However much adults may desire a good moral standard to be observed by children and adolescents, they have no right to expect it unless they conform to proper moral standards themselves.
(4) "Self-expression" in Children
Early in this century psychologists said that the repressive influences of early discipline were stultifying to the development of the child. They advocated that the child's personality would mature better if uninhibited. This has been interpreted by many people to mean that you should not use corrective measures in the upbringing of children and that their natural impulses must not be suppressed. Some of these people have even thought it wrong to say "No" to a child.
People brought up in this way have now become parents. It is difficult for them to adopt an attitude to their children which does not go to extremes either way. As a revolt against their own upbringing, they are either too firm in their control or too lax. Children brought up in both of these ways have been featured in the case notes of delinquent children placed before the Committee.
(5) Materialistic Concepts in Society
Education, medical and hospital treatment, industrial insurance, sickness and age benefits, and other things are all provided by the State, when the need arises, without direct charge upon the individual. The virtues of thrift and self-denial have been disappearing. Incentive does not have the place in our economy which it used to have. The tendency has been to turn to the State for the supply of all material needs. By encouraging parents to rely upon the State their sense of responsibility for the upbringing of their children has been diminished. The adolescent of today has been born into a world where things temporal, such as money values and costs, are discussed much more than spiritual things. The weekly "child's allowance" is regarded by some children as their own perquisite from the benevolent Government.
The dangers inherent in this materialistic view is that many young people who could profit from further education do not feel a sufficient inducement to continue study. They leave school too soon, and the broadening influences which could come from further education in the daytime, or the evenings, is lost to them. In the result, these young people, having too much interest in material things, and not enough in the things of the mind and the spirit, become a potential source of trouble in the community.
One suggestion made to the Committee was that saving and thrift should be encouraged, or that this might be enforced through the Children's Court in cases where it is found that offenders have fallen into criminal immorality through having more money than suffices to pay the reasonable necessaries of life. While the powers of the Children's Court might be extended or used for this purpose in extreme cases where adolescents are brought before the Court, the best help can come from wise action by parents to prevent their powers of direction and control being undermined through young persons having too much freedom and too many of the material things which are not necessary for their well-being.
(1) History of the Law Regarding Morality
At no time in the history of the British Commonwealth have Parliaments or the law-courts endeavoured to impose a system or code of morality on the people. Men are not required by the governing powers to observe the moral law, any more than they are required to attend Divine worship. But Parliament, in the shaping of legislation, and the Judges in the administration of justice, have frequently had regard to that indefinable sense of right and wrong which becomes implanted in the human breast. Furthermore, the law, while not coercing any one into following a particular course of moral conduct, has, nevertheless, always been careful to restrain people from acting in such a way as may cause offence to those who do observe the principles of religion or of morality.
Offences against religion (for example, blasphemy and disturbing public worship), and offences against decency and morality (for example, indecent exposure, indecent publications, and prostitution) are strongly reprehended.
In determining what conduct on the part of an individual should be condemned the law has always endeavoured to maintain a balance between freedom of the individual and the rights of the community not to be harmed by the exercise of that freedom.
The law is not interested in sin, or even immorality, but it is vitally interested in the effects of them. A person may stay away from church, but he must not scoff at the Holy Scriptures. He may bathe in the nude, but not at a public beach or near where persons are passing. A human model may be posed for an artist, but must not be exhibited in a shop window.
One other feature of the law regarding morals is that there are some things which adults are not restrained from doing but which the law will not suffer to be done by minors. Common examples are found in the restraints which are imposed on children smoking, or entering upon premises open for "drinking" or betting.
Similarly, through reason and experience, the law has found it necessary to set some limits on the right of an individual to do what he likes with his own person. The community has an interest in the life of every citizen. More particularly may this be said to be so when the State spends much money on the education and health of the people. Suicide has always been wrongful; attempts at suicide are therefore punishable, partly because the State has an interest in maintaining human life, and partly because suicide is a result of sin and a breach of morality.
(2) Protection of Women and Girls from Defilement
At common law the woman was always regarded as the mistress of her own person. Consent was therefore a defence to a charge of rape. The Legislature subsequently interfered for the good of society and in the interests of morality by legislating against abortion, against soliciting for the purpose of prostitution, against the keeping of brothels, and against procuration for the purpose of carnal knowledge.
The next development of consequence in the law on this matter was in the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 (England). This statute, which was subsequently followed in New Zealand, made it a criminal offence to have carnal knowledge of girls. The penalties were graded according to the ages of the girls involved.
As an indication of the seriousness with which the law, by successive stages, has regarded sexual offences it is convenient here to summarize the penalties set out in sections 212 et seq. of the Crimes Act (N.Z.).