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FACT SHEET ON JUVENILE DELINQUENC Sixth Printing T H E P R O B L E M W h a t c a n a concerned citizen do about the prob-l e m of juveni le del inquency? M a n y people have asked that question. M e m b e r s of the P u b l i c Af fa i rs Study Committee of the J u n i o r Leagues of T e x a s attempted to f ind some answers. W o r k i n g w i t h staff members of the N a t i o n a l C o u n c i l on C r i m e a n d Del inquency , C h i l d W e l f a r e D i v i s i o n of the T e x a s D e p a r t m e n t of P u b l i c W e l f a r e , the B o a r d of P a r d o n a n d P a -roles, a n d the Office of M e n t a l H e a l t h P l a n n i n g , they visited a n d obtained informat ion f r o m 2 0 6 of T e x a s ' 2 5 4 counties, containing 8 8 . 3 per cent of the population of T e x a s . T h e s e interviewers learned that facilities v a r y greatly throughout the State of T e x a s . F r o m the study eight recommendations emerged. T H E R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S 1 . E a c h local l a w enforcement agency should have either a juveni le bureau or division com-posed as nearly as possible of five per cent of the force or should have one or more officers or dep-uties to handle cases i n v o l v i n g juveniles. 2. Probat ion services, w i t h sufficient qualif ied staff, should be made avai lable to each county i n the state. 3 . Spec ia l detention facilities, not ja i l s , should be developed for those chi ldren w h o must be tem-porari ly removed f r o m the community . 4 . E a c h juveni le court judge should d e m a n d thor-ough screening of every c h i l d prior to detention to insure that no c h i l d is detained illegally or u n -necessarily. 5 . T r a i n i n g programs should be developed at the state level for persons w o r k i n g w i t h delinquent chi ldren, i n c l u d i n g juveni le court judges, proba-t ion, parole, a n d l a w enforcement officers, deten-tion a n d inst i tutional personnel, a n d other related personnel. 6 . J u r i s d i c t i o n of del inquency cases should be placed i n the district court or a division of the dis-tr ict court. 7. T h e state should develop a u n i f o r m system for the collection of a l l necessary statistics relat ing to delinquency f r o m each of the 2 5 4 counties. 8 . A state committee should be appointed by the G o v e r n o r to coordinate a l l p lanning , leadership, a n d services w h i c h contribute to the prevention, control, a n d treatment of delinquency. T h i s com-mittee could determine w h a t is needed a n d i n i -tiate the required act ion. T H E H O P E D y n a m i c concern of interested T e x a n s c a n help to implement the eight recommendations. I m p r o v e d facilities c a n be provided. Prevent ive attention can be given. R e h a b i l i t a t i o n services c a n be improved. H o p e for the future lies w i t h each person w h o wants to do something about the problem of j u -venile delinquency. Prepared by the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, The University of Texas, for the Public Affairs Study Comnnittee of the Junior Leagues of Texas. For a more comprehensive report of the problem, read Chance for a Life, published by the Hogg Foundation and based on the findings of the sur-vey. 1965 

Fact Sheet on Juvenile Delinquency

https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/2152/72780/2/1965-Fact%20Sheet.pdf

Fact Sheet on Juvenile Delinquency

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