Burgess, E. W.

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Northwestern University Illinois, School of Law: Scholarly Commons

Journal of Criminal Law and CriminologyVolume 6 | Issue 5 Article 111916Juvenile Delinquency in a Small CityE. W. BurgessFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclcPart of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and CriminalJustice CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons.Recommended CitationE. W. Burgess, Juvenile Delinquency in a Small City, 6 J. Am. Inst. Crim. L. & Criminology 724 (May 1915 to March 1916)JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IN A SMALL CITY.E. W. BURGESS.'Numerous studies have been made of juvenile delinquency anddependency in the cities. The small city and the town have beenoverlooked. Yet the problems of child development are present inthe smaller community, and are even more difficult of solution, be-cause of the survival of the traditional point of view, and because ofthe absence of the trained social worker. The difficulty is increasedrather than diminished by the fact that institutions, such as the Ju-venile Court, which were developed to meet city needs, are trans-ferred to the country unmodified with reference to a widely differentsituation.The following study is a fragmentary one. Not enough casesare included to give it statistical value for the making of generali-zations. But it does have a value as a pioneer attempt to indicatethe main facts in the situation of child delinquency and dependencyin a small city of 12,000 inhabitants in a rural state. With this endin view a study2 was made of juvenile delinquents and dependents fora two-year period beginning May 1, 1912, and ending April 30, 1914.During this time fifty-two children were brought into the JuvenileCourt.The facts of age, sex and race stood out at once. The majorityof the children were in the age group from eleven to sixteen. Therewere only twelve children between the ages of five and ten, and butsix boys and girls under five years. Thirty-two boys and but twentygirls were brought before the juvenile judge. The proportion of delin-quency was higher among the colored than among the white children.A detailed analysis of the less obvious facts such as residence,nature of delinquency, and disposition of the cases will lead us closerto the underlying factors in the situation. A study of the residenceof delinquent and dependent boys and girls brought out a strikingdifference in proportion of delinquents and dependents from the dif-ferent wards. The following table gives us. a classification of chil-dren by sex and race according to residence in the various wards:'Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.2Miss Eleanor Myers, a student in the Department of Sociology in theUniversity of. Kansas, gave valuable assistance in the collection and tabulationof the data presented here.JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 725TABLE I.Number of Children Appearing in the Juvenile Court, Classified by Ward, Sexand Race, with Percentages of Delinquents and Dependents Basedon Entire Juvenile Population.Per cent of totalNumber in no. of childrenBoys Girls age-group in the city inWard White Colored White Colored Total 5-16 age-group 5-16I. 11 2 2 (1) 2 17 (1) 16 2.82II. 2 2 0 0 4 4 0.82III. 3 1 4 0 8 88 1.55IV. 7 (2) 1 5 (1) 3 16 (3) 13 8.36V. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00VI. 2 0 2 (1) 1 (1) 5 (2) 3 1.44Transient 1 1 2 2Total 26 (2) 6 14 (3) 6 (1) 52 (6) 46 2.13NOE: Figures in parentheses indicate number of boys or girls in eachgroup who were under five years of age.The statistical method used here of computing the percentagesof the delinquent juvenile groups upon the basis of the total popula-tion comprised in the juvenile group in question seemed to the writerto be the only fair method. By juvenile age group we mean the to-tal number of children in the city of the ages from 5 to 16 years in-clusive. By percentage number we denote the proportion of delin-quents to the particular age group.The groupings by sex and race show certain significant things.The colored boys lead in delinquency with a percentage number of4.22, followed by the colored girls with a percentage number of 2.63,followed by the white boys with a percentage number of 2.59, withthe white girls last with a percentage number of 1.24. As indicatedhere the difference between the sexes is somewhat more striking thanthe difference between the races. As to sex, the percentage numbersare 2.78 for the boys, both colored and white, and 1.48 for the col-ored and white girls. -For race, we have a percentage number of1.92 in the case of the white children as compared with a percentagenumber of 3.28 for the colored boys and girls. These ratios indicatethe favorable position of the white girl: she is relatively one-halfas likely to find her way into the Juvenile Court as her brother or hercolored girl neighbor.More significant than color or sex was the question of residence.In the fourth ward, for example, one out of every twelve childrenfive years and over but under seventeen years old, appeared beforethe Juvenile Judge. If this proportion should be maintained through-out a twelve-year period (corresponding to the life of the child from5 to 16 years in the juvenile age-group), and if there were no "repeat-ers" during this time, one-half of all the children in the fourth wardwould have appeared in the Juvenile Court. The fact that the pro-E. W. BURGESSportion of juvenile delinquents from this ward is more than threetimes as large as that from any other ward gives us a clue to the -causesof the situation. The race factor is not the chief one, because three-fourths of the juvenile delinquents from this ward are white. Be-sides, the proportion of juvenile delinquency is low in the fifth andsixth wards where the proportion of negroes to whites is the highestin the city. The fundamental cause is the low grade home environ-ment which tends to the demoralization of the child. The bad hous-ing conditions of the city are concentrated in the fourth ward. Pov-erty is present in the homes and finds expression in the stunted growthand undernourished bodies of the school children from this ward.This is the one ward within the city which has within its borders nochurch, nor school, nor playground. The report of the health super-vision of school children showed that only one-eighth of the pupils inthe school attended by the children from this ward were vaccinated.The business street which forms its western boundary has a distractingand quite demoralizing influence upon the children. A study, of thesefacts demonstrates the necessity for conscious community action tosave the child. Would the supervised playground here as in the citybe the social prophylactic for juvenile delinquency?A comparison of conditions in the fourth ward with wards fiveand six exhibits the influence of geography upon child development.The economic condition of the inhabitants of these wards differs butlittle from the ward studied above. Indeed, the proportion of negroesis greater here. Yet the fifth and sixth wards have an extremely lowjuvenile delinquency rate. Two geographical factors enter into thisresult.The first one is the semi-rural character of the dwellings in thesewards as compared with the housing in the fourth ward. The secondgeographical fact is the difference in proximity to the busifiess street.In the rural settlement north of the river the life of the child isnot distracted by the "call of the street." He is still responsive to the"call of the wild" in a situation where impulsive response does notlead to juvenile delinquency. The excess then of juvenile delinquencyin the fourth ward appears to be due to the play impulse gone wrongbecause of the difference, not in the children, but in the geographicallocation.A study of residence revealed the influence of the home, the neigh-borhood and the geographic environment. An analysis of the natureof the delinquency enables us to obtain a clear insight into the difficul-ties in the situation. The following table offers us this opportunity:JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 7L'7TABLE II.Cause of Appearance in the Juvenile Court.Boys GirlsDependent and Neglected 6 13Theft 11 0Incorrigible and Immoral 2 6Disturbing the Peace 6 1Trespassing 4 0Defacing Property 2 - 0Cigarette Smoking 1 032 20This table exhibits the influence of sex differences in the child'sadaptation to the community. Dependency and neglect appear to ac-count for the presence of two-thirds of the girls in the Juvenile Court.The remaining third of the girls, where the complaint is incorrigibilityor immorality constitute a more serious problem. But how differentis the situation With the boys! Only one-fifth are dependent or neg-lected, while three-fourths of them are charged with undesirable motoractivity, such as offenses against property and the like. This studyshows the need of organized recreation to direct the activity of the boy.Otherwise the active life of the boy is likely to develop those vagrantand lawless tendencies which lead into the Juvenile Court, thence tothe Boys' Industrial School and perhaps finally to the State Reform-atory and Penitentiary. The small community needs a playground asmuch as a large city.The work of the Juvenile Court as an institution, however, canbe fairly studied only in the disposition of cases and the life-historyof its wards. The wisdom of the Juvenile Judge has been shown inthe fact that only twelve of the fifty-two individuals have been sen-tenced to the State Industrial School, and in the case of three of thesesentence was suspended. Six children have been sent to the children'shome and five have been adopted. The remainder have been put onprobation. Experience has taught the judge of this court that the boyor girl should be sent to the state industrial schools only as a lastresort.In counties contiining but small population, the Juvenile Courtfunctions under grave limitations. The Juvenile Judge is elected asProbate Judge and the work of the Juvenile Court tends to become aby-activity with him both in office and when running for office. Then,too, the Juvenile Judge in the rural county faces conditions similar tothose.in the city, but without adequate means for meeting them. Forexample, in the small as well as the large community, a close correla-tion exists in a large proportion of the cases between feeble-minded-ness and juvenile delinquency. But in the town and village there areno facilities for mental examination and no ungraded rooms in the pub-728 E. W. BURGESSlic school for the mentally deficient. The compensation for the proba-tion officer is so inadequate that only incompetent service is likely to besecured.The problems of juvenile delinquency, then, in the town or smallcity appear to be as real and pressing as those of the large city. Theagencies, transplanted from the large community, have, however, notas yet become adapted to the changed environment. The situationchallenges the attention, interest and effort of the friends of the child.We need a constructive program for the promotion of the welfare otchildren in our smaller as well as in our larger communities.

Juvenile Delinquency in a Small City

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Juvenile Delinquency in a Small City

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