Sullenger, T. Earl

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Journal of Criminal Law and CriminologyVolume 24Issue 6 March-April Article 8Spring 1934Juvenile Delinquency a Product of the HomeT. Earl SullengerFollow 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 CitationT. Earl Sullenger, Juvenile Delinquency a Product of the Home, 24 Am. Inst. Crim. L. & Criminology 1088 (1933-1934)JUVENILE DELINQUENCY A PRODUCT OFTHE HOMET. EARL SULLENGER'That basic and most essential unit of social organization, thefamily, has been carefully studied by many authorities, all of whomhave agreed that in it lie tremendous forces which determine thebehavior of youth. McDougall says, "The stability of the familyis the prime condition of a healthy state of society and of the sta-bility of every community. ' ' 2 The family is the prime determiner ofsocial behavior. From it comes youth indelibly stamped with highideals and noble aspirations, or with low, vile, anti-social attitudestoward life. At present the family is undergoing a transition whichis a period of adjustment. Ross says that the family is less stablethan it has been at any time since the beginning of the ChristianEra. Society and the child have to pay the penalty for this insta-bility. Divorce has rapidly increased, which is one criterion of socialdisorder. -Out of this situation comes much of our juvenile delin-quency. In this discussion we hope to point out a few of the mostpotent factors in the home which are determinants of juveniledelinquency.The child has the inherent right to have a home with parentsliving together harmoniously; a home which has reasonable com-forts, enough wholesome food for nourishment and growth, and sur-rounded by opportunities for the healthy development of the physicalbody. Loving but not over-indulgent parents have much to do inmaking a family stable. A child who fails to experience the warmthof love and sympathy or who has his efforts toward self-expressionsconstantly checked is likely to produce behavior problems. Manycases show that where these legitimate satisfactions are not met inthe home the child is prematurely driven to the streets or otheroutlets are resorted to, such as excessive day dreaming, timidity,temper tantrums, lying, stealing, running away, setting fires and thelike.We find that delinquency cannot be explained in terms of any'Professor of Sociology in the Municipal University of Omaha, Nebraska.2Social Psychology, p. 268. Quoted by Ellwood in "Instability of theFamily as a Cause of Child Dependency and Juvenile Delinquency," Survey,24:886-9. September 24, 1913.[1088]JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 1089one or a few causative factors. It is a by-product of a vast numberof minute social responses which most frequently originate in thehome. In it we have interplay of emotions, personality and socialexperience, which closely touch the child. In the rich homes aswell as in the poor ones we find behavior problems, but not sonumerous.The lack of knowledge of child training and care on the partof the family is appalling. We found this ignorance not confinedto the busy mother of the lower economic stratum. Miriam VanWaters, in speaking of conditions in the family which contribute todelinquency, says, "The fact is, delinquent children are very oftenunwanted children. The only child, pampered, spoiled, over-indulgedand sheltered, frequently becomes delinquent because his parentsare too engrossed in personal ambitions, careers of business or otherabsorbing occupations to be really interested in a child."8In this study we have not attempted to analyze in detail thesubtler features of family life, parental attitudes, methods of disci-pline, and emotional relationships between the children, all of whichfeatures are very important. We found in many instances childrenwho had been confronted from infancy with drunkenness, immoral-ity, obscene and vulgar language, and poor living conditions. Forexample, in 125 cases in Omaha in which we obtained data on theenvironmental conditions in the home, in 20 cases, or 16 per cent,the father had been before the court for some misdemeanor. In22 cases, or 17.6 per cent, other children of the family had beenbefore the juvenile court, and in eight cases, or 6.2 per cent, themother had been arrested for some offefise. From these same cases37 homes, or 29.6 per cent, were rated as fair; 26, or 20.8 per cent,as good, and 62, or 49.6 per cent, as poor. Among our observationswe found such conditions as insanity, chronic illness, epilepsy, drunk-enness, over-bearing and cruel father, theft, no privacy, over-crowded-ness, immoral mother, illegitimacy, no apparent affection for the chil-dren, abusive parents, making and selling intoxicants, harboringwomen in the home for immoral purposes, uncalled-for begging,and just ordinary shiftlessness. Drunkenness and the factors thatgo with it were present in about one-fourth of the cases. In Col-umbia 24, or 32 per cent, had either father or mother or both withcriminal records. Summarizing, we find that 39.8 per cent in Omahahad offenders in their immediate families. Such homes are breedingplaces for delinquents and criminals. How can we expect children3"Uvwanted-and Delinquent," Survey, 54:228.1090 T. EARL SULLENGERto behave when their parents misbehave?4 Impressions which cannever be entirely eradicated are made on the plastic minds. Veryoften in the individual delinquents who commit the graver offensesof personal assault, serious property damage, theft and the like, onefinds a basic feeling of antagonism toward authority and a profounddistrust in it. The family background of such offenders is nearlyalways tense with hatred and mutual suspicion. As the childrenbecome old enough, there is a strong tendency for them to adoptsome means of defense or some way to secure recognition in thecommunity.The family performs a vital function in the social order. Whenit is broken in any way or rendered insufficient by estrangement,it cannot properly perform its function. The result is apparent inthe lives of the children. Burt's study in London showed that 60per cent of 200 delinquents were handicapped by broken homes.,We found that of the 1,145 cases in Omaha 50.7 per cent came frombroken homes. Homes are broken in many ways, the most tragicof which are the death of one parent or both, desertion or separation,and divorce.In a previous study by the author, of 1,415 cases of divorce, itwas found that in 37.7 per cent there was one child or more. "Themere divorcing of two individuals does not present a very disastrousconsequence as far as society is concerned, but the effect upon thelives of the children is far reaching and often wrought with moraldisaster. The children are not only denied wholesome homes andfamily life, but the love and respect of one parent or both is lost.The child's whole outlook upon life has changed. The childrenvery often fail to understand what it is all about; yet at the sametime they are keenly aware that something vital and terrible istaking place in their lives. A great percentage of the juvenile courtcases are children of divorced parents. Our high school principalstell us that their most difficult problems are caused by children ofdivorced parents. The children's injury cannot be measured; it mayeven extend to several generations."The following tables show the distribution of normal parentalconditions (both parents alive and living at home) and abnormalconditions:4 Compare with Bedford, "How Can Children Behave if Parents Misbe-have?" JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW, XVIII:568.5Sullenger, "A Study of Divorce and Its Causation in Douglas County,Nebraska." University of Omaha Bulletin, Vol. II, No. 2, 1927.JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 1091TABLE IaHoME AND PARENTAL CONDrnIONS OF 1145 DELINQUENT CHILDREN INOMAHA, 1922-1927-Total- -Boys- - Girls-No. Per Cent No. Per Cent No. Per CentTotal number of cases ....... 1,145 100.0 808 100.0 337 100.0Number from normal homes.. 564 49.3 443 54.8 121 35.9Number from broken homes.. 581 50.7 365 45.2 216 64.1TABLE IbHoME CONDITIONS OF 581 DELINQUENT CHILDREN FROM BROKEN HoMESIN OMAHA, 1922-1927Total- -Boys- -Girls-No. Per Cent No. Per Cent No. Per CentTotal number of cases ......... 581 100.0 365 100.0 216 100.0Father dead .................. 120 20.6 78 22.3 42 19.4Mother dead .................. 91 15.6 59 16.7 32 14.8Both parents dead ............. 32 5.6 20 5.5 12 5.5Step-father ................ 115 19.8 72 19.7 43 19.9Step-mother ................. 37 6.3 26 7.2 11 5.0Parents separated .............. 49 8.8 33 9.1 16 7.5Parents divorced ............. 104 18.2 65 17.8 39 18.1Father deserted ............... 15 2.5 6 1.6 9 4.2Foster parents ................ 8 1.4 2 .6 6 2.9Two step-parents .............. 1 .1 1 .2 0 0Guardian ...................... 1 .1 0 0 1 .4Living with grand-parents ...... 1 .1 1 .2 0 0Other conditions .............. 6 1.0 2 .6 4 1.9As we examine the data given in Table I we see that 50.7 percent of the 1,145 delinquents came from broken homes.6 Eighthundred and eight, or 70 per cent of the total number of delinquentswere boys, and of this number 365, or 45.1 per cent, were frombroken fiomes. In comparison we see that of the 337 girls, 216, or64.1 per cent, were from broken homes, and 121, or 35.9 per cent,from normal homes. Thus a greater frequency of abnormal par-ental conditions is found as a causative factor of delinquency amonggirls than among boys. This is in accord with other studies in thisfield.7 The reason for this situation is no doubt found in part in thenature of the two sexes, and to the fact that the boy is subjectedto a wider range of environmental influences, and also to a differentset of social standards.6Shidler estimates that 19.3 per cent of the child population are frombroken homes. The census data on this subject are not available. Shidler'sestimate, if correct, would indicate that broken homes produce delinquents 2.6times as frequently as chance distribution would lead us to anticipate.--"Fam-ily Disintegration and the Delinquent Boy in the U. S.," American Institute ofCriminal Law and Criminology, VIII :709-732.7Cf. Bushong, "Family *Estrangement and Juvenile Delinquency," SocialForces, V:7Q.T. EARL SULLENGERDeath of the father is tragic to the behavior of both boys andgirls. The greatest number of delinquent boys from broken homeshad lost their fathers. It was almost as serious for the girls ashaving a stepfather. This appears to be an overlapping, but we werecareful to see that very few, if any, were duplicated. The conditionsas shown in the table was the status at the time the cases were beforethe court. In Omaha, 120, or 20.6 per cent, of the cases from brokenhomes were without the guidance of a father. Loss of the motherwas not reflected so strongly in the behavior problems of either boysor girls. A stepfather is also a prominent factor in causing delin-quency among boys. In most cases the stepfather and the step-children are antagonistic toward one another.9 Friction easily arises,and thus lack of sympathetic coordination results. The total rateof delinquent cases having stepfathers was 29.8 per cent. Homesbroken by divorce furnished the next highest number of delinquents.In Omaha 17.8 per cent of the boys and 18.1 per cent of the girls,or a total of 35.9 per cent, were from such homes. Desertion ofthe father was nearly three times as great among the girls as amongthe boys. Otherwise, as Table I shows, the parental condition seemedto have about the same influence on the behavior of the sexes.In concluding this discussion, we may well say with Healy andBronner in speaking of the influence of the home, "Where to placea large measure of responsibility, where to direct a strong attack intreatment and for prevention of delinquency, stands out with strik-ing clearness."9 The modern home, as we have seen, too frequentlybecomes a breeding place for the criminals of tomorrow. Its sta-bility is at stake. Maladjustments and disintegration are expensive.It behooves society to remedy this condition and thus remove oneof the chief groups of determinants in juvenile delinquency.8The fact that the step-father figures as a factor in delinquency to agreater extent than the step-mother may be due in part at least to a differencein tendency to bring children by former marriages into the new domestic situa-tion. In the interval between the prior and a subsequent marriage the fathertends to make arrangements for the care of his children apart from himselfand to continue such arrangement after remarriage, while the mother tends toremain with her children during the interval between marriages and to brinher children with her into the new home. Thus men to a greater extent findthemselves encumbered with undesired step-children, who become a source offamily discord. The extent of this tendency, however, cannot as yet be meas-tired statistically because of a lack of adequate data.9Delinquents and Criminals, Their Making and Unmaking, p. 129.

Juvenile Delinquency a Product of the Home

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Juvenile Delinquency a Product of the Home

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