Read Ebook: Report of the Juvenile Delinquency Committee by Algie R M Ronald Macmillan

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"This comment is true. The position has arisen because of the practical difficulties of having the work carried out by specially appointed Magistrates. The volume of work involved could justify the appointment of only a few such Magistrates, and, because of the geographical spread of the work, they could not handle it expeditiously."

On this point we have no recommendations to make. We feel that the best possible results are being secured by the Magistrates having regard to their numbers and to the conditions under which they work.

The Mazengarb Committee felt that it was a pity that proceedings in the Children's Court were not conducted in a separate and distinct building. It should at least be possible, said the report, to hear and determine the cases in a room other than the ordinary Court room of a Magistrate's Court. This was rather in the nature of a counsel of perfection. In less-densely populated districts it would not be easy or economic to provide separate accommodation of the kind envisaged. In larger and busier centres it was often necessary to study the convenience of the Magistrates themselves. The present Committee has no specific recommendation to make in this connection.

The best that can be done is in fact being done.

On the subject of the publicity to be given to proceedings in the Children's Court the Mazengarb Committee said:

"There may be reasons why a Children's Court should be open to the public ... The public has a right to know how child offenders have been dealt with. The Committee does not recommend any alteration in the provision prohibiting the publication of the name of any child, or of any name or particulars likely to lead to identification. Subject to this, it is desirable that reporters should be allowed to attend."

With these views we find ourselves to be in complete agreement.

The Mazengarb Committee appeared to hold the view that when children have been placed under supervision there was no adequate "follow up" procedure.

The following is Dr Beeby's comment upon this paragraph:

"It is a little difficult to see just what the Committee are suggesting in this paragraph. If they are proposing that a Child Welfare Officer be required to report progress to a Magistrate for his personal information and to enable him to check on the correctness of his judgment, there can be no possible objection. When asked for, indeed, this is already done. If, on the other hand, it is proposed that the Magistrate have continuing authority over the child, then it would turn the Court into a social work agency and would run counter to the whole trend in the development of Children's Court and child welfare work from the beginning of this century. The Magistrate would be compelled to take on responsibilities for which he is not trained, and Child Welfare Officers would tend to become merely junior probation officers attached to the Court. One of the advantages of the present system is that the Superintendent, being the final authority, can ensure uniform standards of case work throughout New Zealand. If it were left to each individual Magistrate to decide exactly what should be done with children, it is certain that wide variations in principles and procedures would occur. Experience has shown, for example, that some Magistrates, with no first-hand knowledge of our institutions, would send to them children for whom they are not established to cater.

"With regard to the Committee's suggestion that there 'should be some person or body apart from the departmental officers to whom a child could turn for help ...', we would agree that something like the Visiting Justice system of the Justice Department might apply to our institutions as a guarantee to the public and as a protection to both children and officers. However, to extend such a system to children boarded out in private homes would be to ask for endless trouble. People would be loath to accept State wards into their homes if it laid them open to official visits from laymen whose sole function was to hear complaints from the children. The visits of Child Welfare Officers and of Inspectors of the Division must, we feel, be accepted as the main guarantee to the public of fair treatment."

Without expressing any decided opinion, the Committee felt that what the Director of Education has to say is worthy of consideration by Government.

Certain Specific Changes Proposed by the Mazengarb Committee

In clause on pages 60 to 63, both inclusive, of the report the Mazengarb Committee recommended that certain specific changes be made as soon as possible in the legislation relating to proceedings in the Children's Court. It was our duty to examine and report upon each of these suggestions. Our comments are as follow:

Both of these recommendations have been given effect to, and they are provided for in the legislation enacted late in the session of 1954.

We agree with this recommendation, and we understand that the necessary provision has already been written into a new Child Welfare Bill which is in course of preparation.

This proposal has already been given effect to by administrative direction. We feel that legislation on this point will not be necessary.

In normal practice the Child Welfare Officer does take a head teacher into his confidence when placing a child in his school district and actively seeks his co-operation. There are odd cases, however, where it may be thought that an individual head teacher should not be given, in the words of the report, all "the circumstances which led to the delinquency". This would be a very rare occurrence, but the statutory obligation to tell everything he knew on every occasion might prevent the Child Welfare Officer's taking steps he believed to be in the best interests of all concerned. The best results, we feel, will come from wise administrative action and from a general improvement in the mutual understanding between teachers and Child Welfare Officers.

The Committee felt that when information of this nature was passed on to a Headmaster it should be treated as confidential. We feel strongly that any child should always have a full opportunity of repentance and of re-establishing his character, and where a child showed that definite improvement had been made by him his chances of rehabilitation should not be prejudiced by the fact of his earlier breach.

A complete redraft of the Act is now in course of preparation.

Further comments on paragraph above were made by Dr Beeby. They are as follow:

"We think that the right of appeal from the decisions of the Children's Courts might be usefully made explicit in the Child Welfare Act. We agree also that it might be well to provide for the right of appeal against the Superintendent in certain circumstances. If the system is to be workable and not brought to a standstill by a mass of frivolous appeals, it will be necessary to restrict the right of appeal. If an appeal were to lie every time the Superintendent shifted a ward of State, the proceedings would be endless. The only appeal, we think, should be one to have a child discharged from the care of the Superintendent. Serious complaints of ill treatment could be aired in this way. We are not able to suggest, off-hand, exactly what the restrictions should be, and very full discussions between Child Welfare authorities and legal authorities would be necessary as a preliminary to effective legislation on the point."

Little, if anything, appeared in the Mazengarb Committee's report to justify us in thinking that a right of appeal of the kind suggested should be provided. The Committee express the hope that a step of this kind should not be taken unless sound reasons were advanced for taking it.

Summary of Proposals for Administrative Action

In its report at pages 67 and 68 the Mazengarb Committee set out a number of proposals which in its view could be met by appropriate action on the part of the Departments mentioned by the Committee. The suggestions made have been considered by the Departments, and we give below a statement of the extent to which the suggestions have been carried into effect.

Police Department

It was suggested that the training of policewomen should be considered with a view to deciding the best method of dealing with girls involved in sexual offences.

For the information of Parliament we set out below a few excerpts from a report prepared in the Police Department and sent to us by the Minister of Police. The excerpts are to the following effect:

"The minimum educational qualities required are secondary school .

"Policewomen are not required for clerical or administrative duties, therefore importance is not attached to ability to perform office work, typing, or shorthand writing.

"Recruits chosen with due regard to the foregoing are required to undergo a course extending over five weeks in the Police School at Lyttelton. They are coached in subjects relating to statutes, general police duties, powers and responsibilities of the police, methods of dealing with various contingencies with which they may be faced when on duty, relations with and bearing towards the general public, first-aid, and self-defence. In short, this course is similar in character to that undergone by male recruits to the Force.

"Women recruits are instructed by a pathologist in matters pertaining to pregnancy, abortion, and the identification of abortion instruments and drugs. They receive instruction in maternity hospitals, with special reference to the unmarried mother. Children's homes, orphanages, and also homes for the aged are visited and studied with a view to creating a solid background for the policewomen's work.

"With the co-operation of the Justice Department women trainees visit prisons and borstal institutions. They also attend and study procedure at Magistrates' and Supreme Courts. The workings of the probation service and Child Welfare Department are also the subject of visits and study.

"The training course of five weeks is shorter than that for men, but women recruits appear to absorb instruction more quickly and less time is devoted to physical training.

"It is felt the present training syllabus coupled with the practical experience which rapidly follows is adequate and that each policewoman is capable of dealing with the problem of the girl who has been involved in sexual offences.

"The Police Department appreciates that if increased numerically and used more generally policewomen may be a great factor in the prevention of juvenile delinquency, provided that through their frequent association with children, both in the company of their parents and at all grades of school, they become accepted by these young persons from infancy. The help and guidance of women police could be sought on grounds similar to those of the school dental nurse who in her particular sphere is banishing the fear of dental treatment. It is felt a similar approach to the child's moral welfare is worthy of consideration."

It is a fact that within recent weeks steps have been taken by the Government to establish and operate an improved system of training for recruits for the Police Force. We had no information before us as to the nature of the course or the length of the training period: nor do we know whether a specific course of training will be prescribed for women recruits. We feel, however, that it is a fair assumption that a sounder, more thorough, and more systematic system is about to be put into operation. We feel, too, that with the increased emphasis about to be laid upon training, it can safely be taken for granted that every effort has been, and will continue to be, made to give effect to the suggestions of the Mazengarb Committee.

Department of Internal Affairs

It was a recommendation of the Mazengarb Committee that steps should be taken to gazette the outstanding regulations authorized under the relevant film censorship Acts of 1934 and 1953.

A report received from the Department of Internal Affairs contains the information set out below:

"It could be assumed from the terms of the recommendation that no regulations are at present in force governing the censorship of films and film posters. This, however, is not the case, as appropriate regulations have been in operation for many years. What is now contemplated is a revision of the existing regulations to take account of later legislation and to modernise them in the light of new developments and policies relating to this aspect of the film industry.

"In particular, the Cinematograph Films Amendment Act 1953 made fairly extensive amendments to existing law relating to censorship, and this in turn has led to the necessity for a completely new approach to certain policy and machinery aspects of the existing regulations. For these reasons, and as the film industry is a licensed and controlled industry, the Committee will understand that it has not been possible, or even perhaps desirable, to progress as speedily as would be the case with other regulations of a more normal character.

"For the information of your Committee the general position now is that the regulations are in a final stage of preparation and will be submitted for Government approval as soon as practicable."

We have been advised that quite recently a final draft of the regulations was forwarded to the Film Industry Board for consideration. We were told, too, that conferences are being held between officers of the Department of Internal Affairs on the one hand and members of the Film Industry Board on the other. It is expected that at the conclusion of such conferences an agreed draft will be sent forward to the Government.

Broadcasting Service

Two recommendations were before us for our consideration:

"That the Service ensure that the concept 'Crime must never pay' is more prominently featured in crime serials; and

"That a married woman be immediately appointed to the auditioning panel."

In its report to us the Broadcasting Service says:

"As regards , the Service has always attached great importance to this principle. We can let feature producers know that we attach greater importance to it than ever; but we cannot make it more explicit or more prominent in a feature than the producers have.

"As regards , this extends a practice in accordance with which, since 1952, one or another of the senior women officers of the Service has been used as a referee, when auditioning officers have been in doubt about the proper classification and placement of features.

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