Juvenile Delinquency V

Juvenile Delinquency V

Last summer Judge Samuel Liebowitz of the Brooklyn i Juvenile Court made a pilgrimage to Rome. The occasion \ for his trip was not to study Roman culturg of Caesar’s time, nor the wondeTs of Italian Rennaissance. Judge Liel?witz went to^Rbme. to study the modern Roman .and his 5 family, attempt to discoyer the reasons for a startling condition juvenile delinquency, so terrifying in America, is almost unknown in Rome. In due course Mr. Leibowitz returned to America and made known the resuJ^Tof his labor through a well paying syndicated weekly magazine. Concluded Judge Leibowitz," Romans do"not have juvenile delinquency because papa is still‘the head of the fa mil The chain of command is accepted. without question, and consequently, without com-i plex-causing strife. On the'other hand the good Judge says,1 in America mama contends with papa for soverignty, there is strife,; and the child’s feeling of confidence and security is lost. While we hesitate to question Mr. Leibowitz’s judge-' ment, our recollection of an average Roman family does wiot jibe with the picture he draws. We recall the countless jjeavy set matrons with restless eyes, who sat anchored ’firmly to sidewalk chairs, telling.papa whether or not he might have one more bottle of wine, and we recall the the countless carefree papas who obeyed mama but only so long as they were within range of those restless eyes.

Secondly, and far more important, even if Roman families tended to be more patriarchal in nature than ours, and even if it could be shown there is less delinuency m families of * patriarchal nature, Judge Leibowitz’s analysis id an ab&urd oversimplication of a complex problem. We cannot believe that this week in New York City, Roman Serra of the Crowns cut down 17-yers old Michael “Pee Wee” Ramos of the Kingsmen, with a sawed-off shot, gun simply because Ramon’s mama ruled the roost and papa Serra resented it, thereby upsetting lUmon. Juvenile delinquency is too complicated a problem for such a five

miWetepar”«„<!tr.*Vro"em without . solution. Certainly we

have no answer to the whys and wherefores of juvenile delinquency. But of this we are pursuaded; the 11-yearold boy who drove his tractor and wagon down Route 231 last Saturday afternoon, rode alone. He drove that tractor with a sense of responsibility and accomplishment. Like a man, he knew where he belonged and he knew what his job was. When he came to a side road, he gave a proper signal with his arm and disappeared from sight. He drove alone and the spectre of juvenile delinquency had no room on the seat beside "him. - ^ BCBjr