United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Related e

Wikipedia Wiktionary Shop Featured: Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

The United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency was established by the United States Senate in 1953 to investigate the problem of juvenile delinquency.

Background

The subcommittee was a unit of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee and was created by a motion of Senator Robert Hendrickson, a Republican from New Jersey. Its initial budget was $44,000. The first members of the subcommittee consisted of Senator Hendrickson, and Senators Estes Kefauver (Democrat from Tennessee), Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. (Democrat from Missouri), and William Langer (Republican from North Dakota). Senator Hendrickson was initially the chair of the committee but was later replaced as chair by Senator Kefauver.

1954 comic book hearings

The public hearings took place on April 21, 22, and June 4, 1954, in New York. They focused on particularly graphic "crime and horror" comic books of the day, and their potential impact on juvenile delinquency. When publisher William Gaines contended that he sold only comic books of good taste, Kefauver entered into evidence one of Gaines' comics (Crime SuspenStories #22 [April-May 1954]), which showed a dismembered woman's head on its cover. The exchange between Gaines and Kefauver led to a front-page story in The New York Times the following day.

Chief Counsel Herbert Beaser asked: "Then you think a child cannot in any way, shape, or manner, be hurt by anything that the child reads or sees?"

William Gaines responded: "I do not believe so."

Beaser: "There would be no limit, actually, to what you'd put in the magazines?"

Gaines: "Only within the bounds of good taste."

Sen. Kefauver: "Here is your May issue. This seems to be a man with a bloody ax holding a woman's head up which has been severed from her body. Do you think that's in good taste?"

Gaines: "Yes sir, I do — for the cover of a horror comic. A cover in bad taste, for example, might be defined as holding her head a little higher so that blood could be seen dripping from it and moving the body a little further over so that the neck of the body could be seen to be bloody."

Kefauver (doubtful): "You've got blood coming out of her mouth."

Gaines: "A little."

What none of the senators knew was that Gaines had already cleaned up the cover of this issue. Artist Johnny Craig's first draft included those very elements which Gaines had said were in "bad taste" and had him clean it up before publication.

Because of the unfavorable press coverage resulting from the hearings, the comic book industry adopted the Comics Code Authority, a self-regulatory ratings code that was initially adopted by nearly all comic publishers and continued to be used by some comics until 2011. In the immediate aftermath of the hearings, several publishers were forced to revamp their schedules and drastically censor or even cancel many popular long-standing comic series.

Full text of the report

JUVENIL CADMINISTRATION RSITY Sand A COMPILATION OF INFORMATION AND SUGGES TIONS SUBMITTED TO THE SPECIAL SENATE COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE ORGANIZED CRIME IN INTERSTATE COMMERCE RELATIVE TO THE INCIDENCE OF JUVENILE DELIN QUENCY IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE POSSIBLE INFLUENCE THEREON OF SO-CALLED CRIME COMIC BOOKS DURING THE 5- YEAR PERIOD 1945 TO 1950 B Printed for the use of the Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1950 US 98 W/ Us 240 815.1 CR J970 950 SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE ORGANIZED CRIME IN INTERSTATE COMMERCE (Pursuant to S. Res. 202, 81st Cong. ) ESTES KEFAUVER, Tennessee, Chairman HERBERT R. O'CONOR, Maryland LESTER C. HUNT, Wyoming II CHARLES W. TOBEY, New Hampshire ALEXANDER WILEY, Wisconsin RUDOLPH HALLEY, Chief Counsel INTRODUCTORY FOREWORD Any over-all study of crime in present- day America would be incom plete if it did not include adequate consideration of the problem of juvenile delinquency. Because of frequently heard charges that juvenile delinquency has increased considerably during the past 5 years and that this increase has been stimulated by the publication of the so- called crime comic books, the Senate Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Inter state Commerce has sought information on the subject from a number of qualified sources. Among the sources of information with whom the committee has been in contact were judges of juvenile and family courts, probation officers , court psychiatrists, public officials, social workers, comic-book publishers, cartoonists, and officers of national organizations whose interests touch on this broad field . In view of the general interest in the subject , it has been deemed advisable by the committee to make public, in this form, the views of those who replied to the committee's letter of inquiry, together with the supplementary data and statistics submitted. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, LESTER C. HUNT, HERBERT R. O'CONOR, CHARLES W. TOBEY, ALEXANDER Wiley. III / ༡༢ / ༦༣ ་

CONTENTS Letter to public officials and authorities on juvenile delinquency . Letter to comic-book publishers . Replies from public officials__ Alden, John J. , assistant chief probation officer, Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court, Cleveland , Ohio .. Amborn, L. W., juvenile probation officer, Dane County, Wis .. Anderson, C. Wilson, director, New Castle County Family Court, Wilmington, Del … __ Archer, Mary Rinsland ( Mrs.) , juvenile probation officer, Lackawanna County Juvenile Court, Scranton, Pa Beuthin, William C., juvenile probation officer, Saginaw, Mich. Bittle, H. W., chief probation officer, Knox County Juvenile Court, Knoxville, Tenn.. Boswell, Chas. H., chief probation officer, Marion County Juvenile Court, Indianapolis, Ind... Brewer, E. W., case work supervisor, Superior Court of King County, Seattle, Wash . Bridge, Ernest L., register, Wayne County Probate Court, Detroit, Mich Carter, Proctor N. , director , Missouri Division of Welfare, Jefferson City, Mo.. Collins, Richard E., probation officer, District Court of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebr. Conner, A. H., Acting Director, Federal Bureau of Prisions . Cooney, Mabel E. ( Miss) , chief intake supervisor, Juvenile Court, Providence, R. I__. Dibowski, Charles C. , chief probation officer, Jefferson County Juvenile Court, Louisville, Ky. Dixon, G. L.. chief probation officer, Spokane County Juvenile Court, Spokane, Wash___ Doyle, John J., probation officer, Ramsey County, Minn . Fisher, Ralph W., executive secretary, Los Angeles Youth Commit tee, Los Angeles, Calif . Floberg, Goldie, chief probation officer, Winnebago County Juvenile Court, Rockford, Ill Gill, Thomas D. , judge of juvenile court, Hartford, Conn.. Goldstein, Hon. Louis, chairman, board of county judges, County Court, Kings County, Brooklyn, N. Y Good, W. Stanley, chief, Division of Child Welfare, Lincoln, Nebr ... Green, Edward F., director of probation, Children's Court, Rochester, N. Y. Greene, Richard D., chief probation officer, Children's Court of Onondaga County, Syracuse, N. Y Haverfield, Paul H., chief probation officer, Bibb County Juvenile Court, Macon, Ga... Hazlett, W. Ira, chief probation officer of Dade County, Miami, Fla…… Hill, Harry, chief probation officer, Cook County, Chicago, Ill Homer, Joseph A. , probation officer, Juvenile Court of Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, Pa Hoover, J. Edgar, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation__ Jenkins, L. E., chief probation officer , Jefferson County Juvenile Court, Birmingham, Ala………. Johnson, Gordon M., probation officer, Racine County, Racine, Wis.. V Page 1-248O2016215or 107 79 69 45 6528 88 86 84 109 33 38 546242 372 10178 VI CONTENTS Replies from public officials- Continued Jones, R. K., chief probation officer, Sacramento, Calif Kelley, Hon. Camille, judge of Juvenile Court, Memphis, Tenn . Kennedy, Harold W., county counsel of Los Angeles County, Angeles, Calif_ Los Kiefer, Capt. William G. , superintendent of police, Louisville , Ky. Kunkel, Kay (Mrs.) , chief probation officer, San Joaquin County, Stockton, Calif. Kuralt, Wallace H., superintendent, department of public welfare , Mecklenburg County, N. C…………. Lehman, William H., chief probation officer, Stark County, Canton , Ohio.. Lenroot, Katherine F., Chief, Children's Bureau, Federal Security Agency Lensing, Hon. F. Wendell, judge, Vanderburgh Probate Court, Evansville, Ind .. Livingston, Abram F. , director of probation, Schenectady, N. Y.. Long, Harvey L., superintendent, parole division , Illinois Department of Public Safety, Chicago, Ill Milligan, James C., chief probation officer, Chatham County, Juvenile Court, Savannah, Ga . Muntz, Harold R. , chief probation officer, Hamilton County, Ohio ... McCarthy, William R., director of children's services , Oakland County Juvenile Court, Pontiac, Mich . Nulty, John L., officer in charge, Essex County Probation Division , Newark, N. J. O'Mara, Edward J. , chief probation officer, Boston Juvenile Court, Boston, Mass _ _ Palmieri, Henry J. , chief probation officer, Richmond, Va ……… Peppard, S. Harcourt, Dr., director, Essex County Juvenile Clinic, Newark, N. J.. Ramspeck, Lottie ( Miss) , chief probation officer, Fulton County Juvenile Court, Atlanta, Ga… - - - Reefer, James D. H. , chief probation officer, Juvenile Court, Kansas City, Mo... Riggins, Grace A., assistant probation officer, Camden County, Camden, N. J. Rogers, Charles T. G. , chief probation officer, San Diego, Calif Rose, Mary ( Mrs.) chief probation officer, Denver, Colo . Sanford, Anna D. , master in chancery, Baltimore City Circuit Court, Baltimore, Md .. Snedings, O. F. , probation officer, Alameda County Juvenile Court, Oakland, Calif Snow, William M., chief probation officer, Central District Court of Worcester, Mass . Stewart, Alice L. ( Mrs.) , chief probation officer, Clark County Juve nile Court, Springfield, Ohio - Stolhand, Robert U., chief probation officer, Children's Court, Mil waukee, Wis . Strait, D. E., chief probation officer, Mahoning County, Youngstown, Ohio . Todd, Helaine A. ( Miss),, director of social work, District of Columbia Juvenile Court, Washington, D. C. -- Warrick, M. F., Jr., chief probation officer, juvenile and domestic rela tions court, Norfolk, Va.. Watson, W. E. , director, division of corrections, State Department of Welfare, Frankfort, Ky. Winston, Ellen, commissioner, North Carolina State Board of Public Welfare Woodson, Fred W., director, Juvenile Court of Tulsa County, Okla . Zbaracki, J. V., probation officer, St. Louis County, Duluth, Minn Page 32 103 106 114 61 18 70 8∞

27 582 8 7 8 5 2 2

2

9 34 67 8312 106 71 3947 44 57 79 783526 84 40 102 36 30 108 8 2 2 188 66 76 42 1460 58 CONTENTS VII Replies from comic-book publishers . Adams, Allan, circulation manager, Fawcett Publications, Inc. , Green wich, Conn.... Caniff, Milton (cartoonist) , New York, N. Y. Decker, Richard E. , general manager, St. John Publishing Co. , New York, N. Y.. Froehlich, Jr. , Monroe, Marvel Comics Publications, Inc. , New York, N. Y Gleason, Leverett S. , President, Lev Gleason Publicationss , Inc. , New York, N. Y.. Harvey, Alfred, president, Harvey Publications, Inc. , New York, N. Y Liebowitz , J. S. , vice president, National Comics Publication, Inc., Publishers, New York, N. Y … . Pope, William B., vice president, Eastern Color Printing Co. , West bury, Conn__ Sangor, B. W. , American Comics Group, New York, N. Y__ Schultz, Henry E., executive director, Association of Comics Maga zine Publishers, Inc. , New York, N. Y .. Replies from child- guidance experts . -- Bender, Dr. Lauretta, associate professor of psychiatry, New York University, Bellevue Medical Center, New York, N. Y. Frank, Dr. Josette, psychiatrist, Child Study Association of America, New York, N. Y. Freund, Arthur J., chairman, criminal law section, American Bar Association, St. Louis, Mo .___ Mosse, Dr. Hilde L. , psychiatrist, New York City Board of Education, New York, N. Y. Osborne, Dr. Ernest, professor of education, Columbia University, New York, N. Y_ Rhyne, Charles S. , general counsel, National Institute of Municipal Law Officers, Washington, D. C ……… . Thompson, Dr. Jean A., acting director, Bureau of Child Guidance, New York, N. Y__ Zorbaugh, Dr. Harvey, professor of education, New York University, New York, N. Y. Appendix ... Page 116 128 132 127 116 135 125 137 133 125 124 179 182 185 181 179 187 180 189 191 192

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY The following letter was addressed to a considerable number of public officials and authorities on juvenile delinquency and crime prevention in many sections of the country: AUGUST 8 , 1950. The United States Senate has designated this committee to investi gate organized crime in interstate commerce. In connection with the committee's work, it was of course necessary that some studies be made of basic causes leading to criminal activity. Along these lines, it has been suggested by some persons, including certain public officials responsible for the apprehension and detention of criminals, that crime comic books may be an influence in exciting children to criminal activity. For this reason, the committee is writing to a number of public officials and authorities on juvenile delinquency throughout the United States in order to get certain statistics, information, and suggestions. The committee would very much appreciate receiving from you an answer to the following questions, in as much detail as possible, no later than August 22, 1950: 1. Has juvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? If you can support this with specific statistics, please do so . 2. To what do you attribute this increase if you have stated that there was an increase? 3. Was there an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I? 4. In recent years have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes, such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activities? 5. Do you believe that there is any relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency? 6. Please specifically give statistics and, if possible, state specific cases of juvenile crime which you believe can be traced to reading crime comic books. 7. Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children? We know that this request will impose both upon your time and energies, but we are assured that the subject matter is one with which we have your full interest and cooperation. Sincerely, ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman. A somewhat similar letter was addressed to a number of publishers of comic books asking for relevant information . The letter follows : AUGUST 5, 1950. GENTLEMEN: The United States Senate has designated this com mittee to investigate organized crime in interstate commerce. In 1 2 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY connection with the committee's work, it was of course necessary that some studies be made of basic causes leading to criminal activity. Along these lines, it has been suggested by some persons, including certain public officials responsible for the apprehension and detention of criminals, that crime comic books may be an influence in exciting children to criminal activity. For this reason, the committee is writing to a number of publishers of comic books in order to obtain basic statistical information as well as their views on the subject. The committee would very much appreciate your prompt reply, no later than 2 weeks from the date of this letter, to the following ques tions, in as much detail as possible: 1. What information have you concerning the age, sex, geographical location, and other characteristics of your readers? 2. What is the circulation of each comic book published by your firm in the last 10 years? What was the gross income and net profit from each? Where books are repetitive, please give the information for each on an annual basis . 3. Do you believe there is any relationship between the reading of crime comic books by children and juvenile delinquency? If so , what do you think can be done about it? 4. Have you ever paid any fee or salary to a psychiatrist or expert as a consultant, editor, employee, or in any connection with your publication of crime comic books? If so, would you please given full details? The committee would also appreciate receiving from you a copy of each comic book published by you in 1949 and 1950. It is possible that the principal persons associated with your com pany also publish comic books through other companies, corporations, or under other names. If so , the committee desires to have a full statement of all such matters and requests that with respect to each company, corporation , firm, or other entity the same information be given as is requested above. We know that this request will impose upon both your time and energies, but wish to assure you that the subject matter is one in which the committee attaches great importance, based on all of the facts. We, therefore, will appreciate your cooperation . Sincerely yours, ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman. REPLIES FROM PUBLIC OFFICIALS A large number of replies to the committee's letter of inquiry were received from many public officials . Because of the importance of the facts stated and the views expressed, a number of the replies are printed in extenso , together with the source material appended to the replies. Statement of J. Edgar Hoover, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation Particularly interesting and valuable to students of the problem is the well-considered and authoritative memorandum on the subject JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 3 received from J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose letter and statement follow: Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, Washington, D. C. , August 16, 1950. United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR: I appreciate the interest which prompted your letter of August 4, 1950. Enclosure. There is enclosed a memorandum setting forth my answers to the questions outlined in your communication. I am sure you will appreciate that the FBI has not been empowered to make a specific study with reference to the relationship between crime comic books and juvenile delinquency, and that case histories in this regard usually involve purely local crimes . I trust that this data will be of assistance to you. Sincerely yours, AUGUST 16 , 1950. 1. Hasjuvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? If you can support this with specific statistics , please do so. The FBI, through an analysis of the fingerprint arrest records re ceived by its Identification Division, obtains data concerning the age, sex, race, and previous criminal history of the persons represented . Such a compilation is limited to instances of arrests for violations of State laws and municipal ordinances. Fingerprint cards representing arrests for violations of Federal laws or representing commitments to any type of penal institution are excluded from such a study. It is to be particularly noted that any tabulation of data by the FBI from fingerprint arrest cards is doubtless incomplete and represents an understatement in the lower age groups because of the practice of some jurisdictions not to fingerprint youthful offenders. 1940__ 1941. 1942. 1943. 1944_ J. EDGAR HOOVER. The figures represented by such studies, therefore, must necessarily be considered conservative. During the past decade, youth has led the criminal army in the United States. The following tabulation shows the predominating age group among arrested persons for that period : 19 1945___ 19 1946 18 1947. 18 1948. 17 1949 22222 172121 2121 Arrests of youths have generally leveled off during the postwar period ( 1945-49 ) although the incidence of crime among young people is still abnormally high. Arrests of males under 21 increased 10.1 percent in 1945 over 1944 and although the arrests of girls under 21 declined 10.6 percent in 1945 the figure still was 109.3 percent in excess of that for 1941 , the last peacetime year. The year 1946 saw arrests of males under 21 increase 1.6 percent over the previous year. Although arrests for girls under 21 declined. 4 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 33.1 percent in 1946 the figure for the year exceeded that for 1941 by 40 percent. There was a 10.5 percent increase in 1947 in arrests of males under 21 over the figure for 1946 , although arrests of girls in the same age group declined 6.6 percent. Compared with 1941, however, arrests of males under 21 increased 4.1 percent and arrests of females under 21 increased 30.8 percent during 1947. During 1948 arrests of males under 21 decreased 0.9 percent com pared with the previous year and arrests of females in this age group declined 7.6 percent. However, when compared with 1941, arrests of boys under 21 showed an increase of 3.1 percent and arrests of girls increased 20.9 percent. There was a 2.1 percent increase in arrests of males under 21 for the year 1949 over 1948, although arrests of females in the same age group declined 4.6 percent. Compared with figures for 1941 , however, ar rests of males under 21 rose 5.3 percent and female arrests in the same age group increased 15.3 percent. The arrest data for 1949 is, of course, the latest available informa tion in this connection in the possession of the FBI at this time. It should be noted that arrests of boys and girls under 21 in 1949 were 3 percent over the figure for 1945. 2. To what do you attribute this increase if you have stated that there was an increase? The basic cause of the high rate of juvenile crime is the lack of a sense of moral responsibility among youth. It is certain that if our young people are to have total obedience to the laws of the land, a love for the orderly processes of government and a desire for ethical forms of behavior, the strengthening effect of religious training which will instill a sense of moral responsibility becomes apparent. The place to start is in the family circle . Amer ican families are developing the personalities who will determine what type of society our Nation will have tomorrow. It is recognized, of course, that the roots of crime, innumerable and complex, are imbedded in our whole culture. The causes of lawless ness among young and old alike do not stem from any one source. Seldom, if ever, is a youth inspired to waywardness by any one factor. In almost every case the delinquency is a result of a combination of forces. Many criminal careers have their beginnings in childhood and early youth because of an indifference on the part of the home and community to carry out their responsibilities. The home is the first great training school in behavior or misbehavior and parents serve as the first teachers for the inspirational education of youth. In the home, the child learns that others besides himself have rights which he must respect. Here the spadework is laid for instilling in the child those values which will cause him to develop into an upright, law- abiding, wholesome citizen. He must learn re spect for others, respect for property, courtesy, truthfulness , and reliability. He must learn not only to manage his own affairs but also to share in the responsibility for the affairs of the community. He must be taught to understand the necessity of obeying the laws of God. These qualities, of course, are transmitted to the child only if they are exemplified and taught within the family circle. By way of con trast , homes broken by death, desertion, divorce, separation, neglect, JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 5 or immorality stamp their imprint on the developing personality. The products of these homes, unguided and unsupervised children who seldom receive needed love and attention, develop distorted attitudes and may easily engage in antisocial behavior. These prod ucts of adult negligence have become eager recruits in an already vast army of youthful offenders. Other important causes of juvenile misbehavior are lack of religion, improperly directed group activities, lack of guidance for leisure time activities, inadequate school systems which fail to properly educate the child and fail to provide for proper guidance and vocational train ing. School systems suffer and children suffer when the public fails to provide sufficient funds for adequate teaching staffs, decent salaries , and proper equipment. Additional causes are the availability of focal points of criminal infection in communities where children are allowed to gather and where they may be influenced by adults who convince them that there is profit in crime. The availability of salacious literature and presentations of any type which glorify crime, make mockery of democratic living and respect for law and order are other important causes which lead to an unhealthy crime situation among young people. Public failure and apathy to see that youth-serving organi zations and instrumentalities are adequately staffed, as well as the failure of communities to care for the physical and mental defects of young people, are major factors in this entire situation. The effect of economic, social, and political factors in crime causa tion cannot be overlooked . Inadequate housing, times of depression , and the power of venal politicians to influence the processes of law enforcement all account to some degree for the gravity of the crime situation. The poor and inept exercise of the constructive and desir able systems of parole and probation may turn back into society adults and youths who are willing to convince others that there is profit in crime. The unhealthy high rate of juvenile crime will continue and will increase if the people of this Nation regard this problem with apathy and indifference. A Nation-wide, constructive effort for the future to correct this situation can be launched now by an aroused citizenry armed with typical American determination to win a total victory on all fronts for good citizenship . The challenge is present-the answer lies in the hearts of all Americans. 3. Was there an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I? Fingerprint arrest data studies were not undertaken in the FBI until 1932. Accordingly, no statistical information is available to answer this question. 4. In recent years, have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes, such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activities? In the postwar years, cases which have come to the attention of the FBI indicate that some of the youngsters who committed petty thefts during the war years are now committing hold-ups, stealing auto mobiles, robbing banks, and committing other serious offenses. The table set out below shows arrests of persons under 21 for se lected crimes for the years 1945 through 1949. 6 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY It will be seen that for the offense of criminal homicide little change occurred over these years. On the other hand, for the offense of rape in spite of a decline in arrests for this offense in 1949, the figure for 1949 was still 42.6 percent in excess of that for 1945. Similarly, for the crime of assault in spite of decreases during 1948 and 1949 the figure for 1949 was 10.3 percent over that for 1945. Arrests of persons under 21 years of age, selected crimes, 1945-49 [Data compiled from fingerprint records] Offense Criminal homicide . Rape .. Assault. Robbery. Burglary. 1945 788 2, 015 5, 387 5, 205 14, 588 1946 808 2, 158 5, 486 5,366 14, 432 Percent Percent Percent change 1947 change 1948 change 1949 1945-46 1946-47 1947-48 +2.5 +7.1 +1.8 +3.1 -1.1 815 2, 809 6, 620 6, 051 14,955 +0.9 +30. 2 +20.7 +12.8 +3.6 824 3, 010 6, 332 5,577 15, 899 +1.1 +7.2 -4.4 -7.8 +6.3 Percent Percent change change 1948-49 1945-49 764 2, 874 5, 943 -3.0 +42.6 -6.1 +10.3 5,776 +3.6 +11.0 17,520 +10.2 +20.1 -7.3 -4.5 5. Do you believe that there is any relationship between the reading of crime comic books and juvenile delinquency? Crime books, comics and other stories packed with criminal activity and presented in such a way as to glorify crime and the criminal may be dangerous, particularly in the hands of an unstable child. A comic book which is replete with the lurid and macabre ; which places the criminal in a unique position by making him a hero; which makes lawlessness attractive; which ridicules decency and honesty ; which leaves the impression that graft and corruption are necessary evils in American life ; which depicts the life of a criminal as exciting and glamorous may influence the susceptible boy or girl who already possesses definite antisocial tendencies. While comic books which are unrealistic in that they tend to produce fantastic pictures of violence, brutality, and torture may have no effect on the emotionally well-balanced boy or girl, nevertheless, they may serve as the springboard for the unstable child to commit criminal acts. On the other hand, those comic books which are restrained in presen tation, which conform to carefully prescribed standards of good taste and authenticity and which teach a true lesson that crime does not pay, have a real educational value. 6. Please specifically give statistics and, if possible, state specific cases of juvenile crime which you believe can be traced to the reading of crime comic books. The FBI does not have statistical data regarding the number of juvenile crimes which can be traced directly to the reading of comic books. 7. Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children? As already indicated in the answer to question 5, a sharp distinction should be drawn between the crime comic book which may have a harmful effect on receptive young minds and the type of presentation which may have a real educational value. Certain types, of children may be harmed by unrealistic crime comic books. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 7 It is doubtful, however, that an appreciable decrease in juvenile delinquency would result if crime comic books of all types were not readily available to children . Guidance by parents in the reading habits of boys and girls is the best defense against possible addiction to certain "horror" stories . The love for this type of reading may reveal a lack of balance not only in reading habits but in the child's environment at home, in the school, and in the neighborhood. The answer may lie not in wiping out objectionable crime comics but in substituting restrained presentations which will allow the child under guidance to logically set up standards as to what types of crime comics are good or bad. Considerable sentiment has been expressed in recent years that so-called crime programs should be taken off the air. The broad argument advanced is that this type of presentation , by power of suggestion, propels young people into lawlessness. It is, of course, recognized that improperly and unintelligently prepared presentations on the radio and television which recognize no restraint in producing in young minds pictures of torture, fantastic acts of violence and brutality may have a harmful effect on receptive young minds. Only too often the "crime doesn't pay" message tacked on the end is a weak concession to decency. A sharp distinction, however, should be drawn, as in the case of crime comic books, between this type of presentation and one which conforms to carefully prescribed standards of good taste and authenticity. The FBI, since 1945, has been proud to cooperate with the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States in the production of the program, This Is Your FBI. This program was undertaken as a public service and it has played a tremendous role as a vital educational effort. From week to week the program has illustrated the responsibility and duty of law enforcement in protecting society. It has pointed out how citizens can best cooperate with law enforcement. It has shown the need for crime prevention methods and it has high lighted the problem of juvenile delinquency. This program has done much to portray lawlessness in its proper light . It has effectively taught citizens to protect themselves from criminal elements. When this program first went on the air we were a Nation at war. The stress and strain of the gigantic global conflict caused many dislocations in our society . It was disheartening to note the steady rise in crime and to see thousands of our boys and girls enlist in an already vast criminal army. We were a busy Nation at the time and adult America showed little or no concern about the problem. We in law enforcement, however, recognized the gravity of the situation . Although we hoped that the crime condition would be temporary, nevertheless we were eager to take positive action to attempt to awaken Americans to this situation . We wanted to crush indifference in the adult mind and were eager to see if something could not be done about the problem. That is why the FBI has been proud to cooperate in the production of This Is Your FBI. We feel that the fight against crime cannot be won by literally sticking our heads in the sand. We feel that programs which portray crime in its proper light and which, through educational 8 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY means, awaken Americans to action have a proper place on the radio or television. Reply of Katharine F. Lenroot, Chief, Children's Bureau, Federal Security Agency FEDERAL SECURITY AGENCY, SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, CHILDREN'S BUREAU, Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Washington, D. C. , August 15, 1950. United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: Dr. Roy Victor Peel, Director of Bureau of Census, Department of Commerce, has referred to me a copy of your letter to him dated August 3 , 1950, requesting informa tion pertaining to the publication of comic books. The juvenile court statistics referred to in Dr. Peel's letter, while they indicate trends in the volume and type of cases coming to the attention of courts, do not throw any light upon the causal relation ship between comic books and delinquency. I am enclosing copies of these reports as well as some of our general publications on delinquency. There is general agreement in this country that delinquency is a product of multiple causes, that it is not a single act with a single. determining factor or cause. We know that economic insecurity, parental neglect, domestic strife , lack of training, lack of love and affection, lack of spiritual guidance, lack of recreational facilities , in consistent discipline, and physical handicaps are some of the factors which must be considered. I doubt, in the absence of some of these other factors, whether the reading of comic books per se will make a boy or girl delinquent. Any publication that glamorizes crime and criminals and presents in detail illegal acts and techniques may be harmful to some children. Boys and girls who have been exposed to unsatisfactory home and community conditions and, therefore, vulnerable to delinquency may adopt certain illegal acts or techniques from these publications. Publications that provide schooling in crime for those youngsters who might have otherwise expressed their anti social drives by less serious and less damaging misbehavior are obvi ously dangerous. To my knowledge no extensive study has been made on the relation ship of comics to delinquency. Varying points of view have been presented in articles and different approaches made to the problem by interested groups. You may be interested in knowing that 14 of the 34 publishers who produce comics have subscribed to a code of ethics promulgated by the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers. A copy of the code can be obtained by writing to this organization at 205 East Forty second Street, New York, N. Y. The National Social Welfare Assembly, 1790 Broadway, New York, N. Y., and the National Comics Publications, the country's largest publisher of comics, have recently been cooperating in a plan for a series of "public services messages" to be included in the comics. For example, a back-to-school theme was chosen with emphasis being placed on the importance of continuing in school . You may wish to JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 9 get further information about the work of the National Social Welfare Assembly in this area. Other national organizations which have been interested in doing something about the comics are the General Federation of Women's Clubs, 1734 N Street NW. , Washington, D. C. , and the National Congress of Parents- Teachers, 600 South Michigan Boulevard, Chi cago, Ill. Our publication , Your Child from Six to Twelve, has a brief discus sion about comics beginning on page 90. We are enclosing a copy because we thought you would have interest in seeing this. An article, Cincinnati Rates the Comic Books, by Jesse L. Murrell appeared in Parents Magazine, February 1950. Five hundred and fifty-five comic magazines were reviewed by trained reviewers . Each individual magazine is listed by name and rated in the article . The following is a breakdown of the ratings given. Number of magazines : Ratings No objection. Some objection. Objectionable. Very objectionable. A great many articles have been published about the comics in recent years. Some of these, which you may be interested in looking up, are 165 154 167 69 Brown, John Mason. The Case Against the Comics. Sat. Rev. Lit. 31 : 31-3. March 20, 1948. Frank, Josette. Comics, Radio, Movies -and Children. Committee, 22 E. 38th Street, New York 16, New York. Heisler, Florence. A Comparison of Comic Book and Non- Comic Book Readers of the Elementary School. J. Ed. Res. 40 : 458-464. Kessel, Lawrence. Some Assumptions in Newspaper Comics. Childhood Education 19: 349–353. Thorndike, E. L. Words andthe Comics. J. Exper. Ed. 10: 110-113. 1941 . Town Meeting Bulletin. March 2, 1948. What's Wrong With the Comics? Town Hall, New York 18, N. Y. 10 cents. (Discussion by John Mason Brown, George Hecht, Marya Mannes and Al Capp. ) Wertham, Dr. Frederick. The Comics . . . Very Funny. Witty, Paul A. Zorbaugh, H. W. 255. 1944. Public Affairs 20 cents. Sat. Rev. Lit. May 29, 1948. Wigransky, David P. Cain Before Comics (in letters to Ed. ) . Sat. Rev. Lit. 31 : 19-20. July 24, 1948. Witty, Paul A. Children's Interest in Reading the Comics. J. Exper. Ed. 10: 100-104. 1941 . Reading the Comics. J. Exper. Ed . 10 : 105-109. Comics as an Educational Medium. J. Sociol. If we can be of further help, please let us know. Sincerely yours, 1941 . 18: 193 Journal of American Judicature Society, October 1948. The Effect of Comic Books on Juvenile Delinquency. Hoult, Thomas F. Comic Books and Juvenile Delinquency. Sociology and Social Research, March-April 1949. The Journal of Educational Sociology, December 1944. (This issue was devoted entirely to the matter of comics. ) Newsweek, Are Comic Books a National Hazard? Club and Educational Bureau, February 1949. KATHARINE F. LENROOT, Chief. Another interesting and authoritative view on juvenile delinquency and the possible effect of crime comic books was expressed by A. H. Conner, Acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Washington, 72705-50-2 10 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY D. C., in the absence from the country of Mr. James V. Bennett, Director of the Bureau. Mr. Conner's letter follows : Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, BUREAU OF PRISONS, Washington, August 16, 1950. United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: We have your inquiry of August 4 concerning the contribution of crime comics to juvenile delinquency. Mr. Bennett, as you know, is presently in Europe but we understand that he stated his views regarding this problem in his testimony before your committee on June 23. With regard to the specific questions raised in your letter, the following comments may be of assistance to the committee. 1. Increase in juvenile delinquency 1945-50 The Bureau of Prisons does not compile statistics which reflect the incidence of juvenile delinquency on a Nation-wide basis . Figures are compiled, however, on juvenile offenders ( persons who have not reached their eighteenth birthday) who are charged with violations of Federal statutes and whose cases are disposed of by Federal courts . While these figures do not reflect the extent of delinquencies committed by persons of juvenile age throughout the country, they are neverthe less somewhat encouraging. Dispositions of juvenile cases by the Federal courts rose steadily between the years ending June 30, 1941 , and June 30 , 1946, but since that date have declined year by year through the fiscal year ended June 30 , 1949. An upward trend was noted in the fiscal year 1950 but the significance of this development is not clear. The annual disposition figures are reported below: Fiscal year: Fiscal year-Continued 1941. 1942. 1943. 1944. 1945 Total dispo sitions 1, 843 2,240 2,248 3, 526 3, 411 1946. 1947 1948 1949. 1950 Total dispo sitions 3, 856 2, 670 2, 064 1, 812 1, 999 2. No reply indicated . 3. Juvenile delinquency after World War I There are apparently no accurate data available which would pro vide an index of incidence of juvenile delinquency in the years imme diately following World War I. The United States Children's Bureau did not initiate its collection of juvenile court statistics until 1927. 4. Increase in commission of crimes of violence by juveniles The Bureau of Prisons compiles no statistics which would reflect an increase or decrease of crimes of violence committed by juveniles. 5. Relationship between crime comics and juvenile delinquency The extent to which crime comics contribute directly to the_com mission of delinquent acts is extremely difficult to evaluate . There are a number of instances in which crime comics can be shown to have furnished a juvenile with a definite blueprint for delinquent or criminal behavior. The publications have provided the youth with. explicit directions, showing in detail methods to be followed in the commission of crime. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 11 In addition to providing some adolescent with models of criminal behavior, there is every indication that many of these lurid publica tions tend to distort the social values of impressionable adolescents . Brutality and violence become accepted as commonplace and ado lescent readers tend to identify themselves with the forces of lawless ness rather than with forces responsible for the maintenance of law and order. 6. Statistics on relationship of crime comics and juvenile delinquency Statistics on the relationship of crime comics and juvenile delin quency are not available and probably could be made available only after exhaustive and intensive research covering a large number of cases of juvenile delinquency. We have compiled from news reports a list of persons involved in serious offenses where there was a reported relationship between the offense and the reading of comics. The extent to which the comics may have contributed to the offenses has not been established . A copy of this list is attached for the informa tion of the committee. 7. Would delinquency decrease if crime comics were not available to children? No one can state with certainty that delinquency would decrease if crime comics were not available to juveniles. Nevertheless, it is clear that many such publications serve as sources of contamination of impressionable minds, provide explicit instruction in the methods by which criminals operate, and contribute to a weakening of the ethical values of the community. We are certain that Mr. Bennett, on his return , will be pleased to provide the committee with any further assistance which he can in connection with this problem. Sincerely, A. H. CONNER, Acting Director. PERSONS INVOLVED IN CRIMES AS A RESULT OF CRIME COMICS, MOTION PICTURES, ETC. Foster, Theresa, University of Colorado student (18) slain near Boulder, Colo. Had just written an essay on the Case of Comics, blaming comic books for encouraging crime (The Denver Post, November 19 , 1948). Gentry, Herbert H., murdered his wife and her friend after study ing comic book, Crime Does Not Pay (Talladega , Ala. , February 11 , 1949 ) . Hubbard, Clarence, and Franklin Trentham, wrote extortion letters to an Atlanta woman threatening to blow up her house if she did not pay them $2,000 . Sentenced to 2 years under FJDA extortion , August 14 , 1947. Both paroled August 12 , 1948. They got their ideas for the offense from Crime Does Not Pay. Lang, Howard, 13, murdered Lonnie Fellick, 7, near Chicago. An avid reader of crime comics. Daniel A. Roberts, judge of the Criminal Court of Illinois , April 20, 1948) . October 18 , 1947, (Opinion of Hon. Levin, Seymour, 16, slashed Ellis Simons, 12, to death with a scissors in Philadelphia, January 10, 1949. Was reportedly a crime comic book addict. 12 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Lilly, Harold D. , juvenile delinquency, auto theft-most of reading. consisted of comic books of all kinds. Sentenced October 22, 1947, 15 years old . Watson, James M. , robbed and killed by two Canadian boys who were comic book addicts (Time, December 6 , 1948) . Allen, Diana, 13- year old girl who drowned a 7-year old boy be cause she had a sudden urge to kill-Joliet , Ill . Avid reader of comic books and had followed the Lang case closely (editorial, Chicago Tribune, May 10, 1949 ) . Thomas Charles Cook, Muriel Downs, Peggy Byrnes, Shirley Armitage, Larry Collins, high- and grade-school boys and girls of Long Beach, Calif. , all members of a club which planned crimes after studying magazine and radio crimes. First three named held in slaying of Dominic Calarco, liquor store owner. The last two are held in robbery of liquor store (Sunday Star, May 28, 1950) . William L. Godsey, 15-year old boy from Caruthersville, Mo. , admitted wrecking a Frisco passenger train, killing the engineer and injuring 13 persons. Said he got idea from watching a movie about the notorious Dalton gang (The Evening Star, July 25, 1950) . Reply of Harold R. Muntz, Chief Probation Officer, Hamilton County,. Ohio COUNTY OF HAMILTON, COURT OF COMMON PLEAS , DIVISION OF DOMESTIC RELATIONS AND JUVENILE COURT, Cincinnati 2, Ohio, August 22, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. KEFAUVER: Data requested in your letter of August 8, 1950, pertaining to juvenile delinquency are submitted below, based where possible upon records and experience of the Juvenile Court of Hamilton County, Ohio. For answers to some of the questions , data have also been obtained from the records of the police department of the city of Cincinnati and from the department of sociology of the University of Cincinnati. 1. Has juvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? Records of the Hamilton County Juvenile Court show the following yearly numbers of complaints against juveniles for acts of delinquency: 1945 1946. 1947 1948. 1949 1950 (first 6 months) . Year Number of complaints Total num- per 100 popu ber of lation of ages delinquency 7 to 17, inclu complaints sive , based on 1940 census data 1 Not calculated . This reflects an increase for the years 1948 and 1949 . 3, 491 3, 112 3, 121 3, 641 3,679 1,851 (1) 2.6 2.3 2.4 2.8 . JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 13 2. To what do you attribute this increase? No single factor or set of factors seem satisfactorily to explain this change. Some local circumstances have been influential, however, such as intensification of controls on use of motorized bicycles, etc. There have been some changes from year to year in specific charges against juveniles, but reasons for and significance of such changes within a fairly constant total delinquency record are not clear. Year: 3. Was there an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I? Hamilton County juvenile court data for the World War I period are as follows: 1916. 1917 (incomplete; only) . 1918 (boys only) - 1919_ 1939. 1940. 1941 1942. 1943. 1944 1945. 1946 1947. 1948. 1949 Total number ofdelinquency complaints 1, 306 boys 1, 341 1 , 31 1, 618 Year Year: 1920 (incomplete; only) - 1921 . 1922 These figures indicate that there was an increase in juvenile delin quency in Hamilton County, Ohio, following World War I. 4. In recent years have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes, such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activities? Data for the years 1939 through 1949 from arrests of juveniles for all types of offenses indicate a slight increase of assault, rape, and mur der charges in relation to total juvenile arrests . Figures on prevalence of gang activities among juveniles are not available. The change in percentage of juvenile arrests for murder, rape and assault to total juvenile arrests is shown in the following records from the Cincinnati Police Department. (These figures are for the city of Cincinnati only, but are believed to be reliable for our experience in Hamilton County. ) Juvenile arrests for murder, rape, and assault (Cincinnati only) 70006222222 178 8 16 18 13 Total juve nile arrests (Cincinnati only) Total number ofdelinquency complaints girls 2,656 2,366 2, 384 2, 183 3,050 2,820 2,778 2,491 2,290 499 1, 575 1, 921 2,717 2,570 Percentage ofjuvenile arrests for murder, rape and assault to all juvenile arrests 0.6633 450 00 00 00 00 L .3 8 8 5 These data indicate that a slightly higher number of murder, rape, and assault incidents have been occurring among juveniles in the past 5 years in Hamilton County, Ohio. 5. Do you believe that there is any relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency? Comic books provide stimuli which particularly affect the imagina tions or fantasy life of their readers. Some readers, we believe, easily 14 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY follow the suggestions of the comic book pages, while others just as easily slough off these influences and are not impelled to try to imitate the activities of the comic book characters or improve upon their experiences and learn by their fictional mistakes. We believe there is a relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency, but only as one factor in a great list of factors that cause delinquency. It is impossible to ascertain in all cases of unac ceptable behavior in children what influences motion pictures , radio programs, companions, threats, economic distress, lack of parental supervision, or other forces have exerted upon the children involved. 6. Please specifically give statistics and, if possible, state specific cases of juvenile crime which you believe can be traced to reading crime comic books There are no reliable statistics in our files regarding juvenile delin quency which can be traced to reading crime comic books. We have encountered some instances of juvenile delinquency in which questioning revealed efforts to outdo the escapades of comic books. One incident involved the armed hold-up on a lonely drive way of a prominent citizen and his wife by two masked adolescent boys who had plans to leave the city with their expected loot . They had carefully planned how to elude enforcement officers , laying their plans according to comic book patterns. 7. Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children? We believe it is quite possible that some decrease would occur, but not a substantial amount. We hope this information will be of some service to your committee in your very worth-while and essential efforts. Respectfully yours, HAROLD R. MUNTZ, ChiefProbation Officer. Reply of Ellen Winston, Commissioner, North Carolina State Board of Public Welfare THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BOARD OF PUBLIC WELFARE, Raleigh, N. C., August 18, 1950. Senator ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: This is in reply to your letter of August 8 asking for information on certain aspects of juvenile delinquency in North Carolina. Your first inquiry is whether or not there has been an increase in juvenile delinquency in the years 1945 to 1950. On the basis of records sent into this office on all cases formally heard in the juvenile courts of this State there is no indication that juvenile delinquency has increased during the last 5 years. We are enclosing a statement extracted from public welfare statistics for March 1950 setting forth our observation on the trend in this area in the postwar period. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 15 Number of Children 300 200 100 TRENDS IN DETENTION CARE OF CHILDREN AWAITING JUVENILE COURT HEARINGS IN NORTH CAROLINA , 1947 - 1949 1947 Jail or police station 1948 Number of Children 300 1949 Boarding or detention home 200 100 Your companion question relating to the situation after World War I cannot be answered with any accuracy, inasmuch as reliable statistics are not available for that period . The North Carolina Juvenile Court Act was not adopted until 1919. With respect to the increase in the gravity of crimes attributed to juveniles in recent years, it may be said generally that there has not been any marked trend in that direction which is discernible from the records of the juvenile court cases . It may be well to point out here that jurisdiction of juvenile courts in this State extends only to children less than 16 years of age ; and, in cases of serious felonies , only to children less than 14 years of age. In our experience we have been unable to fix any reliable relation ship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency. On the whole, causes of juvenile delinquency have seemed to lie much deeper in the personal and environmental difficulties of the child rather than in stimuli of the type offered by comic books . 16 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY We regret that we are not able to give a more complete statistical answer to certain of your questions . If there is any information which we have not included and concerning which you desire further attention, we shall be glad to assist you in any way that we can. Sincerely, ELLEN WINSTON, Commissioner. TRENDS IN JUVENILE COURT CASES DURING THE POSTWAR PERIOD There are in North Carolina a total of 109 juvenile courts . Of these, 95 are county courts in which the clerk of the superior court is ex officio judge of the juvenile court, 2 are special county courts, 3 are domestic relations courts, and 9 are special city courts having only city-wide jurisdiction . Into these courts, which have been established to carry out the protective role of the State toward its children, come the cases of children who are under 16 years of age and who are charged with a violation of some State law or municipal ordinance ; or who are dependent, neglected, or in circumstances endangering their health and welfare ; or whose custody is the subject of a controversy between persons other than the parents. In 1949 these 109 juvenile courts officially handled a total of 3,465 cases involving 3,146 different children. The closing of 1949 marked the end of the third year since the State board of public welfare began to have detailed data reported . While sufficient time has by no means elapsed to permit an evaluation of trends, it is of some interest, to compare figures over these years in terms of some of the basic factors present in the flow of cases passing through the juvenile courts . The factors selected are as follows : The types of cases officially handled (whether delinquent , dependent and neglected , or custody) ; provision for temporary detention or overnight care of delinquents; and disposition of the delinquency cases by the courts . These were chosen because they serve to em phasize the role of the court and the use of community resources available to it in the administration of the Juvenile Court Act. The following tables show comparisons between these various factors for the 3-year period indicated . TABLE 1.-Types of cases handled officially by the juvenile courts in North Carolina, 1947-49 Total Delinquency . Dependency. Custody. Types of cases 1947 3, 240 2, 193 462 585 1948 Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent 100.0 67.7 14.3 18.0 3.172 2, 100 526 546 1949 100.0 66.2 16.6 17.2 3, 465 2,267 660 538 100.0 65.4 19.1 15.5 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 17 TABLE 2.-Place of care of children pending hearing of delinquency cases by juvenile courts in North Carolina, 1947-49 Place of care Total.. No detention or overnight care . Detention or shelter overnight or longer inJail or police station . Detention home. Boarding home.. Other place. Not specified .. Total.. Disposition Dismissed . Held open without further action . Probation officer to supervise .. Committed or referred to public institu tion for delinquent children Other public institution. Other court. Public welfare department . Private agency or institution . Other disposition ¹. 1947 Number Percent Number Percent Number 2, 193 1,574 254 25014 101 "" 1947 2, 193 265 210 662 100. 0 71.8 3978 11.6 11.4 4. 6 21 43218 180 Number Percent Number 1948 TABLE 3.-Disposition of delinquency cases handled officially by juvenile courts in North Carolina, 1947-49 100.0 12.1 9.6 30.2 18. 1 .3 1.0 19.7 2,100 1,657 .8 8.2 153 2012069 1948 2,100 202 207 755 100.0 78.9 3894 13 2069 315 7.3 9.6.9 3. 3 1949 100.0 9.6 9.9 36.0 2,267 1, 603 18.5.26 9.84 15.0 135 23326 164 106 Percent 1949 2,267 295 197 812 100.0 70.7 Percent Number Percent 4164 27 2038 305 6.0 10.3 1. 1 7.2 4.7 100.0 13.0 8.7 35.8 1 Includes all other dispositions which cannot be classified under other items, such as runaway returned , restitution , and commitment to a penal institution for adults. 18.3.2 1.2 9.0.4 13.4 An examination of these figures suggests several observations. First, there has been a steady increase over the 3-year period in the number of dependency cases. Second, there has been a sharp decrease in the number of children detained in jails or police stations. Third, there has been a significant use of detention homes, boarding homes, and "other places. This suggests growth of community resources and the expansion of use bythe court of these temporary care facilities . DRURY B. THOMPSON, Director, Institutional and Protective Services. Fourth, the increase during 1948 and 1949 in the number of cases disposed of other than through public or private agencies and institu tions indicates the possibility that the courts are taking a more flexible approach to the problems of children. It is likely that this is due in some measure to the increased case work services made available by more adequate staffs within the courts and in the county depart ments of public welfare . In general the data indicates that the increasing emphasis upon more adequate social services for children is resulting in advances in juvenile court procedures. 18 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Reply of Wallace H. Kuralt, Superintendent, Department of Public Welfare, Mecklenburg County, N. C. MECKLENBURG COUNTY, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE, Charlotte, N. C. , August 21 , 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR: I am replying to your letter of August 8, in which you inquire regarding certain factors pertaining to juvenile delinquency. Question 1. Has juvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? Answer. During this period the Mecklenburg County juvenile court has established a division of social work which operates under the direct supervision of the county superintendent of public welfare. Almost immediately with the establishment of this social work division the number of cases of juvenile delinquency coming to the attention of the court increased. In spite of this increase , the court has felt that there was no appreciable increase in juvenile delinquency in proportion to the population . Question 2. To what do you attribute this increase if you have stated that there was an increase? Answer. There is sound reason to believe that the increase in cases handled was due to adequate facilities to work with juvenile delin quents, which encouraged the public to report cases which otherwise would not have been reported. A substantial population increase also contributed to the increase in cases coming to the attention of the court. It will be noted from the table attached that in addition to the number of children who had committed delinquent acts and come to the attention of the court, there was a comparable increase in the number of children who came to the attention of the court because of acts of parents which resulted in a contest for custody. Question 3. Was there an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I? Answer. Statistics are not available to answer this question. Question 4. In recent years have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes, such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activities? Answer. The juvenile court in Mecklenburg County handles very few cases of violent crime in children . Serious assault cases, rape, and murder, are virtually unknown to court, although some increase in gang activity has been noted in the past few years as population has increased . Perhaps one reason for the lack of such cases in this juvenile court is that the jurisdiction of the court covers only children under age 16. In the past 4 years only two children in the county have been involved in homicides. Question 5. Do you believe that there is any relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency? Answer. The staff of this court believes that there is no direct con nection. We have never had a case in which reading crime comic books seemed to be a motivating factor in the act of delinquency. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 19 Many seriously delinquent children frequently seem to be unmoved by what normal children seek in the way of thrills and excitement. If crime comic books and crime plays on the radio offer this thrill which satisfies the more seriously delinquent, and there is evidence that they may, the result is probably of a positive value rather than a negative value. We have noticed that chronically delinquent children almost always are very poor readers. Question 6. Please specifically give statistics and , if possible, state specific cases of juvenile crime which you believe can be traced to reading crime comic books. Answer. We have no such cases in our files . Question 7. Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would de crease if crime comic books were not readily available to children? Answer. No ; our experience would indicate that the greatest single factor contributing to juvenile delinquency is ignorance, indifference , and resulting neglect on the part of parents. We would like very much to see educational institutions include in their curriculums courses designed to help both children and parents understand the responsi bility of parenthood . We believe that this, more than any other one thing, would contribute toward a decrease in juvenile delinquency. We would like to emphasize again, however, that the frequency of juvenile delinquency cannot be judged wholly by the number of children appearing in court . It is a well- known fact that most children commit juvenile acts at some time in their childhood and the better the community's facilities for working with juvenile delinquency the more likely these acts are to be brought to the attention of a court . We are glad that you felt free to call on us for this help . Sincerely yours, WALLACE H. KURALT, Superintendent. Juvenile court cases handled in Mecklenburg County, N. C. , from 1946 through 1949 1946 . 1947. 1948 1949 Total 128 357 484 463 Totals For- Infor mal 1 mal 2 111 198 230 211 17 159 254 252 Total 2379 10652 Truancy For- Infor mal mal 16142011 28884 Total 139892 Mr. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, United States Senate, 115 Custody For- Infor mal mal 1388 11656385 2328 Total 92 180 29 286 30 297 33 All other For- Infor mal mal 84 119 147 115 1 Formal cases are those which appeared in court for judicial action. ? Informal cases are those which were disposed of by the social worker without appearance in court for judicial action. Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime, Washington, D. C. Reply of L. W. Amborn, Juvenile Probation Officer, Dane County, Wis. JUVENILE COURT OF DANE COUNTY, Madison, Wis. , August 16, 1950. 8 61 139 182 DEAR MR. KEFAUVER: We have your letter under the date of August 8, 1950, relative to the part comic books play in contributing 20 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY to juvenile delinquency. The following paragraphs will answer the questions asked in your letter: We are enclosing a copy of our annual report, and on page 4 of this report you will find a recapitulation for the years 1933-49. I might add that an explanation is needed for the increase in 1943 over 1942 . This is due to the fact that my predecessor was ill for a 6-month period. The increase was due in part to this fact rather than natural causes . It is our feeling petty thievery and malicious destruction of property is due to the fact that there is something lacking in the home and youngsters are rebelling against this lack . Yes; there was an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I. We have had very few violent crimes such as assault, rape, and murder in Madison during the past 10 years . There is a relationship between reading crime comic books and seeing movies of a similar type and juvenile delinquency. It is our very positive feeling it is not one of the major factors . It is a known fact that practically every American boy and girl reads comic books, and if this was the major factor all the boys and girls would be de linquent. On the other hand, we feel that not all boys and girls re spond the same way to different types of motivation and not all boys and girls have the same code of values and the ability to choose be tween right and wrong. I do feel, however, that very strict censor ship should be placed on the types of comic books that are placed on the newsstands, and only those of the highest type should be per mitted to be printed. We know of no cases of juvenile crime that can be traced to reading comic books . If we can be of any further assistance to you at any time, don't hesitate to call on us. Yours very truly, L. W. AMBORN, Juvenile Probation Officer, Madison 3, Wis. BOYS' JUVENILE PROBATION DEPARTMENT To the honorable DANE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, Madison, Wis. Gentlemen: The types of offenses for which the greatest number of boys were referred in 1949 are practically the same as in the two pre vious years, namely: Theft and petty thievery and malicious property damage. The third greatest number were referred for traffic viola tions and disorderly conduct during the year 1949. Sixty-four percent of all the referrals are in the 14- through 17-year age group as compared to 46 percent falling in the 13- through 16-year age group in 1948. There were 158 cases in the 16-year age group alone. The age level for 1949 includes a younger group of boys. The fundamental difficulty seems to be emotional instability. Many studies, made of children coming before courts in various parts of the country, show that a large part of these children are bewildered, unhappy, and have great difficulty in getting along with people. Such children usually come from homes where conditions exist which are sufficient to produce this instability. Some of these are: Con JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 21 flicts between parents or between parents and children ; homes broken by death, separation, or divorce; working mothers, who do not provide adequate care for their children ; indifferent parents; over-protective parents ; criminal parents and many others. The problem of the broken home and unhappy school experience is becoming of increasing concern. We cannot overlook the fact that the whole child goes to school . Statistics show that broken homes are very numerous, and that they are constantly on the increase. Since it is also known that far more children from broken homes be come delinquent than do those from normal homes we should give special consideration to them. It is a true maxim that truancy from school is the kindergarten of crime, and it is our feeling that much of the truancy from school is the direct result of unhappy school experi ences. The key to this complex situation is not easy to discover. As the fundamental need of the child is for someone to love him and to see that his needs are properly met, so the home is the place that should most completely meet these needs. A happy child in a happy, well balanced home seldom gets into trouble. Teaching the child by precept and example how to work, to develop habits of thrift, to use leisure time properly and, most of all , being a companion to him are parental duties that should not be relegated to other individuals, foster homes, private boys' schools, or institutions. If we are going to develop an effective long-range program for the prevention of juvenile delinquency, we must teach our boys and girls today to be better parents than their parents are. This is a community problem. No community will have any more delinquents than it will tolerate. When it gets bad enough it will do something about it, but it usually is too late then. The real plan should be to make your community an ideal place for you and your family to live, work, play, and worship by eliminating the repugnant spots in your environment before they take root. In order for this plan to function properly it must be on the community level and not superimposed or coerced by the county, State, or Federal level. The religious training of youth is generally too lightly taken today to insure their proper character development. It is a commonly accepted fact that boys and girls who receive religious instruction are far less likely to become delinquent, and, according to a prominent psychologist, they are better balanced emotionally and socially. Society, in general, does not follow the ancient maxim that we must teach by precept and example, and certainly society, in general, does not follow the Golden Rule. In other words, there has been sub stituted for the Golden Rule the fallacious philosophy of, " Do what I say, not what I do. " The family is the cornerstone of all that happens. We must live, work, play, and worship together with our children as a part of our regular diet. Very few of the boys with whom we work know the Golden Rule, and as a result, cannot be expected to apply it to their own lives. This may be due to the fact that our records show that 40 percent of the boys who are referred to us do not attend church regularly, do not belong to a church, or, if they do belong, do not attend regularly. I have been called upon to deliver talks on youth problems before many groups in Dane County, and have given two radio broadcasts. I have served as an adult adviser for the Madison Youth Council 22 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY during the past year. I served on a panel at the guidance workshop at the University of Wisconsin this summer and was on a panel for institutional treatment of the juvenile delinquent at the Governor's Conference on Children and Youth. At present, I am a member ofthe board of directors of the Community and Welfare Council. I am most happy to do this as part of our public relations program . We have six boys on farms and they are enjoying successful work experiences . As often as time will permit we check up on the various homes to see how the boys are getting along and to see that the boys are not overworked. In the case of a work home, the boy buys all of his own clothing. After the money has been deducted for clothing the balance is sent to us and we deposit it in a savings account in the bank. At present we are banking for 12 boys, either working on farms or in town, and the amounts range from $3.20 to $ 1,105.96 . During the past 12 months we have collected $ 1,380.47 as cost of restitution and cost of reparation for thefts and damages done by boys referred to our office . We have paid out $901.77 during the past 12 months as cost of restitution and cost of reparation. We are proud of the record made by the 195 boys who at one time or another were referred to our office , and who have served or are serving at the present time in the Armed Forces. All but one of the boys. made good. This boy received a discharge without honor. TRAFFIC SAFETY AND THE JUVENILE Persons under the age of 18 are termed " juveniles , " and are subject to measures of treatment and correction in juvenile court when they offend against the law. Traffic violations are looked upon differently than those ordinarily termed petty thievery and the more serious offenses, and in Dane County all such cases are heard informally by L. W. Amborn, juvenile probation officer, as referee . A copy of the findings and recommendations are given to the Honorable Roy H. Proctor, judge of the juvenile court, who orders the motor vehicle operator's license of the offender to be suspended for a definite period of time. Denial of the charge would, of course, necessitate referring the case to the juvenile court for trial . About 15 juvenile traffic cases are disposed of each month since the signing of the new law on May 31, 1949. Hearings are arranged so that the boy ( there is an occasional girl) appears with one or both parents at a given hour and is directed into the private office of the juvenile probation officer . No prelim inary investigation is made, and the only facts known are those stated in the complaint made and signed by the police or justice or highway officer. Inquiry is first made of the boy's age and birthday, school and grade, or employment, and as to which parent is present . No hearing is undertaken without mother or father being present . A statement is made as to the nature of the hearing, and parents are informed that it is hoped all good purposes will be served by this hearing, and that the boy may be saved the disadvantage of any appearance in court and the memory of that sort of an experience . They are informed that these matters are heard without the investi gation which would ordinarily be made of a child who is alleged to be delinquent and who is coming into juvenile court , and that it is assumed at the outset the boy is the decent, clean-minded, fine boy JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 23 he looks to be, and that the matter under consideration was a mis take, which might happen to any of us humans, and something which should not reflect upon the character of the boy. With this comfort ing statement and resultant release of tension, the case of the boy is taken up. The offense is read, the boy's admission of the facts de clared, the parent's acquiescence noted, and the boy explains how it happened. Circumstances of the offense, others present in the car, where from, or whence bound are disclosed . Parents explain their version, their surprise or disappointment. The probation officer points out the dangers of carelessness , the duty of every driver to keep his. mind on his driving, and not permit conversation or girl friend or anything else to distract his attention from his one important job of driving safely, lawfully, and carefully. Each boy has the oppor tunity of being impressed with the importance of respecting the rights. and property of others, of practicing the Golden Rule, and with the necessity of obeying the law and doing what is right, even in the little things . Since fines cannot be imposed upon juveniles, and since it is rarely necessary to place a traffic violator on regular or informal probation , disposition of the case is made in accordance with the schedule for varying periods of suspension of operator's license . A single failure to obey a semaphore, stop-and-go signal, or to produce driver's license, and the like, calls for a 30 days' suspension ; also speeding if under 40 miles an hour. Speeding 40-45 miles is 60 days ; 45-50 miles, 90 days, and above 50 miles is 120 days . Careless driving calls for suspension from 90 days to 1 year, depending upon the degree of hazard, the na ture of the case, and whether or not racing was in the picture or other serious hazards, and whether an accident resulted . A previous tag or court appearance within 12 months steps up the suspension 30 days ; a previous tag in 6 months adds 60 or 90 days. Option is then ex tended for a credit of 30 days against the recommended suspension if the boy agrees to attend the 12- week course in "driver education" offered through the cooperation of the Madison Vocational School or the "driver education" course offered in the public high schools in Wisconsin. If the boy has two moving traffic violations during a year he automatically becomes amenable to the financial responsi bility law which provides that the suspension of his driving rights is mandatory unless proof of financial responsibility is filed . The re sulting suspension or restriction ordered by the juvenile judge is. forwarded to the State motor vehicle department as part of the required report. It is significant that the parents are very appreciative of this type of hearing, and that the boys themselves seem to benefit to the extent . that rarely does a boy offend a second time. He knows exactly what would result if he should get another tag and he is constrained to keep a closer check upon his attitude of mind, and upon his duty as a safe driver and good citizen. An effort is made to impress each boy with the fact that he should regard the driving of an automobile as a great privilege, and that if he is to accept the privilege, he must remember the important obliga tions that go with it , to drive lawfully and safely. It is apparent that an occasional traffic violation, relatively trivial as it may seem, is simply one explanation of a general state of lawless ness, a state of mind which is certain to get a boy into serious trouble 24 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY later on, if it goes uncorrected. If caution can be applied at this early stage, it may have the effect of warding off something more serious. Recapitulation of cases referred to the juvenile probation office ( 1933-49) 118 1942 . 144 1943_ 487 1944. 398 1945. 323 1946 . 201 1947 . 224 1948_ 296 1949 244 1933_ 1934. 1935. 1936. 1937. 1938. 1939. 1940. 1941. Theft, petty thievery Malicious property damage. Traffic violation___ Disorderly conduct Breaking and entering ( no theft) . Breaking and entering and petty thievery. Minor referrals . Sneaking into theater, field house. Operating motor vehicle without the owner's consent.. Mischievous behavior.. Nor tendance, truancy. Drinking- Driving without a license_ Sex offense . Speeding Uncontrolled in the home_ Reckless driving… . Careless driving Age: Juvenile referrals: Oct. 1 , 1948-49 ( 12 months) 6_7 8_9 10. 11. 12 . 13. 14. 140 Intolerable school behavior .. 119 Advice and counsel.__. 54 Interagency investigation.. 53 Runaway. 36 Shooting in the city. Alleged neglected child . 36 Falsifying age.. 3231 3130 18 2822 Number | Age: 9 7 4382 102 Neighborhood squabble Driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor . 24 Hunting without a license_ 23 Suspension of juvenile from school. 23 Vagrancy 17 Altercation with parent_ 169 F│ Unlawful operation of motor ve hicle. I Dane County Juvenile referrals : Oct. 1 , 1948-49 (12 months) , probation depart ment, boys' division !! 15. 16. 17. 18. Total referrals Oct. 1 , 1948 49. 19. 20_ Over 20 Total . 207 573 638 678 670 561 668 720 Boys' probation department Total juvenile referrals in the city of Madison, Oct. 1 , 1948–49_ Total juvenile referrals in area of Dane County outside of the city of Madison, Oct. 1 , 1948-49_ .. Total juvenile referrals Oct. 1 , 1948–59 ( 12 months) . 64433221 1 1 1 1 1 1 720 Number 111 15899274 2 2 720 474 246 720 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 25 Ward: 1. 2_ 3_4 5. 6 . 7. 8. 9 10_ 11. Breakdown of wards in Madison Oct. 1 , 1948–49 (12 months) Number Ward-Continued 101210122014 3516 446 20 Recapitulation, Oct. 1, 1948–49 (12 months) Juveniles referred ……. Repeaters : Boys who were referred to L. W. Amborn between Oct. 1948 and Oct. 1 , 1949, and repeated during this 12- month period ( 6 percent) .. Juvenile court petitions filed : Delinquent__. Dependent and neglected_ Commitments__ Number of juveniles placed on probation_ Number of juveniles on probation on Oct. 1 , 1949 . Number of probations terminated by the court.. Number of juveniles placed under supervision__ Number of juveniles under supervision on Oct. 1 , 1949 Number of juveniles excused from supervision .. Boys entering the Armed Forces . BREAKDOWN OF DISORDERLY CONDUCT CASES Window peeping---- Using or writing obscene language. Sale of beer to juvenile... Giving beer to juvenile__ 12. 13. 14. 15_ 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Hunting, fishing, swimming, disturbing in arboretum. Shooting at animals____ Loitering in university buildings. Shooting firecrackers in the city. Heckling and taunting an officer.. Furnishing transportation and accessory to drinking beer . Shooting at child_ Fishing out of season.. Boisterous conduct Fighting Selling football souvenirs on university property. Tripping a girl . Fleeing arrest. Total_ Respectfully submitted. 72705-503 12 11 Total (in city of Madison) __ 474 │ Number 2625 252621 18 5743 34 720 41HOTTBEC L. W. AMBORN, Dane County Probation Officer. 1917 7 1815 2617 162 14 27 =-322-1 | 88 11 5 53 26 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Reply of Mrs. Mary Rose, Chief Probation Officer, Denver, Colo. JUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT, CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER IN THE STATE OF COLORADO, August 19, 1950. HON. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER : In answer to your questionnaire of August 8, 1950, re juvenile delinquency throughout the United States, I am submitting the following : 1. In 1945 , we handled through the Denver juvenile and family court 356 boys' cases and 178 girls ' cases. In 1949, which is the last report, we handled 536 boys' cases and 218 girls' cases. 2. We attribute this increase to bad housing, increased alcoholism on the part of the parents, organized gangs , economic insecurity, etc. 3. Yes; there was an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I. 4. Yes ; in recent years juveniles have tended to commit more violent crimes such as assault, rape , etc. 5. From the records of the Denver juvenile court there does not seem to be any definite relationship between reading comic books and juvenile delinquency. Comic books are a phase the children pass through, and they satisfy their zest for adventure. We have had no cases where there has been a tie-up between reading comic books and delinquency. 6. In one instance a boy who came before Judge Philip B. Gilliam for burglary stated that he got the idea from a picture. And speaking of pictures, I believe the picture City Across the River increased delinquency and gang activities more than anything that has been filmed in years. 7. I do not believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if comic books were not available. There are many adults who read comic books and detective stories . I think we have overemphasized them in their relationship to the delinquent . Many of the delinquents who come in the court go to movies and read a few comic books, but none of their delinquency can be traced to this source. Hoping this information is helpful, I remain, Sincerely , JUVENILE AND FAMILY COUrt of DenveR, (Mrs.) MARY ROSE, Chief Probation Officer. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 27 Reply of Hon. F. Wendell Lensing, Judge, Vanderburgh Probate Court, Evansville, Ind. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, United States Senate Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Washington, D. C. VANDERBURGH PROBATE COURT, EVANSVILLE, IND. , August 23, 1950.. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: Your letter of the 8th, addressed to Mr. Conness Northern, chief probation officer, Vanderburgh County Juvenile Court, re United States Senate Committee To Investigate Crime, at hand and its contents noted. 1944 . 1945 1946 The following questions propounded by the committee, might I be permitted to answer as follows: 1. Has juvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? If you can support this with specific statistics , please do so. Answer. Juvenile delinquency in Vanderburgh County has de creased. Total number of delinquency referrals 751 1947 710 1948. 501 1949. 428 572 503 2. To what do you attribute this increase, if you have stated that there was an increase? Answer. No increase. 3. Was there an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I? Answer. I don't know. 4. In recent years, have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes, such as: assault, rape, murder and gang activities? Answer. Not since war years. 5. Do you believe that there is any relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency? Answer. Small ; probably 10 percent influence. 6. Please specifically give statistics and, if possible, state specific cases of juvenile crime which you believe can be traced to reading crime comic books . Answer. Don't know of any. 7. Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children? Answer. Comic books portraying the criminal as the principal character are bad. Those portraying the policeman or the G-man are neutral . Those actually comic in character are good. Please be advised that the above subject matter is one that is given much interest and attention as far as this court is concerned. Sincerely, F. WENDELL LENSING, Judge, Vanderburgh Probate Court. 28 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY • Reply of John J. Doyle, Probation Officer, Ramsey County, Minn. COUNTY OF RAMSEY, STATE OF MINNESOTA, August 22, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman Special Committee to Investigate Organized, Crime in Interstate Commerce, Washington 25, D. C. DEAR MR. KEFAUVER: Your letter of August 8, 1950, addressed to Mr. John J. Doyle, relative to certain facts about organized crime and delinquency has been referred to me, and I shall try to answer each of your numbered questions. 1. Juvenile delinquency has not increased in the years 1945 to 1950 as you will see by the following statistics. Boys. Girls. Total. 1945 512 120 632 1946 433 119 552 1947 38898 486 1948 39585 480 1949 423 110 533 2. The answer to this question is explained by No. 1 . 3. In 1918 we had 805 juveniles in court, 117 were girls ; 1919 we had 854 juveniles in court, 147 were girls ; 1920 we had 732 juveniles in court, 123 were girls ; 1921 we had 669 juveniles in court, 100 were girls ; 1922 we had 620 juveniles in court, 110 were girls ; 1923 we had 385 juveniles in court, 103 were girls . 4. I doubt that juveniles have tended to commit more violent crimes in recent years, and I have been in this work since 1928. 5. There may be some relationship between reading crime comic books, crime stories in newspapers, and juvenile delinquency, but I would place the comic books on the same scale as their predecessor the dime novel. 6. We have no statistics which trace juvenile delinquency to the reading of crime comic books, although we have tried to prove this thesis at the request of research people. 7. You ask whether or not juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children. I doubt if crime comic books are any more significant as factors in the produc tion of delinquency than their predecessor the dime novels were, and I would place the pool hall first, undesirable movies second , lurid magazines third, dramatic newspaper stories fourth, and comic books last. If you are measuring influences of a commercial nature, the delin quent is today what he always was: the product of the social milieu ; i. e. , the interplay of heredity and environment, and the child's every day training in the home, the places he plays, the education he re ceives in school, and the people he meets, together with his physcal and mental inheritance, are all of them more important than something he may read or see. Very truly yours, JOHN J. DOYLE, Probation Officer. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 29 Reply of E. W. Brewer, Case Work Supervisor, Superior Court of King County, Seattle, Wash. SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON FOR KING COUNTY, JUVENILE DEPARTMENT, Seattle 4, Wash. , August 17, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Senate Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: I am answering your inquiry relative to juvenile de linquency in the absence of Mr. Philip Green, our Director of Proba tion. Mr. Green is on vacation and will not be back at work until after your August 22 deadline. As a private citizen, I find it difficult to realize that the United States Senate is devoting time and energy to the effect of comic books on juvenile delinquency. Professionally, however, I feel compelled to answer your questions to the best of my opinion , inasmuch as your letter indicates that "certain public officials responsible for the appre hension and detention of criminals" have suggested a positive answer to the question. Such emphasis can actually detract from construc tive efforts to do anything about the real causes of delinquency. Although I am certain that some of your replies will contain statistics which will, in the opinion of the writers, show either positive or negative answers to your question, I would like to point out that meaningful statistical measurement of the absolute volume or the causes of juvenile delinquency is sadly lacking at the present time. 1. Has juvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? Statistics here at the court cannot be used to measure juvenile delinquency in this community, since we have records of only those cases that are referred to the court by the law-enforcement agencies and may have no way of measuring the total amount of delinquency in the community. The number of cases referred to the juvenile court in the past 5 years has not shown any appreciable increase. 2. To what do you attribute this increase? No answer in light of question No. 1 . 3. Was there an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I? No answer. 4. In recent years have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes, such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activities? No answer. 5. Do you believe that there is any relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency? My professional opinion is that any relationship between the two is a nebulous one. Those of us who have had specialized training for this field and have worked in the field of treating the delinquent child firmly believe that delinquency is a symptom of a sick personality. Myriad factors make up the total personality; and, therefore, crime comic books only represent one of thousands of influences in the forming of any personality. 30 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Statistically, it would be interesting to compare a sample group of delinquent children with a sample group of nondelinquent children with respect to what proportion of each read crime comic books . Actually, however, I believe that even this would be of little value in forming any conclusive opinion in the matter, since only a detailed study of an individual child from the psychological and psychiatric point of view can determine why a child actually commits a delinquent act. 6. Please specifically give statistics and, if possible, state specific cases ofjuvenile crime which you believe can be traced to reading crime comic books. I find that, after talking to other workers here at the court and recalling my own experiences, I can give you no case of a juvenile where reading crime comic books was a causative factor. 7. Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children? No. These answers to your questions are not made with respect to the general desirability of crime comic books, but merely relate to your specific questions about their effect as a cause of juvenile delinquency. Very truly yours, E. W. BREWER, Case Work Supervisor. Reply of Robert U. Stolhand, Chief Probation Officer, Children's Court, Milwaukee, Wis. CHILDREN'S COURT, MILWAUKEE COUNTY, Milwaukee, Wis. , August 23, 1950. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, United States Senate Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: Your letter dated August 8 , 1950, directed to the Hon. John J. Kenney, has been referred to me for reply. This letter, however, came during the vacation of both the judge and myself, and for this reason the reply has been delayed . Concerning statistics from the Children's Court of Milwaukee County, it is well to point out that this department has, for the past 20 years, forwarded annual statistics to the United States Children's Bureau and, later, the Federal Security Administration; and any detailed review of statistics of this court might be available from this source. If anything, there has been a gradual decline in the number of deliquency complaints received by this department during the period 1945 to 1950. Part can be attributed to the reduction of the many pressures which developed during war years, while another reason might be the assumption of greater responsibility for minor deliquencies by the various police departments and youth-aid program within the jurisdiction of this court. Statistics for the years following World War I are unavailable, and I am unable to determine any evidence of increase, although one JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 31 might assume that the local situation followed the national pattern of that period . In recent years we have not had any significant evidences of the more violent crimes or gang activities by juveniles, but we feel that our handling of juveniles has been a positive influence as we compare subsequent crime rates for adults with those from other similar-sized communities. It is difficult to determine the relationship between crime comic books and juvenile deliquency. We accept the principle that delinquency has multiple causation and that there is no single cause which operates independent of many other factors . I would hesitate to speculate upon whether deliquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available. I trust that this information will be of assistance to your com mittee in its deliberations upon the subject of organized crime in interstate commerce. Very truly yours, Reply of Edward F. Green, Director of Probation, Children's Court, Rochester, N. Y. ROBERT U. STOLHAND, ChiefProbation Officer. Mr. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, United States Senate Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Washington, D. C. COUNTY OF MONROE, CHILDREN'S COURT, Rochester 4, N. Y., August 25, 1950. DEAR MR. KEFAUVER: Recently you sent a questionnaire to this court regarding the trends in delinquency. Our records show that 1945_ 1946 1947 1. Juvenile delinquency has not increased in the years 1945 to 1950. Our figures for these years are as follows : 1913 . 1914 1915 1916 1917. Cases 317 1948 . 205 1949___. 215 2. No increase. 3. There was no increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I. Our figures are— Cases 173 214 Cases 380 1918 448 1919. 409 1920 452 1921 . 518 1922 Cases 531 552 420 370 529 4. Our records do not indicate that juveniles tend to commit more violent crimes in recent years. 5. We do not believe there is any relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency, except in individual or isolated cases. 6. We are not able to give you specific cases of juvenile crime which we believe can be traced to reading crime comic books. 32 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 7. We do not believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease to any appreciable extent if crime comic books were not readily availa ble to children . 8. We think that only children who are already unstable or mal adjusted are in any way affected by reading this type of material. We are somewhat late in getting the answers to the above ques tions to you, but we hope that they will be of some value. Sincerely yours, EDWARD F. GREEN, Director of Probation. Reply of R. K. Jones, Chief Probation Officer, Sacramento County, Calif. COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO, SACRAMENTO, CALIF. , August 22, 1950. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, United States Senate Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in answer to your questionnaire of August 8 and to answer the questions contained therein : 1. 30 percent increase. 2. General increase in population . 3. Unable to answer-information not available. 4. No. 5. Yes. 6. We are unable to furnish statistics to support this answer; however, we know of two cases in which books had some influence over the individual committing the crime. At this time I refer you to a book known as Margaret, A Novel of Profound Significance; it is published as a Signet Book, No. 769, by the New American Library . We have a case pending in this depart ment now against a 15-year old boy who attempted to rape a woman 42 years of age. The facts are that this lady was canvassing from house to house ; and when she approached the house where this boy was in the front yard he encouraged her to go to the rear of the building, where he attempted to rape her. The boy claimed after he was arrested that he had never had any sex experience with a female or otherwise ; and, if you will read this book, you will find on pages 90 and 91 certain language which was used by this particular boy in his attempt to rape this woman. (The other case I am not able to identify at this time.) 7. Yes. It is not my opinion that the book actually is or was a definite cause for these individuals committing such acts. However, it is a positive feeling that a person who has a tendency to commit a certain type of crime will seek literature on that subject and may proceed from ideas that he gained from the book as to proper pro cedure, etc. Yours very truly, R. K. JONES, Chief Probation Officer. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 33 Reply of W. Stanley Good, Chief, Division of Child Welfare, Lincoln, Nebr. STATE OF NEBRASKA, DEPARTMENT OF ASSISTANCE AND CHILD WELFARE, Lincoln 9, Nebr. , August 21, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee to Investigate, Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER : Miss Dorothy Swisshelm, to whom your letter of August 8, 1950, was addressed, is no longer with this agency. On behalf of the agency, however, we are submitting the following information in the hopes that it may be of some value to your committee. It is extremely difficult to judge at any given time as to whether juvenile delinquency is increasing. If the commitments to the two State training schools here in Nebraska can be used as an indication of the extent of juvenile delinquency, then we believe that the answer to your first question would be that there has not been an increase between 1945 and 1950. The average population in the boys' and girls ' training schools continues to range from 120 to 125 children . This has been a fairly consistent figure during the years mentioned. In reply to question 3, there does not seem to be information avail able here that would indicate an increase in juvenile delinquency following World War I. With reference to question 4 , our only source of information would be the commitments to the training school, and the specific acts listed in the petitions to the juvenile court do not indicate any great change. Commitments of boys often result from car theft, petty thievery, incorrigibility, running away and truanting from school . Commit ments of girls often involve behavior including truanting, running away from home, sexual misbehavior, and petty thievery. We do not have any evidence to support the idea that there is a direct relationship between crime comic books and juvenile delin quency. This would also apply to question 6. With reference to question 7, we do feel that efforts should be made in many ways to encourage better reading on the part of children. It does not seem possible, however, to show a direct relationship between the incidence of juvenile delinquency and the availability of crime comic books. We regret that it is not possible to give more specific information in reply to your request, and trust that this may be of some help to your committee. Sincerely, DIVISION OF CHILD WELFARE, W. STANLEY GOOD, Chief. 34 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Reply of Abram F. Livingston, Director of Probation, Schenectady, N. Y. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR: Upon returning from a vacation, I find your letter of August 8 requesting information of the juvenile-delinquent pic ture in this county and, in particular, how crime comic books influence delinquency. SCHENECTADY COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PROBATION, Schenectady 7, N. Y. , August 18, 1950. My reply to your seven questions asked in that letter is as follows: 1. Juvenile delinquency has not increased in this county in the year 1945 to 1950. The following is a table on the statistics of delinquency in support of the above statement which will also serve to answer questions 2 and 3 of your questionnaire. Schenectady County- Children's court reports Boys. Girls Total.. 1933 1934 1936 1938 144 158 109 24 13 12 168 171 121 8113 94 1940 7913 92 1942 8412 96 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 81 123 12 24 93 147 131 108 7811 89 34 16 15 165 124 89 104 3913 52 4. It is my observation that crimes committed by juveniles have been less violent in recent years. I think, however, this is purely a local condition and contrary to statistics obtained from large city ABRAM F. LIVINGSTON, Director of Probation. JANUARY 18, 1950. areas . 5, 6, and 7. In answering questions 5, 6, and 7, I am enclosing a copy of a letter sent to the investigating committee of New York State legislature last January which expresses my opinion on the subject matter of these three questions . I hope that the above information and enclosure will assist your committee in its investigation. While I believe that the crime comic book has had little influence on delinquency in our county, yet I feel certain that many little minds are being warped as a result of reading these books . I hope that the work of your committee will result in some form of control so that children throughout the country will not be exposed to this sordid literature that appears in these books. Sincerely, Mr. JOSEPH F. CARLINO, Chairman, Joint Legislative Committee to Study the Publication of Comics, Long Beach, N. Y. DEAR MR. CARLINO: In replying to your letter of November 15 regarding cases of juvenile crimes which have been motivated by the reading of comic books, I wish to state that I have examined our records and find that we have no cases on file where comic books can be said to have been the direct cause of juvenile de linquency. We have had a few cases over the years before the court where children have admitted their liking for the sensational type of comic book, and the reading of which appeared to effect the emotional stability of the children involved. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 35 I find it difficult to determine where children get their ideas for the commis sion of their juvenile crimes, when it appears that they get some technique or idea from some source other than from their ordinary environmental experiences ; whether it is comic books, movies, or the radio is difficult to determine. My guess is that they draw from the worst of these three sources. I might suggest to your committee that it once was my experience as a prin cipal of a school to provide through the school the so- called wholesome kind of books, for example, True Comics, Calling All Girls, etc. We found that this practice greatly lessened the sale of the malicious, sensational, and degrading type of comic which may be found in almost every community on some newsstand. Very truly yours, Reply of Charles T. G. Rogers, Chief Probation Officer, San Diego, Calif. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, United States Senate, ABRAM F. LIVingston, Director of Probation. COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO, PROBATION DEPARTMENT, San Diego, Calif. , August 22, 1950. Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: The following is submitted in reply to your letter of August 8, 1950, concerning the effect of crime comic books upon juvenile delinquency. 1. According to the statistics of this department, juvenile referrals have decreased slightly over the period from 1946 through 1949. See page 19 of the 1949 report of this department. 2. Not applicable. 3. Statistics of this agency not available. 4. Statistics of the Federal Bureau of Investigation tend to show such a trend nationally. While no specialized study has been made in this community, a similar trend is probably present. There has been evidenced a notable increase in gang activities . 5. There is no doubt that a relationship exists between the reading of crime comic books and juvenile delinquency. Like the dime novels of an earlier era, the normal, well-adjusted child could read them without the experience being traumatic or sparking a pattern of behavior unacceptable to the society in which he functioned ; the danger of such literature is to the juvenile whose psychological or emotional make-up predisposes him to deviant reaction. The young ster of border-line or lower mentality who is susceptible to suggestion in any form may be stimulated to attempt to carry out activities depicted in a crime comic. The emotionally or psychologically mal adjusted child who feels a greater need for attention or security than normal, and who has failed to achieve such attention or security through normal channels, may attempt to secure the attention or gain recognition by criminal acts. These may use crime comics as a source book. I would like to draw to the attention of the committee that the "sexy" type of comic book, whether crime is depicted or not, may have an equally dangerous effect upon the groups of children outlined above. Stimulated by such reading, experimentation by these children may carry them over the line into activities which are unlawful in nature. In all fairness, it must be pointed out that the comic book is not the only source from which these juveniles may 36 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY gain suggestions, ideas, and motivation. Certain other types of magazines, radio programs, and movies may have a similar effect upon these children . An argument frequently advanced by the publishers is that comic books are not published primarily for juvenile consumption but for sale to adults . This statement is true, but it is equally true that adults falling into the same psychological and emotional groups may also be motivated to criminal behavior by similar stimulation . 6. No statistics are available in this office . A case known to this department in which a teen-ager held up a store and theater may be cited as a possible example. According to statements made by the boy's mother, for a period of 6 months prior to his offense he had spent a great portion of his time reading crime comics and detective stories. Our knowledge of the case indicated that this boy was badly maladjusted emotionally. A teen-age boy who went to an airport with two friends , painted out the numerals on a light airplane and substituted false numbers, and then started the plane and attempted to fly it, causing serious damage to that plane and two others , stated that he learned how to start the plane and learned the rudiments of flying which he intended to put into practice from a comic book. 7. As indicated above, I believe that the detailing of the commission of crime and the glorifying of the criminal through any media may have a deleterious effect upon mentally retarded, emotionally unstable, or psychologically maladjusted persons . I would think that voluntary control and censorship by all agencies offering material to the public would be helpful . Looking at the problemobjectively and real istically, I do not believe that the banning of certain types of publica tion would do more than make them more highly desirable to the very types of people that we least want to have them. I trust that the above information may be of value to you in your investigation . If any further information is desired please feel free to call upon me. Very truly yours, CHARLES T. G. ROGERS, Chief Probation Officer. Reply of Mrs. Alice L. Stewart, Chief Probation Officer, Clark County Juvenile Court, Springfield, Ohio CLARK COUNTY JUVENILE COURT, Springfield, Ohio, August 19, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SIR: We have your request for answers to several ques tions regarding juvenile delinquency. Despite the fact that we hear of increases in juvenile delinquency, our figures have been very consistent between the years 1945 and 1950 showing little or no real increase. There may be different types of delinquency due to conditions following the war. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 37 We have not had records of violent crimes as suggested in your question 4. As to question 5, regarding comic books, we cannot attribute any specific cases to such books but as a whole we do feel such reading matter is questionable for children . We do not know whether delin quency would decrease if comic books were not available but we do believe that the comic books are no more harmful than the radio , movie, and television gangster and crime programs. Very truly yours, Mrs. ALICE L. STEWART, Chief Probation Officer. Reply of Joseph A. Homer, Probation Officer, Juvenile Court of Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, Pa. JUVENILE COURT OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pittsburgh, Pa. , August 25, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: Your letter of August 8, 1950 , directed to Mr. Rome has been referred to me. I am sorry I did not get the letter on time and also I have been away, so was unable to answer the questions on the date you specified . We have a staff of 75 professional people, and I have canvassed each and every one of them for their opinions on the questions you submitted . I have also referred to our statistics for answers to your questions. We have concluded that: 1. In our jurisdiction, that is Allegheny County, Pa. , juvenile delin quency has decreased approximately 40 percent since 1945. This year, however, there is a very slight noticeable trend toward an increase. 2. Answer is included in question 1 . 3. During World War I, and immediately following, there was an increase in delinquency. Then, there was a leveling off for a period of years up to 1930. Following 1930 there was a decrease with a slight increase in 1937 and 1938. Then in 1941 delinquency in our juris diction continued upward until we reached an all-time high in 1945. Since then, as you will note in question 1 , delinquency has been decreasing until it has leveled off this year. 4. Our statistics reveal that cases coming to the attention of our juvenile court are of a more violent nature such as you mention in your letter. However, there are not any more such cases than there were in 1945 except that the ratio is higher of violent cases to minor delinquencies. 5. On this question there is a difference of opinion among our staff members. However, the great majority of them believe that there is a very little relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency. The consensus of opinion is that those who are apprehended for violating the law and attribute this violation to reading comic books would have found some other means of com mitting the same offense anyway. 38 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 6. Out of thousands of cases coming to our attention there were very few that could be traced to reading comic books. There were some, however. In one case a boy leaped from a telephone pole, believing himself to be Superman. There were also several gang organizations that called themselves the Green Hornet, but I wonder if these organi zations might not have been formed and found some other name if they had never heard of the Green Hornet. 7. I do not believe that there would be an appreciable decrease in delinquency if crime comic books were not available to children. However, I somehow or other cannot help feeling , although there is a lack of real evidence and statistics that crime comic books do damage to the plastic and impressionable minds of our children. Sincerely yours, JOSEPH A. HOMER. Reply of Richard D. Greene, Chief Probation Officer, Children's Court of Onondaga County, Syracuse, N. Y. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: The following is in reply to your letter of August 8 and I note that you requested an answer not later than August 22. I deeply regret my inability to forward this infor mation prior to that date but critical illness in my family made that impossible. The following, in numbers, correspond to the numbered questions in your letter. CHILDREN'S COURT, COUNTY OF ONONDAGA, Syracuse, N. Y., August 25, 1950. 1. Juvenile delinquency has not increased from 1945-50 as shown in the following statistics : 1945. 1946 1947. 1945. 1946. 1947. 1948. 1949. Juvenile delinquents 430 | 1948 461 | 1949_ 259 2. (No answer. ) 3. As this court was not established until 1937, we have no statistics following World War I. 4. Following are the statistics for the more violent type of crime : Robbery Assault 114163 14∞∞ 5 8 8 1 279 Sex offense 30 (8 boys, 22 girls) . 49 (25 boys, 24 girls) . 35 (16 boys, 19 girls). 32 (13 boys, 19 girls). 27 (12 boys, 15 girls). JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 39 5. I do not believe there is any significant relationship between reading comic books and juvenile delinquency. In my opinion juve nile delinquency is the result of parental neglect, either willful or un intentional, and while I have heard crime comic books ascribed as a cause of delinquency, it is my belief that while in some instances it may provide the suggestion which leads to delinquency, the delin quency would have occurred whether there were comic books or not. 6. We have no statistics covering this question and I do not recall any specific cases. 7. I do not believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if comic books were not available. I do not approve of crime comic books but it seems to me that a cooperative, educational approach with the publishers would be more desirable than legislation to prevent publication of such books. Very sincerely, Reply of Edward J. O'Mara, Chief Probation Officer, Boston Juvenile Court, Boston, Mass. RICHARD D. GREENE, Chief Probation Officer. BOSTON JUVENILE COURT, Boston, Mass., August 18, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. 1945. 1946. 1947. DEAR SIR: I am sending you herewith my answers to the question naire you sent me recently trusting they will be of help to you. 1. Number of cases in this court in 782 1948_ 648 561 1949__ . 1950 to date__. 587 684 359 2. There has been no noticeable increase in cases. 3. There was a decided increase in cases during war period, mostly with girls, but at the end of the war there was a decrease. 4. I have noticed that the cases now before the court are more serious than 20 years ago, but we do not have many very serious cases such as rape, violent crimes. I cannot say that we have any so- called gang situations among youth in our jurisdiction, which takes all of Boston proper. 5. I am disturbed at the type of literature now being sold to teen agers in this city. Certainly this kind of reading and pictures are not conducive to good morals on the part of youth. 6. I am strongly of the opinion that the elimination of this sort of reading would be of the greatest assistance in helping the court to keep delinquency at a low level. Yours truly, EDWARD J. O'MARA, Chief Probation Officer. 40 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Reply of C. Wilson Anderson, Director, New Castle County Family Court, Wilmington, Del. THE FAMILY COURT FOR NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DEL. , Wilmington, Del. , August 21, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, United States Senate Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: We are happy to send you the following information with respect to the juvenile records of the Family Court for New Castle County. 1. Juvenile delinquency, on terms of referrals to the Family Court for New Castle County, has not increased in the years 1945 to 1950 . 2. No answer. 3. No figures are available concerning juvenile delinquency after World War I. 4. No comparative figures exist except for the years 1948 and 1949 . During the latter year the only significant change was a 4-percent increase in the number of unlawful entry offenses . This increase was due to the apprehension of children operating in gangs. 5. We do not believe there is any significant relationship between delinquency and reading crime comic books. 6. We have no statistics either for or against the hypothesis that there is a correlation between reading comic books and juvenile crime. 7. We do not believe that any decrease in juvenile delinquency would take place if crime comic books were not readily available to children. This opinion is based on the conviction that the causes or motivation of delinquency is an exceedingly complex matter lying deeply in the emotional, psychological, and social needs of the child and his family. Respectfully, C. WILSON ANDERSON, Director. Reply of O. F. Snedings, Probation Officer , Alameda County Juvenile Court, Oakland, Calif. ALAMEDA COUNTY JUVENILE COURT AND PROBATION OFFICE, Oakland 7, Calif. , August 30, 1950. The Honorable ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: Your letter of August 8 requesting information on the influence of crime comics on juvenile delinquency came to my desk during my vacation, from which I have just returned. This explains the delay in making reply thereto . The replies which are submitted below are made to the specific questions in your letter in the same order that the questions were made. The information has been secured from the files of this office. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 41 You should be advised, however, that there is no technique in the area under the jurisdiction of this office which is the County of Alameda that permits an accurate count of all the cases of juvenile delinquency arising in the county during any particular period. There are several agencies working in the field of juvenile delinquency. No provision either by law or by voluntary agreement exists for the channeling of all the cases referred to the several agencies through one particular agency for an over- all accurate case count. The figures submitted, therefore, are those which represent cases referred to the probation office of this county. 1. It appears that there has been a slight increase in juvenile delinquency during the period 1945-50 . The following statistics in point are submitted : Total cases, including both delinquent and nondelinquent juveniles referred to the probation office : 1945 1946. 1947. 8, 619 1948. 8, 408 1949_. 7,656 Delinquent.. Nondelinquent .. We have no breakdown of figures for all of the above groups segregating the delinquent and nondelinquent cases except for the year 1949. The segregation for this year discloses 5,893 delinquent cases and 3,626 nondelinquent cases out of the total of 9,519 cases referred . I think it is quite probable that approximately the same percentage of delinquent cases to the total cases referred would hold for all of the other years . The cases which were processed for juvenile court hearings out of the several total annual groups reported shows the following numbers of cases in each of the two groups : 1945 868 319 1946 912 354 1947 950 456 8, 913 9, 519 1948 1,066 514 1949 972 546 2. From the statistics of court cases it would appear that there was an increase of about 12 percent in juvenile delinquency which developed during the years 1945 to 1949. The general population increase, more than any other cause, I believe, was responsible for the indicated increase. 3. There was an increase in juvenile delinquency following World War I. 4. Juveniles have not tended in this jurisdiction to commit more violent crimes in recent years . 5. I doubt that the reading of crime comic books contributes in any great degree to juvenile delinquency. The assigned causes of anti social conduct as they appear in the reports of our investigating department and our guidance clinic very seldom include the influence of crime comic literature . 6. We have no cases of juvenile crime in our files where the causes of delinquent conduct were entered as due to the reading of crime comic publications. 7. The answer to this question, from the information we have in our files, will have to be in the negative. 72705-50-- -4 42 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY The subject you are investigating is an important one and has aroused a great deal of interest in the public mind. I hope you can secure sufficient reliable information in the course of your investigation to justify positive conclusions one way or the other. Respectfully, Reply of W. E. Watson, Director, Division of Corrections, State Department of Welfare, Frankfort, Ky. O. F. SNEDINGS, Probation Officer. COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY, DEPARTMENT OF WELFARE, DIVISION OF CORRECTIONS, Frankfort, August 30, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: Your letter of August 8 addressed to Mr. John Quertermous has been referred to me for reply. In answer to your first question, commitments to the Kentucky House of Reform , Boys, Greendale, Ky. , totaled 177 in 1946, 177 in 1947, 195 in 1948, and 223 in 1949. Regardless of offenses, unless jurisdiction in transferred and the juvenile is tried in the circuit court, information on commitments to the Kentucky houses of reform indicates "delinquency" with no information about the type of crime. Capt. William Kiefer, crime prevention bureau, Louisville, Ky. , will be able to give you more information concerning this question. I have encountered no case either in juvenile institutions or among adult prisoners that would indicate any relationship between reading comic books and juvenile delinquency. Juvenile delinquency is based on many factors in the community which have greater influence than anything persons read in comic books, hear on the radio, or see in the movies. Very truly yours, W. E. WATSON, Director, Division of Corrections. Reply of Harry Hill, Chief Probation Officer, Cook County, Chicago, Ill. FAMILY COURT OF COOK COUNTY, Chicago, Ill. , August 17, 1950. Interstate Commerce, Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. KEFAUVER: I have received the questionnaire of your committee dated August 8, 1950, with reference to the experience of the juvenile court of Cook County in the matter of juvenile de linquency and its causes during the periods immediately following World Wars II and I. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 43 Answering your questions in the order in which they appear in the questionnaire: 1. Juvenile delinquency has decreased since 1945. The trend is best shown by the table below, which contains the number of new delinquent petitions filed in the juvenile court in each of the calendar years 1945 through 1949. The trend is steadily downward from 1945 except for the year 1948, in which there was a slight increase over the preceding year. The decrease in 1949 from the year 1945 amounted to 803 petitions, or 30 percent. It should be pointed out, however, that in 1945 delinquency was at a wartime peak. New delinquent petitions filed in the juvenile court of Cook County, 1945–49 1945 1946. 1947. 1948_ 1949 1918. 1919 1920. 1921 Year 1922. 1923. Year Total 2,712 2,405 2,059 2, 105 1,909 2. Our experience indicates juvenile delinquency in Cook County decreased during the period 1945-49. 3. The trend in juvenile delinquency after World War I is shown by the following table . The figures in this table are delinquency cases disposed of by the court, and are not to be taken as directly compara ble to the figures reported in question 1 above, which are new peti tions filed . Within each table the figures are comparable; the trend is therefore clear and unmistakable. The yearly period in the fol lowing table is the fiscal year (December of the preceding year through November of the indicated year) . The trend in delinquency after World War I showed an increase in 1919 over 1918 ; in each of the succeeding years 1920 through 1923 there was a decrease. Delinquency cases disposed of by the juvenile court of Cook County, 1918–23 Total Boys 3, 029 3, 402 2, 550 2, 415 1,906 1,815 2, 172 1, 928 1,570 1,574 1,423 Boys Girls 2,309 2, 647 1,912 1, 754 1, 330 1, 283 540 477 489 531 486 Girls 730 755 638 661 576 532 4. In recent years numerous violent crimes have been charged to juveniles from 12 to 18 years of age. These crimes involve murder, rape, assault, robbery, arson, etc. Some of them have been so shock ing in their nature as to cause serious concern to the entire Nation. Crimes of this type were not unknown in previous years. However, they represented isolated cases which occurred rarely whereas at present they are not uncommon. 5. Opinion on the effect of moving pictures, crime comic books upon children differs . Studies made tend to minimize the effect of crime comic books as a cause of juvenile delinquency . It is not 44 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY unusual for a boy to explain why he got into difficulty by saying he got the idea from a movie or a comic book. It is my opinion much harm can result from indiscriminate reading of some of the books now in circulation. A recent article written by Dr. Sam I. Stein, Ph. D. , M. D., direc tor of the psychiatric department of the juvenile court , appeared in the April number of the Journal of Child Behavior. It is entitled "Some Therapeutic Needs of Young People as Determined From Diagnostic Neuropsychiatric Studies of 705 Cook County Juvenile Court Cases." A reprint of the article is enclosed . Attention is directed to pages 117 and 118. 6. I am unable to provide your committee with statistics or specific cases of juvenile delinquency traceable to reading crime comic books because we classify offenses under headings such as larceny, burglary, robbery, larceny of automobiles, etc., and do not undertake to list contributing causes. This would be difficult since in an individual case there may be a number of causes, any one of which may be considered a contributing factor or even the principal cause. 7. I doubt juvenile delinquency would decrease appreciably if crime comic books were not readily available . Very truly yours, HARRY HILL, Chief Probation Officer. Reply of Dr. S. Harcourt Peppard, Director, Essex County Juvenile Clinic, Newark, N. J. ESSEX COUNTY JUVENILE CLINIC, Newark 3, N. J. , August 18, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. KEFAUVER: I am glad to make the following com ments with regard to your letter of August 4 : Question 1. Do you believe that there is any relationship between the reading of crime comic books and juvenile deliquency? Answer. I have never personally known of a case where the reading of comic books was a causative factor in the development of juvenile delinquency. I feel, however, that it is possible that the specific type of delinquent act of a juvenile delinquent may be influenced by what he reads . I must add, however, that I have never personally known of such a case. Question 2. Please specifically give statistics and, if possible, state specific cases of juvenile crime which you believe can be traced to the reading of crime comic books. Answer. As stated in the answer to question 1 , I have never known of a case of juvenile crime which could be traced to the reading of crime comic books. Question 3. Do you believe that juvenile deliquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available for children? Answer. The problem of juvenile delinquency is much too com plicated to be influenced by the simple device of making comic books JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 45 difficult to obtain. There are so very many things that children can have " too much of" that it seems to me to be only common sense to assume that they can have "too much of" crime comic books. I do not think that we can throw all crime comic books into one category. As in all other reading, there is the matter of good taste and good drama. Question 4. Have you ever received any fee or salary as a psychiatrist or expert or consultant or on any other basis from publishers of crime comic books or any related publishers or enterprises such as magazines publishing comic books? Ifso, will you please give full details. Answer. For a number of years I have been a member of the Advis ory Board of National Comics Publications, Inc. , 480 Lexington Avenue, New York City. Sincerely yours, S. HARCOURT PEPPARD, M. D., Director. Reply of Charles C. Dibowski, Chief Probation Officer, Jefferson County Juvenile Court, Louisville, Ky. JEFFERSON COUNTY JUVENILE COURT, Louisville, Ky. , August 15, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Senate Committee To Investigate Organized Crime, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: Your letter of August 8 has been referred to me for response. In response to your first question con cerning possible increase of delinquency from 1945 to 1950 , we wish to advise that in this community there has been a decrease in delinquency during the period from 1944 to 1949. There has been an increase during the past year; however, we here attribute it to an evidence of more thorough police and court activities, in which we are attempting to locate offenders earlier and begin treatment in their situation. Enclosed herewith please find the annual report of the crime-preven tion bureau of the Louisville Police Department. In it you will find statistics for the period 1944 to 1949. In response to your question No. 2 , we believe that the response to question No. 1 has answered your question. In response to question No. 3, so far as we know, there are no statistics available concerning rates of juvenile delinquency during the World War I period. Regarding question 4, it is our feeling and that of the police depart ment that in recent years there has been a decrease locally among juveniles of the more violent crimes such as assault, rape, and murder. The one area in which we feel there has been an increase has been in auto theft, and we do not believe this is significant, in that it indicates a greater use of automobiles and their greater availability to children who might want to steal them. Rarely, if ever, do juveniles steal automobiles for profit, but generally to use them for "a joy ride. " This type of theft is made easy by the owners leaving the ignition keys in their cars. j Further, it is our belief that there is no gang activity of any sig nificance in this community among juveniles. Occasionally a group 46 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY of boys will band together to commit an offense in the same sense that they would band together to engage in some recreational activity. However, there is no evidence there is any organized crime in juveniles in this community. Whenever our local police department or this court encounters a situation that might tend to create organized gangs, both offices are most vigorous in following through to prevent the creation of such activities. In response to your question 6, concerning the effect of crime comic. books on delinquency, please be advised that so far as we know there are no statistics than can be cataloged indicating the effects of comic books available here, or, so far as we know, in this country. However, you, of course, realize that juvenile delinquency in an individual is many times the result of a variety of factors and influences, and the comic books may be one of the contributing factors to the delinquency of the child . Specifically, we feel without any statistical evidence that the crime comic books are most serious when they come into the hands of those children who are already suffering from the effects that tend to direct them into delinquent behavior. For example, you have the person who may be maladjusted excessively and under the influences of the lurid type of comic books may be thrown into some serious or bizarre offense. Also, children who come from unsatis factory homes in undesirable neighborhoods may be precipitated into delinquent behavior by the stimulation received from reading comic books. It may be of value to your committee to contact the Committee on Evaluation of Comic Books in Cincinnati. This committee has a post-office box in Cincinnati. Also, one of the psychologists connected with Hamilton County Juvenile Court in Cincinnati made a study of a group of rather small delinquent children in which she attempted to determine the effects of comic books and the relationship between children's intelligence and age and their interest in comic books. This information undoubtedly would be made available to you by the Cincinnati court on your request. Question No. 7 concerns possible decrease of delinquency if crime comic books were not available. We think the most significant condition here is that children waste much valuable time reading this generally trashy material when their interests should be in more wholesome literary works. Also, we must take into consideration that, while practically 100 percent of children read comic books, only approximately 2 percent of them are involved in delinquent acts. This illustrates that crime comic books are just one factor of many influences that are influential in the development of a maladjusted or delinquent child. We trust the above will be of value to you in your work and, if we can be of further service to you, do not hesitate to call upon us. Respectfully, CHAS. C. DIBOWSKI, Chief Probation Officer. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 47 Reply of Henry J. Palmieri, Chief Probation Officer, Richmond, Va. CITY OF RICHMOND, Richmond, Va. , August 17, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Senate Committee To Investigate Organized Crime, Washington, D. C. SIR: Replying specifically to your letter of August 8, in which you list seven questions regarding the incidence of delinquency, I shall attempt to answer these in the order you listed them. 1. There has been no over-all increase in delinquency between the years 1945 and 1948. However, our statistics for 1949, which are not completely totaled as yet, might reveal an upward trend in spite of the fact that our statistics appear to indicate otherwise ; e. g.: 1945. 1946_ 1916_ 1917. 1918. 1919. 1920 1921. 1925 2. Although my figures above do not point to an increase and our computation for 1949 is not complete, I personally have a strong feeling that the total number of cases for 1949 will show an upward trend. 3. There was some increase in delinquency during the war years, immediately thereafter, and subsequently during periods of stress and strain, e. g.: 1940_ 1941. 1942 2, 163 1947_ 1, 998 1948.. 1943. 1944_ │ 1, 262 | 1926__ 1, 610 1927. 1, 677 1928_ 1, 553 1929. 1, 418 1930. 1, 531 1931_ 1, 568 The above figures show a trend that is reflected in a similar way through the years of and subsequent to World War II . For example: 1, 847 1, 512 1 , 468 | 1945_.. 1, 587 1946__ 1, 648 1947_ 2, 184 1948. 1, 823 1, 704 1, 866 1, 646 1, 995 2, 377 2, 070 2, 163 1, 998 1, 847 1, 512 4. There is an increase among juveniles committing delinquent acts of an aggravated nature. This was more noticeable immediately after the war years. For example, in assault and battery, there were 77 cases in 1945, 90 cases in 1947. In cases of felonious assault, there were 7 in 1945, 25 in 1947. On the other hand, there have been some reductions. For example, in 1945, there were 245 cases of disorderly conduct; in 1947, 160. In 1945, there were 49 cases of inebriety; in 1947 , 24. In 1945, there were 251 cases of housebreaking ; in 1947 , 158. In 1945, there were 371 cases of larceny ; in 1947 , 343 . In 1945, there were 28 cases of truancy. In 1947, there were 47 cases of truancy brought to the court (an increase) . 5. I do not believe that there is any real connection between comic books and the incidence of delinquency. Children, like adults, must have outlets for their needs, and comic books supply thrills and adventure vicariously. It is my belief that very often the comics are a 48 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY substitute for the real thing, and it is much better that they give vent to their drives for adventure and thrills in this vicarious manner. So, I would say that most children are not adversely affected by the comic books. However, those youngsters who are already bent in a criminal direction can, of course, learn ways and means of carrying out some types of deviate behavior. I would like to raise some questions : Are the comics any worse than the stories of David and Goliath, Cain and Abel, and some of the fairy tales? I am afraid that there are those who are looking for a "whipping boy" in this business of delinquency, and the comic book is handy. To my mind, some comics help children escape from the static of everyday living. I must admit that it is a sad commentary that youngsters must resort to the comic book to find their share of adventure and thrills . We all agree that children need plenty of action. Is it any wonder, then, when the communities fail to provide programs of this type, that the youngsters turn to the comic books and movies. 6. There has not been a specific case of juvenile delinquency coming to my attention which could be traced to reading comic books. 7. I do not believe that the withdrawal of comic books from reading by the general public would materially affect the juvenile- delinquency rate. As a matter of fact, some statistics indicate that more comic books are purchased by adults than by children. Until we have developed programs that seek out the roots of be havior and the causes of delinquent and criminal attitudes which have their inception in the very early part of the individual's life , we will see an upswing in delinquency and crime. It seems to me that what happened during and subsequent to World War I is being repeated during and subsequent to World War II . The crest of the juvenile delinqiency wave created in part by the dislocations of World War II has not yet appeared or made itself felt . Is history going to repeat itself? For example, the year 1920 recorded 1,027 delinquent acts committed by juveniles, while the year 1930 saw 1,453 delinquent acts recorded. At the same time, the records of these youngsters indicate that the deeper feeling of rejection, anxiety, insecurity, and fear are the basic factors that, when they exist over an extended period of time, distort and twist the thinking of the youngsters to such a degree that they explode into hostile and aggressive behavior. In my opinion, the home, the school, the church, and the community must join hands, ferret out the causes and apply, in unison , realistic attitudes and create programs that constitute understanding of the problem, sympathy for the child, and constructive guidance and direction of his behavior, while, at the same time, he is given an opportunity to achieve success compatible with his interests and to maintain his personal dignity. Much more can be said, and I shall be glad to add to the above if you wish. I hope that this information will be helpful to you in your further study and analysis of the problem of juvenile delinquency. Sincerely yours, HENRY J. PALMIERI, Chief Probation Officer. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 49 Reply of Ernest L. Bridge, Register, Wayne County Probate Court, Detroit, Mich. PROBATE COURT, WAYNE COUNTY, JUVENILE DIVISION, Detroit, Mich., August 18, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. HONORABLE SIR: We have your letter of August 8, 1950, with ref erence to your committee's work, and requesting certain suggestions and information from this court. The data listed are based only on cases brought to the court, and do not represent delinquent behavior known to the police or other public and private agencies and which were dealt with by those agencies unofficially and without recourse to the legal machinery provided by this court. The answers follow the questions as enumerated in your letter. 1. The figures listed below represent the official delinquency cases filed in this court against children 7 to 17 years of age. No definite trend is indicated. The year 1946 was up over 1945, but 1947 was below 1946, and 1948 was below 1947. 1945 1946. 1947

1 First 6 months 1949, 924. Boys and girls, official complaints 1, 741 | 1948. 2, 025 1949. 1, 635 1950 ( first 6 months) 1, 474 1, 733 i 998 2. No answer required (see item 1) . 3. There was a steady rise in complaints after World War I, starting with the year 1922 and reaching a peak for girls in 1928 and 1929 for boys. In 1929 the total number of official complaints against boys and girls was close to 3,800. In 1949, 20 years later, there were less than half. The 1929 figures include recidivists, which if eliminated, would leave about 3,000 new cases. The 1949 figures do not include recidivists. But, considering the increase in population in the county in the 20 years, we are getting only about half of the number of chil dren in the court today as compared to 20 years ago. This does not mean that only half as many children are getting into trouble today as did 20 years ago, but reflects the attitude of the community, the police, the court, and other agencies dealing with delinquent children . The attached charts show the trend of official complaints in this court since 1916. 4. Our answer would be "No." While the proportion of these violent offenses may be higher today in the total number of cases brought to the court, it is due to the fact that many minor offenders are screened out and referred to private agencies, whereas 20 years ago they would have been brought to the court . This is indicated by the larger number of cases filed 20 years ago. 5. We have made no studies upon which to base an accurate opin ion as to the relationship of the reading of crime comic books to juve nile delinquency. We do know, from our work with children, that 50 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY the child is the product of his total environment. We feel that crime comic books exert their influence on the young formative mind of a child and may be an important factor, in conjunction with other antisocial influences, in producing delinquent behavior. 6. As mentioned in the previous item, we have made no studies on the subject and do not have any specific cases which we can give your committee. 7. We do believe that crime comic books tend to have a debilitative effect on the character of children, and may motivate antisocial behavior. The problem of rearing children in our urban communities is complicated enough without putting additional obstacles in the COMPLAINTS 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 1916 COMPLAINTS 800 600 400 200 '18 0 1916 $ 18 , 20 • 20 +22 +22 '24 26

• 24 26

• 28 ད 28 prficial Complaints Filed Against Delinquent BOYS Years 1916 through 1942 30 132 +34 136 '38 '40 Official Complaints Filed Against Delinquent GIRLS Years 1916 through 1942 130 1942 32 134 +36 138 140 Wayne County Juvenile Court Detroit , Mich . 1942 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 51 NUMBER 2400 2000 1600 1200 800 400 1925 '26 127 '30 '2928 1312 1334 GIRLS UNDER 17 20YEAR TREND INADMISSIONS TO THE DETENTION HOME AND IOFF ICIAL DELINQUENCY PETITIONS Admissions toDetention Home Official Delinquency Petitions 14036 '7 13.5412 14339 18 JUVENILE WAYNE COUTYR DETOIT ,MICH . 4457689 52 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY NUMBER 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 Ο 1925 +27 16 '298 '30 11 '32 '33 134 UNDER BOYS 17 TREND 20YEAR ADMISSIONS INTO DETENTION THE OFF HOME AND I ICIAL DELINQUENCY PETITIONS Admissions toDetention Home Official Delinquency Petitions 143 135678 139 1401 '2 WAYNE COUTY JUVENILE COURT DETOIT -MICH ,. 14456 14789 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 53 path of parents. We do feel that the tendency toward delinquent behavior will be lessened among children who are already enmeshed in an antisocial environment (and there are many such children) by the removal of crime comic books from reading material available to them. We endorse the purpose of your committee and hope that the com pletion of its work will bring forth suggestions that will be of benefit to the decent law-abiding citizens of this great country of ours. Yours very truly, ERNEST L. BRIDGE, Reply of William C. Beuthin, Juvenile Probation Officer, Saginaw, Mich. SAGINAW, MICH. , August 17, 1950. Senator ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee on Crime Investigation, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: In reply to your inquiry dated August 8, 1950, with reference to juvenile delinquency in Saginaw County during the past and present, I will endeavor to state the facts which you asked for in your seven questions. These answers are based only on our own court records and do not include those of the local police or sheriff departments. 1. Hos juvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? Answer: No. Following figures show the number of official peti tions accepted by the court during the past 4 years: 1946, 195 peti tions ; 1947, 164 petitions ; 1948, 155 petitions ; 1949 , 161 petitions. So far, in 1950 there have been 92 petitions filed ( August. 17 , 1950 ) . 2. Question No. 1 would answer this question . Truancy from school . Traffic violations. Curfew violations . Breaking and entering. Thefts-larcenies .. Run away from home. Property damage.. Incorrigible behavior. Assault and battery. Disorderly conduct. Arson False fire alarm.. Wayward minor.. Indecent and immoral. 3. Wasthere an increase in delinquency after World War I? Answer: Court has no records to base any answer to this question. 4. In recent years have juveniles tended to commit more serious crimes? Answer: Following figures show the number of official petitions accepted by the court during the past 4 years including types of offenses: Armed robbery.. Forgery. Rape.. Probation violation. Carrying concealed weapons1946 1947 22E 272ON 239 1749121640 329 28 1HN -KA244 . 12T7007220 24-8202 1341 1948 1 11 4 Register. 6 4 H 1 1949 26141 30 10 2 2 1950 9 812824 20 54 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 5. Do you believe that there is any relationship between reading crime comic books and delinquency? Answer: In a very few isolated cases a boy or girl has told the court that he or she did obtain ideas from reading crime comic books. We of the court feel that these books are harmful to certain children and therefore should be excluded from public sale. 6. Give statistics and state specific cases of juvenile crime which you believe can be traced to reading crime comic books. Answer: The court has no statistics to cover this matter and can remember no specific case which could be illustrated here. 7. Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children? Answer: We believe that crime comic books play a part in the increase of juvenile delinquency be it ever so remote. There is no need for crime comic books to be sold to the children and their removal from the public market would certainly be a relief to many persons including the schools , public authorities, and parents. Hoping that the above information will be of some assistance to your committee, I am, Sincerely, WILLIAM C. BEUTHIN, Juvenile Probation Officer. Reply of Paul H. Haverfield , Chief Probation Officer, Bibb County Juvenile Court, Macon, Ga. BIBB COUNTY JUVENILE COURT, Macon, Ga. , August 10, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER : In reply to your letter of August 8, regarding juvenile delinquency in Bibb County, I shall attempt to answer the questions set forth after having given first a brief socio economic background of the community. Bibb County, situated in the geographical center of Georgia , is an industrial center surrounded by an extensive agricultural area. Un official population figures obtained this year place the county's in habitants at 113,000 or more. Macon, the county seat, contains an unofficial population of 70,039. There are 142 churches in the county, one for every group of 750. County schools number 51 , which include 3 parochials . Within the county are 20 parks and 12 playgrounds, including two municipal bathing and swimming pools . The county has gained more than 27,000 in population within the past 10 years. During the recent war, there was an influx of defense workers and war-job trainees who obtained employment at the naval ordnance plant here and Warner Robins Air Force Field , 18 miles from Macon. A good proportion of those workers remained in Bibb County after cessation of hostilities. Even since the war, a number of families have moved from neighboring rural communities to this urban center . Industrial growth has been good ; during one 18-month JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 55 period, a total of 58 new industries came here. Annual retail sales run about $60,000,000. Roughly, 55 percent of the county's population is white, and the remaining 45 percent is Negro . In the light of this statement, it is interesting to note that, for the past 4 years, cases of Negro children delinquents have constituted 73 to 78 percent of the annual load . QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1. Question. Has juvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? Ifyou can support this with specific statistics, please do so . Answer. For the year 1945 (which was a war year) this court handled a total of 558 delinquency cases . In 1946, the figure was 414 ; in 1947, 490 ; in 1948, 506 ; and in 1949, 364. For the first 6 months of 1950, however, 360 cases of delinquency have come to the court . It appears, therefore, that delinquency, with the exception of that occurring in 1949, is increasing in this county. 2. Question. To what do you attribute this increase if you have stated that there was an increase? Answer. Rapid growth in population ; inability of children, par ticularly those from rural areas, to adjust to urban standards within a short time. Practically all of our recent delinquency is attributable to a failure upon the part of parents to provide adequate activity programs and proper supervision for their children . There appears, also, to be a lack of definite moral and religious training within the homes. 3. Question. Was there an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I? Answer. As our court here was not established until 1917, it was a matter of a year or so until it began functioning in a routine manner. There is evidence, though, that delinquency increased between 1920 and 1930. As recently as 1939, this court handled a total, representing cases of all types , of 536 cases. 4. Question. In recent years, have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes, such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activities? Answer. While the nation-wide tendency may be for children to commit offenses of increasing violence, we find in this community that only in one category, gang activities, has there been an appreci able increase since the recent war. Offenses usually involved in these activities include automobile larceny, simple larceny, and burglary. In prewar caseloads, aggregates of these types averaged 17 or 18 percent . Postwar records show the following percentages for the aggregates of those three types: 1945, 26 percent ; 1946, 21 percent ; 1947, 35.5 percent ; 1948, 26.8 percent ; and 1949, 30 percent. 5. Question. Do you believe that there is any relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency? Answer. To make a general indictment against crime comic books. would be unwarranted . There are, in my opinion, wholesome and constructive themes, as well as sensational, pointless, and manifestly harmful ones. Yet, there is no question in my mind but that certain types--including those that make law enforcement officers appear stupid, while the criminal is made clever and resourceful- are condu 1 56 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY cive to delinquent acts . Another harmful type, I believe , is the one represented by a popular strip which nearly always allows the criminal to escape from the arms of the law through seemingly insurmountable difficulties . In the end, the desperado comes to grief, but a set of fortuitous circumstances is the cause, not the efforts of law enforce ment officers . Comics that portray masked or disguised heroes make for confusion in the minds of youngsters, and it is possible that many a child, unable to make the subtle discriminations intended, hits upon disguise as an instrument for some contemplated, but feared , offense. 6. Question. Please specifically give statistics and, if possible, state specific cases of juvenile crime which you believe can be traced to reading crime comic books. Answer. During the past 5 years , I have talked with only three children who said that crime comic books influenced them to commit the offense for which they were apprehended . Strangely enough, I doubt in each case that their acts were directly attributable to crime comics. They had to bring forth a logical answer, they thought, and comics would satisfy their parents and the court. On the other hand, I am convinced that considerably more than 25 percent of all our children charged with delinquent acts have felt the influences of comic strip suggestions . Offenses involving a certain amount of ingenuity which, at the time, stood to net the perpetrator little , if anything, in a material way make me ascribe this reason. 7. Question. Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children? Answer. For the possible causes of juvenile delinquency, we look to the intricate patterns of living environmental factors and their apparent action on the individual, as well as his reaction to those social forces. We cannot gainsay the oft-made statement that comics-and these include crime comics-are as much a part of the American way of life as breakfast cereal. They form, with other contributors, the warp and woof of our loosely defined total educa tional system. If we deny this, we mark ourselves as unrealistic. To remove suddenly a part of this system and my personal opinion is that it is a sizable part-without providing an adequate substitute, would pose a problem almost as serious as the one already engendered. Rather, I believe , efforts should be made to improve comics by making them more realistic: If the fancied glamor of crime appeals to young minds, the inevitable concomitants of apprehension, tortured consciences, and emotional break-downs surely do not. Recently, the author of one of our most popular strips had an oppor tunity to drive home this lesson. One of his characters, a teen-age "hot rod, " was apprehended and charged with manslaughter following the death of several persons on a highway. And he was convicted. If this character had been permitted to serve a sentence, even if he had been dropped from the strip, many of our actual and potential "hot rods" would have had cause for reflection. But, in a most unrealistic manner, the author found an opportunity to exonerate him. Respectfully, PAUL H. HAVERFIELD. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 57 Reply of Miss Lottie Ramspeck, Chief Probation Officer, Fulton County Juvenile Court, Atlanta, Ga. FULTON COUNTY JUVENILE COURT, Atlanta, Ga. , August 18, 1950. Mr. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: The following is my answer to the questions contained in your letter of August 8, 1950: 1. Question. Has juvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? Answer. No. Not according to the Fulton County juvenile court statistics. In 1945 there were 1,579 delinquency cases, with gradual yearly decline to 1,032 cases in 1949. 2. Question. To what do you attribute this increase if you have stated there was an increase? Answer. No increase. The decrease is attributed to the combined efforts of the court, the agencies, the institutions, and an aroused community. 3. Question. Was there an increase in delinquency after World War I? Answer. In 1918 there were 1,327 cases of delinquency, with a decrease yearly through 1922, after which year there was a gradual annual increase to 1,780 delinquency cases in 1929 ; 1,780 is the highest number of delinquency cases the court has ever had. 4. Question. In recent years have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes, such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activity? Answer. Not according to this court's observation and statistics. 5. Question. Do you believe that there is any relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency? Answer. The reading of crime comic books, if indulged in to excess, would undoubtedly have a deleterious effect, and might lead to con crete acts of delinquency. 6. Question. Do you know any specific case ofjuvenile delinquency that can be traced to reading crime comic books? Answer. We could name cases of delinquency in which the children had been regular readers of crime comic books. I do not know of any that could be traced to that alone. To what extent that reading had influenced them in their acts of delinquency was not determined. 7. Question. Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children? Answer. If it is a factor contributing to delinquency it would have its effect. If moving pictures are censored it would seem that the comics allowed on newsstands might be censored. Personally, I have not seen any crime comics wherein the perpetrator of the crime is not made to pay the penalty, but I am not very well acquainted with comics. I feel, however, that constant readers of crime comics can learn the methods of crime, whatever may be the "moral of the tale." At the same time, if the methods and morals could be set forth in 72705-50- -5 58 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY such a way as is done in the crime comic Macbeth, I would say no harm could come of it. Rather, the readers might be inclined to turn to Shakespeare himself, where good food for thought would be found. Hoping this may in some measure be helpful to you and your com mittee, and assuring you of my interest, I am Very truly yours, (Miss) LOTTIE RAMSPECK, Chief Probation Officer. Reply of J. V. Zbaracki, Probation Officer, St. Louis County, Duluth, Minn. ST. LOUIS COUNTY PROBATION OFFICER IN CONNECTION WITH THE DISTRICT AND JUVENILE COURTS, Duluth 2, Minn. , August 18, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, United States Senate Crime Committee, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: I have your letter of August 8, 1950, with reference to the investigation of organized crime in interstate commerce. Person ally I believe that there is no definite positive answer to some of the points in question, but I will to the best of my ability answer the ques tions put by the committee with my personal feeling in regard to all of the questions. Question 1. Juvenile delinquency in St. Louis County, Duluth, did increase during the war years and reached its peak in the year 1945. Thereafter we had a very sharp decline in the number of cases appear ing in our juvenile court. In the year 1948 we reached an all- time low in cases referred to the juvenile court since this office was established in the year of 1905. We attributed the decrease at least in some sub stantial part to a decrease in birth rate during the years of 1925 to 1932 when in our city the birth rate reached its lowest point in years. Our estimated population from the 1940 census up to the present date would show little change in population, but school enrollment showed a decline between the year 1940 to a low in 1948. The decrease be tween those two years amounted to approximately 16 percent. The birth rate between the years of 1925 and the year of 1932 showed a de crease of 27 percent. Our recorded delinquency based on average intake during the normal years as compared with the low in 1948 showed a decrease of about 52 percent. We had a slight increase in recorded delinquency in 1949 over 1948 and based on present figures the intake for 1950 will remain at about the same level as in 1949. If we are correct in assuming that the decreased birth rate had some defi nite bearing on the decreased recorded juvenile delinquency, then by the same reasoning with the increased birth rate during and immedi ately after the last war, we should anticipate a considerable increase in recorded delinquency in the years of about 1960-63 . Question 2. I believe that the increase in 1945 was, of course, at tributable to the war conditions which among other things brought on what might be considered a broken-home situation. I am also strongly of the opinion that the terrific increase of divorce rate through out the United States has a great deal to do with the instability of the JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 59 home and frequently with resultant juvenile delinquency within the homes. Question 3. Our records would show a very noticeable increase in delinquency during the period of World War I up to a peak in 1919 with a gradual decline thereafter. Question 4. From observation in our particular jurisdiction, I do not believe that juveniles had tended to commit more violent crimes such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activities. We are, however, a relatively small city and newspaper accounts would seem to indicate that such might be the case in the larger urban areas. Question 5. I do believe that there is a relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency. However, I do not have any definite statistics to bear out my thinking, but if we are to assume that we are correct in stating that children as well as adults learn from reading them too, we must assume that they learn the bad as well as the good. It is my feeling that this type of comic book as well as movies showing crime and criminals does leave its effect on certain types of children and that some of the crimes which are committed very likely could be traced to crime comic books and such movies. Children, however, when apprehended are very vague and evasive when questioned as to where and why the particular crime which they com mitted originated . It is only on rare occasions that one feels that they have learned from the child the true story as to the origination of the particular crime. On a few occasions we have felt that from the story given us by the child that the actual crime could have been traced to a certain crime comic book or a particular movie. Inasmuch as you raised the question about crime comic books only, I question whether consideration has been given to the so-called 25 cent pocket edition of the sexy type of literature which has quite re cently been flooding the market. It would seem to me from experi ence that some of the sex crimes might at least in part be traced to the reading of this type of book. Certainly we are all in accord that reading matter of that type cannot benefit the child and it certainly can be detrimental to him. I appreciate that you undoubtedly are trying to get specific cases and specific details. These are rather hard to obtain. The only answer that I can give to question 6 would be contained in the previous paragraphs. In answer to question 7, it is rather hard to state that crime would or would not decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children. Delinquent children usually come from a certain type of environment and the true delinquent is frequently a victim of a broken home or poor environment or combination of both. One questions whether that type of child could be saved from delinquency by remov ing crime comic books, but I honestly believe that if the child did not have the information contained in the crime comic books that the type of offense which he might commit might be different and might not be planned in the same manner. In other words the planning of the par ticular crime or offense I believe is frequently done along the lines of information obtained from this particular type of reading material. Again, one ends up with the theory that such reading material serves no useful purpose and its educational value is in the wrong direction. 1 60 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY I am very sorry that I cannot be more specific and that I cannot give you specific cases, but at the same time I hope that my comments may be of some help to your committee. If I can be of any further service by submitting any other material, I will be very happy to do so. Very truly yours, J. V. ZBARACKI, Probation Officer, St. Louis County, Minn. Reply of Fred W. Woodson, Director, Juvenile Court of Tulsa County, Okla. JUVENILE COURT OF TULSA COUNTY, Tulsa, Okla. , August 17, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: This will acknowledge receipt of your recent correspond ence regarding causation and extent of delinquency. In response to your request the following answers to your questions are given below: 1. According to statistics recently published by this court we can detect no appreciable increase in juvenile delinquency for the years 1945 to 1950. The ratio of known delinquents in comparison to the population has, during this period, remained somewhat constant. 2. Answered in No. 1 . 3. Statistical information is not available to answer this question . 4. Tulsa County has not been plagued with the commission of more violent crimes nor gang activities during recent years. 5. In accordance with the thinking of the more advanced scientific minds regarding this subject there appears to be no direct causal relationship between reading comic books dealing with crime and juvenile delinquency. Dr. Mandel Sherman, professor of educational psychology at the University of Chicago, states : "In studying the causes of behavior problems of children for many years, I have never seen one instance of a child whose behavior disturbance originated in the reading of comic books. " Edwin Lukas, director of the Society for the Prevention of Crime, states : "I am unaware of the existence of any scientifically established causal relationship between the comic books and delinquency." These are but two examples of many wherein the same findings have been reported. 6. Answered in No. 5. 7. In view of the answer given in No. 5 ; no. Yours very truly, FRED W. WOODSON, Director. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 61 Reply of Mrs. Kay Kunkel, Chief Probation Officer, San Joaquin County, Stockton, Calif. COUNTY OF SAN JOAQUIN PROBATION DEPARTMENT, Stockton 2, Calif. , August 15, 1950. Senator ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: In reply to your questionnaire dated August 8, 1950, and addressed to me as chief probation officer of San Joaquin County Probation Department, please be advised that— I. San Joaquin County Probation Department has had an increase of over 400 cases in the years from 1945 to 1950. A case load was doubled in the years 1943 to 1945 and the present increase repre sents another doubling. This is above proportion to the increase in the county's population. Our present case load is 954 juvenile cases, of which 653 are official court wards. II. We attribute this increase to : 1. Increase in population ; 2. An increase in the number of agencies handling problems of juvenile delinquents ; 3. An increased alertness on the part of the augmented agencies ; 4. Cosmopolitan type of this community, although it is a small community; 5. Children coming from homes which are unstable and the result of ill-considered war marriages and social problems arising from the war condition. III. There are no statistics available to indicate conditions after World War I, although in all probability there was an increase. IV. Yes. V. The relationship between the reading of crime comic books and juvenile delinquency is a debatable question. It is doubtful if the books make any beneficial contribution to any child. Their detri mental tendencies are increased with the child's own problems, parental rejection, absence of an interested parent's explanation of the comics and their current motivation that "crime does not pay," the child's own personal problems. There seems to be evidence to believe that the greater a child's own emotional instability, the greater his undesirable reaction to such type of reading and radio programs. VI. We do not believe that statistics can be given showing specific cases of juvenile crime which could be traced to reading crime comic books. We believe that this is true of many factors and that the factors in each juvenile delinquent's problem varies with the indi vidual and his situation. VII. We have no clearly defined opinion that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children. We do believe that children could get along very well without this type of material and that they would be benefited by reading books which are more socially desirable and which would 62 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY also contribute to their education. We feel possibly that the greatest danger from crime comic books is establishing lazy habits of reading and use of leisure time. Very truly yours, Reply of W. Ira Hazlett, Chief Probation Officer of Dade County, Miami, Fla. JUVENILE AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS COURT IN AND FOR DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA Miami, Fla., August 17, 1950. (Mrs.) KAY KUNKEL, Chief Probation Officer. Hon. ESTES Kefauver, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: I received your letter of August 8, 1950, and have given it much thought and consideration before answering. I shall take up the points 1 through 7, as they appear. 1. Hasjuvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? Ifyou can support this with specific statistics , please do so. In the year 1945, there was a total of 1,840 children ; the breakdown is as follows: Delinquent white boys . Delinquent white girls . Total white__ Delinquent colored boys.. Delinquent colored girls_ 1, 321 413 106 Total colored__ 519 Total white and colored___ 1, 840 In 1946, there was a total of 1,530 children, and the breakdown is as follows: Delinquent white boys . Delinquent white girls . Total white... Delinquent colored boys.. Delinquent colored girls_ Total colored_ _ _ Total white and colored__ 989 332 975 205 1, 180 236 114 350 1, 530 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 63 In 1947, a total of 1,909 children , and the breakdown is as follows: Delinquent white boys . Delinquent white girls__ 1, 153 354 Total white.- - - - 1,507 269 133 Total colored__ 402 Total white and colored_ .. 1,909 For the year 1948, there was a total of 1,360 children, and the break down is as follows: Delinquent colored boys__ Delinquent colored girls_ Delinquent white boys . Delinquent white girls . Total white……… Delinquent colored boys.. Delinquent colored girls …… Delinquent white boys .. Delinquent white girls ... Total colored__ 369 Total white and colored_ __ 1, 360 For the year 1949, there was a total of 1,502 children, and the break down is as follows: 751 240 991 268 101 Total white____ Delinquent colored boys. Delinquent colored girls . 911 253 1, 164 23999 Total colored__ 338 Total white and colored___ 1,502 To August 11 , 1950, there have been 2,300 complaints. At this time there has been no breakdown to show the number of delinquents and dependents, so we are unable to give you the figures on delin quency. You will readily see that some years the figures are up and some years they are down. You will also note that in 1945 the total was 1,840 and in 1946, it was 1,530 -a drop of 310 ; in 1947 the total was 1,909 —an increase of 379 over 1946 ; in 1948 the total was 1,360— a drop of 549 from 1947 ; and in 1949, the total was up to 1,502-an increase of 142 over 1948. 2. To what do you attribute this increase if you have stated that there was an increase? It is my opinion that with an increase in population in Dade County from 315,138 in 1945, to an estimated 489,838 in 1950, that while the above figures some years show an increase in delinquency, that actually when comparing the delinquency figures with the increased population on a percentage basis, there has been no increase. 64 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 3. Was there an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I? There are no figures for this period. 4. In recent years have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes, such as assault, rape, murder and gang activities? I would definitely say that children are committing more vio ent acts than heretofore. However, we have none that ever committed murder. We have had many who have committed assaults, several rapes, and much gang activity. Assaults, gang activity, car thefts, breaking and entering, armed and unarmed robbery predominate. 5. Do you believe that there is any relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency? I have given this question a lot of thought, and I have several of answering. I hope I shall not make myself too vague. Crime funny books, in my opinion, do not make children delinquent. I have known and talked to some children who have been angry with, and incensed against their parents for some fancied or real cause, and they have read the crime funnies in order to learn how to injure their parents, but have not followed through. It may not be said, however, that many children come under this category. The danger in crime funnies, if any, in my opinion, lies in the fact that many children do not knowhowto read very well , or do not take time to read the words and read only the pictures. ways 6. Please specifically give statistics and, if possible, state specific cases ofjuvenile crime which you believe can be traced to reading crime comic books. No specific case of crime traceable to crime comic books. 7. Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children? I definitely do not feel that juvenile delinquency would decrease one iota. I cannot quite understand how anyone would pick out crime comic books and stress them as a major contributing cause to delinquency. I have been very glad to try to answer your questionnaire, and I hope you or any ofyour committee will feel free to ask any questions of me, or my officers, if you think we might help you at any time. Very truly yours, W. IRA HAZLETT, Clerk and Chief Probation Officer. 1 This figure as stated is the number of complaints and does not indicate the number ofchildren involved. Each complaint may concern from one to six children or more. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 65 Reply of G. L. Dixon, Chief Probation Officer, Spokane County Juve nile Court, Spokane, Wash. SPOKANE COUNTY, OFFICE OF JUVENILE COURT PROBATION OFFICE, Spokane 11, Wash., August 15, 1950. SENATE SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE ORGANIZED CRIME IN INTERSTATE COMMERCE, Washington 17, D. C. (Attention: Senator Estes Kefauver, chairman. ) GENTLEMEN: In compliance with your request of August 8 the following information is furnished: 1. Hasjuvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? Ifyou can support this with specific statistics , please do so. Answer: Yes ; 1945, 554 ; 1946, 546 ; 1947, 459 ; 1948, 599 ; 1949, 786. 2. To what do you attribute this increase if you have stated that there was an increase? Answer: Greater police efficiency in apprehending juvenile offenders and parental neglect . 3. Was there an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I? Answer: Yes. 4. In recent years have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes, such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activities? Answer: Yes. 5. Do you believe that there is any relationship between reading crime comic books andjuvenile delinquency? Answer: No. 6. Please specifically give statistics and, if possible, state specific cases of juvenile crime which you believe can be traced to reading crime comic books. Answer: None. 7. Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would increase if crime comic books were not readily available to children? Answer: Possibly. Very truly yours, G. L. DIXON, ChiefProbation Officer. 66 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Reply of Miss Helaine A. Todd, Director of Social Work, District of Columbia Juvenile Court, Washington, D. C. JUVENILE COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Washington, August 18, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER : In reply to your inquiry of August 8, 1950, regarding the influence of crime comic books, the following is the experience of the social service department of the juvenile court . (1) Hasjuvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? Court statistics indicate that the peak year of juvenile delinquency as brought to the attention of the juvenile court was in 1944 when 3,450 delinquency complaints were received . The figures for fiscal year 1950 are 3,374 . This is a drop of only 76 cases so that the decrease has been small but consistent in volume since 1944. It is possible that the present level may shift upward 3 or 4 years from now when the children of the war marriages become old enough to be involved in delinquency. This forecast is based on the fact that the delinquency age appears to be dropping. The causes of this drop from a higher to a lower age level appear to be in the high rate of illegitimacy occurring during the war years and the lack of adequate parental care resulting from the dissolution of war marriages. Specifically, in fiscal year 1950 , there were 438 cases of illegitimacy and 462 cases of inadequate parental care before the court, as compared with fiscal year 1946, when there were 151 and 330 cases, respectively. (2) To what do you attribute this increase if you have stated that there was an increase? Not applicable since our figures have shown a decrease. (3) Wasthere an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I? Yes. For the 5-year period fiscal years 1917 through 1922, there was an increase from 1,384 delinquent cases in 1917 to 1,835 cases in 1922. These figures are in marked contrast to those of the current postwar period where the peak of delinquency appears in 1944 with a small decrease each year thereafter. I am unable to account for these differences following the two wars. Perhaps it could be stated that the expansion of District of Columbia social welfare facilities in the intervening years has made it possible for children's adjustments to be achieved more readily without court action in the present day. (4) In recent years have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes, such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activities? Our records show only one case of alleged assault with intent to commit rape for the year, no murders, and nothing that could be defined as organized gang activities . It is true that delinquent acts are committed by groups of children . These groups are usually of a same-age level and frequently consist of an intimidation by the group of another child . It is our experience that these group activities, as well as delinquent acts committed by single individuals, are largely JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 67 traceable to the local surroundings such as housing in commercial areas, slum conditions, and lack of appropriate recreational oppor tunities. (5) , (6) , and (7) . These three questions concern the relation be tween reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency. A canvass of staff experience has produced no instance in which there is a traceable relation between reading crime comic books and a delin quent act . It is the general opinion of the staff who work directly with the delinquent child that the factors which promote delinquency are related to the child's family life and his circumstances . Since time immemorial, children have played some variation of cops and robbers. It seems to matter little what is the current name of the criminal (robber) and the law (cops) . It would be reasonable to believe that today Hopalong Cassidy is just as great a hero in the slums as he is among the children whose families can buy them Hopalong outfits. Perhaps the difference might be that children who are experiencing economic deprivation and lack of family unity are more forced to achieve by their own means the gaining of what they want. It is the opinion of the staff here that we could not state that there would be a decrease in juvenile delinquency if crime comic books were not readily available to children . We lack facts to support any opinion other than this. It has been a pleasure to lend the cooperation of the social service department to your inquiry. Sincerely yours, (Miss) HELAINE A. TODD, Director of Social Work. Reply of Harvey L. Long, Superintendent, Parole Division, Illinois Department of Public Safety, Chicago, Ill. STATE OF ILLINOIS, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, DIVISION OF SUPERVISION OF PAROLEES, Chicago, Ill. , August 15, 1950. Senator ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: I am glad to reply to your letter of August 8, 1950, in which you inquire regarding the incidence of juvenile delinquency since the close of hostilities in World War II. May I begin by saying statistics on juvenile delinquency are most unreliable " statistics " upon which to base scientific research. Gen erally, the statistics are not indicative of the actual crime rate. What they do indicate is changes in policy of police departments regarding the reporting of arrests of juveniles, etc. The situation is a little like the so-called waves of sex crimes. When a particularly notorious sex crime occurs and the newspapers and police give attention to crimes of this nature, it begins to appear as far as the public is concerned, that there is a wave of sex crimes. Instead the figures and publicity merely reflect current emphasis. 68 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY My impression is that there was an actual but not appreciable increase in delinquency behavior following the close of the war (1945-50) . If I could be sure of the cause of the increase, I would say that the decrease in opportunities for employment of young adolescents aggravated the delinquency problem. During the war time there were plenty of opportunities for young adolescents to earn money and have an opportunity to participate in the larger com munity war responsibilities. This was greatly diminished following the shrinkage of employment opportunities and the more rigid enforce ment of the so-called child-labor laws. As I recall it, the unadjusted statistics on delinquency and crime had a considerable rising curve following World War I. Actually of course, the civilian crime statistics on adolescents, particularly older adolescents, should be much lower in wartime if the relative rate remains the same. As you know, the older teen-age group is the largest age group among civilian offenders. When a great majority is removed from the civilian population they are military offenders as a rule when they violate, therefore, these figures do not appear in the civilian crime rate. In answer to question No. 4, I have the impression that shortly after the close of World War II there was an increase in the rate of crimes of violence to the person such as assault, robbery, and rape. There was also an upsurge in vandalism. My judgment would be that gang activities were as prevalent before the war as after the war. There may have been a change in the kind of gang activities which change was related to acts of violence to persons. In answer to question No. 5, I would say that I have been in close touch with the controversy in the juvenile field over comic books. Some of the specialists think that comic books are a neutral factor if not a negative factor as far as delinquency is concerned. I have seen no reliable research statistics which would indicate that comic books have been a positive factor in increasing delinquency. To be sure, there have been occasional notorious cases where either the offender or the prosecutor rationalized the causative factor by blaming comic books or movies. There is no doubt that some of the more repre hensible comic strips have offered suggestions which neurotic youths used in their antisocial behavior. In fact, I recall an article in the Saturday Evening Post by a prominent State's attorney back in the thirties in which he gave a full description on the automobile stealing racket, "hot rods, " etc. I recall later news items from all over where offenders stated they got their ideas on how to steal a car from the Saturday Evening Post article. I suspect the newspaper han dling of much crime news offers more suggestions to adolescents than do the comics. In answer to question No. 7, I doubt that a decrease in the availa bility of comic books would have much influence in decreasing the delinquency rate. The phenomenon of antisocial behavior among children and adolescents is too complex a thing to be effected much by one among a great many associated factors . I do not mean to imply that we could not well have a higher class of comic book literature. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 69 I have been interested in following the course of your committee activities as reported in the press . Should you have any occasional reports on your findings, I would appreciate being placed on your mailing list to receive copies of same. Sincerely, HARVEY L. LONG, Superintendent, Division of Supervision of Parolees. Reply of Miss Mabel E. Cooney, Chief Intake Supervisor, Juvenile Court, Providence, R. I. STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS JUVENILE COURT, Providence, August 18, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: Your letter to Mr. Joseph H. Hagan, administrator of the division of probation and parole in Rhode Island , was referred to our court. We, very briefly, are an swering the seven questions asked by you. 1. The Juvenile Court of the State of Rhode Island has been in operation since July 1 , 1944, and it has exclusive jurisdiction over boys and girls under the age of 18 who are said to be (1 ) wayward, (2) delinquent, (3) dependent, (4) neglected , (5 ) mentally defective or mentally disordered . We have jurisdiction over other types of cases which are not perti nent to this questionnaire . We feel then that the figures of the wayward and delinquent cases heard in our court from July 1 , 1945, to July 1 , 1950, are indicative of the changes in juvenile delinquency in the community. The following represents the number of individuals adjudicated "wayward or delinquent" for the 5 years between 1945 to 1950 : July 1 , 1945, to July 1 , 1946 . July 1, 1946, to July 1 , 1947 . July 1, 1947, to July 1 , 1948. July 1 , 1948, to July 1 , 1949. July 1 , 1949, to July 1 , 1950 . 1, 414 1, 102 928 954 817 These figures show very definitely that there has been an apprecia ble decrease in juvenile delinquency, as represented by court cases in the years 1945 to 1950. 3. Our court was not in operation after World War I, but Mr. Joseph H. Hagan, administrator of the division of probation and parole, states that there was an increase after this war. 4. Our statistics show that murder and gang activities are not listed in the offenses committed by the juveniles who come before our court . The rape and attempted rape cases would average two or three of the total figure, and the assault only a few more. During our 5 years the offenses most often committed have been, consistently, breaking, entering, and larceny. 70 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 5, 6, and 7. Our court has made no detailed study of the effect of comic books, or of reading in general, on the behavior of the individ uals who appear before it. The opinion of those who work with the juveniles is that comic and crime books have very little influence on the child . They universally agree, however, that the reading of these books to the exclusion of other literature is a symptom in many instances of either the poor environment or poor supervision . These elements are, of course, very important in the life of a child. We hope that this information is helpful. Very sincerely, (Miss) MABEL E. COONEY, Chief Intake Supervisor. Reply of William H. Lehman, Chief Probation Officer, Stark County, Canton, Ohio COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, DIVISION OF DOMESTIC RELATIONS, JUVENILE DEPARTMENT, STARK COUNTY, Canton, Ohio, August 10, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Senate Office Building C. , Washington, D. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: In reply to your letter dated August 8, 1950, in regard to juvenile delinquencies, would suggest that you write to the Bureau of Juvenile Research, Columbus, Ohio, as they have a complete record of all kinds of cases from the various counties in the State of Ohio for a good many years back. That way you will be able to see the increase or decrease in various kinds of delinquencies. Now, in reply to question 7 : I do believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children. Very truly yours, WM. H. LEHMAN, Chief Probation Officer, Juvenile Court. Reply of Mrs. Mary Rinsland Archer, Juvenile Probation Officer, Lackawanna County Juvenile Court, Scranton, Pa. OFFICE OF THE JUVENILE COURT OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Scranton 10, Pa. , August 16, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR: Due to the absence of Miss Lucy D. Davis who is at present on vacation I am taking the opportunity of answering your letter of August 8, 1950, which was mailed to Miss Davis. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 71 Juvenile delinquency has not increased but has decreased in the years 1945 to 1950 in this county. Number of cases taken into juvenile court are as follows: 1945, total 389; rape, 1 ; sodomy, 1 ; assault, 1 . 1946, total 282; sodomy, 2; assault, 4 (different classifications of assault) . 1947, total 243; assault, 4 (2 of which were indecent assault) ; sodomy, 1 ; fornication, 1. 1948, total 217; sodomy, 23; statutory rape, 5 ; attempt rape, 1 ; assault and battery, 1 . 1949, total 194 ; sodomy, 2; aggravated assault and battery, 3. We do believe there is a relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency. Most every boy questioned has more interest in reading some type of comic books than he has in other reading matter. Cannot say whether or not juvenile delin quency would decrease if crime comic books were not available ; but will state that it is the belief of many that crime comic books should not be available to children. Sincerely, Reply of John L. Nulty, Officer in Charge, Essex County Probation Division, Newark, N. J. (Mrs.) MARY RINSLAND ARCHER, Juvenile Probation Officer. Senator ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Committee To Investigate ESSEX COUNTY PROBATION DEPARTMENT, Newark 2, N. J., August 16, 1950. 1945_ 1946_ 1947. Washington, D. C. SIR: Replying to your inquiry of August 8 , 1950 , I wish to report the following facts in accordance with said letter. Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, 1. Has juvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? The following figures show the number of children appearing in the Essex County Juvenile Court: 1945 1946. 1947. 1, 067 | 1948_ 1, 401 1949_ 1, 479 1950 (to July 1 ) . The following is the list of juvenile probationers during the same period of time: 1, 376 1, 432 734 661 | 1948_ 632 1949 649 1950 (to July 1 ) . 676 618 248 From the foregoing tables it appears that there has been a substantial increase in juvenile delinquency during the past 5 years . Although those placed on probation do not show the proportionate increase, the court and the probation statistics are accurate. However, they must be interpreted somewhat in the light of other factors . It is in my opinion quite likely that there has been more of an increase in juvenile delinquency than these figures indicate because of a growing policy on the part of municipal police departments in our county to handle juvenile delinquency without having formal court action. The number of such cases so handled by the municipal police departments are not 72 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY available to me. I do believe, however, that they constitute a sub stantial figure and if all were handled through the juvenile court, the increase would be appalling. Figures given, however, are misleading in 1948 , 1949, and 1950 be cause New Jersey extended its juvenile court age from 16 to 18 in 1948. This should have caused an approximate increase of 25 percent in the figures but it did not do so . Consequently an interpretation of the figures given alone would hardly indicate that there has been any increase. 2. To what do you attribute this increase, if you had stated that there was an increase? It is my belief that the increase in juvenile delinquency is not due to a single factor but to a number of related factors prevalent during our times. To begin with, there is a considerable change in the home life of our complex industrialized area wherein the unity culture and sim ple traditions of family living have become disintegrated by the economic and so-called cultural changes of our times. Add to this, the confused teachings of numerous schools, welfare organizations, guidance departments and others who seem to feel that a child is an individual, disassociated from the rest of the community and who must be handled in terms of his own personal problems without regard to the rest of the community. This causes increased delinquency. This ends up with the doctrine of personal irresponsibility which to myway of thinking is what we pay in the form of increase in juvenile delinquency as a result of the confused thinking on the part of people who are the leading theorists in this particular field . The entire field of juvenile delinquency is saturated with the theories of people who have no direct dealings with juveniles . I suspect also that the eco nomic changes brought about by social legislation during the past 15 years and the prevalence of easy money immediately following the war as well as the influences of such factors as the 52-20 club and others might have contributed somewhat to this situation also. In the field of recreation stimulated by the growth of television and the addi tional inspiration of the radio and the movies as well as other com mercial recreation, we have entirely too much time, effort and atten tion focused on recreation rather than productivity and a better balanced combination of work, study and recreation. All too frequently we find children who pay considerable attention to their rights and yet have no conception whatsoever of their duties . This situation is apparently inculcated in the homes, fostered in the schools and aided and abetted by impractical social workers who love to use the euphonious terms of psychiatry and other sciences of questionable value. Schools apparently teach subjects rather than a way of life to the children . Children should be taught that each right has a corresponding duty and obligation. 3. Was there an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War II? Yes. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 73 4. In recent years have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activities? This is true in Essex County with the exception of the offense of rape. 5. Do you believe that there is any relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency? There is probably some remote, subconscious relationship that exists but in our office we have been unable to determine the extent to which it exists. Frequently offenses have been committed wherein there is some imitation (apparent) of the methods used as illustrated in the so-called funny books. However, of even greater importance to my way of thinking are the results of a reading survey conducted in 1947 in our office . There we found that approximately 90 percent of juvenile probationers did not read at all other than funny books. This is not surprising, however, when compared with the report of a local psychiatrist, who states that only approximately 60 percent of the children in the school system are able to read on an eighth-grade basis when they are graduated from the grammar school . We appar ently are much more concerned with the fact that we are a very literate country than the fact that our juvenile delinquents are largely a group who do not read, and who are incapable of reading intelli gently. 6. I have been unable to find any statistics or for that matter any individual juvenile cases wherein the delinquency could be traced to reading crime comic books. However, I have heard a number of public officials express this opinion but I am convinced that the public officials did so because they asked leading questions concerning comics of juveniles and received affirmative answers. This I have witnessed frequently in Essex County particularly during the past year when the subject of " comics" received considerable publicity. 7. Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children? Perhaps there would be a slight decrease in juvenile delinquency but it certainly would not be substantial. Unless there are con siderable changes of attitudes on the part of the communities concern ing the answers given in this report to No. 2, we will only be super ficially attempting to solve a problem of deep importance to the community as well as to the Nation. Much of our delinquency statistics are available through the alertness of the local police depart ment. At present there seems to be a growing tendency in the local communities on the part of the police that the juvenile court laws and agencies affecting juveniles are a form of "coddling" youngsters. Consequently many cases do not reach the court . When parents begin to realize that they have an objective duty to perform toward their children, when schools begin to realize that a child is more important than the particular subjects of the school curriculum, and 72705-50----6 74 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY when newspapers and other forms of communication including tele vision and the radio recognize that they have a cultural obligation to perform to the country as well as to the children, and when all of us recognize our obligations to the Almighty, then we shall have a substantial decrease in juvenile delinquency. Thanking you for the opportunity of expressing my views and for warding these statistics, I am Very truly yours, JOHN L. NULTY, Officer-in-Charge Juvenile Division. Reply of John J. Alden, Assistant Chief Probation Officer, Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court, Cleveland, Ohio THE JUVENILE COURT OF CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Cleveland 15, Ohio, August 15, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington 25, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: We are glad to cooperate in your inquiry regarding juvenile delinquency, and enclose two statistical tables to point out the trend in this problem in our jurisdiction of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. One of these tables answers the first three questions in your outline in graphic form. We would answer question No. 4 in the negative. In recent years there has been very little so-called gang activity among juveniles in our community. The low incidence, we feel, is due to the fact that the Cuyahoga County juvenile court has made continuous efforts, in cooperation with the community's welfare agencies, to channel any delinquent group's activity into more wholesome directions , as well as to use the authority of the court in dispersing incipient gangs by judicious placement of their members away from each other. Con tinuous interpretation and educational effort in relation to the general public has also contributed to achieve this end. In our experience, the influence of crime comic books on the in cidence of juvenile delinquency shows no significant correlation . In some instances where relationship has been established between the reading of crime comic books and delinquency, the delinquent acts have been insignificant and these cases might be discounted as having any significance in the general problem of juvenile delinquency. In answer to your seventh and last question, we should like to state that in our opinion the incidence of juvenile delinquency would not decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children. Very truly yours, JOHN J. ALDEN, Boys' Referee and Assistant Chief Probation Officer. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 75 Delinquency complaints referred to Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court for years 1918-22 and 1945-50 Total complaints ... Official, total.. Boys.. Girls.. Unofficial, total. Boys.. Girls. Traffic violations included in unofficial: Boys. Girls . Total delinquency com plaints excluding un official traffic viola tions... Please note : Total delinquency complaints. Against property, total.. Automobile theft. Burglary, unlawful entry. Other stealing ... Other property offenses . Against the person total. , Robbery Assault, fighting.. Act resulting in death.. Truancy from school .. Running away, total. 1918 5,939 5, 935 3, 434 3, 502 Cuyahoga County residents . Out-of- county residents.... 2,956 2,847 2, 524 478 655 584 2, 505 2, 433 2,256 2, 137 249 296 Beyond parental control. Sex offenses (mostly homosexual) . Careless or mischief, total. 1919 1920 1921 1922 1945 Auto tampering and trespassing Destruction of property Disorderly conduct.. Other misdemeanors. Auto law and traffic violations... 5,019 3, 108 3, 793 2, 495 1,962 533 1,911 1 , 298 1 , 724 1 , 232 187 66 ii !! 3, 451 2, 433 1,919 514 1,787 536 1,018 1 , 945 960 1,541 58 404 !! 1945 !! 1 , 787 844 297 303 18460 166 44 1166 101 186 47 139 4, 268 2, 323 17151 196 34644058 72 1874 1. This is not an unduplicated child count. 2. Since 1946, traffic violations have become an increasingly larger pro portion of boys' unofficial delinquency cases; in 1949 this amounted to almost 52 percent of the total boys' unofficial delinquency cases. Reason for referral of official delinquency cases, boys, 1945-49 6 1946 1947 1948 1949 months 1950 3,793 3, 659 1,740 1,534 1946 1,319 1 , 139 421 395 2, 125 1,815 310 2,053 1, 685 368 1,319 651 243 210 15543 72 14680 97 133 4,077 3, 166 2,804 2,761 2,579 5578 6198 10180 142 18572047 33 1947 841 835 1,099 14 14 13 1, 139 498 119 207 13834 143 13 1282 51 102 3072 3, 610 3, 691 1,470 1,321 10780 141 1,067 403 17234754 17 958 363 2,140 2,370] 1,864 2, 130 276 240 1948 1,067 433 124 181 11513 ៖“ដ”ទĒ| គឬ“ឥឡា ឌន 52 100 10695 170 1,762 684 24 40 499 185 1,078 963 115 4684 1,290 1949 958 390 113 190825 109 13960 4299 3861 879496 13172640 41 76 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Reply of M. F. Warrick, Jr. , Chief Probation Officer, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, Norfolk, Va. JUVENILE AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS COURT, Norfolk, Va. , August 16, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: Your inquiry of August 8, 1950, requesting information regarding delinquency has been received . We have given the ques tions asked very considered thought with relationship to their appli cation to the work of this court and to conditions in this community. It would perhaps be more orderly to present the information which we can make available to you by listing it as specific answers to the questions posed. 1. The trend of delinquency cases in this community has followed rather closely the national trend as reported by the United States. Children's Bureau. The figures of this agency point to 1945 as the peak year in number of cases. In this community, 1944 was the peak year, which was followed by a sharp downward decrease prevail ing through 1946 ; 1947 and 1948 tended to level off to be followed by a perceptible decrease in 1949. Hence, the answer to this ques tion is "No." The figures substantiating our information are these. The numbers given refer to actual delinquency cases disposed of in. the years stated : 1944, 1,324 ; 1945 , 1,085 ; 1946, 738 ; 1947 , 764 ; 1948, 751 ; 1949, 587. The present trend based on the average monthly intake for the first 6 months in 1950 and projected over the balance of the year points to a return to the level of 1946 through 1948 . We do not know whether the raise expected in 1950 will continue or will remain fairly static. When statistics are given in the support of statements made, we are always inclined to quote from the United States Children's Bureau report that "Juvenile court statistics are not always a reliable index. ” Many factors affect the work of the court and the statistical picture , such as the effectiveness of the services of other agencies in the com munity, effective juvenile work on the part of the police, and varia tion in administrative practices in different courts. 2. We believe the downward trend above described is probably the result of population changes in this area following the end of the last war. We are also inclined to attribute some of the decreases to (1 ) a vastly improved recreational program for the community and (2) improved agency services for children. 3. Juvenile courts in the State of Virginia were not established until 1922 , at which time the General Assembly of this State passed an act creating such courts. As far as we know, in the years prior to 1922 there was no measurement or record of delinquent actions on the part of children , and it is therefore impossible to answer whether there was an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I. Since the first juvenile court was not established in the Nation until near the turn of the century-specifically, 1899 in Cook County (Chicago) and developed very slowly in other areas, it is doubtful that there are reliable figures regarding delinquent behavior on the JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 77 part of children before World War I to be used for comparison with delinquent behavior after World War I. 4. A study of delinquent conduct of a violent nature over the last 5 years indicates that such delinquency has remained on a static level. There seems to be no trend toward more violent crime on the part of juveniles. We find that in 1945 only 5 percent of the delinquency cases for that year involved violence. Fifty-seven cases were cases of assault, but our statistical recording does not differentiate between simple assault and aggravated assault or felonious assault. Less than one half of 1 percent of the cases of 1945 were cases of robbery by force. There were no cases of murder or of rape. In 1946, 61 out of 738 delinquency cases could be considered as involving violence. Of these 61 , however, 52 were assault, again including simple assault, and 9 were cases of robbery by force. No cases involved murder or rape. In 1947, 4 percent of the delinquency cases might be classified in this group. Again none involved murder or rape. In 1948, the percentage was again 5 percent. Delinquent acts included 33 assaults , 1 case of robbery by force, 3 cases of rape, and none of murder. The rape cases reported in each instance were offenses involving statutory rape and not rape by force. In 1949, 7 percent of the delinquency cases disposed of involved acts of physical violence-31 assaults, 3 rape cases, and 7 cases of robbery by force. For the first 6 months of 1950 the percentage was still running at 7 percent. In 1950 we have had two cases of murder referred , one of which was more probably manslaughter, involving death as a result of an automobile accident, the other being a result of an altercation. Since referral for such offenses as murder are so seldom made, we felt it proper to comment that the defendant in these proceedings, at the time of arrest, was an adult, the offense having been committed several years prior while he was under the age of 18. The remainder of violent delinquency cases for this year is made up of 20 assault cases, 7 cases of robbery by force, and no cases of rape. 5. This court, through the social-work services of the probation department, attempts to develop the causal background or pattern of the delinquent acts referred to us . We have not, in the pursuit of this responsibility, found any causal relationship which was traceable to reading crime comic books. We believe, of course, that the tendency and effect created by the lurid nature of crime comic books is em phatically not good, but we cannot establish any relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency. 6. No such specific cases known. 7. We doubt that making crime comics unavailable to children would affect the juvenile-delinquency picture to any degree which could be validated. - May we assure you that it has been a pleasure to cooperate even to this extent in the project which you are engaged . Yours very truly, M. F. WARRICK, Jr. , Chief Probation Officer. 78 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Reply of Gordon M. Johnson, Probation Officer, Racine County, Racine, Wis. COUNTY OF RACINE, PROBATION DEPARTMENT, JUVENILE COURT, Racine, Wis. , August 14, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: In response to your questionnaire of August 8 , 1950 , I would answer your questions as follows: 1. No. 2. 3. We have no records to support an answer to this question. 4. We would have to answer this question with reference to our experience in our own county, which would be "No." 5. To our knowledge, we have had only one offense that we knew comic books were a contributing factor. 6. The one case referred to in question 5 was that of a boy arrested for arson, and he informed the authorities that the method of the offense was derived from reading a comic book. 7. We do feel that crime comic books have a detrimental effect on children reading them, but we are not in a position to state that the elimination of them would have any effect on the decrease of crime. Very truly yours, GORDON M. JOHNSON, Probation Officer. Reply of Grace A. Riggins, Assistant Probation Officer, Camden County, Camden, N. J. CHILDREN'S SHELTER OF CAMDEN COUNTY, Camden, N. J. , August 15, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Special Committee Interstate Crime Committee, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: Mr. Clifford Shemeley, chief probation officer of Cam den County, N. J. , has asked me to answer your communication of August 8 , regarding juvenile delinquency in our county. Juvenile delinquency has decreased in the years 1945-50, although we have had more children committed , due to the fact that the juvenile court age was raised from 16 to 18 in 1946. Due to a temporary change in administration in 1946, the statistics of 1945 and 1946 are not available. In 1947 , we had 269 children before the court ; in 1948, 268 children before the court ; and in 1949 we had 273 children before the court. No. 3. There was a decided increase in the years 1940-45, but there was a 50 percent drop in the years 1930-40-the depression years. No. 4. The type seems to be the same. We have had few murders among juveniles-about 6 in the past 22 years . In the State of New Jersey, murder, at any age, is not considered a juvenile crime, but a criminal offense. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 79 Nos. 5 and 6. We have several instances where the children reportedly adopted the modus operandi of the crime comic books. been isolated instances over a period of several years . These have No. 7. In my opinion, I think the crime type of comic book should not be available at all . They might not assert positive influences which are detrimental, but I believe , in the long run, they tend to break down the moral fiber of the growing child and permit the de velopment of a tolerant attitude toward related crime. Very truly yours, GRACE A. RIGGINS, Assistant Probation Officer (juvenile) . Reply of Richard E. Collins, Probation Officer, District Court of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebr. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, DISTRICT COURT OF NEBRASKA, JUVENILE COURT, DOMESTIC RELATIONS, Omaha 2, Nebr. , August 14, 1950. United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: In reply to your letter of August 8 and nanswer to your questions set out : No. 1 , Omaha has had a decrease in juvenile delinquency since 1945. In 1945 there were 3,753 children involved in the Juvenile Court of Douglas County. In 1949 the total was 2,333 . Question No. 2 has been answered by the answer to question No. 1 . In regard to the third question, we have no figures available of delinquency after World War I. In answer to question No. 4, we have noticed a slight increase in offenses against the person amongst juveniles, and at the present time Omaha has had several bad cases of vandalism; not caused by gangs, however. We are not having too much trouble with gang activities . In answer to questions Nos. 5 , 6 , and 7 , it is very difficult to trace any type of crime activities to the reading of comic books or any other reading material. However, I certainly agree with the thinking that there is far too much crime comics ; and , if any effort could be made to curtail them , I would be very much in favor of it . RICHARD E. COLLINS. Reply of James D. H. Reefer, Chief Probation Officer, Juvenile Court, Kansas City, Mo. JUVENILE COURT, Kansas City, Mo. , August 15, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR: You letter addressed to "Chief Probation Officer of the Jackson County Juvenile Court" has been referred to me for reply. 80 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY In answer to your specific questions, the following information is submitted: I. Juvenile delinquency has increased in the years 1945 to 1950, but not to nearly as large an extent as was the case from the prewar years to those of the war. The listing below indicates all of the delinquency cases referred to the Jackson County Juvenile Court, broken down by 4-year periods for comparison between prewar, war, and postwar periods. 1938. 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943. 1944 Average.. 1938_ 1939 1940. 1941 . 1942. 1943. 1944 I Delin quency cases Average... 1 , 1001945-.. 1, 181 1, 072 1, 221 1946 1, 144 1947. 1948. 1, 424 1949_ 1, 854 1, 854 Average_ 1, 824 You will note that the percent of increase from the prewar years to the war years was 53.3 percent, while the percent of increase from the war years to the postwar years was only 4 percent. II . I would attribute this increasing juvenile-delinquency rate to a number of different reasons: 1. The economic and social dislocation which followed the war. 2. The continued existence of substandard housing and lack of adequate recreational facilities . 3. Lack of understanding of the emotional problems of children by parents and other adults. III . I do not know whether there was an increase in the rate of juvenile delinquency after World War I, as our records for this period. are not complete. IV. Contrary to expectations, our records indicate that there has been a decreased rate of so-called violent crimes on the part of juve niles since the war. The figures below show the percentage of the total juvenile cases, by years, in the categories of breaking and entering, robbery and injury to the person. Percent of total Average 11. 8 1945.. 10. 2 11. 3 14. 3 1946. 11. 91947. 1948 14. 5 1949 . 12.9 14. 0 A Delin quency cases 1, 883 1, 754 1, 925 1, 664 1, 955 1, 751 Average_ Average. Percent of total 9. 7 12. 8 6. 8 8. 1 10. 8 10. 2 9.0 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 81 The next set of figures substantiates this conclusion, since it shows the number of injury-to -person cases alone during the period under study: 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 Average... Cases 10 1945___ 2221 38 HON. ESTES KEFAUVER, United States Senate, Average 1946 ... 23 1947. 1948. 42 1949 4979 Average Cases 34 ཐསྶསྶ 19 V-VI-VII. We do not have any specific information regarding the relation between the reading of crime comic books by youngsters and juvenile delinquency. There may be such a connection, of which we do not have knowledge, but it would seem that this is more likely merely a manifestation of the unrest of the present day. If children could have the security and love and affection which they need, certainly crime comic books would not have too great an influence upon them. However, since these facts are not true at the present time, it would possibly be a good idea to attempt regulation of this type of reading. If the Jackson County Juvenile Court can be of further assistance to your committee, please do not hesitate to call upon us. I might add that this court has jurisdiction of all juvenile cases in Jackson County, Mo., which includes Kansas City, Mo., as well as the surrounding rural county. Kansas City's population is about 450,000 at this time, and the population of the county is an additional 75,000 to 100,000 . Very truly yours, JAMES D. H. REEFER, ChiefProbation Officer. Reply of Charles H. Boswell, Chief Probation Officer, Marion County Juvenile Court, Indianapolis, Ind. JUVENILE COURT OF MARION COUNTY, Indianapolis, August 14, 1950. Washington 25, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR : In reply to your letter dated August 8, 1950, concerning juvenile delinquency statistics and the influence of the reading of comic books on the juvenile deliquency rate, I will answer the seven questions which were included in the letter. 1. In Marion County juvenile delinquency has decreased steadily since 1946. There was an increase in 1946 over 1945. In 1945, 2,547 juvenile delinquency cases were referred to juvenile court and in 1949 there were 1,551 delinquency cases referred . During this year, our intake has been about the same as in 1949. Police statistics show a decrease of over 30 percent during the same period. 82 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 2. In my opinion the decrease in juvenile delinquency which has occurred in this county-while there has been an increase in juvenile delinquency in the Nation as a whole-can be attributed to the work of a very fine citizens' committee. This committee is called the Juvenile Court's Advisory Council . Members of the council represent various civic-minded and religious groups in the community. The goal of the committee has been to develop programs through the churches, schools and community center, which are designed to prevent delinquency. In this way they strengthen family life and influence in a constructive manner the lives of many children . Their work is demonstrative of the fact that if citizens are concerned enough, they can do something on a local level which will greatly reduce a serious social problem . 3. There was an increase in juvenile deliquency after World War I , but we do not have any stistical reports which will support that statement. 4. Our records do not show that juveniles have tended to commit more violent crimes such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activities. Gang activities which you find in the large communities are not existent in this community. 5. In a few cases we have found a relationship in reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency, but our case records do not reveal that the reading of comic books has been a major contributing factor in the cause of juvenile delinquency. In those cases where the reading of comic books had an adverse effect, there were also other factors of a negative nature which led to the commission of offenses by the juvenile. The motivations behind human behavior are so complex and often so devious that it is impossible to state that there is any one or even two factors which cause youngsters to become involved in law violations . 6. We do know of two cases among the several thousand which were referred during the past 4 years which dramatically pointed up the influence which the reading of comic books had on the lives of juveniles . These boys had learned from one crime comic book how to burglarize without being detected and without making any noise. The comic book in this case did give the boys some ideas on how to commit a successful burglary, but the reason that they were thinking about burglaries and decided to venture into criminal career came out of unfortunate home situations . 7. I do not believe that there would be any great decrease in juvenile delinquency were not crime comic books readily available to children. However, I think there should be some control of crime comic books so that the youngsters will be induced to read literature of a more constructive nature. There are so many good books which would help develop the minds of children which go unread as long as the more sensational, hair-raising type of crime comic books are available. Far more serious from a community standpoint than the reading of crime comic books is the fact that lottery and pool ticket operators are able to demonstrate daily that crime does pay. As long as you have underworld characters who drive big, powerful, shiny automo biles on the streets of a city and live in leisure and abundance you will find it difficult to convince all juveniles that the best policy is to earn an honest living-especially when the earning of an honest living JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 83 means working long hours in a factory, living in poor housing, and driving a dilapidated automobile. Youngsters learn more by example and imitation than by precept . All that the comic books do is to give certain precepts . However, certain adults in this city, and I am sure that it is true in other cities, give living examples of how the law can be flaunted to the personal aggrandizement of certain individuals. We will continue to have a high rate of juvenile delinquency, comic books or no comic books, unless delinquency patterns established by adults are eliminated . Very truly yours, CHARLES H. BOSWELL, Chief Probation Officer. Reply of James C. Milligan, Chief Probation Officer, Chatham County Juvenile Court, Savannah, Ga. JUVENILE COURT OF CHATHAM COUNTY, GA. , Savannah, Ga. , August 14, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: In reply to yours of August 8 in which seven questions were asked concerning juvenile delinquency, I desire to state that to the best of my ability we have gone through our records in the hope that the following will represent the information that you desire, to wit: 1. There has been an increase in juvenile delinquency in this section of about 3½ percent during the period of 1945 to 1949. 2. Local and economic changes following World War II , in which time so many people came to the city from rural areas and decided to remain here, and the drop in employment, brought about an increase in delinquency. 3. Records are unavailable prior to the year of 1924 . 4. Insofar as the more violent crimes are concerned, there have been a number of seemingly serious crimes committed ; however, these have been by groups who have ganged together and formed sort of a band. These gangs have taken part in some robberies and several persons were severely beaten, but this has only happened on two occasions in recent years. 5. Only in obscure cases . 6. Unable to give specific statistics . 7. This is highly problematical. It could be that crime comic books strengthen delinquent tendencies in a child, thus aiding these tenden cies to develop. It is the writer's personal thinking, though he is unable to give specific statistics, that both crime comic books and sex books are disintegrating society and if not curbed, that the statistics, within a period of 10 to 15 years, will be most revealing. Sincerely, JAMES C. MILLIGAN, Chief Probation Officer. 84 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Reply of Anna D. Sanford, Master In Chancery, Baltimore City Circuit Court, Baltimore, Md. CIRCUIT COURT OF BALTIMORE CITY, Baltimore, Md. , August 14, 1950. SENATOR ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: Acknowledgment is made of your letter of August 8, 1950, in regard to organized crime among juvenile delinquents . Under separate cover, I am enclosing yearly reports for the Circuit Court of Baltimore City, Division for Juvenile Causes from 1944 through 1949. These reports will supply the answer to several of your questions. 1. Please refer to the yearly reports . 2. Please refer to the yearly reports. 3. In my own opinion, there has been no great increase in juvenile delinquency since World War I. 4. Please refer to the yearly reports. 5. I have been the master in chancery of the Circuit Court of Balti more City, Division for Juvenile Causes, since 1943, and have only had two cases where the children testified they received the idea from reading comic books . 6. Please refer to the yearly reports . 7. My own personal opinion would be that juvenile delinquency would not decrease if comic books were not available to children, because there has been no testimony to indicate that the acts were committed because the children had been reading crime comic books. Sincerely, ANNA D. SANFORD, Master in Chancery. Reply of Hon. Thomas D. Gill, Judge of Juvenile Court, Hartford, Conn. JUVENILE COURT FOR THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT, Hartford, Conn. , August 10, 1950. Hon. ESTES Kefauver, Chairman, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: Since you no doubt have a great many documents to peruse, we will make this reply to your inquiry of August 8 as concise as possible. In taking up your questions in the order in which they appear, please be advised that our statistics are for the State of Connecticut as a whole since this is a State-wide court and all of its activities are coordinated on a State-wide basis . 1. During the years 1945, 1946, 1947 , and 1948, delinquency de creased in the State at the rate of 10 percent per year. During the year 1949, we experienced our first increase for the period in question JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 85 when the number of cases before the court exceeded those for the year 1948 by 15 percent. We do not, of course, have complete figures for the year 1950, but the first 6 months of the year correspond almost exactly to the first 6 months of 1949. Without burdening you with all the figures of the years in question, during 1948, 3,394 children were brought to the attention of the State juvenile court . During the year 1949, 3,894 boys and girls were referred to us. This court publishes complete reports which, from the year 1942 on, are available in any State library and, of course, in the Children's Bureau in Wash ington. Therefore, any further statistical information you may wish is available to you in these reports . 2. Since during the period in question, there has been a net decrease rather than an increase, this question answers itself. 3. Since Connecticut did not have a Juvenile Court Act until 1921 and no statistics worthy of the name until 1942, we would hestitate to make any observation on this particular question. 4. Definitely not. We have had no murder cases in this court since its inception on January 1 , 1942, and it is doubtful if there have been any cases which would be characterized as forcible rape. Gang activities as they are known and understood in the slums of Chicago, Pittsburgh, and New York, are not to be found in this State since apparently the delinquent areas of even our largest metropolitan centers do not offer conditions which approximate those found in the worst sections of the cities named. 5. It is the opinion of this court that there is no definite causal con nection between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency. We have never been presented with a case wherein it could be defini tively stated that the act in question was the direct result of reading some crime comic book. There is no doubt that the over-all impact of crime comic books on the cultural development of our children is poor, for comic books of all types represent a minimum cultural level . It is felt, therefore, that we should worry more about this aspect of the question, concerning which there seems to be unanimity rather than about the very debatable question of whether comic books breed delinquency and crime. There have been some studies and surveys which suggest that habitual criminals and delinquents are devotees of crime comic books and that they find in these books reassurance and justification for their own departure from normal social behavior. This is a far cry from saying that this departure was originally motivated by such books. Question 6 has already been answered in the reply given to the previous question, as has question 7 , and it would certainly be our conclusion that there is no reasonable foundation for supposing that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children. Trusting that this information will be of some assistance to you in praiseworthy efforts to crystallize a very difficult subject, I am Most sincerely, THOMAS D. GILL, Judge. 86 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Reply of Goldie Floberg, Chief Probation Officer, Winnebago County Juvenile Court, Rockford, Ill . ESTES KEFAUVER, WINNEBAGO COUNTY JUVENILE COURT, Rockford, Ill. , August 10, 1950. Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: In reply to your letter of August 8 , 1950, I wish to sub mit the following report : 1945 1946 1. Question. Has juvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? If you can support this with specific statistics, please do so . Answer : Delinquency cases : 1947. 1948 1949 1950 (6 months) . Girls 171 114 125 416 418 408 392 94 121 10569 Boys 410 271 Total 530 543 502 513 515 340 These are statistics kept by the juvenile court, Winnebago County, Rockford, Ill . , for the past 5 years . Our case load has increased in the last 6 months. A great deal of this is due to various " gangs" that have come to the attention of the court for stealing fruit, wrecking old buildings, breaking windows, and malicious mischief. We have also had more traffic violations in the 6 months of 1950 than we had for the entire year of 1949. 2. Question. To what do you attribute this increase if you have stated that there was an increase? Answer. More arrests are being made by the police and sheriff departments as they are making a sincere effort to "break up the gangs. "" 3. Question. Was there an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I? Answer. Yes. Since World War I we have had more private and public agencies interested in juveniles, and the community as a whole has been interested in both dependent and delinquent children. More speeches have been made and articles written about juveniles in the past 5 years than at any other time. 4. Question. In recent years have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes, such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activities? Answer. No. 5. Question. Do you believe that there is any relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency? Answer. No. 6. 7. Question . Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children? Answer. No. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 87 If we can be of any further help in providing statistics, please do not hesitate to call on us . Sincerely yours, Reply of Proctor N. Carter, Director, Missouri Division of Welfare, Jefferson City, Mo. DIVISION OF WELFARE, STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE, Jefferson City, Mo., August 10, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: I am replying to your letter of August 8 regarding juvenile delinquency in Missouri. 1. Juvenile delinquency has decreased 2.5 percent between 1945 and 1949 as reported to the division of welfare, State department of public health and welfare by the 114 counties and the city of St. Louis in the State. Below is a table showing the numbers of children reported by the juvenile courts as delinquent and the year. 1945 1946. 1947---- Auto theft.. 2. Although there were fewer delinquent children in 1949 than there were in 1945, you will note a decrease in numbers of delinquent children between 1945 and 1948, and a rapid rise during the year 1949. Local juvenile officers and child welfare workers tell us that during the World War II years they noted an increase in juvenile delinquency and seriousness of offense. We have made no special survey of these contentions . 3. The division of welfare was not in existence and has no material on juvenile delinquency during or following World War I. 4. Below is a table of type of offense, year, and the percentage of juvenile delinquents committing these kinds of offenses. Burglary or unlawful entry. Robbery. Type Other theft. Running away Number of delinquent children 5, 766 | 1948__. 5, 341 1949_ 4, 589 1 No figures available . Year 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1945 1946 1947 Per centage 21.3 6.3 5.4 3.7 6.3 GOLDIE FLOBERG, Chief Probation Officer. (1) 12.7 13. 4 11.1 13.9 (1) 2.2 1.8 1.2 2.5 14.5 15.7 15.5 19.7 18.4 15.4 13. 4 15.7 Sex offense.. Type Running away. Being unmanageable.... Acts of carelessness and mischief.. Traffic violation .. Year 1948 1949 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 4, 786 5, 621 . 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Per centage 15.5 12.4 11.6 10.7 11.9 13.5 12. 1 6.3 7.0 5.8 6.7 6.6 13.6 9.6 8.5 8.4 3.5 3.8 6.2 6.7 6. 1 5.5 88 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 5. The division of welfare has made no studies on the relationship between reading comic books and juvenile delinquency. 6. We have no data available on this. 7. Wehave not consulted with child guidance clinic personnel, which we believe to be expert in determining why a child behaves as he does, regarding the relationship between the reading of comic books and delinquent acts. We are glad to submit the above to you and will cooperate with you on any other material you may need . Very truly yours, PROCTOR N. CARTER, Director. Reply of Ralph W. Fisher, Executive Secretary, Los Angeles Youth Committee, Los Angeles, Calif. COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES YOUTH COMMITTEE, Los Angeles 12, Calif. , August 14, 1950. Senator ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: Your letter of August 4, 1950 , request ing information relative to juvenile delinquency, was referred to me by Harold W. Kennedy, Los Angeles County counsel. The following answers go beyond your questions sufficiently to highlight the specific information you wanted. 1. Question. Has juvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? If you can support this with specific statistics, please do so . Answer. (See exhibit A attached . ) In Los Angeles County 1945 was the peak year for juvenile delinquency, as reflected in the juvenile court filings for that year. The attached ratio chart , exhibit A, shows that the juvenile delinquency trends in Los Angeles County have paralleled the national juvenile delinquency trends since 1940. It is a matter of regret that the national figures, from the United States Children's Bureau, do not allow any interpretation other than that of showing trends. Their figures are obtained from 71 courts in only 19 States, and two of these States , New York and Massachusetts, furnish 35 of the reporting courts. The Los Angeles County population line on the chart shows that even the slant upward in 1948 and 1949, from the major decrease in 1946 and 1947 , still does not reflect an increase over what might be expected on the basis of increased population alone since 1940. 2. Question. To what do you attribute this increase if you have stated that there was an increase ? Answer. It is obvious from the ratio chart that Los Angeles has experienced no real increase in juvenile delinquency since 1945, However, your question implies the matter of understanding juvenile delinquency causation . We are constantly studying juvenile delinquency causation and assume you likewise are familiar with past and present theories on this subject. With respect to each individual case we agree with the JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 89 current thinking that holds to the balanced concept that it is the inter play of both environmental factors and the individual's personal characteristics which is responsible. With respect to thousands of cases-the over-all total in the county we note with considerable interest that there has been a remarkable paralleling of juvenile delinquency court cases in Los Angeles County, since 1925, with the index of business activity here. This is exactly opposite to the common supposition that juvenile delinquency tends to increase in periods of depression and to decrease in time of pros perity. This of course does not nail down the "cause, " but it does lead to speculation that factors present in times of prosperity, such as in creased mobility, etc. , may have a decided influence on the total number of cases of juvenile delinquency. 3. Question. Was there an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I? Answer. See exhibit B attached. Many of the records kept 20 years ago by the various law-enforcement agencies in Los Angeles County are not available now. The figures from the Los Angeles police Department Juvenile Division, however, do indicate a strik ing parallel of trend with what we recently have experienced . 4. Question. In recent years, have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes, such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activities? Answer. With respect to the first three, assault, rape, and murder, they constitute statistically an extremely small percent in the juvenile delinquency picture here. According to Inspector Robert W. Bowling, in charge of the Los Angeles Police Department Juvenile Division, there has been no noticeable increase in such acts. I talked also with Mr. Heman G. Stark, chief, Division of Field Services, California Youth Authority, and his opinion is that individual cases have increased in severity. He suggested that you might write to Irvin Ramsier, chief statistician, California Youth Authority, Sacramento, Calif. , for figures from the California Youth Authority. With respect to juvenile gang activities, Los Angeles recently experienced a wave of newspaper hysteria . See exhibits C and Ď attached. Exhibit C, re the alleged "wolf packs, " is a good summary of the searching inquiry that various youth organizations, juvenile law enforcement, and the youth committee engaged in to discover what, if anything, was back of the headlines. Exhibit D, our bulletin on juvenile gangs, may give you some back ground information. We regard juvenile groups as a natural mode of child and youth behavior. So far as I know, the only count of actual groups in any area in this county was made just a fewmonths ago, in April and May, in the congested areas of Los Angeles City. In this relatively small area of the metropolis, 1,394 groups of youths were found ranging in age from under 11 to age 25. Of this total number 95 groups were identified as being trouble makers, or potential trouble makers. Of the 95 "hard to reach" groups, 38 were being served through specially trained workers using the combination of case-work and group- work approach. Fifty-seven of the potentially troublesome groups were not being served. Even with this large number of known youth groups in just 1 portion of one of the 45 cities in Los Angeles County, it is sufficiently 72705-50-7 90 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY rare for any group to become openly delinquent that such occurrence would immediately cause flaring headlines such as those given re cently when there was in reality no adequate reason for the headlines. 5. Question. Do you believe that there is any relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency? Answer. Governor Warren's recent Special Crime Study Com mission on Social and Economic Causes of Crime and Delinquency had this to say in its final report issued June 30, 1949 : The effects of harmful comic books and gangster movies have never been adequately measured though there seems to be little question about the ultimate impact upon both ideals and subsequent behavior of children who are easily affected. Children in the impressionable stages of life , involving constant re orientation of goals, ideals , and ambitions, are often unduly influenced by the glorification of brutality, murder, social callousness, and the air of bravado of the hero of gangster films , poor grade comic books, or radio crime programs. Emulation of the screen radio or crime book hero often becomes an instrument of social glorification and recognition (p. 13) . Exhibit E, attached , is the Los Angeles County ordinance on this subject . The appellate court held this ordinance came within ban of the United States Supreme Court case of Winters v. New York, and therefore struck it down. The conclusions of two recent studies of the comic-book reading habits of children are attached . (See exhibits F and G.) The Whit field study, exhibit F, studies the comic-book reading habits of chil dren in a college community, while the Shamel study, exhibit G, is of an industrial community. Each study confirms the common knowledge that reading comic books is a widespread habit among children . Each also indicates that the relatively innocuous comic book types attract more readers than the crime comics. 6. Question. Please specifically give statistics and, if possible, state specific cases of juvenile crime which you believe can be traced to reading crime comic books. Answer. In our various law-enforcement records in the county there are a few reported cases where the juvenile in question claimed that he learned the modus operandi of his unlawful act by reading crime comics . Even if such claims are true, it is, in my opinion, doubtful that the crime comic could be called more than a precipitating factor. I favor the elimination of crime comics in order to eliminate such precipitating factors ; but mostly in order to help this entire medium. of entertainment-comic books-to become a wholesome rather than a doubtful or openly adverse factor on the life and personality of child readers. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 91 7. Question. Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children? Answer. Yes; in the long run, I believe the elimination of crime comics would tend to decrease juvenile delinquency. However, this is but one of the many factors in our complex civilization that have a bearing on the personality development and behavior patterns of children. Despite my opposition to crime comics, I doubt if it would be possible statistically to reveal any direct influence on the number of cases of juvenile delinquency due to crime comics, or conversely to show that any decrease in juvenile delinquency had its cause in the elimination of the crime comics. It is my belief that wholesome and judicious use of leisure- time activities is a positive force in the battle against juvenile delinquency, and that each move that can be made to eliminate doubtful or injurious influences merits support. Sincerely yours, RALPH W. FISHER, Executive Secretary. EXHIBIT A INFORMATION Concerning JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IN CALIFORNIA Prepared by Heman G. Stark, chief of field services, California Youth Authority approved by delinquency committee of Los Angeles youth project on Febru ary 10, 1950 Current figures on delinquency are not available for release and have limited value because: 1. There is no comparable source of statistics throughout the State. 2. The law is interpreted differently in various sections of the State. 3. There are no reporting sources in some sections of the State, while in others there are a wide variety of facilities for reporting. Some indication of trends in cases may be noted, however, from three sources : 1. Arrests by police of juveniles between the ages of 8 and 18 increased steadily from the beginning of the war through 1945. In 1946 police arrests showed a slight drop, and have not increased since that time. 2. Filings in juvenile court followed a smilar trend, leveling off in 1945, and have not increased as rapidly as would be indicated by the increase in population. 3. Commitments to the California Youth Authority reached a peak in 1945, and have leveled off since that period . In fact, in relation to popula tion, there is no percentage increase whatsoever. It might be pointed out, however, that while there has been a real drop-off in some areas of delinquency, a slight increase is shown in certain other categories , such as armed robbery ; offenses against persons ; etc. On the whole it should be stated that California has not experienced an increase in over-all delinquency to the amount that should have been expected , consider ing the great increase in population and all of the contributing factors, such as inadequate housing, migratory employment, jobless people, large shifts of racial groups from Southern States, etc. Much credit is due the agencies (at the local, county, and State level) for their splendid work in helping California to hold the line by preventing any actual increase in delinquency at a time when many other States have been reporting substantial increase in juvenile delinquency. 92 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Percent Increase over Base 1940 1941. 1942. 1943 . 1944. 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 1945 . 1946. 1947. 1948. 1949 . 20% 10% Base 1940 RATIO CHART Trends of Juvenile Delinquency in Los Angeles County and in the United States , 1940 - 1949 . 1941 1942 . EXHIBIT B Year .1943 1944 W 1945 County Juv . Court.. # 71 Courts ( Juv. ) in 19 States...... County population … ..ooo 1946 .

1. Juvenile Court figures released by U.S.Child ren's Bureau, Dec. 1949

Juvenile cases in 71 juvenile courts 48, 872 53, 056 58,193 77,649 76, 392 80, 744 €8,994 58,855 57,520 1947 . 1948 Juvenile court filings in Los Angeles County 4, 053 4, 762 5, 159 6,597 6, 428 6, 697 5,770 5, 331 5, 421 5, 664 1949 Los Angeles County popu lation as of Dec. 31, each year Source: County population figures from Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission. 2,910,000 3,081,000 3, 178, 000 3,286,000 3,365, 000 3, 480,000 3, 645, 000 3,855, 000 4,030,000 4, 138, 000 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 93 1916-17. 1917-18 . 1918-19 .. 1919-20 1920-21.. 1921-22. Base over Percent Increase Base RATIO CHART Los Angeles Police Department Juvenile Arrests 90 80 70. ☺±8≈ 60 50 40 30 20 10 O 1916 1922 Los Angeles Police Department juvenile arrests Number To: All council delegates. From: C. W. Pfeiffer, executive secretary. Re: Publicity concerning alleged " wolf packs. " 1,831 2,267 3, 294 3,507 2, 743 3,059 Percent in crease over 1916-17 EXHIBIT C WELFARE COUNCIL OF METROPOLITAN LOS ANGELES, June 6, 1950. 2480904967 The welfare council, through its youth project and youth services division, has been much concerned over the great amount of recent publicity carrying heavy headlines and dealing with alleged “ wolf packs, " " rat packs, ” and “gang” violence in general. In order to understand exactly what the situation was and is , the youth project undertook to get as completely as possible all the facts involved in each reported incident, in addition to general information about trends in juvenile arrests, assaults and other crimes of violence. These facts are available in our various local law-enforcement agencies. For purposes of this report, the juvenile division of the Los Angeles city police department is the most important because the majority of law violations reported in the press occurred in its jurisdiction. There is, however, additional information available in the juvenile division of the sheriff's office, the delinquency prevention bureau of the probation department and also in the juvenile court and the California Youth Authority. These law-enforcement agencies have for years worked in close harmony and cooperation in the youth services field with the voluntary youth agencies, the city recreation department, and the Los Angeles city schools. The cooperation has been particularly good in connection with the youth project. This project, along with the delinquency prevention bureau of the probation department, is 94 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 1 doing an extensive, constructive job in the areas where many of the incidents were reported. The youth project and welfare council agencies generally, which have had contact with these law-enforcement agencies, have come to have great respect for and confidence in them. Their staffs are made up of people who are rendering a high- caliber public service ; they are constructively and intelligently devoted to the reduction of juvenile delinquency. They have been doing an excellent job. There is every reason, therefore, to have confidence in the infor mation which has been secured from these departments and, in consequence, it is believed that the factual information which has come from each department and which is contained hereinafter is reliable and correct. Reports received separately from the different departments corroborate each other. Moreover, it should be said that both the workers in the special service unit (delinquency unit) of the council's youth project and the project coordinators have had personal knowledge of certain of the incidents reported, and their direct observations in all such cases completely confirm the reports received from the law-enforcement agencies. Before giving these facts, it should be made perfectly clear that neither the youth project, the agencies which comprise it, nor any of the agencies making up the youth services division-all of which have certain responsibilities for the welfare of youth-condone coddling or pampering of law offenders, youthful or otherwise. Such violators should be promptly apprehended and treated in accordance with the laws pertaining to their violations. On the other hand, these agency people are likewise equally opposed to police brutality or any illegal or unnecessary police activities of a reprisal nature. Close association and careful observation over a period of years lead to the conclusion that our local law enforcement agencies have done well in avoiding both extremes. Furthermore, the facts relating to trends in delinquency and an analysis of the facts in the current situation indicate that these departments have done and are doing a highly creditable job. CENERAL FACTS Careful analysis reveals the following general facts : 1. With rare exceptions, the law violators were not juveniles but were young men well beyond the juvenile court age. 2. Generally speaking, these incidents did not involve gang activities at all . Some were personal fights or individual unlawful acts; some involved small groups, and in some situations -either because the alleged victims gave totally false information to the press or for other reasons-there seems to be no basis at all for the stories reported. 3. In the statement from the California Youth Authority (see exhibit A attached) , such indices of trends as are available indicate that "on the whole

• * * California has not experienced an increase in over-all delinquency to the amount that should have been expected, considering the great increase in

population and all other contributing factors * * * "" 4. A 10-year review of juvenile arrests in the city of Los Angeles indicates that in 1945 they reached an all-time high ; 1946 saw a 15 percent drop; 1947 a 10 percent drop ; 1948 a negligible increase ; 1949 an approximate 10 -percent increase; 1950 to April there has been a decrease of 3.7 percent in boy arrests and a decrease of 18.2 percent in girl arrests as compared with the same period last year. 5. As Juvenile Court Judge A. A. Scott, who sees more youthful offenders than any other person in this county, has pointed out, the nature and extent of recent publicity tends to stimulate the very type of unlawful activity which everyone deplores. These big headlines do more harm than good because they have a glamorizing effect. Many people love publicity. Certain individuals may feel a sense of self-importance by getting their names in the newspapers. Law enforcement officers report that many youngsters who have been picked up recently have had clippings of newspaper items and headlines in their pockets. 6. Fortunately, there is good reason to believe that the papers themselves are coming to see the merit of the preceding point and are reporting these various offenses straight, as they happen, without labeling them all as "wolf packs, " etc. ANALYSIS OF INDIVIDUAL INCIDENTS Following is a list of incidents including the way they were headlined and a summary of the actual events compiled by responsible law-enforcement officials. This is no attempt to justify any of these things that happened. They all involve infraction of the law but they corroborate the first two points made above-that they did not involve juveniles for the most part; that they were not gang activities in the ordinary sense ; that they were not " wolf packs" roaming around beating up people for the sake of beating them up. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 95 1. April 19, 1950 Headline: " Hollywood Boys ' Club battles Echo Park gang invaders-Juvenile gang war studied as youth slashed-Hollywood gang fight, boy knifed. ” Analysis: This was a fight at the Hollywood Boys' Club. For about 3 months youngsters from Mayberry playground area had been coming to the boys' club and creating disturbances. Since the club members wouldn't let the others in , the disturbances continued. On the occasion of a dance at the boys' club some of the boys from the Mayberry area tried to enter. The boys' club members pre vented them from doing so then followed them down the street looking for trouble. A fight occurred and one of the Hollywood boys was cut with a razor. 2. April 22, 1950 Headline: " Man killed, four beaten as Los Angeles wolf gangs rampage-Gang peril on Los Angeles streets, one killed Youth fleeing arrest killed by automobile . " Analysis: A. The first two of these headlines combined two unrelated events. A group of fellows, apparently drunk, beat up three persons and threw missiles at a man, his wife, and infant. These young men were arrested . B. A drunk was "rolled . " The victim called for assistance . Two persons came to his aid and grabbed the man who had done the " rolling. " He broke loose and started running across the street where he got in the path of an oncoming car and was run over and killed . NOTE. The third headline was correct. 3. April 24, 1950 Headline: "Worton opens war on wolf packs, injured toll grows- Los Angeles cops wage war on teen-age wolf packs-New assaults put drive on " Wolf packs" Six more beaten up by hoodlum gangs- Gang knifes youth in park. " Analysis : Several stories are linked together. One fight which occurred in Westwood was a personal dispute between two fellows and appears not to have been a gang situation. The Lakewood situation was not an unprovoked attack but involved persons who had had difficulties previously of which the police department was aware. The third episode which took place in Lincoln Park involved a boy from Watts who got into a fight with a boy in the Hazard area. This involved only a fight between two boys. 4. April 26, 1950 Headline: " Hidden motives sought in wolf pack terrorism-Hoodlum gang leaders sought-10 youths and 3 girls jailed in wolf-pack hunt. Boy 13 latest wolf-pack victim-Police seize 28 in teen round-up . ' Analysis: Three girls were arrested for curfew violation and immediately re leased to their parents. Seven boys were picked up on suspicion of assault. They were subsequently released for each of the charges . A 13-year- old boy was beaten up by three older boys. 5. April 27, 1950 66 Headline: 'Drive on hoodlums nets 28 juveniles searched in hunt for thugs." Hundreds of youth stopped, Analysis : A story about Joe Montano who had been involved in the Lincoln Park stabbing 4 days earlier. This is simply a rehash of an old story. There is no fact at all behind the statement that hundreds were stopped. 6. April 29, 1950 Headline: " Bullets break street lamps. Hot- rod rat gang fires into store. Wild-rat pack shoots up town-Temple City invaded by wild gun toters. Wolf pack shoots out windows-Hoodlums run wild, shoot up windows. " Analysis: The report of the newspapers that Temple City was invaded by "Wild gun toters" actually referred to an incident in which three boys broke some windows with a slingshot. 7. May 2 and 3, 1950 Headline: "Three Los Angeles policemen brutally beaten-Wolf-pack hunt brings beatings for policemen-Terrorism flares anew. " Analysis: This did not involve juveniles and is actually a case of arrest for traffic violation, not a gang activity at all. It really included the members of the family involved. (NOTE. The foregoing are illustrative of the points this memorandum is trying to make. The youth project has similar information concerning quite a number of additional incidents. ) 96 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY EXHIBIT D YOUTH COMMITTEE BULLETIN A periodic information service, by and for members, Los Angeles County Youth Committee [Los Angeles 12, Calif. , 205 S. Broadway, vol. 4, No. 7, July 1949] WHAT ABOUT JUVENILE GANGS? This article is a condensation of the thinking of social scientists on the essential characteristics and natural history of juvenile gangs. All the points outlined may be familiar to Youth Committee members. Reviewing them, however, should assist in achieving a clearer perspective of this important aspect of the activities of children and youth. A short bibliography of sources is attached. Reasons for concern Several reasons combine to emphasize the importance of juvenile gangs. For one thing, there is a constant reference in the daily press to juvenile gangs and their criminal or antisocial behavior. Also , the fact that the word gangster has come to mean criminal has a bearing on the matter. The known fact that companions nearly always are involved in any sort of juvenile misbehavior adds to the notoriety of juvenile gangs. Of course, solitary individuals do commit crimes, but by far the larger percent of juvenile misdeeds are performed in company with, or with approval of, or for the approval of, a group or at least a companion or two. Another reason for general concern is that play groups and cliques are often spoken of as embryo gangs. This, while true theoretically, is misleading. Ac tually only a relatively small number of play groups or cliques become juvenile gangs. It seems obvious that the general attitude of the public is that juvenile gangs exist; that their membership needs to be identified ; their behavior needs to be controlled ; and their existence terminated. Without arguing the merits of any part of this assumption, the following paragraphs summarize the characteristics of juvenile gangs and their so- called natural history as compared with play groups and cliques. The play group Playmates, intimate friends, and companions mean much to children. The play group is the most informal, loosely organized, and earliest to develop in a child's life . The preference to play in groups usually appears between the third and fourth year. The size of the group may increase with the age of the children . Prefer ence for solitary play may intervene from time to time, but as a rule gradually disappears. As interest in organized play appears, boys and girls begin to play separately. Usually play groups center around the use of some common play space or play equipment. While the play groups may originate spontaneously, it is customary for many of them to be formed by adults as a part of some planned activity, such as school, community center activity , or even by mothers living in a common area. Children take part in one or several play groups from the age of about 4 until around 12. The clique Teen-age youths like to refer to "our set, " "our gang,' "our crowd," etc. Usually what is meant is a small, intimate social participation group of teen agers from the same social stratum, who mutually agree to exclude others from their group. "" In numbers the clique may consist of from 3 or 4 to 20 or more. It is infor mally organized, and may be entirely boys, entirely girls, or both boys and girls . While it has no formulated rules, it is held together by intimacy of the members, a strong sense of belonging, and common interests. There is every reason to believe that the clique is of great emotional impor tance to its members. Between members there is strong friendship and a feeling of responsibility for each other. Often the desires of the clique, expressed by the group's decision to do things together, take precedence over the demands of the families of individual members. Prestige is achieved through the clique. Researchers report that the clique is primarily an instrument of the class structure, and that it is most important at the upper class levels. There it functions intimately and informally, while in JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 97 the middle classes cliques are apt to be more restrained , formal, and conventional. In schools, cliques operate mostly in athletic and social activities. Although usually of not long duration, the clique is often the device whereby school boys and girls try to identify themselves with those of a higher social class. It is found most strongly utilized in the upper classes, less strongly in the middle classes, and seldom participated in by children from the lower economic classes. The juvenile gang Modern thinking on juvenile gangs is that however they may originally have been started -play groups, cliques, or clubs -they became gangs when integrated through conflict . Conflict, it can be safely argued, is the process through which the group became a gang. There is conflict with other groups or gangs in the vicinity ; there is conflict with citizens , shopkeepers, property and landowners; and there is conflict with police authorities. Because of the strong solidarity caused by conflict, gangs tend to become more formally organized than cliques. They have longer lives . Through experience they therefore develop strong morale and even traditions. While the bonds of solidarity are very strong, membership is less exclusive than in cliques. Often membership in the gang that centers around a certain block or corner is the means of safety for the children and youth living there. Sometimes a gang assumes that all children and youth living in its area must belong-and often membership in a gang can be earned by those living in the area. The objectives of a gang usually are forms of physical activity. In this the gang differs from clique ; as the gang is less likely to be concerned as to whether or not such proposed activity is socially approved. Passwords, slogans, gang name, etc. , are indications of the gang's strong realization of its own identity. Incidentally, in connection with gang names, the group guidance unit of the probation department's delinquency prevention division has pointed out that the names that juvenile gangs call themselves and the names given them by news papers or the police are often quite different. This occasionally results from the tendency of adults to call all boys from a given area by the same gang name; or occasionally may result from the willingness of members of one gang to let another gang be blamed for their misdeeds. There is an important point where local experience differs materially from that of published researchers. Most reports indicate that the gang is built around single religious, racial, or national origins. The experience of the group guidance unit, referred to above, is that only when a gang is situated in an area where only one religious, racial, or national origin group live, does it partake only of such one common background. This observation is interesting, and merits more study. Paralleling this observation is that, at least locally, only when mob violence is involved does the racial aspects of gangs become emphasized. General observations The three preceding sections have dealt with ideal types of play groups, cliques, and juvenile gangs. In actuality the dividing lines are not drawn so distinctly. A report from the New York State Youth Commission, dated April 1949, comments that " The gang may not be a year-around delinquent group. It may revert to criminal tendencies only for certain occasions. A sudden tempta tion presents itself such as an insecure summer cottage in wintertime ; an oppor tunity to commit certain acts of vandalism ; a desire to emulate the most recently publicized thrill crimes of their adults, etc. That such acts do not necessarily transform a group into a gang is partially true, but nevertheless such gang activities, isolated as they may be do reveal the fact that there is present an organized group. Its needs and opportunities for normal outlets must be lacking in some essential. If action isn't taken, what is to prevent such a group from seeking out further crime activities and eventually becoming what they poten tially are?" The same report goes on to state that delinquent gangs are not peculiar to large metropolitan areas, but that they exist also in small communities, though less strongly organized and often not recognized by the public. Some final observations need to be stressed . The first is, that because of its continuity, the juvenile gang encourages continuity of juvenile delinquency. It does this in several ways, including that of welcoming back members from institu tions where they were sent by juvenile authorities. Also because of its long life , the juvenile gang is the medium whereby former graduates, now adults, inter mingle with the juvenile gang members and either teach them delinquent acts, or else use them as helpers in their criminal activities . Within the gang, which may number from a half dozen or so to 40 or 50 mem bers, the ties of loyalty and influence vary greatly. There always is a leader who 98 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY has developed naturally. While his influence is felt throughout all the members, small groups of two or three have the greatest influence on each other. This is a shift of emphasis in recognizing the great importance of intimate friendship groups within the structure of the larger gang. This aspect of gangs only recently has been recognized , and promises to be a fruitful field for further study. BIBLIOGRAPHY William McCormick, The Boy and His Clubs, Fleming H. Revell Co. , New York, 1912 . J. Adams Puffer, Boys Gangs, Pedogogical Seminary, June 1905, p. 175. Frederick M. Thrasher, The Gang, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2d rev. ed. , 1936. Paul H. Furfey, The Gang Age, The Macmillan Co. , New York, 1926, ch. 1 . Frederick M. Thrasher, The Gang as a Symptom of Community Disorganization , Journal of Applied Sociology, January 1926, pp. 3–21 . Frederick M. Thrasher, Gangs, Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, vol . vi , p. 564. Bradford Chambers, The Juvenile Gangs of New York, American Mercury, April 1946, pp. 480–481 . Martin Neumeyer, Juvenile Delinquency in Modern Society, D. Van Nostrand Co. , Inc. New York, 1949 ( ch . VII) . James H. S. Bossard, The Sociology of Child Development, Harper & Bros., New York, 1948 (pp . 494–502) . EXHIBIT E ORDINANCE No. 5201 An ordinance prohibiting the sale to children under the age of 18 years of any book or magazine, or other publication, in which there is prominently featured an account of crime, and which depicts by the use of drawings or photographs the commission or attempted commission of certain crimes of force , violence or bloodshed. Whereas the board of supervisors has found as a fact that there is a great in crease in the number and variety of illustrated crime books, magazines , and other publications being offered for sale in this county, which books, magazines , and other publications deal in substantial part with crimes of force, violence, and bloodshed, and that many of such books or magazines are designed in form so as to resemble closely those devoted in substance to matters of humor and adventure and published primarily for sale to children, and are often placed for sale side by side with such humorous and adventure magazines; and Whereas it appears that children below the age of 18 years are of susceptible and impressionable character, are often stimulated by collections of pictures and stories of criminal acts, and do in fact often commit such crimes partly because incited to do so by such publicatlons ; and Whereas the possibility of harm by restricting free utterance through harmless publications is too remote and too negligible a consequence of dealing with the evil of the publications herein described , when in the hands of children : Therefore, The board of supervisors of the county of Los Angeles do ordain as follows : Section 1. Every person, firm , or corporation is guilty of a misdemeanor who sells, gives away or in any way furnishes to any person under the age of 18 years any book, magazine, or other publication in which there is prominently featured an account of crime, and which depicts, by the use of drawings or photographs, the commission or attempted commission of the crimes of arson, assault with caustic chemicals, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, kidnaping, mayhem, murder, rape, robbery, theft, or voluntary manslaughter. Sec. 2. This ordinance shall not apply to those accounts of crime which are part of the general dissemination of news, nor to such drawings and photographs used to illustrate such accounts. Sec. 3. The prohibitions of this ordinance do not apply to any action either positively permitted or prohibited by constitutional provisions or by general law. Sec. 4. If any provision of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid , the remainder of the ordinance, and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby. Sec. 5. Every violation of this ordinance is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 6 months or by a fine of not more than $ 500 or by both such fine and imprisonment. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 99 Sec. 6. This ordinance shall take effect 30 days after the date of its adoption, and prior to the expiration of 15 days from the passage hereof shall be published once in Montebello News, a newspaper printed and published in the county of Los Angeles, State of California, together with the names of the members of the board of supervisors voting for and against the same. RAYMOND V. DARBY, Chairman ofthe Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles, State of California. Attest: EARL LIPPOLD, County Clerk and ex officio Clerk of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles. STATE OF CALIFORNIA, County of Los Angeles, ss : By RAY E. LEE Deputy Clerk. I, Earl Lippold, county clerk of the county of Los Angeles, State of California, and ex officio clerk of the board of supervisors thereof, do hereby certify that at a regular meeting of the board of supervisors of said county of Los Angeles, held on the 21st day of September 1948 at which meeting there were present Supervisors Raymond V. Darby (chairman, presiding) , William A. Smith, Leonard J. Roach, John Anson Ford, and Roger W. Jessup, and the clerk, the foregoing ordinance consisting of six sections was considered section by section, and that the said ordinance was then passed and adopted as a whole by the following vote, to-wit : Ayes: Supervisors Smith, Roach, Ford, Jessup and Darby. Noes: None. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the board of supervisors of said county of Los Angeles this 21st day of September, 1948. EARL LIPPOLD, County Clerk and ex officio Clerk of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles. CONCLUSIONS By RAY E. LEE, Deputy Clerk. Appellate court held this ordinance came within ban of United States Supreme Court case of Winters v. New York (split decision) . EXHIBIT F COMIC BOOK READING IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF A COLLEGE COMMUNITY (A thesis submitted to the school of education and the committee on graduate study of Leland Stanford Junior University in partial fulfillment of the require ments for the degree of master of arts , by Raymond P. Whitfield, August 1947, conclusions (pp. 171–174) ) (1) Comic book reading is a common habit among the students of Palo Alto public schools. The number of comic books read far outnumber other books read. Mannes, Witty,2 and Shamel³ agree. (2) Since 65 percent of all students spend less than one-half hour per week, and 88 percent spend less than 2 hours per week in this pursuit, it does not appear to be a major time-consuming activity. Students of the Palo Alto schools spend considerably less time reading comic books than the students of the south San Francisco school do, according to Shamel's findings. (3) The types of comic books preferred by students are of a relatively harmless nature Animals, Fun and Humor, Teen-Age Adventure, and Real Stories and Biography, which together form the overwhelming majority of comic books read contain little violence, sex, horror, or sadism. Shamel's findings verify this conclusion. 5 1 Marya Mannes, Junior Has a Craving, New Republic ( February 2, 1947) , 20. Paul Witty, Children's Interests in Reading Comics, Journal of Experimental Education, X (December 1941 ), 100-4. Chester E. Shamel, Comic Book Reading in the Secondary Schools ofan Industrial Community (unpub lished master's thesis , education department, Stanford University, 1947) , ch. VI. Ibid. , ch. XIII. • Ibid. 100 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Furthermore, no relationships were established between types read and citizen ship, scholarship, IQ, reading ability, or choice of other literature. Therefore, the arguments that reading comic books undermine children's morals or their choice of"better literature " is not supported by this thesis. (4) In general, this study shows that the number of comic books read and the time spent reading them correlated negatively with high intelligence, scholarship, and citizenship. No causal relationships are claimed or established. Numbers of comic books read relates positvely with high reading ability , however time spent relates negatively with the same factor. The obvious explanation of this apparent contradiction is that fast readers cover comic book material in a shorter time than slow readers do. (5) This study indicates (the Shamel study shows an indefinite tendency in confirmation) that poor citizens read more comic books than good citizens . A future study might follow these cases and determine what caused this positive relationship to exist-possibly personal social maladjustment, lack of other recreational opportunities, or perhaps errors in the rather subjective manner of delineating the citizenship categories. (6) The widespread interest in comic books among the children of this college community affirms as practical the suggestion of Zorbaugh, Shamel, and others that the pictorial method of presentation might add to the educational value of textbooks. Zorbaugh presents experimental results which sanction this recom mendation. It is noteworthy that boys in this study rated True Stories and Biography comics among the most favored types. (7) Since spending exorbitant amounts of time on comic book reading is the exception rather than the rule, there appears to be no serious general problem in the Palo Alto schools . Guidance and counseling for the few pupils who seem addicted to the habit is therefore recommended as the method of approaching the problem rather than through school-wide action. Those who would eradicate this relatively harmless form of recreation should, however, be prepared to supply a more constructive substitute pastime before they take definite action. EXHIBIT G COMIC-BOOK Reading in tHE SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF AN INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITY (A thesis submitted to the School of Education and the Committee on Graduate Study of Leland Stanford Junior University in partial fulfillment of the require ments for the degree of Master of Arts, by Chester E. Shamel, June 1947, conclusions, pp. 110-111) CONCLUSIONS Careful examination of the findings regarding the habit of comic book reading in the secondary schools of South San Francisco points to the following con clusions : 1944. 1. The habit of comic book reading is widespread throughout grades 7 through 12. This conclusion is supported by the findings of Witty and Mannes reported in chapter II. 2. The number of comic books read far surpasses any other type of literature read in grades 7 through 12. This conclusion is supported by the findings of Witty reported in chapter II . 3. The universal appeal to all age groups of such relatively innocuous comic book types as animal cartoons, fun and humor, fantastic adventure and teen-age adventure indicates that, in general, the habit of comic book reading is an innocent form of youthful entertainment. 4. The bases of appeal of the comic books and their heroes are clues to the young readers' interests, and, as such, might be used in helping them progress to other books and other heroes which will serve these same interests . Josette Frank arrived at practically the same conclusion in her study of comic- book content. (See ch. II. ) 5. The use of comic book format in the presentation of reading matter to poor readers might prove to be a very helpful technique for increasing reading interests and ability. Zorbaugh agrees with this conclusion, and cites experimental 1 evidence. Zorbaugh, Harvey. The Comics-There They Stand, Journal of Educational Sociology, December JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 101 6. The voracious appetite of 7-12 grade students for comic books, whose known vocabulary level has been determined as sixth grade, might indicate that the comic book reading habit may not be human laziness , but ineffective reading instruction . W. W. D. Sones 2 agrees entirely with this conclusion. 7. There is no evidence that the comic book reading habit is in any way associated with school citizenship. Reply of L. E. Jenkins, Chief Probation Officer, Jefferson County Juvenile Court, Birmingham, Ala JUVENILE AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS COURT, OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, Birmingham, 4 Ala. , August 11 , 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Crime, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: Your letter requesting information on organized crime in this vicinity , specifically the answers to seven questions therein, received . In answer to 1. No. Below you will find a summary of a social break-down report issued each year for the last 10 years by our Community Chest. Juvenile delinquency is a part of this breakdown. It also includes adult crime. The quotation below is from the juvenile delinquency part of this report. "1949 1948. 1947 1946_ "Comparison of rates for juvenile delinquency by years 2. 61945.. 3. 01944 3. 3 1940.. 4. 0 We are happy to be able to report that juvenile delinquency for the county as a whole was again slightly decreasing during 1949. The rate in 1948 was 3 per thousand families , and in 1949 shows a steady decline, 2.6. Official cases of juvenile delinquency show a steady decline since 1940. We are probably one of the few cities in the Nation able to give statistics showing this steady decline . We believe that this means that the earnest efforts of all groups, churches, schools, social agencies, and parent- teacher organizations devoted to safe-guarding youth, have played a major part in achieving this result . Out of 474 official juvenile court cases making up the juvenile delinquency category, miscellaneous offenses were the most prevalent, accounting for 201 incidents and ungovernable was second with 92 court convictions . 2. As above. 3. No. 4. No. 4. 2 4. 3 5. 2 5. No. 6. None that I know of. 7. No. Respectfully submitted. L. E. JENKINS, Chief Probation Officer. 2 Sones, W. W. D. Comics in the Classroom, The School Executive, October 1943, pp. 31–32, 82. 102 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Reply of William M. Snow, Chief Probation Officer, Central District Court of Worcester, Mass. CENTRAL DISTRICT COURT OF WORCESTER, Worcester, Mass. , August 11 , 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Senate Office Building, Washington D. C. DEAR SIR: In reply to your communication of August 8 concerning juvenile delinquency which your committee is investigating, the answers to your seven questions are as follows. Enclosed is copy of our report for the year 1949: 1. The records of our probation department indicate that juvenile delinquency has not increased in the years 1945-50. As a matter of fact, there has been a decrease in the number of boys appearing in this court in the last 4 years. Kindly refer to page 8, column I of the enclosed report. 2. Negative. 3. In answer to this question , may I state that we do not have available statistics indicating whether or not juvenile delinquency increased in the period following World War I. As a matter of in terest, it may be noted that, in this area, there was a distinct decline in the number of boys appearing in our court in the year following World War II. I again refer you to page 8 of the enclosed report. 4. I should say there has been no appreciative increase from 1946 to 1950 in crimes of violence as far as juveniles in this area are con cerned. Our statistics do indicate a rise in the year 1949 in crimes of robbery involving assault, but otherwise these offenses are at a minimum. In this city there are occasional sporadic outbreaks of gang activity by boys above the juvenile age, in their late teens, but these instances are not prolonged . To my knowledge there is no delinquent gang operating in the area covered by this court at the present time. 5. It is my opinion that in some isolated cases crime comic books do have an indirect bearing on the youngsters' behavior. However, I feel that for the most part the young folks are impressed much more effectively by the motion picture, television, and radio . Through the medium of the above-named, very often the criminal is depicted in a manner which appeals to the mind of a youngster. 6. I do not have such statistics . 7. No, I do not. The above information was compiled by Edward F. Kirby, Jr. , a juvenile probation officer of this court, and I hope it will give you the information you desire. Very truly yours, WILLIAM M. SNOW, Chief Probation Officer. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 103 Reply of Hon. Camille Kelley, Judge of Juvenile Court, Memphis, Tenn. COMMISSION GOVERNMENT, JUVENILE COURT, Memphis, Tenn. , September 1, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: In looking for the basic causes leading to criminal activities should we not realize that often and in some places the way we handle crime is a crime within itself? Naturally, the upper world cannot trust the underworld , but danger comes when the underworld does not trust the integrity, word, or sincerity of the upper world. So I hope your committee will include the study of children's institutions and juvenile courts in their program for the prevention of delinquency. My experience has been rather unique and my service as judge has extended over 30 years in time, during which period Memphis has grown from a thriving little city to about a half million people. The building that houses our juvenile court was built expressly for service with children and domestic relations . It is colonial and beautiful in design. It is fireproof and we have about 40 people on our staff. I think we are the biggest juvenile court in the South. We are cer tainly a very busy one. Now, coming to your questions. 1. Has juvenile delinquency increased in the years 1945 to 1950? If you can support this with specific statistics , please do so. Numerically, it has not, as the 1945 year's report gives a total of complaints and cases as 3,791 and in 1949 the number is 3,484. Our 1950 record is , of course, not complete at this time. The complaints and cases before the court are divided and classified in this report showing how many were brought in by the police, by neighbors, by parents, by social agencies, by board of education, relatives , other counties, petitions for help by children themselves, etc. The records show the difference in the numbers of white and colored , dependent and delinquent and also a record of our nonsupport, or domestic rela tions division. The comparison between 1945 and 1949 records show a total number of children handled as 2,193 in 1945 and 2,167 in 1949. In the nonsupport division we have a complete department devoted to domestic relations. The number of nonsupport cases rises and falls with the economic condition , but the intense work being done along this line has raised the amount of support money paid into the court from $24,054.82 in 1945 to $45,528.70 in 1949. During 1950 we have been collecting between $6,000 and $ 7,000 a month in this division for wives and children from fathers charged with nonsupport. 2. To what do you attribute this increase if you have stated that there was an increase? The figures show that there has not been a numerical increase, although the years intervening between 1945 and 1950 have shown a rise and fall in the numbers of offenses or the amount of dependency. 104 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 3. Wasthere an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I? Yes, during the great confusion and reorganization of social service there was an increase after World War I. 4. In recent years have juveniles tended to commit more violent crimes, such as assault, rape, murder, and gang activities? While there are no more offenses at this time, the offenses seem to be in an over-all picture of more violent nature. Dividing your question assault, rape, murder, gang activities, we have very few cases of assault, rape or murder, but there is a daring about the attitude of the offenders that has caused us to have mental and physical tests for all children-white and colored-before they are brought to trial . Not always psychiatric analysis, but psychological or bracket tests in order to measure capacity in a way to develop a workable program for the active, upset or dissipated teen-ager. A program according to capacity is the only answer to juvenile delin quency. A child mentally and physically normal who has had a degree of protection in environment and education rarely wants to do wrong, but he wants to do something. The last part of your fourth question was in regard to gang activities. We have had very few gangs in Memphis, but where they develop or break out into violence, we try to turn gangs into groups, make work and-play programs and develop a sense of interest in citizenship and achievement. Added to police activities, our juvenile court sends out night patrols of probation officers to visit night spots and take the names and addresses of boys and girls too young to be frequenting such places . Then through our case work, we endeavor to stabilize the homes of such juveniles and set up programs for parents, and children, including recreational activities, entertainment, reading, church affiliation , etc. 5. Do you believe that there is any relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency? We all know that some of the comic books on the market are injurious. I have, however, been brought to believe through experi ence that there are some comic books and some comic strips that are not objectionable. Of course, when you say crime comic books, we must recognize that crime in any form made vivid and attractive to children is a dangerous and highly seasoned diet which should be avoided where possible. I cannot remember any cases in the Memphis juvenile court where the evidence showed that delinquency was brought about by reading comic books, but delinquency will develop where there is no supervised planning of a child's activities in his leisure hours and where he is left too long to his own devices. This does not mean to direct his every move, but his trend of think ing, through talent performances, association, and social activities. When we fail to educate, plan for, and stimulate children toward good behavior, we find ourselves blaming the corner drug store or the comic book. This is often defense mechanism for careless parents or com munities without proper facilities for the normal child's energy expression. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 105 6. Please specifically give statistics and, if possible, state specific cases ofjuvenile crime which you believe can be traced to reading crime comic books In answering question No. 5, I feel that I have answered No. 6 . I do not want to go on record as approving crime comic strips or the crime books on the stands, but I do want to emphasize the fact that if we differentiate between crime comics and clean comics with humor, we would hesitate to deprive young people of the pleasure and smiles that come with keeping up with the modern hero of the hour or a particular story running in the news. If I were asked what I believe to be the most vicious phase of this subject, I would say that the frontispiece or lurid pictures on the backs of mystery magazines and the cover pictures and titles of the 25- cent crime or mystery novel is perhaps the most upsetting influence in word and color which con fronts us. 7. Do you believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children? Speed and travel facilities have so pushed children from place to place in action and thought at this confused hour that their emotions are all quickened and I would not attribute too much delinquency to comic books, but try to realize that the answer lies in education, home training, religion and an interesting, active, vital program . We have found that young people are more or less turning away from dissipation and find expression in organized and individual talent performance. We have had less drunkenness among boys and girls this year than last, and last year than the year before. Young people are requiring conscious pleasure instead of unconscious delirium and self-indulgence . I would say that crime comic books are injurious, but not the pro moting cause of the violent trend in the young at this hour of unrest. We should not make an indoor sport of criticizing young people for on the whole they are going forward in leaps and bounds and carry ing themselves creditably in all phases of business, education, music, art, and the sciences . If we can help them to harness their emotions, stabilize their thinking through study of their abounding opportuni ties instead of crippling them by the criticism which the normal boy and girl resents bitterly, we will find ourselves climbing the heights and successfully stemming the tide. Wherever we test our normal children in war or peace they are not found wanting. I have tried nearly 50,000 cases of human behavior in my lifetime and have dedicated my life to those who choose the dangerous road. I believe that an affirmative instead of a negative attack on human behavior is the answer. Cordially, 72705-50 8 CAMILLE KELLEY. 106 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Reply of Harold W. Kennedy, County Counsel of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, Calif. OFFICES OF THE COUNTY COUNSEL OF LOS ANgeles County, Los Angeles 12, Calif. , August 8, 1950. Senator ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: I have received your letter of August 4 requesting information on various aspects of juvenile delinquency and regret that I cannot furnish you with any more than very general answers to a few of your questions . This office advises and represents the Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles County and other county departments and officers , and does not engage in criminal litigation . În 1949 we did assist the district attorney in the trial and appeal of a misdemeanor case brought under a county ordinance prepared by this office . The ordinance prohibited the sale of certain illustrated crime comic books to minors. During the course of preparation, we had occasion to make use of various reports and studies on the effect of these publications upon the juvenile mind. This material seemed to indicate that there was a definite relationship between these books and some phases of juvenile delinquency. Much of our information was gathered from Dr. Frederic Wertham, M. D., of New York City who is probably the best informed man in his field on this particular subject. However, our ordinance was struck down by the appellate department of our superior court, in a split decision on the grounds that it came within the ban of the United States Supreme Court case of Winters v. New York. In an effort to aid your investigation, I am referring your letter to Mr. Ralph Fisher, executive secretary of the Los Angeles County Youth Committee, who has a great deal of material along these lines at his disposal. I am sure that he can furnish you with a great deal that will be useful to your committee. Yours very sincerely, HAROLD W. KENNEDY, County Council. Reply of William R. McCarthy, Director of Children's Services, Oakland County Juvenile Court, Pontiac, Mich. JUVENILE COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF OAKLAND, Pontiac 15, Mich. , August 11 , 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, United States Senate Committee, Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Washington, D. C. Dear SENATOR: In answer to your letter of August 8, 1950, I have discussed the questions with our probation staff and submit the following: In answer to question 1 , we have not found that juvenile delinquency in our county has noticeably increased in the years 1945 to 1950. The population has increased a great deal, our complaints have not. We JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 107 attribute this to good police forces in our various townships, where juvenile work is given adequate attention. In answer to question 3, we also feel that the Government's program for returning veterans has helped keep down over-all delinquency. In answer to question 4 , we do not feel that in recent years juveniles have tended to commit more violent crimes in our county. We still feel that we are exceptionally fortunate in not having to deal with the type crimes you mention. In answer to question 5, we feel that there may be some relationship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency but there has been no marked affect in the cases we have handled in the past several years. I should say that a very small number of cases could be traced to this cause . In answer to question 7 , we do believe that these magazines should be outlawed because we feel that other literature is more important in the mental hygiene of our children . We hope this answers your questions and we will be interested in knowing the results of your over-all study. Sincerely, WILLIAM R. MCCARTHY, Director Children's Services. Reply of H. W. Bittle, Chief Probation Officer, Knox County Juvenile Court, Knoxville, Tenn. JUVENILE AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS COURT OF KNOX COUNTY, Knoxville, Tenn. , August 11 , 1950. Senator ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Investigation Organized Crime Committee, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: Replying to your inquiry on juvenile delinquency throughout the United States and the letter addressed to me personally, I am happy to contribute such facts as I am able, based upon the records as I have found them in Knox County, Tenn. I shall answer your questions in the order they are asked. 1. In 1945 we disposed of 238 cases of juvenile delinquency. In 1949, which is our latest annual report, we disposed of 283 delinquent cases . This indicates some increase over this period of years. 2. In my opinion this increase is attributable to increased popula tion in Knox County, Tenn. , largely due to poor housing conditions and congestion. 3. While I do not have the exact figures, it is my opinion that we had approximately the same percentage of increase following World War I. 4. No, I have not noticed tendencies on the part of juveniles to more violent crimes. 5. Yes, in my opinion and from my experience many children are influenced by the heroes in crime comic books. 6. It would be near impossible to obtain the exact statistics on cases of juvenile delinquency traceable to the reading of crime comic books, but numbers of boys have told me, as a part of their private case 108 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY records, that they conceived the ideas of their crimes from such literature. 7. I believe that there would be some decrease in juvenile delin quency, if the availability of crime comic books was removed from their current reading. I would also add that the crime pictures shown in some of our picture houses likewise contribute to juvenile delinquency. May I thank you and your Senate committee for your interest in, and study of these problems for, and in behalf of the childhood of America, and if I can furnish further information to assist you , please feel free to call upon me and I shall be happy to give my cooperation. Sincerely, Reply of D. E. Strait, Chief Probation Officer, Mahoning County, Youngstown, Ohio COUNTY OF MAHONING, Youngstown, Ohio, August 11, 1950. 1950 (6 months) . 1949. 1948_ H. W. BITTLE, Chief Probation Officer. Mr. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, United States Senate Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. KEFAUVER: In reply to your letter of August 8 , I sub mit the following answers to your questions : Question 1. Juvenile delinquency within this jurisdiction has de creased, not increased , in the years '45 to '50 . The following figures bear this out. 560 1947. 1, 033 1946. 924 1945. 1, 239 956 1, 351 Above figures represent both official and unofficial cases. Question 2 requires no answer. Question 3. There was a steady increase of juvenile delinquency after the First World War until it reached a peak in 1930. Cases referred in 1918 totaled 784 and in 1930-2,151 . That increase in this area was attributed to the living conditions of the many large immigrant families that moved here during that period . Question 4. Violent crimes committed by juveniles (anyone under 18 years of age) , have decreased in this area. Complaints alleging assault with intent to rob numbered 17 in 1945. In 1949 the number dropped to 5. In the past 10 years two murders have been committed by boys: one by boys alone; the other by boys in company with adults. Seldom do we have a complaint accusing a juvenile with rape. We are not faced with the problem of gang activities in this area at this time, nor have we been for a number of years . They were very troublesome in the twenties but since that time the gang problem has presented but little trouble. Questions 5 , 6, and 7. If there is any direct relationship between crime comic books and juvenile delinquency it is so negligible that prohibiting their sale or circulation would have little or no effect on the delinquency picture at this time. Sincerely, D. E. STRAIT, Chief Probation Officer. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 109 Reply of Hon. Louis Goldstein, Chairman, Board of County Judges, County Court, Kings County, Brooklyn, N. Y. I have your letter of August 15 , 1950 , and I want you to know that I consider it a privilege to be able to assist you in your committee's fact-finding objectives. What follows is an attempt to answer your questions in the order given in your letter. I do not think that juvenile delinquency has increased in the years 1945 to 1950. In fact, 1945 was a rather high year and all of the subsequent years have been substantially lower. The following figures from the Children's Division of the New York City Domestic Relations Court will bear out my statement: Allegedly delinquent children appearing before children's division of domestic relations court 1945. 1946_ 1947

6, 975 | 1948__. 5, 865 1949_ 4, 691 | First 6 months of 1950_. 5, 067 5, 269 2, 664 I understand that Nation-wide figures on the incidence of juvenile crime have also decreased since 1945, though perhaps not in the same proportion. With reference to the question as to whether or not there was an increase in juvenile delinquency after World War I, I can only say that the records of our children's court in New York City for those years show that there was a definite and marked decrease in juvenile delinquency after World War I marked by a drop from 7,232 juvenile delinquency court appearances in 1917 to 4,855 in 1921 . With respect to juveniles and the commission of the more violent crimes, I would like to mention that while the median age of the criminals facing the higher criminal courts is tending to be lower, a trend that has been going on for the past two decades, I do not have figures that would answer your question. I do have figures for juvenile arrests for the State of New York, exclusive of New York City, for the years 1945 through 1949, which show that, while the number of juveniles brought into children's courts for sex offenses and robberies has increased , the number brought in for auto theft and other stealing and for burglary or unlawful entry has declined . With reference to the fifth question as to whether or not there is any relationship between reading crime-book comics and juvenile delinquency, it is my considered opinion that there is no demonstrable connection between the reading of comic books and juvenile delin quency. About a year ago, I wrote to the superintendents and wardens of every State institution in New York handling delinquents and criminals and to each I put the question: "Have you observed any connection between delinquency or crime and the reading of comic books?" Of 20 letters forwarded, 18 replies were received. Of this number, 11 , or more than 60 percent, responded that they had observed no connection between crime and comic book reading. Two wardens or superintendents answered that they felt not entirely qualified at this point to give an opinion, while another was undecided in his answer. In three cases, the thought was expressed that perhaps in few instances there could have been some connection , and one expressed the belief that in his opinion there was a connection between delinquency and the reading of certain types of comic books. ♦ Education and the Consumer by Francis G. Cornell; Retardation in Reading by Stella S. Center. 110 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY One particular institutional superintendent, who is considered a pioneer in the development of treatment methods for juvenile delin quents, wrote: "I don't doubt that some boys have learned how to talk from reading comic books just as they have from listening to the radio and going to the movies ; and also that some boys have acquired ideas of performance. But there are so many thousand media from which ideas can be acquired, including , if they seek them, even in the Bible, that we here have made no general drive on comic books. It is one of those easy explanations that appeal to newspaper writers and others. " One highly regarded warden wrote that "in our opinion the radio, movies, and newspapers are a far greater factor in delinquency than comic books. The sensational crime programs should be replaced. If anyone doubts this influence, he should go into most any home in the evening and see some of the future delinquents acquiring ideas. Some moving pictures which certainly give children wrong impressions are being shown openly. The publicity which newspapers give to some crimes committed by youthful offenders and the glorification of the known criminal is most harmful . No doubt you have noticed many instances where a series of similar crimes followed one which received spectacular publicity. Possibly spotlighting the known criminal causes adults of low mentality with criminal tendencies to endeavor to gain similar prominence. If these problems are studied and a drive made to curtail the offensive features, we are of the opinion that definite progress will be made in the suppression of juvenile delinquency. We are not defending comic books to the extent that they are more proper and should not be curtailed, but we do say some of the radio programs, movies, and newspapers should receive like treatment. Unquestionably the last three affect a far greater proportion of the population than is reached by comic books." Another warden, who consulted key members of his staff so as to arrive at a more intelligent opinion, reports that "in isolated cases an inmate may claim that he did what he did because he saw it in the comic books. On rarer occasions an inmate may even mention by name a comic-book character. However, such remarks usually give the impression of the inmate attempting to make excuses for his own behavior rather than revealing any real significance in developing it. Thus, without having made any special effort to ferret out any causal relationships between delinquency and the reading of comic books, it might be said only that information elicited by various staff members can hardly be construed as proving any foundation to conclude that comic books contribute in any great manner to delinquent behavior. " Still another warden reports that "I find that comic books are quite widely read by the inmates, but there is nothing in my experience to indicate that addiction to comic books in any way affects criminalistic attitudes and tendencies. " I might add that this particular warden is in charge of one of our largest institutions for mental- defective delinquents . And experience shows that, of all defendants coming before our courts , both children and adults, the mental defective is certainly the most impressionable. The superintendent of one of our State delinquent institutions writes: "I have no cases in mind which I can cite of a boy being driven to the point of committing a crime copied after the crimes pictured in the comic books or in a moving picture. " After many JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 111 years of experience in this work another warden reports that he cannot recall a single instance where an inmate attributed his antisocial acts to the reading of comic books. He adds that he was "unable to substantiate a contention that there was a causal relationship . ' A woman superintendent in charge of a better-known institution for delinquent girls indicates that she found some very damaging material in the stories of a few comic books but that "apparently they are not published any more or at least we have not seen them. " In this connection, another superintendent, of a boys' institution, volunteered the opinion that "there is no point in considering a permanent ban on these books, because as soon as a ban is on one the same book is published the following week under a different name. At the same time there are some good books among them that actually have been a stimulation to the interest of boys in reading. " The failure of the public to receive full and objective information concerning the place of comic books in our everyday life has led to confusion regarding their real worth. Misleading and incorrect news paper reports have only added to the confusion . For example, a recent killing of a 6-year-old child by a 14-year-old youth was attri buted to the reading of what the newspapers described as "cheap and vicious comic-book publications which have seeped juvenile minds in sordid and vulgar tales of the abnormal. " Approaching this question from an emotional angle will only add to the confusion, particularly among parents who naturally are concerned about the welfare of their children. The real trouble is that too many critics condemn all comic books by citing a few bad examples and fail to explain to parents that these are by no means typical. Comic books have developed from newspaper comic strips which first appeared in the late 1800's. Civic groups and organizations sought to have them eliminated from the newspapers when they first appeared, and it is, therefore, not surprising that comic books should now receive the same sort of suspicious reception by some. Not so many years ago parents worried over the influence of the dime novels and, in fact, considered all books as breeders of day dreaming and idleness. Since their birth around 1930, comic books have grown into a big business , and such publications now sell in far greater num bers than regular books. One of our ablest students and critics of comic books remarks that in these has been found "one of the most remarkable potentials yet discovered in man's history. " Like comic newspaper strips, comic books are read by all sorts of people who make up America, old and young, rich and poor, the semiliterate and the Ph. D.'s. Recent estimates place the monthly output of such publi cations at 60,000,000, more than the combined total sales of the coun try's 10 leading periodicals, such as Life, Time, The Saturday Evening Post, and Collier's. It seems to me there is no exaggeration in the statement that comic books are an amazing cultural phenomena and today constitute America's favorite form of literature. When recently questioned, 75 percent of the adult readers of comic books expressed the opinion that they are "good clean fun." As for the influence of comic books on children , it is not so long ago that the reading of such volumes as Huckleberry Finn and Gulliver's Travels was forbidden for children . Yet today many parents use comic books to stimulate their youngsters' interests in the classics . Recently the California Congress of Parents and Teach "" 112 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY "" ers conducted three surveys in order to evaluate the influence of comic books . "The common belief that the reading of comic books by children is deleterious to their character and moral habits is incorrect, their report reads . An article appeared recently in one of our leading monthly magazines by a young mother who became concerned over the comic-book situation . She went through mounds of such books piled up by her children in their rooms and was amazed , she said, "to find that the degree of horror was very much lower than it is in Grimm's Fairy Tales and, further, she "found nothing so bloodthirsty as 'Fee, Fi, Fo , Fum. ' " "I was unable, " she says, "to work up any indignation and had no inclination to ban them from the house or form a society for their prevention. " Comic characters in comic books are now among the well-known and influential personalities of our time. They have influenced our eating habits , too . I dare say that Popeye is responsible for the con sumption of more spinach by the children of America than all the dietary discussions at home or at school. Comic characters also take part in our political life , and I understand that recently a strip from Terry and the Pirates appeared in the Congressional Record. Unquestionably there have been, and perhaps still are, comic books which have in some instances overstepped the bounds of good taste, and which are too lurid for steady consumption by children of tender years . As I have indicated above, I do not believe that even these books have caused any injuries in juvenile delinquency. However, I do agree that the publication and sale of books which overstep proper grounds should be discouraged . However, in this connection, it should be remembered that comic-book publications have been obliged to adjust themselves to criticism as well as opposition and competition in order to gain acceptance and approval in the com munities in which they are sold . I have gradually reached the con clusion myself that the key to improving the situation is in public opinion as expressed by civic organizations, parent- teacher associa tions, and church groups in each neighborhood and on a local basis. All of us are anxious to have sound and wholesome values stressed in any publication read by children, and parents can help in this direction by personally supervising the material which the children read. After all, it is the responsibility of the parents to know what their children are doing. Too often, I have had defendants come before me who are the end product of chronic neglect and parental indifference . Instead of guiding and supervising their children, too many parents are known to shift the burden on to nurseries, teachers , recreation supervisors, neighbors, and anyone else who will lighten the parental load. We should not be tempted to use comic books as a scapegoat for the failure of parents to properly direct their children . I believe that attempting to regulate the comic-book field through legislative action would be unwise. One authority on this subject has written that "when the exercise of police power touches or borders upon freedom of speech or the press it will be subject to the closest and most careful judicial scrutiny." According to the magazine American City, a publication intended for the guidance and enlight ment of city managers and municipal administrators, the method of voluntary cooperation by distributors of comic books in removing objectionable material from newsstands has been found to be "the most effective way of avoiding legal difficulties and also in achieving JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 113 the greatest measure of success. If the distributor is sympathetic and appreciative to the problem, the task is practically accomplished. If, on the other hand, distributors are reluctant about the barring of the sale of certain comic books, city officials will have great difficulty in achieving success even though they legislate on the question." We should be ready to give credit to the many publishing houses. which, both individually and collectively, have commenced to regulate their own industry without interference from outside. Such organiza tions are now responsible for more than half of the national output of comic books, and the constructive steps already taken by them to curtail the printing of lurid and objectionable material should be recognized as an important and effective contribution in the direction of purification. The tendency gradually during the past few years. has been for the producers of the sordid comic books to be driven out of business. In this connection, the board of managers of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers adopted a resolution not long ago which emphasizes the desirability of "initiating the cooperative move ment with publishers and producers to improve their comic books. " The board also expressed the belief that a positive approach to the problem should be encouraged rather than a negative one. Last June a committee appointed in the city of Cincinnati to evaluate comic books, having completed a 2-year study, reported that "comic magazines published in the United States have shown a marked im provement in their acceptability as reading material for children." After pointing out that efforts to improve the quality of comic books. in Cincinnati had been through appeals to public opinion and to volun tary cooperation on the part of publishers, rather than police action or city ordinances, the chairman of the committee reported that "the response on the part of the comic-magazine publishers has been most gratifying. We can report a marked improvement in the quality of the publications and the trend is better all the time." In passing, I would like to emphasize that the problem of improving our children's entertainment is not by any means confined to the comic-book field. We must also consider newspaper comic strips , television and radio programs, as well as motion pictures. Many of these media have at times presented and in some cases still present material which is highly objectionable for consumption by children. The murder mysteries on television and radio are an example. As in the case of comic books, enlightened and forcefully directed public opinion is and should be, both from a practical and a legal standpoint, the only proper censor of such material. My own experience with comic books has been favorable. In the many years of close and intimate contact which I have had with thousands of defendants, both in the capacity of prosecuting assistant district attorney and judge of the county court, I never came across: a single case where the delinquent or criminal act would be attributed to the reading of comic books . In fact, I have a vivid recollection of using comic books to advantage in my capacity as county judge. I recall a recent case where a defendant was on trial for the brutal. sex killing of a high-school girl. An important witness for the prosecution, a 12-year-old boy, had been brutally beaten and in timidated by the defendant, that he feared to testify against him. He literally quaked on appearing in court. It was necessary to remove the boy to my chambers and after rediscussion, I made some comic 114 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY books available to him. Within a relatively short time, he was com posed and happy and lost his fears amidst the pages of the comic books. When placed on the witness stand, he proved a valuable witness for the State and in large measure was responsible for the first-degree murder conviction which properly resulted . I am also reminded of another case where the State's two most important witnesses in a murder trial were sisters aged 9 and 10. It was evident to me that they were lost in the world of the courtroom. Both were actually speechless with fright when I attempted to pacify them. Recalling my experience with the earlier witness, I had both girls furnished with armfuls of comic books. They sat for hours in my chambers contented and full of smiles, and when it came to testify, both were able to take the stand and made good witnesses, so that here too a first-degree murder conviction also properly resulted . If space permitted , I could cite other and interesting illustrations where comic books left me with the definite impression that they could do a great deal of good. Summarizing my own thoughts, then, I would say that I have found no demonstrable connection between the reading of comic books and crime; that comic books are "big business" and are here to stay; that the "menace" of comic books is highly exaggerated , although in a few instances such books are too lurid ; that the solution of the problem of eliminating objectionable material lies not in legal action but in community pressure exerted by churches, school principals, parent-teacher associations, and other civic groups exercising the appropriate pressure on distributors and storekeepers on a local level. In closing, I would welcome the opportunity of appearing at any public hearing which your committee may hold, in order to more fully express my views in connection with this subject, which is one of considerable interest to me. LOUIS GOLDSTEIN, Chairman, Board of Judges, Kings County. September 8, 1950. Reply of Capt. Wm. G. Kiefer, Superintendent of Police, Louisville, Ky. CITY OF LOUISVILLE , KY. , DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, DIVISION OF POLICE, CRIME PREVENTION BUREAU, Louisville, Ky. , August 31 , 1950. Senator ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee to Investigaţe Organized Crime, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: Your letter to Mr. John Quertermous, commissioner of the department of welfare at Frankfort, Ky. , regarding the seven ques tions dealing with juvenile delinquency, was referred to me by Mr. Quertermous requesting that I give to you what information we would have regarding this subject. Our crime-prevention bureau was organized in June 1943 in order to formulate a program in the police department for the prevention and control of juvenile delinquency. Our statistics and records on this subject date back to that time. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 115 Our answers to the seven questions are as follows : No. 1. Juvenile delinquency reached its peak in 1944 in Louisville . One thousand seven hundred and eighty individual juveniles (boys 16 and under and girls 17 and under) were arrested that year in Louisville. In 1945 this figure dropped to 1,379 . In 1946 this figure dropped to 938. In 1947 (our best year) this figure dropped to 826. In 1948 the figure went up to 965. In 1949 it rose to 1,636 . The answer to No. 1 is that juvenile delinquency has increased in the years 1945–50 . No. 2. We have no specific ideas as to what caused more children to be arrested in 1949 than in the 4 years preceding . To establish a criterion by which juvenile delinquency in Louisville can be measured, a record is made of each individual juvenile contacted by the police department. Regardless of how many times an individual juvenile is arrested for delinquency in 1 year, he is carried one time in the statis tics for that year. Comparisons are then made of each year for the increase and decrease of juvenile delinquency . By comparing the number of individual juveniles arrested in 1949 with the number ar rested in 1948, there is an increase of 69.53 percent . Delinquent juvenile boys increased 65.68 percent and the girls increased 80.31 percent. It is believed that this increase is not a true indication of the juvenile delinquency condition of Louisville . It represents principally an increase in police activity. However, it was necessary that the juveniles contacted by the police department violate some law of so ciety in order to become a unit in the juvenile delinquent statistics . It is believed that in the years gone by that many more juveniles were guilty of juvenile delinquency than what our statistics show. In order to put into operation a crime-prevention program, the police department has inaugurated a policy of more positive action in finding children showing antisocial traits or activities. No. 3. We were not keeping records regarding juvenile crimes until 1943. No. 4. Louisville has been fortunate in that it does not have prob lems of juvenile gangs. We have had juveniles that worked in groups but they were not organized . Our statistics for the past 7 years do not show that juveniles are committing more violent crimes such as assault, rape, or murder. We have had no cases involving juveniles in premeditated murder. No. 5. Our concern over children reading comic books is based principally upon the considerable amount of time that is wasted reading such "stuff." There are some comic books that we believe will not harm a child, such as the animal comics, a few westerns , and some teen-ager comic books. Some of the true comics supply the truth instead of horror and consequently are not too bad for children. But, it is most necessary that a child's reading diet be controlled as well as his eating diet . Sometimes vulnerable children of the community express their aggressive needs contrary to the laws of society because they have stimulated their imagination by reading the wrong kind of comic books. They try to do some of the things they have seen de picted in the comic books. This is bad if they have been reading crime or horror comics. The crime and horror comics depict right winning 116 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY by force and violence, by gun and fist. We believe that a steady, uncontrolled diet of comic books can stunt a child's mental and spiritual growth just as much as steady malnutrition can stunt his physical growth. We believe that there is comparatively little rela tionship between reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency. No. 6. We have not compiled statistics or kept a record of specific cases of juvenile crime which we believe was caused by reading crime comic books. We have had a few isolated instances where we were able to say positively the child charged with a crime got his ideas for the commission of the offense by reading a comic book. We have had very few instances where we could state definitely that this happened . However, we seldom have the opportunity to go into the case of each juvenile delinquent thoroughly enough to determine if he has been led astray by reading comics. No. 7. We do believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comic books were not readily available to children. However, we believe this decrease would be small in percentage. The majority of children in Louisville do read comics. However, only about 2 percent of our juveniles come in conflict with the law. Consequently, we do not believe that comic books are the chief contributing factor to juvenile delinquency. Our chief of police, Col. C. E. Heustis, has been sending consider able information and statistics to your committee regarding your investigation. You may find in his reports information pertaining to this subject. We are very happy to supply you with this informa tion and wish to cooperate in every way possible with your investiga tion. Very truly yours, CAPT. WM. G. KIEFER, Superintendent. REPLIES FROM COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS Reply of Marvel Comics Publications, Inc. , New York, N. Y. MARVEL COMIC GROUP, New York 1, N. Y., August 16, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: This letter is in reply to your letter dated August 5 , 1950 , addressed to us requesting certain information from our organization . JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 117 In reply to your item 1 , may we say that our organization has published hundreds of titles and issues of comic magazines during the past 10 years and it would seem to be an impossible task to begin to answer this item. It would take a staff of trained accountants and personnel a long period of time to attempt any such analysis. We are, however, furnishing you, under separate cover, with a copy of the comic magazines published by our organization during the year 1949 and during 1950, to date. In answer to the information requested in your item 2 , may we say that to our knowledge the comic magazines published by our organiza tion have been and still are purchased by persons of both sexes and all ages from 7 years upward. Our publications are distributed in the United States and Canada. We are going to attempt to be very objective in answering the information desired by you in item 3 of your said letter. In this con nection may we say that a New York State legislative committee held hearings on August 7 and August 8 in the city of New York to gather such information as it could, concerning the comic-book industry. The purpose was to get together such information as could be made available to the committee during those sessions in order to enable the committee to make a report to the legislature for the purpose of determining whether it would be wise and in the public interest to pass any enabling act that might in some way supervise the publication of comic magazines. Representatives of our organization attended the full session on August 7 and a major portion of the session on August 8. The information and facts offered and the opinions expressed at those sessions seemed to us to bear out assertions made by many dis interested parties that there was absolutely no connection between juvenile delinquency as understood by our law-enforcement officers, and the publication and sale of comic magazines. As a matter of fact, Professor Zorbaugh, of New York University, who has made independent studies of the subject from an educational point of view, indicated that whereas juvenile delinquency was on an increase during the war period reaching its maximum about 1945, just before the end of the war, the publication of comic books during those war years was only in moderate numbers. With the end of the war, there seemed to have been a considerable drop in juvenile delinquency and this drop has continued in moderate stages from year to year, whereas, as a matter of fact, there has been an increase in the publication and sale of comic-book magazines after 1945, when paper quota regulations were lifted . It is the opinion of our representatives who attended those 118 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY legislative hearings that the legislative committee was impressed with the facts and opinions supplied by Professor Zorbaugh. Also , in the course of those hearings, it was brought out that pos sibly 50,000,000 or 60,000,000 persons read comic magazines and that there is no evidence to indicate that it affects them adversely; that the proportion of juvenile delinquents found in that great mass of comic magazine readers is no greater than the proportion of juvenile delin quents in existence 15 years ago, when comic magazines, as we know them today, were barely known. Several of the persons who appeared before the said committee spoke with conviction of their opinions based upon findings that in many instances local district attorneys, especially in small communities, find it helpful to their cause for reasons known to themselves, to find a scapegoat for juvenile delinquency in their communities. According to the report and opinion of several experts , the opposition shown here and there to comic magazines has in itself been a cause of inducing criminals and law-enforcement officers to blame certain committed crimes upon the reading of comic books and thus divert popular clamor for generally stricter law enforcement. It is interesting to give the views of many psychiatrists who believe that the reading of comic-book magazines is beneficial to children in that it entertains them, stimulates them, is a means of their using up excess energy harmlessly, and of aiding them in associating themselves vicari ously with so many interesting things and personalities in the world. These psychiatrists say that the conclusions reached by objectors who oppose the reading of comic books would be ludicrous if it weren't a serious matter. These objectors talk to a boy who has committed a crime. "Do you read comics, " he asks the boy. "Yes, " says the boy. "Ah ha, " says the objector, "now we have the answer, the boy committed the crime because he reads comics, " but the unprejudiced psychiatrist points out, what about the other tens of millions who read comic magazines and do not seem to be adversely influenced at all ? It may well be that in the competition to survive, when comic magazine publications increased so rapidly after 1945, certain mar ginal publishers may not have had the background to understand the needs of the industry. However, as was pointed out by representa tives of the self- regulating publishers, this very competition has already eliminated much of the undesirable element and has had a salutor] effect upon the industry as a whole. It is the considered opinion of our organization that free and open public discussion , and the increas ing attempts for self-regulation , will best serve the public interest. We are enclosing herewith a copy of a prepared, brief statement which our organization submitted to the New York State legislative committee in connection with the said hearings. In answer to item 4 contained in your said letter may we say that from June 1 , 1948 , to November 30, 1949, our organization employed as staff consultant, Dr. Jean A. Thompson, psychiatrist employed by the Board of Education of the City of New York. The magazines which we are forwarding to your committee under separate cover will carry that notation, if they were published between the dates when Dr. Thompson was acting as such consultant . When Dr. Thompson was retained, she was instrumental in preparing a code¹ which was distributed to our art and editorial department as a guide to be kept 1 See Exhibit A. CCT tiSCp t STp 1tľatC JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 119 h in mind in preparing material for our publications . A copy of this code is also enclosed herewith . Under our arrangements with Dr. Thompson, every comic-book magazine published by our organiza tion was submitted to her for reading and criticism and Dr. Thomp son would forward to us some comment with respect to every such publication which was submitted to her. In the main, we can say that during the period of time that Dr. Thompson acted as our con sultant, she had no adverse criticism for the vast majority of our publications. The need for retrenchment during the latter part of 1949 compelled us to suspend the services of Dr. Thompson at that time. May we add that Dr. Thompson acted as our consultant with respect to each and every comic book published by our organization and that the so-called crime comic books published by us during that time was an insignificant fraction of our comic-book publications. Our aim , in other words, was to consult with Dr. Thompson in con nection with all our comic books, generally. As indicated above the comic books being forwarded to you under separate cover represent all the publications published by our organ ization for the period of time requested by you. Trusting that our letter will be of some help to you, we are, Very truly yours, t MARVEL COMIC GROUP, By MONROE FROEHLICH, Jr. STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY MARVEL COMIC GROUP TO NEW YORK STATE LEC ISLATIVE COMMITTEE On behalf of the Marvel Comic Group of magazine publishers , I am glad to have the opportunity of expressing an opinion concerning comic books and the controversies pertaining to them. It is our con sidered opinion that in the main, the public interest in a freedom loving democracy such as ours, is best served through enlightened self-regulation resulting from full public discussion and the resulting open competition . Invariably the undesirable publications and those put out hastily by marginal publishers, fall by the wayside, and the worthy, wholesome publications produced by conscientious publishers endure to amuse and interest young and old. Marvel Comics' publishers have published in the past many well known comic magazines and still publish a good many of them bi monthly, and the publishers fully realize their responsibility to the millions of its youthful and adult readers and to the public generally. It has always been the aim of these publishers to avoid the production of such comic magazines as may be considered in any way conducive to lowering the moral standards of those who read them. With that in view, the publishers have, for a considerable period in the past, retained the services of a well-known psychiatrist , actively engaged with the child guidance board of the Board of Education of the City of New York, to consult with the editorial and art department of all of its comic magazines and to render critical opinions of those pub lished . As a result of this consultation and guidance, the Marvel Comics' publishers have developed a well organized , intelligent, and regulatory code in order to continuously improve its publications and to maintain such improvement and high standards . Our editorial and art department has been taught to regard each item of its efforts as 120 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY something directed to understanding the reaction of the readers to the publications so produced. There is no question that our serious and well directed effort and constant improvement by self-regulation has been highly successful as has been evidenced in the past by the favor able comment and praise of those who watched our work and efforts . Our comic magazines are carefully edited with regard to all the editorials as well as the art work contained therein . The aim is to avoid the publication of any material which can be considered offensive or salacious , or contributing to juvenile delinquency. Those comic magazines which have dealt or are dealing with the subject of crime in general and the detection of criminals have con tributed and will contribute to the prestige of the individual and the organizations enforcing law and order. Crime stories are presented in no light other than to inspire respect for law, order, and justice. Our code and policy precludes the presentment of a criminal or crime in a favorable light, nor would we sanction that any representatives of our system of government or the preservation of its laws be held up to ridicule or contempt. We do not encourage or accept any material which would tend to produce a comic book that would be indecent, salacious , or wanton. We are all familiar with the controversy that has been under discus sion now for several years, as to whether comic books are a contribut ing cause of juvenile delinquency. We recognize that the mere asser tion of "Yes" or "No" is not in itself proof. It may well be that the opponents of comic magazines have uttered loud and voluminous sounds and it may well be that the increase of juvenile crime immedi ately after the war gave impetus to the opponents of comic magazines who were looking for a scapegoat. But, despite the willingness of many well-intentioned people to accept the unsupported statements ofthe opponents, we do find that as the war years are left progressively behind us the juvenile delinquency rate has progressively receded without regard to the volume of comic books presently published. This is the most pertinent argument which is submitted by those, who while not necessarily friends of comic book publishers are , first and foremost, realists in stating that juvenile delinquency is too complex a phase of life to blame on comic books, in the first place , there are 60,000,000 people in this county, young and old , who read comic books and who do not seem to be adversely affected by them, and, secondly, there are so many other media, such as newspapers, radio programs and movies which deal so extensively with crime and other allied subjects similar to those found in comic books and find such a host of interested parties . These realists say, "how can we single out comic books as the one evil factor when there are so many other com plex factors involved that we know also have a tremendous influence upon our society, both young and old. " The extensive discussions that have taken place among the public, professional psychiatrists, and the press, has had a marked influence on the children and adults who read the comic magazines with the result that the selectivity among the readers of these comic magazines has in and of itself been a force for positive and beneficial self regulation within the past year or two . This is the most salutary method of improving the subject matter as a whole. Strangely enough, or perhaps not so strangely, the children them selves are the best censors. Some months ago a panel discussion con JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 121 cerning comic books was held at a public school in the city of New York, in which hundreds of students participated . When the stu dents were asked whether comics should be banned, there was a deep silence. It was apparent that the children did not want comic books banned although each one had some contribution to make with respect to the reading of comic books generally. One youngster put forth a question that seems to us to express very tersely all the factors favor able to the publication and reading of comic magazines. If so many important people are opposed to comic books, then, why, this little boy asked, did Mayor O'Dwyer cause almost a million comic books to be distributed to the electorate in the city of New York telling the story of the mayor's life . This comic book was distributed for the benefit of voters, adults over the age of 21 years, and for all we know may have had an important influence upon the election . From this piece of evidence we must needs conclude that Mayor O'Dwyer and his supporters favor comic books as a medium of disseminating knowl edge, information or entertaining material, whatever its nature may be. We know that the legislative committee will receive pertinent sam ples of those opposed to comic magazines. We have garnered a few interesting items in rebuttal and we beg leave to present them briefly. In the Rochester Times-Union, of June 24, 1948, in an article bearing upon this subject, we find the following: "No wonder parents approve of most comics. They are so absorb ing; they keep the children quiet and out of mischief. They stimulate the desire to read, and they make learning easier. They educate. They teach fair play and good sportsmanship. They teach respect for our courts and authorities and love of good and hatred of evil." From the same article: " Here's how these would-be reformers come by their conclusions . They talk to a boy who has committed a crime. ' Do you read comics?' he asks . ' Yes, ' says the boy, ' I read comics. ' 'Aha, ' says the reformer, ' now we have it. The boy committed the crime because he read comics.' * * *

• * *

"But suppose we question the same boy and ask him if he eats cereal for breakfast each morning. The boy answers ' Yes. ' We could just as reasonably conclude that he committed the crime because he ate cereal." In the Rochester Sun, of June 24, 1948, Dr. Richard C. Jaenike is quoted as saying: "The comics are popular because they are visual. They fulfill some need for inner satisfaction . Many people cannot afford better reading material. But, most important, if a person's life is drab, the comic book offers excitement and adventure to which the reader can asso ciate himself. "But all comic books are not read by teen-agers. Why else do they offer reducing treatments, eyeglasses by mail, and who ever heard of a 16-year-old needing a dental cream to hold his false teeth in place? Rochester stand operators report that heavy sales are made to adults many of whom are buying the books to take home to their children. " Dr. Jaenike goes on to state that during the last war, when Samson Naval Base in Geneva was in full swing, one Rochester magazine distributor sent 30,000 comic books to that base each week. When newsprint shortages cut distribution the naval-base shipment was proportionately curtailed . The lieutenant commander in charge of ships stores wrote a fiery letter with a conclusive priority order to the 72705-50 122 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY wholesaler, and after that the sailors at the station got the original quantity of 30,000 comics per week. Now these readers are the same men who went out and fought a war for us . Those who were lucky enough to return have shown little sign that comic books have blighted their lives or given them criminal tendencies. "If the blood of war couldn't, what chance has a comic book?" In a newspaper discussion of the subject in December of 1948, we find reference to the fact that Dr. Frank Curran, formerly head psy chiatrist in the adolescent ward of Bellevue Psychiatric hospital, has examined many juveniles charged with homicide. Dr. Curran said he never had encountered a case where comic books had been a factor in murder. In an article in the New York Times, Edwin J. Lukas, executive director of the Society for the Prevention of Crime, is quoted as saying: "Criticisms of comic books constitute a symptom of the effort to run away from the real issue, which is , What is the defect in the rela tionship between children and parents in the case of children who react violently to situations portrayed in comic books?" He said , "Parents of children with behavior problems should bring these to the attention of behavior experts as rapidly as possible. ' "There is no known substitute for understanding parents in a family unit where a child not only naturally belongs but knows he belongs as a contributing member. " Our greater obligation, " he said, " is to set about producing a race of men who will have the good sense plus the moral conviction to desist from their own destruction. " The pocket-sized book Baby and Child Care, by Benjamin Spock, M. D. (pp. 304-307) , an analytical report, sums up the fact that "There is no more reason to think it (comics) will ruin his taste than there is to fear that letting him creep on hands and knees in infancy will keep him from ever walking in a more elegant upright position. We know that the legislative committee will sift all the material which will be presented to it for and against the publication of comic books thoroughly. We also believe that the legislative committee will find that forced reform in our democracy has invariably failed to serve the purpose which was intended for it. Free and open discus sion and an enlightened public opinion has been the greatest factor in our progressive development-socially, morally, and economically. We must avoid the pitfalls of the zealous reformer of the past, lest we create a so-called underground and black market of comic-magazine publications which may really be serious to the morals of our youth, whereas extensive public interest, competition, and enlightened self regulation will , without question, establish the still-infant industries of comic magazines upon a proper and acceptable basis consistent with public interest. EXHIBIT A I. GENERAL PURPOSE "" In addition to the interest and entertainment involved, comic books can provide a medium through which children can vicariously express their feelings and their wishes. In other words, the stories say and do for them a great many things that they would like to say and do, but cannot because of their immaturity and weakness. Through fairy tales and comic books, children can be heroes, JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 123 strong men, masters of the environment, and thus in a small way lose some of their insecurity and weakness. II. PRINCIPLES IN REGARD TO CONTENT OF STORIES Principle 1 The stories that best serve the above purpose and become favorites with chil dren are those that show in clear- cut fashion the wrongs and the dangers which beset human beings and then show how some good character or characters are at hand to rescue, protect, or avenge the victims of and from the bad characters. Principle 2 Confusion can be avoided if the story shows the danger or evil in such a way as to leave no temptation for the reader to condone the negative behavior, but in such a way as to make him wish to protect and rescue, and so get satisfaction from the positively good and powerful behavior of the heroic character in the story. When the criminal is half- bad and half- good (as is often the case in true crime stories) , or where the wrongdoing appears to be merely a mistake in judgment, which anyone might make, the reader may feel a sense of unfairness on the part of the forces of law and order in punishing the culprit . Thus, such a story leaves no great, good, powerful character with whom the reader can live through the adventure as though this character were himself. Stories should try to clearly show the difference between right and wrong, and should leave no doubt in child's mind that the criminal was properly punished and that the decent people survive and prosper by following the rules of justice and order. Avoid showing innocent people suffering injustices. Do not glorify the criminal nor any of his acts of crime ; and praise law-enforce ment officers through expression, deeds and acts of heroism, thus fostering respect for law and order. Principle 3 Stories or scenes that portray sexual compromise serve to remove taboos by making the subject a common one. They should therefore be avoided. III. PRINCIPLES IN REGARD TO EXPRESSION Principle 4 Vulgarities of speech and gesture should be avoided, as they are so quickly and easily imitated by children. A lack of cultural background, when essential to the story, can be suggested by poor grammar, poor pronunciation, and paucity of vocabulary. IV. PRINCIPLES IN REGARD TO MORES, CUSTOMS, AND RELIGION Principle 5 Consideration should be given to the ethical convictions held by the majority of the population and to the fact that certain modes of behavior are the subject of controversy among various groups of the population. (A) Religion can be included safely only when the highest and most general moral and ethical concepts are used as subject matter, as these are common to many religions. (B) All phases of intolerance should be avoided unless clearly used to show and teach the child its evils and imbue the child with a sense of tolerance. (C) The general public differ in their attitudes toward alcohol, gambling, divorce, for example ; yet most people would agree that because of the unhappiness and hardships that often result from these they should not be presented to children in a positive light. Avoid whenever possible any stories that deal with these subjects. V. PRINCIPLES IN REGARD TO ART WORK Principle 6 Except for the bathing-suit figure (which the public, for the most part, accepts) the female body should not be exposed in such a way as to definitely suggest nudity. Principle 7 Body contours should not be emphasized by outlining them on the clothing any more than they would be outlined by the normal draping of clothes , as in a photo graph. Avoid unrealistic emphasis on body contours. 124 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Principle 8 Horrible and sadistic scenes should be avoided. By this is meant the extreme distortion of features of the face and scenes of wounding with severe bleeding. The portrayal of death by hanging either realistically or in silhouette would come under this heading. Do not depict the striking of women or children by hoodlums or gangsters ; avoid numerous or unconnected killings in one story ; avoid showing that which may subject the child to nightmares ; and avoid depicting hangings except when absolutely necessary to the telling of a story and then only through the use of distant silhouette drawing. Reply of Association of Comics Magazine Publishers, Inc., New York, N. Y. ASSOCIATION OF COMICS MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS, INC. , New York 17, N. Y., August 15, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: Your inquiry concerning crime comics is at hand . I am glad of the opportunity to state my views which have been acquired as the result of several years of intensive exposure to these questions. The association of which I am executive director and general counsel has for a considerable period been engaged in a program of self- regu lation, operating under a code in a manner similar to the organization which passes upon motion pictures under the Johnson office. Much of our energies have been devoted to investigation and study of the charge that comics have an adverse effect on the habits of young people. By far the greater weight of professional opinion in the sciences relating to this problem are agreed there is no relationship between " crime comic books, " whatever they may be, and juvenile delinquency. Indeed, there is respectable authority for the view that crime presentation in radio, motion pictures, television, and the comics is a deterrent rather than a stimulus to crime. I do not believe any case of antisocial behavior can be traced to comic books or to any of the mass media. Every instance which has been brought to our attention has failed to withstand close scrutiny. In each you will find the background which sociologists are convinced constitute the true basic causes for the difficulty. It is my firm belief that if all comics were removed at one full swoop, the statistics on juvenile misbehavior would not be affected one whit. Amplification of these opinions buttressed by statements of qualified experts is obviously outside the confines of a communication of this nature. We will be happy, if you desire, to make available to you the material we have gathered bearing on this question. Respectfully, HENRY E. SCHULTZ, Executive Director. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 125 Reply of American Comics Group, New York, N. Y. AMERICAN COMICS GROUP, New York 19, N. Y., August 17, 1950 Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: The American Comics Group is not a publisher, but a firm engaged in the handling of national advertising for a group of comic-magazine publishers. As such, we represent the following firms : Creston Publications Corp. , Michel Publications, Inc., Best Syndicated Features, Inc. , and B. & Í. Publishing Co. , Inc. These corporations publish the following magazines : Ha Ha Comics The Kilroys Giggle Comics Funny Films Cookie Blazing West Adventures into the Unknown Spy-Hunters. Operation: Peril Lovelorn Romantic Adventures The following facts are in answer to your questions: 1. Creston Publications Corp. started publishing comics in 1943 ; Michel Publications, Inc. , in 1946 ; B. & I. Publishing Co. , Inc. , in 1947 ; and Best Syndicated Features, Inc. , in 1949. The average circulation of each book is from 250,000 to 350,000 per issue. 2. The enclosed survey taken in 1949 for our advertisers contains the information about the readership of the above comic magazines. 3. While the corporations we represent do not publish any so- called "crime" comic books, it is our deeply held opinion that juvenile delinquency is no more caused by reading about villians in crime comic books than by reading about characters as Fagin, Macbeth, or any of the other innumerable fiction villains in the world's litera ture. We believe that juvenile delinquency is the result of sordid home surroundings and parental neglect, aggravated by the emotional tensions and insecurities under which our civilization has been cowering the past 15 years. 4. Our publishers have never paid any fee to any psychiatrist or expert as a consultant. They do employ editors whose salaries depend on their merit as such. We are enclosing copies of all comic books of the above-mentioned publishers. We have no back numbers, but the latter are on file in the Washington copyright office, where they can be examined. Respectfully yours, B. W. SANGOR. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Reply of Harvey Publications, Inc., New York, N. Y. HARVEY PUBLICATIONS, INC. , New York, N. Y. , August 9, 1950. United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: I hasten to reply to your letter of August 5. I am cognizant of the committee's excellent results in uncovering the festering sore of crime upon our Nation's morals. 126 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY I regret, however, that I can be of no assistance to the committee in its study of the basic causes leading to criminal activity, because the greater part of the publishing done by Harvey Publications, Inc., and its associated companies is in the reprinting in comic magazines of nationally syndicated newspaper comic strips. It is my belief that the publication in newspapers throughout our land of these comic strips has given to our publications the imprimatur of con formity to the tenets of decency as accepted by millions of readers of all ages, faiths, and races. It is unfortunate indeed that certain public officials have suggested that "crime" comic books may be an influence in exciting children to criminal activities. A comic book should not be differentiated from a newspaper and another magazine. To consider a comic book as a piece of distinctive literature and to require that it conform to some norm prescribed by an official smacks of an ideology foreign to our system of government. The best judge of the propriety of a publication is the reading public. To attribute to comic books, even of the "crime" type, the basis for the incitement of the young to crime is to single out one kind of organ for the dissemination of literature, news, and knowledge without, at the same time, seeking the fundamental causes of unsocial activity in our children . Your committee, in its prescribed duty to investigate organized crime in interstate commerce, when it has completed its work, will undoubtedly find that to assign the derelictions of some few of our children to the reading of comic books is both unjustified by the facts and is a facilitation of an inquiry into crime in general. I do not believe there is today any relationship between the reading of "crime" comic books by children and juvenile delinquents anymore than there was yesterday when I cut my eye teeth on " Nick Carter. " Our Nation and its founders have zealously guarded the right of a free press which is so intimately bound up with fundamental democratic institutions that if censorship were extended to cover comic books, be they of one type or another, the very foundations of our liberties would be broken. There are sufficient expressions of public policy enacted into law to guide the activities of all publishers, newspaper and periodical. Moreover, any attempt to prescribe for any type of publication would substitute for the judgment and taste of the people at large the judgment and taste and prejudice—of the oligarch or the bureaucrat. Respectfully yours, 1 And for associated companies. HARVEY PUBLICATIONS, INC.¹ ALFRED HARVEY, President. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 127 Reply of St. John Publishing Co., New York, N. Y. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. Terry Toons_. Mighty Mouse__ Teen-Age Romances . ST. JOHN PUBLISHING CO. , New York 17, N. Y., August 23, 1950. DEAR MR. KEFAUVER: We will be very happy to cooperate with the United States Senate Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce. While some of the information you asked for is not readily available, we will give you as much as we have at this time. I will answer your questions in the order in which they were listed in your August 5 letter. 1. We have only been publishing comic magazines since the middle of 1947. All of our comic series are publihsed on a bimonthly basis, except an occasional one-shot which I will not list. Annual sales of the regular series are as follows: Mopsy Little Audrey 2, 008, 000 | Teen-Age Diary. 2, 261, 000 Abbott and Costello . 2 , 455, 000 Authentic Police Cases 1, 857, 000 The Texan_. 1, 996, 000 2, 208, 000 2, 104, 000 1, 958, 000 1, 544, 000 The part of this question concerning gross and net income on each issue cannot be answered because our records are kept in such a manner that costs and profits on individual issues are not readily identifiable. 2. Wehave made only one small survey to determine the age of our romance type readers. We found them to be 99 percent girls 15.6 years old . From sales experience we know that western type comics sell best in the Eastern States. Police type comics sell best in smaller towns and cities in all States. The average age group of all our comic readers is 10 to 14 years. 3. There has been millions of words written on the subject of comics and its relationship to juvenile delinquency. We do believe that comics definitely influence the young reader. The general field of crime, police, and detective comics as presented today, are the best possible means of educating our young readers that crime is unglorious and does not pay. 4. We have had the value of an eminent educator's experience in formulating our own comic code. This authority influenced our thinking a great deal and was responsible for our adapting the policy I have already outlined. The preferred comics group published by the St. John Publishing Co. are the only comics published by this company. We publish comics through no other company or corporation or under any other name. Enclosed you will find issues of the comic books published by our company during 1949 and 1950 . If we can be of further service, please call on us. Very truly yours, RICHARD E. DECKER, General Manager. 128 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Reply of Fawcett Publications, Inc., Greenwich, Conn. FAWCETT PUBLICATIONS, INC. , Greenwich, Conn. , August 21 , 1950. Senator ESTES KEFAUVER, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR: We had hoped to furnish you with an earlier reply to your letter of August 5 ; however, because several of our department heads were away on vacation, the data requested just reached my desk today. Your letter seems to deal with the publishing of crime comic maga zines . Therefore, we want to go on record-we do not publish crime comic magazines. However, in an effort to cooperate with your committee, we submit the following information concerning our comic magazine publishing activity. Attached herewith is a tabulation of our sales of comic magazines by title annually from 1941 through the first 6 months of 1950. This breakdown also gives you the total sale secured of all titles we pub lished each year during this period . We would like to emphasize the fact that the figures for the year 1950 cover only the first 6 months. We are forwarding to you under separate cover today a package containing one copy each of the 52 comic titles listed on the attached sheet marked " No. 1. " Included in this package is the current or last issue of all of the titles published during 1949 and up to date in 1950. The asterisk alongside of many titles means that these partic ular titles are no longer published . Therefore, those without an asterisk are the titles we are currently publishing. We have attached herewith two studies in connection with the readership of our comic magazines, one being made in 1947 (The A. B. C.'s of Comic Magazines) , and the other in 1949 (Kid Stuff Is Big Stuff) . We believe these two studies answer in detail the ques tion concerning the characteristics of our readers. In connection with your question No. 3 , because we do not publish crime comic magazines, we do not feel that we are in a position to give you an answer. In connection with question No. 4, the following individuals were employed by us to form a code of ethics which we follow in publishing comic magazines. A copy of the code is attached herewith . The following individuals were instrumental in forming this code of ethics : Sidonie Gruenberg, Director of The Child Study Association of America. Prof. Harvey Zorbaugh, psychologist, director of the Clinic for Gifted Children of New York University. Prof. Ernest G. Osborne, psychologist, president of education and executive officer of the community center, Teachers College, Columbia University. In connection with the second last paragraph of your letter, all of our comic magazines are published by Fawcett Publications, Inc. , and none of the principals of our company are associated with any other company in publishing activity. 1 See exhibit A. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 129 We are pleased to be of some assistance to your committee and in the event you require additional information, please feel free to contact us at our office in Greenwich, Conn. , the address of which is listed on this letterhead. Very truly yours,

• Copper Canyon *Cowboy Love *Dakota Lil

Bill Boyd Captain Marvel Adventures Captain Marvel and the Good Humor Man

• Captain Marvel Story Book Captain Marvel Junior

Don Newcombe

• Exciting Romances

Funny Animals Gabby Hayes Geo. Pal's Puppetoons

• Girls in Love

Hopalong Cassidy *I Love You Jackie Robinson Joe Louis Larry Doby Lash Larue Life Story *Love Memories

• Love Mystery

The Marvel Family Master Comics *Montana

• Nolonger published.

FAWCETT PUBLICATIONS, INC. ALLAN ADAMS, LIST OF PUBLICATIONS Circulation Manager. Monte Hale

• Negro Romance

Nyoka The Jungle Girl * Ozzie and Babs Pioneer Marshal Powder River Rustlers Ralph Kiner Rocky Lane Rod Cameron Romantic Secrets Romantic Story

• Romantic Western

Roy Campanella Singing Guns Six-gun Heroes Smiley Burnette Sweetheart Diary Sweethearts Tom Mix

• True Confidences *True Tales of Romance *True Sweetheart Secrets

Western Hero Whiz Comics Xmas Comics

• Young Marriage

EXHIBIT A CODE OF ETHICS, FAWCETT COMIC MAGAZINES 1. Policemen, judges, officials and respected institutions must not be portrayed as stupid or ineffective in such a way as to weaken respect for established authority. Crimes against the law shall never be presented in such a way as to throw sym pathy with the crime as against law and justice or to inspire others with the desire for imitation. 2. No comics shall show a male or female indecently or unduly exposed and in any event in nothing more revealing than a bathing suit commonly worn in the United States of America. Wanton, sexy drawings are not to be presented under any circumstances. 3. No scenes of actual sadistic torture may be shown. 4. No comics which ridicule or attack any religious groups are permitted. 5. Vulgar language shall not be used. Slang is permitted only when essential to the story. 6. Comics shall not give divorce a humorous or glamorous treatment. 7. No comics shall use dialects or devices in a way to indicate ridicule or intolerance of racial groups. 130 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY America's Greatest Comics . Animal Fair . Billy The Kid Comics . Bulletman . Billoyd . Magazine .Marvel Adventures Captain Coloring Book .Captain Marvel Humor Man .and the Good Captain Marvel .Puzzleicture Marvel Cptain ..Marvel Storybook Captain .Book Thrill Marvel Cptain .Junior Marvel Cptain Midnight ..Captain Comies .Comic Copperanyon . Love ..Cwboy Dakota Lil . Dime Action : Bulletman .. .Marvel Cptain Minutean . .Smasher Spy Don Newcombe . .Don Winslow Exciting Romance . Animals .Funny Gabby Hyes .. Autry Gene . Geo .Pal'suppetoons .. .Gift Comics Girls inLove ..Golden Arrow …__ Holiday Comics . Cassidy .Hopalong Bunny .Hopp Marvel Ibis . .You Lve I Jackie Robinson . Louis .Je Lance O'Casey . Doby .Larry Lash Rue . Story Life . .Love Memories Total annual circulation -Fawcett Comics ,1941–50 1941 354 ,276 ,794 57 ,934 2,631 692 ,73 ,103 64 692 ,163 837 ,26 ,4675 ,303 25 904 ,24 640 ,292 1942 ,232 1,821 298 544 ,1 715 ,447 6 ,367 618 193 ,777 741 ,19 071 ,1,070 791 ,132 552 ,197 549 ,158 890 ,208 1943 512 ,931 678 ,245 535 84 ,11 907 ,4,395 ,631 3,754 879 ,134 2 042 174 ,3 850 ,2,309 739 , 735 ,269 ,903 35 ,061 27 1944 ,800 14,067 696 ,245 5700 ,2,933 717 ,2,692 988 ,146 4 1945 728 547 ,11 ,112 42 797 ,4,069 ,893 2,16 867 ,2,320 912 ,239 4 1946 158 ,1,645 ,63011 434 ,680 702 974 , 075 ,158 413 ,39 4396 ,110 3 ,453 1,463 138 ,2,742 ,458 4,282 139 ,947 ,526 747 595 ,878 ,409 908 796 ,667 465 ,644 1947 843 ,189 563 024 ,9 755 ,219 738 ,973 3160 ,2,765 ,177 205 378 ,33 3 351 ,2,341 ,003 2,237 843 ,4,33 1,531,283 1948 717 959 ,8 873 ,202 980 ,3,992 353 ,1,683 479 ,2,847 290 ,118 451,538 031 ,304 681 ,52 8 735 ,212 ,23004 1949 ,329 7,041 757 ,215 756 ,3,287 626 ,1,770 ,737 226 684 ,766 263 ,4,665 0540 ,8 ,239 316 289 ,640 ,992 3,59 545 ,290 First 6 months , 1950 360 ,1,032 220 ,3,23 300 ,183 435 ,471 1 199 ,307 ,130 858 ,196 284 180,000 348,045 ,910 35 502 ,1,796 180,000 574 ,311 087 ,3,650 159,000 430 ,228 ,250 17 ,500 18 ,522 981 ,199,686 406 ,568 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 131 Love Mystery . Marvel Fmily . ..Marvelary ..Comics Master ..Maninute Montana . Hale .Monte .Romance Negro ..Comics Nutty Nyoka .. the OnSpotBabs .Ozzie andMarshall .PioneerPowder Riverustlers .. Kiner .Ralph .Lane Rocky Rod Cameron . Romantic Secrets . Romantic Story . Romantic Western . Campanella Roy Guns ..Singing Six Gun Heroes . .Smiley Burntte Spymasher . Sweetheart Diary . Sweethearts . Mix .Tom Confidences True . Trueales ofRomance . True Sweetheart Secrets .. ..Western Hero Whiz Comics .Wow Comics ..Comics .XmasYoung Marriage . Grand total . 197 ,,552 ,37567 ,079 490 535 ,3,963 63,456 362 ,636 10 077 ,2,698 435 ,251 15586 ,1 658 ,4,686 ,502 1,374 700 ,67 ,432 926 23 246 5,933,851 ,390 5 530 ,01 ,028 7,773 547 ,50 3 824 916 ,46 958 ,269 8595 ,4,373 897 448 , ,661,657 ,481 3,273 917 348805 ,664 47 985 ,1,843 938 ,1,548 471 231 ,4 ,321 196 906 ,82 869 ,149 7 ,608 3,757 885 456 ,53 828 ,217 4807 ,3,047 ,499 3,696 614 ,302 ,581 245 948 ,4,852 042 ,04 3851 ,9 264 ,612 52 353 ,4,821 682 135 ,2703 ,3 415 164 ,1 ,573,981 347 ,018 ,299 1,317 ,414 870 049 ,585 6 194 63 ,1523 ,149 4069 700 ,1 202 ,029 61 444 259 ,4 ,960 2,692 766 ,4,926 ,152 63,334 830 24 ,1 552 013 ,2 ,84265 ,648 385 306 ,188 ,503 211 278 ,4,22 531 ,6,656 663 ,300 689 ,257 536 ,103 5005 ,3,270 994 ,55 970 11 ,7 160,995 ,441 1,978 408 ,105. ,120 312 580 ,2,224 906 ,17 20,1,360 ,000 323 800 ,291 210,000 019 ,2,036 353 ,88 860 ,222 1817 ,500 ,451 376 000 ,173 ,25023 010 ,532 852 ,428 969 ,481 798 ,2,023 ,374 2,677 388,850 ,255 626 097 ,179 ,100,913 254 ,1,406 935 ,174 650 508 ,42 132 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Reply of Milton Caniff, Cartoonist, New York City, N. Y. NEW CITY, ROCKLAND COUNTY, N. Y., August 10, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: Your letter of August 4 regarding the possible relationship between crime comic books and juvenile delin quency in the United States is at hand. I have talked with such men as James Bennett, of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and E. L. Lucas, until lately head of the Society for the Prevention of Crime, and I conclude with Judge Louis Goldstein, of General Sessions Court, Kings County, N. Y., that I have not seen proof that any given crime was committed as a result of reading comic books. Practitioners of the inexact science of psychiatry have long served as apologists for the present parental generation by attributing every childhood ill from measles to shyness to the reading of comic books. It follows that parents might find it difficult to counter the skill of the professional story tellers in catering to their children's escapist in stincts, but fathers and mothers of other generations guided their youngsters during out-of-school hours because there were no radio, television, or comic-book outlets to which the sometimes irksome task could be surrendered . In my childhood it was Tom Mix and William S. Hart movies which were leading us kids to damnation. No doubt Hopalong Cassidy will be blamed for many youthful escapades in the present era. How ever, any critic of these media must not forget that all the popular figures are heroes-that right triumphs. It is the good guy they seek to emulate. This is also true in the most vivid of the comic books. Children are natural critics , no lobby can reach them. They will follow only the line of behavior which is their natural tendency. The portrayal of the blackness of evil makes virtue white by contrast, and, as in all folk tales , the desire to emulate the St. George of the moment slaying the current dragon, is a healthy and desirable instinct to arouse . There are badly written books, but we do not say books will not be denied to the public, juvenile or adult, because we are critical of the contents of a few. Neither can we condemn comic books and attempt to censor the medium because of lack of quality in some publications. Please allow me to commend you and your colleagues on the out standing and courageous work you are doing in seeking out the causes of crime in the United States. Even though I think the comic books have little to do with juvenile delinquency, I admire you for exploring every eventuality in your investigation. Cordially, MILTON CANIFF. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 133 Reply of Eastern Color Printing Co., Westbury, Conn. THE EASTERN COLOR PRINTING Co., Waterbury 20, Conn. , August 18, 1950. Senator ESTES KEFAUVER, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate Office Building, Washington 25, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: In reply to your letter of August 5 addressed to Mr. Harold A. Moore, editor, Famous Funnies, Inc. , 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y., we are pleased to cooperate and provide you with information concerning the publications of this company and of Famous Funnies, Inc. , its wholly owned subsidiary, which was merged with this company August 24, 1949. During the 10 years some titles were published continuously by Famous Funnies, Inc. , until the merger; others were published part of the time by this company or by Famous Funnies, and the balance of the time by the other firm. Still others were published in all entirety by either one of the two firms . The figures all have been consolidated inasmuch as we believe you are interested in titles and results by titles . The bookkeeping figures are based upon closings , and are in each case 2 or 3 months subsequent to the issue dates . It would be difficult and would require considerable time to furnish figures on any other basis. We should also like to incorporate some other facts concerning our publications which we believe should be presented, so that your com mittee may be able to make a most careful study of this phase of the all important over-all subject of mass media, and their influence on children . 1. We attach herewith a complete list of each title published by the two firms during the last 10 years showing number of issues, of each title, the net paid circulation, gross income and net profit of each, on an annual basis . To attain the net profit figures, there has necessarily been an apportionment among the titles , as our books were not originally kept on the basis of segregating, by titles , the administration and general business expense applicable to all titles. The income and the manufacturing distribution and return expense have always been segregated to the individual title , by issues . The tabulation has been prepared as carefully as possible within the limited time since your inquiry. We are retaining the schedules supporting the data. 2. Quite naturally, the age of the readership of our various titles varies to some extent. Jingle Jangle Comics, a so-called animated cartoon magazine, was designed for children between the ages of about 6 to 12 . 134 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY We have found the readership of Famous Funnies through question naires which appeared in our publication, on several occasions in the past 16 years, fell between the ages of 6 to 16 years , with the greatest readership between the ages of 10 and 14 years. For several years, we have run a Pen Pal page in Famous Funnies, and have received on the average of 2,500 requests per year from youngsters , 8 to 16 years old, who wish their names to appear on this page. These re quests come from all over the United States, Canada, and from several foreign countries . Our publications are distributed through the United States and the United States possessions, by the American News Co., whose main office is located at 131 Varick Street , New York 13 , N. Y. This will indicate to you the thoroughness with which we cover the country. 3. We understand that you have also sent a letter to Mr. Henry E. Schultz , executive director of the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers, requesting information you are seeking in question 3, along with other questions which you have submitted to him. As we are a member of this association , we can concur wholeheartedly in the findings and basic conclusions which we understand Mr. Schultz is providing you in his reply. 4. We have never had a psychiatrist or expert as a consultant, editor, employee, or, on any basis, in connection with our publications. Our New York office is sending you, under separate cover, copies of each issue of each comic book, published by us in 1949 and 1950 . Except as explained above, none of the principal persons associated with our company has published comic books through other companies, corporations, or under other names. This organization has never published crime comic books. You can observe this fact from the titles which we have listed in answer to your question 1. It is interesting to note that almost all of the material in Famous Funnies is a direct reproduction of features already published and widely circulated by the various syndicates who produce this material for newspaper consumption. We would also call your attention to the fact that the material appearing in the rest of our publications, New Heroic Comics, for example, has little bearing on any questionable subject which might come before your committee. We are happy to cooperate with you and your committee in this way. Respectfully yours, THE EASTERN COLOR PRINTING CO. , William B. Pape, Vice President. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 135 Schedule of comic magazines published by the Eastern Color Printing Co. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Famous Funnies, Inc. , for the 10 years 1940 to 1949, inclusive Year 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Famous Funnies. Heroic Comics. Buck Rogers. Famous Funnies. Heroic Comics . Famous Funnies. Heroic Comics . Buck Rogers. Dickie Dare. Strictly Private. Famous Funnies . Jingle Jangle . Heroic Comics. Sparky Watts. Dixie Dugan. Mickey Finn. Skyman. Big Chief Wahoo. Dickie Dare. Buck Rogers. Napoleon .. Oaky Doakes . Strictly Private . Famous Funnies . Jingle Jangle. Heroic Comics . Buck Rogers . Mickey Finn. Big Chief Wahoo. Famous Funnies. Jingle Jangle. Heroic Comics . Famous Funnies . Jingle Jangle. Heroic Comics . Famous Funnies . Jingle Jangle. Heroic Comics . Famous Funnies . Jingle Jangle. Heroic Comics.. Juke Box Sugar Bowl. Famous Funnies. Jingle Jangle. Heroic Comics . Juke Box. Sugar Bowl. Steve Roper. Club 16 . Title Big Chief Wahoo and. Steve Roper (its successor) Club 16 . Number of issues Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, 2212626 ~~ - ~ O 15:11, 15 December 2022 (EST)~~ --126 5 6 1 1 2 126 6 126 6 126 6 126 6-313226O2222 4 Serial No. 63-74 1- 2 1 75-86 3- 8 87-98 9- 14 2- 3 1- 2 1 99-110 1- 5 15- 20 1- 2 1- 2 1- 2 1 1 2 111-122 6- 11 21- 266 3 4- 5 123-134 12- 17 27- 32 135-146 18- 23 33- 38 147-158 24- 29 39-44 159-170 30- 35 45- 50 1- 4 1- 3 7 1- 3 1- 2 171-182 36-41 51- 56 5- 6 4- 5 4- 5 3- 4 Circulation 3, 285, 732 303, 539 224, 686 2, 504, 897 846, 191 2, 395, 733 832, 034 363, 094 311, 330 141, 177 3,290, 145 1, 393, 073 1,267, 618 516, 926 601, 837 567, 788 330, 271 754, 644 440, 234 544, 149 176, 164 171, 743 174, 369 4, 632, 362 2, 172, 792 2,088, 442 303, 583 350, 592 670, 913 5,842, 844 2, 721, 064 2, 665, 830 , 940, 644 2,855, 395 2, 285, 007 4, 292, 127 1, 971, 564 1,904, 595 3, 203, 803 1, 628, 301 1,798, 053 486, 629 375, 239 746, 185 248, 906 2,066, 931 787, 034 1, 516, 664 167, 121 208, 120 305, 392 279, 742 Reply of Lev Gleason Publications, Inc., New York, N. Y. LEV GLEASON PUBLICATIONS, INC. , New York 16, N. Y. , August 10, 1950. Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: I am happy to give you herewith the information requested in your letter of August 5, concerning our comic magazines. At the outset, I would call to your attention that your letter refers to "comic books" and again to "crime comic books. " Although I would use the term "crime comic books" somewhat differently than would some critics, in that we publish both kinds, I'm giving you figures on all our comic magazine publications. Our two magazines 136 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY which deal with crime, I think, can better be called anticrime comic magazines. 1. You have asked for circulation figures for the past 10 years. Some of our magazines have only been published for 9 years and some for less . Herewith is our net paid circulation on each magazine we now publish since its inception. The figures are a total of all issues of a title in any given year. Number of issues that year Year Crime Does Not Pay: 3.. 6. 6. 6. 6. 10 . 12125 (January to May, in clusive) . Daredevil: 4 . 6. 6. 6 . 6. 6. 6. 6. 6 (January to June, in clusive) 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 Total net paid circu lation 639, 370 1, 942, 328 3, 198, 799 4, 105, 134 4,866, 519 8,635, 910 11, 923, 442 8,811, 084 3, 177, 893 925, 985 2, 125, 990 4,352, 773 4, 299, 967 3, 508, 617 3,860, 687 3,752, 152 3, 411, 966 2, 916, 748 Number of issues that year Boy: 5. 6 . 6. 6. 6 6. 6. 6. 4 (February to May, in clusive) Crime and Punishment: 9 12 .. 6 (January to June) . Black Diamond: 8. 2 Lovers' Lane: 2 2 . Boy Meets Girl : 2. Year 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1948 1949 1950 1949 1950 1949 1950 1950 Total net paid circu lation 1,047, 375 2,082, 106 3,099, 018 3,741, 315 3, 516, 634 3,946, 437 3, 748, 211 3, 415, 462 1,822, 674 4,560, 651 6, 130, 540 3, 014, 577 2,828, 459 711, 552 794, 323 602, 766 571, 948 2. Again, there arises in answer to your letter a question of defini tion . What do you mean by "readers"? We have infinitely more readers than buyers, because these magazines are passed around among many people. I'm enclosing a readership study of Lev Gleason comics of recent origin which was made in the interest for prospective adver tisers in our magazines. This survey will , I think, give you the information you want. To summarize, it can be said that of our group of comics (not including Lovers' Lane and Boy Meets Girl, not included in the survey) , our original buyers are 68.3 percent male and 31.7 female. The average age of the males is 12.9 years , the average age of the females is 12.2 years. You will note in this survey that there is an enormous secondary readership, the average age of which is around 16½ years. There is a substantial tertiary readership in addition . The average age of the readers of these publications changes from one to another period . During the last war, because of the enormous circulation of these magazines among GI's, the age shot upward. Again, average figures are deceptive when taken from a group of publications. We secure these figures for the group because that's the way we sell advertising . But we know that the average age of readers of Daredevil is several years younger than the average for Crime Does Not Pay. Several years ago, we took a survey to determine the age of readers of Crime Does Not Pay and at that time found that 57 percent were over 21 years of age. 3. In answer to this question, I would refer to the fact that your committee has made similar inquiry to the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers of which we are members and of which, indeed , JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 137 I am president. In that a carefully prepared answer to that query is being sent you by the association, I will not attempt a duplication here. My position in the matter and my answer to your question is identical with that to be sent you by the association. 4. We have never paid any fee or salary to a psychiatrist (God forfend) . We have over a long period employed consultants from the field of police officers . For example, for a long period we employed as consultant, Mary Sullivan, formerly chief of the Women's Bureau of the New York Police Force. We have consulted with innumerable police officers. We are quite cognizant of our responsibilities in the field of anticrime publications . I, personally, have never been par ticularly interested in the varying opinions of psychiatrists in con nection with publications of this type. As we have viewed it, our responsibility is to prove clearly to our reader that crime is unattractive and does not pay, to picture the enforcement officer in an heroic and favorable light. For this reason we have consulted with those whom we feel to have the most first-hand knowledge, police officers them selves. In this connection, too, both in Crime Does Not Pay and Crime and Punishment, we have for about 2 years published a biographical sketch of a police officer, making of this officer, usually a police chief, a person to be admired by our readers. We have emphasized that the police are the friends of the youngsters-that the criminals are their enemies. Separately, I am sending you a large package of magazines published by us in 1949 and 1950. There are one or two issues missing, simply because no copies are in our possession. I do not publish or have interest in any comic magazines other than those included in this report. If there is any further information you would seek, I will be very happy to furnish it to you. Very truly yours, LEVERETT S. GLEASON, President. Reply of National Comics Publications, Inc. , Publishers, New York City SEPTEMBER 7, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. HONORABLE SIR: We acknowledge receipt of your letter of August 5, 1950, addressed to National Comics Group, which is the trade name of the organization owned and controlled by this corporation. In view of the very broad and general nature of question 3 of your letter, we have prepared this report as a response thereto, in the thought that a full presentation of illustrative material, as well as available sta tistics, in folio form would be much easier for the committee to peruse than a manuscript accompanied by a number of separate exhibits which would otherwise have to be thumbed through separately . Our responses to questions 1 , 2, and 4 of your letter are set forth as an appendix to this report. We are also forwarding, under separate cover, in accordance with your request, the current issues of all comic magazines published by us. 72705-50-10 138 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 1 First, by way of introduction, a word concerning our organization. The comic magazine industry as a whole has a total circulation of approximately 50,000,000 copies per month, comprised of, according to late figures, approximately 260 repetitive titles. Of this number National Comics Group publishes 38 titles , the combined circulation of which is approximately 8,000,000 copies per month. Our own circulation, therefore, comprises about 16 percent of the circulation of the entire industry, and we believe that we are the largest publishers in the field . To produce our magazines, we employ a staff of 10 full- time editors and about 70 artists or writers, some working full and some part time. It is apparently the main purpose of this committee to determine whether there is any correlation between comic magazines and the commission of crimes by children in this country. It is undoubtedly true that the incidence of crimes, and particularly crimes involving violence and/or theft, have considerably increased for the United States population as a whole since the close of World War II.3 The substantial increase in the divorce rate, and the increase in the number of abandonments of families by either or both parents and the intolerable slum conditions and overcrowding of schools in many urban areas, among other factors, have focused public attention in the press, radio, and public forums, upon the problems of children and the causes of their delinquency. Hardly a day goes by without a newspaper story featuring a juvenile misdeed ; rape, murder, and juvenile gang warfare being the favorite subjects presented . In creased public concern with juvenile delinquency is a normal and healthy development. However, it has created in the public mind. the idea that juvenile delinquency has vastly increased in the last few years. Opponents of comic books have assumed, as one of their basic premises, that juvenile delinquency is rising rapidly. Having adopted this premise, they reason that since the circulation of comic books has considerably increased over the past few years, there must be some cause-and-effect relationship between juvenile crime and comic books. The following are examples of this type of reasoning culled from the daily press : [From Fresno ( Calif. ) Bee, June 5, 1948] ADVENTISTS HIT COMIC BOOKS AS EVIL INFLUENCE Comic books were indicted as an influence toward evil this morning at the Seventh Day Adventist camp meeting by Elder R. R. Breitigam, Glendale, the Sabbath-school leader of the Pacific Union Conference. Speaking to approximately 4,000 people who gathered in the big tent for observance of their Sabbath, Elder Breitigam said, " Juveniles go wrong because they think wrong, and their thoughts cannot be right when they are feeding on a diet of pernicious reading matter which masquerades as literature .' AID TO DELINQUENTS "It has been proved, " he continued , "that the increase in juvenile delinquency goes hand in hand with an increase in comic books, " and pointed out that 500,000, 000 comic books are printed every year and it is estimated the city child reads an average of 10 to 12 a month. 1 Comic Magazine Publishing Report, published by Edward H. Doherty, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York 18, N. Y. , issue No. 101 , June, 1950.

• See circulation statistics contained in our separate letter submitted herewith .

See text under paragraphs entitled " Crime Trends, " contained in Uniform Crime Reports for the United States and its Possessions, ( annual bulletins) issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the years 1945 through 1949 , inclusive . JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 139 "These comic books, " he asserted, " portray beatings, stranglings, and shootings until the mind is bathed in puddles of blood. The child only is not influenced toward evil, but the books suggest the form for that evil to take. " The remedy, Elder Breitigam said, " is to bring God into the home." BLAME COMIC Books for JUVENILE CRIME AN EDITORIAL For the past 2 or 3 years, the FBI and other officials have been calling the Nation's attention to the fact that the number and seriousness of juvenile crimes are mounting by leaps and bounds. Recently a group of civic- minded persons launched a study to the causes of the increase in such crimes. One of the conclusions reached by the group is that the reading of comic books has greatly contributed to the increase of juvenile crime. A number of cities in both Michigan and Indiana have banned the sale of some of the most vicious comics from newsstands. The mayor of Indianapolis has taken a leading part in the campaign against the sale of obscene comic books in that city. The question is being studied by the officials of Chicago, and the indications are that the Windy City will soon follow Indianapolis and other cities in banning the sale of some of the most objectionable books. Recently a 14-year-old boy in Chicago sexually attacked and killed 8-year-old Nancy Schuler. When the officials went to his room they found that he had left there 50 publications known as blood-and-thunder comic books. It is believed that the constant reading of such blood-curdling books may have inspired the boy to commit the crime. That is but one of many examples which are being reported from various sections of the country. The general conclusion seems to be that the blood-and-thunder type of comic books is responsible for much of our juvenile crime. On every hand psychiatrists, criminologists, and social workers are warning of the harm that is being done by allowing children to read some of the comic books which are being sold from the newsstands of the country. It is argued that young minds cannot absorb the filth and crime depicted in some of the comic books with out having their minds warped and set on the commission of crimes like those they read about in the comics. However, this type of reasoning is devoid of merit for the simple reason that its major premise is untrue. The juvenile delinquency rate is not increasing. It is decreasing, and has been decreasing for the past 5 years. The following table is a summary of the arrests of persons from under 15 to 24 years of age in the United States from the year 1940 through 1949, inclusive, based on tables contained in the Annual Bulletins of "Uniform Crime Reports for the United States and Its Possessions," issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the respective years. The unparenthesized figures are the actual number of arrests for each year as indicated in the FBI reports above referred to . However, these figures cannot be accepted as conclusive evidence of any increase or decrease in the crime rates for the years and age groups involved, since they do not take into account the increase in population for the 10-year period . In this connection, the unofficial United States census for the year 1950 indicates that the population of this country increased 14.3 percent during the 10-year period from 1940 to 1950. Unfortunately, as of this writing, the 1950 census breakdown of population by age groups has not as yet been released by the Census Bureau. Therefore, we have assumed that, from 1940 to 1950 , the population of each age group whose arrests have been separately recorded in this summary (ages under 15 to 24) increased at the same rate as the total United States population during the same period . Accordingly, we have computed for each 140 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY such age group for each year from 1941 to 1950 the number of arrests that would normally be expected in such group, assuming that the crime rate of the group remained the same as in 1940, and that the population of each such group increased 14.3 percent from 1940 to 1950. These figures have been inserted in parentheses immediately below the afore-mentioned figures representing actual number of arrests recorded by the FBI for each such year. Table of number of persons arrested by age ¹ Age Under 15 . 15.. 16. 17.. 18 .. 19 . 20. 21 .. 22 23 24 1940 4, 103 4,065 10, 845 16, 319 23, 505 24, 870 22, 591 23.957 23, 878 23, 208 21,870 Under 15 . 15. 16. 17. 18 . 19. 1941 4,566 (4, 162) 4, 204 1942 (4, 123) 11, 111 1943 1944 1945 1946 4, 690 | 20. 4, 617 21 12, 395 22. 18, 653 23 . 26.866 24. 28, 426 4.714 4, 190 3,879 (4, 221 ) 4, 206 (4,330) 4, 553 4,050 ( 4, 398) | 4,984 3,519 (4, 574) 3, 233 (4.632) 3, 704 3.656 (11.000) 17, 189 5, 275 ( 4, 280) ( 4, 516) 5,053 3,855 (4, 181 ) ( 4,239) (4, 297) ( 4,356 ) ( 4.472 ) ( 4. 530) (4,589) 10, 735 13, 810 14, 194 14, 887 10.081 9, 311 9, 853 (11 , 155) | ( 11, 310) | ( 11, 465) | ( 11 , 620) ( 11 , 930) | ( 12 , 085) | (12.240) 18, 267 23,746 23,753 25, 645 16, 561 15, 216 16. 180 ( 16 , 553) | ( 16 , 786) ( 17 , 019) | ( 17 , 252) | ( 17. 486) | ( 17, 720) | ( 17, 954) ( 18, 188) ( 18. 421) 24, 732 26, 371 26, 294 23,749 24, 360 23, 417 25, 520 25.926 26, 270 | ( 23, 841) ( 24, 177) | ( 24, 513 ) | ( 24 , 849) ( 25, 185 ) ( 25, 521 ) ( 25, 857) | ( 26, 193 ) | ( 26, 529) 25, 616 25, 738 21, 325 20, 134 20.769 22,998 28,532 28,912 28.954 (25, 226) ( 25 , 582) | ( 25. 938) | ( 26, 294) | ( 26, 649) ( 27, 005) | ( 27, 361) | ( 27, 717) | ( 28, 073) 23. 354 22, 455 16, 778 17, 189 19, 301 24, 539 29, 433 29, 352 29, 416 | ( 22, 914) | ( 23, 237) | ( 23, 560) | ( 23, 883 ) | ( 24, 207) ( 24, 530) ( 24, 853) | ( 25, 176) | ( 25, 499) 24, 519 22, 465 16, 769 18, 276 21 , 446 30.159 33, 776 32. 497 34, 514 | ( 24, 300) | ( 24 , 643) ( 24 , 986 ) ( 25, 329) | ( 25, 672) | ( 26 . 015) | ( 26 , 358) | ( 26, 701 ) | ( 27, 044) 21, 399 19,996 16.978 17.739 21, 044 29, 035 33, 465 32, 342 32,792 | ( 24,219 ) ( 24, 560) ( 24, 901 ) ( 25, 242) | ( 25, 583) ( 25, 924) ( 26 , 265) ( 26, 606) | ( 26, 947) 21, 403 17,880 16, 481 16, 940 19. 203 27,585 31, 074 30,870 31, 486 |(23, 540) | ( 23, 872 ) ( 24, 204) ( 24, 536) ( 24, 868 ) | ( 25, 200) | ( 25, 532) | ( 25, 864) (26, 196) 20, 349 17,325 14, 216 15,711 17.710 25, 436 28, 636 29, 653 30, 717 | ( 22, 183) | ( 22, 496) | ( 22, 809) | ( 23, 122) | ( 23, 435 ) | ( 23, 748) | ( 24, 061 ) | ( 24, 374) | ( 24,686) 3,953 ( 4, 457) 4, 202 ( 4, 414) 11.461 ( 11. 775) 18, 217 1947 1948 1949 1 The figures in parentheses represent the number of arrests which should have taken place had the in crease in arrests followed the exact ratio of population increase during the years reported. The national population increased a total of 14.3 percent during the years 1940 to 1950. The percentage of increase as applied to the crimes committed in 1940 would produce the following figures for 1950 : 25.822 27, 383 27, 293 26, 527 24, 997 In order to clarify the above figures, we have prepared the following charts for each age group . The solid line on each chart represents the actual number of arrests during each year from 1940 to 1949, inclusive. The dotted line on each chart represents the number of arrests that could reasonably be expected to have taken place during the years 1940 to 1950, inclusive, due to the normal increase in popu lation (assuming the 1940 crime rate to have remained the same during this entire period) . JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 141 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10.000 5,000 4,000 3.000 2.000 1,000 1940 —— TOTAL U.S. ARRESTS AGES UNDER 15 Source: F.B.I. Uniform Crime Reports ACTUAL ARRESTS 1940 ARRESTS ADJUSTED FOR POPULATION INCREASE 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 TOTAL U.S. ARRESTS AGE 15 Source:F.B.I. Uniform Crime Reports ACTUAL ARRESTS 1940 ARRESTS ADJUSTED FOR POPULATION INCREASE 1940 1941 1942 1943 .1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 142 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 14,000 13,000 12,000 11,000 10,000 9,000 8,000 7,000 6,000 5,000 1,000 30,000 29,000 28,000 27,000 26,000 25,000 24,000 23,000 22,000 21,000 20,000 19,000 18,000 17,000 16,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 1,000 1940 1940 1940 TOTAL U.S. ARRESTS AGE 16 Source: F.B.I. Uniform Crime Reports 1941 ACTUAL ARRESTS 1940 ARRESTS ADJUSTED FOR POPULATION INCREASE 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 TOTAL U.S. ARRESTS AGE 17 ACTUAL ARRESTS 1940 ARRESTS ADJUSTED FOR POPULATION INCREASE Source : F.B.I. Uniform Crime Reports 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1949 1950 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 143 It is apparent from the above four charts that the actual number of arrests of children through the age of 17 have substantially decreased since the war years, despite the increase in arrests that could normally be expected from the growth in population . The chart for children 18 years of age indicates that although arrests increased somewhat nce the war years, this increase has no more than proportionate with the rise in population. The chart for the 19-year-olds indicates that although arrests have risen sharply since 1945 (from about 21,000 to 28,000) , they still do not materially exceed the number of arrests that could normally be expected from the increase in population. For instance, for the year 1949 the actual number of arrests for this age group was 28,954. If the 1940 crime rate had been maintained , there would have been 28,073 arrests in this group. The sharp rise since the war in arrests in this age group is explainable in great part by the fact that, as the chart indicates, arrests in this group had dropped very substantially during the war, presumably due to the fact that a large portion of the young men in this group were drafted into the armed services . By comparison, it should be noted that the youngsters of 17 were arrested far more frequently during the war years , while their big brothers were away at the front. 30,000 29,000 28,000 27,000 26,000 25,000 24.000 23,000 22,000 21,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 1,000 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 TOTAL 1947 1948 1949 1950 U.S. ARRESTS AGE 18 ACTUAL ARRESTS 1940 ARRESTS ADJUSTED FOR POPULATION INCREASE Source: F.B.I. Uniform Crime Reports 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 144. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 30,000 29,000 28,000 27,000 26,000 25,000 24,000 23,000 22,000 21,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 1.000 30,000 29,000 28,000 27,000 26,000 25,000 24,000 23,000 22,000 21,000 20,000 19,000 18,000 17,000 16,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 1,000 ★ PLATIN 1940 1941 1942 TOTAL 1940 1941 1940 1943 ACTUAL 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 ARRESTS

U. 5. AGE 19 ARRESTS Source: F.B.I. Uniform Crime Reports QBAA 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 TOTAL U.S. ARRESTS AGE 20 Source: F.B.I. Uniform Crime Reports ACTUAL ARRESTS 1940 ARRESTS ADJUSTED FOR POPULATION INCREASE 1949 1948 1949 1950 1950 1949 1950 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 145 150,000 145,000 140,000 135,000 130,000 125,000 120,000 115,000 110,000 105,000 100,000 95,000 90,000 85,000 80,000 75,000 70,000 65,000 60,000 55,000 50,000 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1940 TOTAL U.S. ARRESTS AGES 21 TO 24 INCLUSIVE 1949 ACTUAL ARRESTS 1940 ARRESTS ADJUSTED FOR POPULATION INCREASE Source: F.B.I. Uniform Crime Reports NATASHAN 1950 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 It is only commencing at age 20 that we find that the total number of arrests has materially exceeded, in recent years, the normal increase to be expected , due to growth in population. However, there is a hopeful note even here in that the actual number of arrests has re mained substantially unchanged since 1947 . It would be idle to speculate as to the reasons for the increase of crime since the last war in age groups 20 to 24, inclusive, indicated by the above charts . Persons of 20 and over certainly cannot be considered as juveniles. They are fully emancipated in their reading and entertainment habits. They have ready access to lurid material of all kinds, including books, detailed newspaper accounts of crimes, movies, etc. Their mental characteristics are, for all intents and purposes, completely mature. The significance of the above charts, in respect to juvenile delin quency, is that for boys and girls through the age of 17 , the delinquency rate has decreased and for those 18 and 19 has remained substantially unchanged during the 10-year period from 1940 to date. Moreover, the charts indicate that in respect to children through the age of 17, delinquency has dropped at a much faster rate since the close of World War II than before and during that war. With this background of a falling juvenile delinquency over the last 5-year period in mind, let us examine the available statistics on the circulation of the so-called crime comic books, in which the committee appears to be chiefly interested . At the outset, we are faced with a most difficult problem of defini tion. What is a crime comic? Almost every comic dealing with 146 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY adventure in any form frequently portrays incidents involving some forms of crime. In the so-called western-adventure comics, the cow boys chase the horse thieves as well as the Indians. Superman spends a great deal of his time pursuing criminals of one sort or another. Pop-Eye, the sailor, consuming mountains of spinach, frequently inter venes in the nick of time to protect his sweetheart Olive Oyl from assault at the hands of sundry vicious characters . Every Sunday in days gone by, Hairbreadth Harry rescued the blonde Belinda from the clutches of the villain Rudolph Rassendale, just as the latter was about to push her into a foaming waterfall or into the teeth of a whirl ing lumber saw. If we define a crime comic as a comic portraying deeds of violence, almost every adventure comic will fall within this definition . If we define it as a comic portraying the commission of illegal acts , the definition would be just as broad. There are so many types and methods of portrayal of violence, as well as so many kinds and degrees of illegal acts that it seems to us such definitions would be of no value. However, for the sake of fixing a point of departure in connection with this inquiry, we have assumed that what the committee may have in mind are those comics which chiefly portray struggles between crim inals and the organized forces of the law. Our statistical analysis of the circulation of crime comics hereinafter set forth was prepared with the above definition in mind. It may be well to indicate the relative importance of crime- comic magazines as above defined, in their setting in the general field of comics. There are no statistics available as to the circulation of the various types of comic magazines published . However, there is an industry periodical, in existence since 1942, known as Comic Magazine Publishing Report published by Edward H. Dougherty, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. , which indicates monthly the names of all comic magazine titles published by all publishers during the previous month. The editors of that magazine conducted a survey of the industry for the month of January 1948 to determine percentagewise, by number of titles, the various types of material presented by all of the comic magazines which they listed for that month. This survey showed the following: Of 239 total titles published during the month of January 1948 , 115 titles , or 47 percent, dealt with action and adventure ; 45 titles , or 23 percent, were animated animal or juvenile approach comics ; 41 titles , or 15 percent, were so-called teen-age comics ; 38 titles, or 15 percent, were so-called crime comics. * This survey was never repeated by the publishers of the report. Accordingly, we have undertaken to go over various issues of the report, commencing in 1942, and continuing to date, in order to determine the number of so-called crime-comic titles in circulation during each such year. For purposes of convenience, we have used the titles appearing during the month of January of each year as the basis for comparison. The results are as follows: 4 Comic Magazine Publishing Report, March 1 , 1948. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 147 January 1942. January 1943. January 1944. January 1945. January 1946. January 1947. January 1948. January 1949. January 1950. June 1950 Month Animal Antics Comic Calvalcade 2. Teen-age: Funny Folks Funny Stuff Leading Comics Peter Porkchops Real Screen Comics 3. Straight humor : Buzzy A Date With Judy Leave It to Binkie Scribbly Total number of titles of all kinds 143 141 130 157 157 198 239 301 301 253 4. Western adventure : All American Western Dale Evans Jimmy Wakely Western Comics Danger Trail Crime type titles LILIN ♡ ∞∞ Mutt & Jeff (reprint of newspaper comic strip) Bob Hope 1 1 Less than 1. 1 1 2 112. 3 112. Percentage of crime-type comics totals to total titles It is obvious from the foregoing that the popularity of crime titles did not begin until sometime in 1947 , reached a peak during 1947 and 1948, and has since declined . Actually, this is due to the fact that there are fashions in comic magazines as in other branches of the publishing business. Up to 1947 there was but a single crime-comic magazine published , known as Crime Does Not Pay, published by Lev Gleason Publications . Prior to that time, animated animal car toons, and stories dealing with the adventurous and the supernatural, were the most popular with the reading public . The popularity of crime comics began to wane rapidly about 18 months ago, being pushed aside in public estimation by so-called teen- age and love and romance comics. 38 15. 33 11. At present, National Comics Group publishes, as above stated, 38 comic titles, most of which appear on newsstands bimonthly. These titles, broken down as to subject matter, are as follows : 1. Animated animal and juvenile approach: 8 3. 10 4. Do. Do. Do. I 148 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 5. Adventure: Action Comics Adventure Comics Alan Ladd All Star Comics Bat Man Danger Trail Sensation Comics Star Spangled Comics Superboy Superman Tomahawk Wonder Woman Detective Comics (partly western, mostly adventure) World's Finest Comics 6. Crime-type comics (struggles between criminals and the organized forces of the law) : Mr. District Attorney Gangbusters 7. Love and Romance: Girls' Love Stories Girls' Romances Secret Hearts Miss Beverley Hills National Comics Group did not publish a single crime-type maga zine until the fall of 1947. Since then, it has published only two magazines of this type; namely, Gangbusters and Mr. District Attor ney. The circulation of these two magazines represent, as set forth in our circulation statistics included in separate letter submitted here with, only about 6 percent of our total circulation. The most important feature of all the above statistics is that juvenile delinquency continued to drop throughout the entire period from the latter part of 1947 to the spring of 1949, during which crime type comic books achieved their maximum circulation . Another feature is that, during the war years, when arrests of persons 18 and younger rose sharply throughout the Nation, only a single crime-type comic was in publication. Statistically, therefore, the conclusion is inescapable that there is no correlation whatsoever between juvenile delinquency and publi cation of crime-comic magazines. Indeed, the fact that the bulge in publication in crime-comic titles occurred during a period when juvenile delinquency was declining might lead to a quite opposite inference that, as stated by many educators, and as hereinafter more fully developed, the increased circulation and readership of adventure and crime-type stories in comic-book form provides many juveniles with a very necessary release from tensions which, unreleased, might impel them toward the commission of crime. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 149 HISTORY OF COMICS AND COMIC BOOKS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER FORMS OF ENTERTAINMENT In order to assay the social desirability of comics generally, or of any particular segment of the comic field, such as the so-called crime comic magazine, a brief analysis of the various types of comics and their relation to other forms of entertainment is essential. First, let us examine the comic field itself. The origin of comics goes back to the earliest history of mankind. Early hunters of the stone age, 10,000 years or more before the birth of Christ, and many centuries before the development of any written language, crudely depicted on the walls of their caves, in vegetable coloring, the animals they had encountered and slain. The ancients described everyday scenes in pictures on the walls of their tombs. Early mosaics, in shells, lapis lazuli, and pink limestone, dated 3500 B. C. , tell the story of the Sumerian Army at war, and show the royal family at peace. Scenes from daily life in ancient Egypt, taken from the ancient tomb, show two girls engaged in a hair-pulling contest as another girl removes a thorn from her foot . An early use of animals to satirize humans is found disclosed by the Japanese artist Tova Sojo, who lived in the eleventh century, which show rabbits and frogs in hu morous archery tournaments, in water sports and wrestling matches, while a monkey dressed as a priest presides over a Buddhist ceremony. The monks of the Middle Ages frequently told their Bible stories by pictures in panel form, known as blockbooks. These blockbooks tried to tell their stories without words, and when words were used they were enclosed in a "balloon" in a manner very similar to the present-day comics. It can be seen from the pictures on the preceding page that the idea of the presentation of stories in the form of continuous panels, de picting both humorous and serious subjects, is by no means a new one. Modern comics , in respect to publication media, fall into two main categories, the newspaper comic strip which originated in the United States shortly prior to 1900, and the so- called comic book or comic magazine, which originated in the early 1930's. Comic magazines, in turn, are of two types, namely, ( 1 ) the reprint in magazine form of previously published newspaper comic strips , and (2) the so-called original comic magazine, the text of which consists entirely of material prepared for original publication in comic magazine form. At present , it is estimated that reprints account for approximately 20 percent of comic-magazine circulation and original comics about 80 percent . However, the term "original comic magazine" may be somewhat misleading, as many comic magazine characters have their counter parts in radio and television as well as in motion pictures intended for children. Moreover, the comic-magazine industry, the newspaper comic-strip industry, the radio and television industries, and the motion-picture industry frequently borrow from each other char acterizations, titles, and general story make-up. Hence, we find many comic magazines, titles , and characters appearing in newspaper comic strips, radio and television programs, and the movies, although in many cases with different text , plot , or make-up. 150 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Real Screen Comics, an animated animal cartoon, published by National Comics Group, is published under license from Columbia Pictures Corp. The make-up and text of A Date With Judy, pub lished by us, is original material, but is licensed by us from the copy right owner of the title who also licensed the release by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Corp. of the motion picture bearing the same title . There is a corresponding radio program also bearing the same title . Mutt and Jeff, although published by us, is a reprint of the newspaper comic strip of the same name. We publish our comic magazine Bob Hope under license from Mr. Hope. We originated the feature known as Superman as a comic magazine. It was later published in newspaper comic strip form and also in the form of a script for radio broadcast. Superman has also appeared in 17 color-cartoon shorts released by Paramount Pictures Corp. and two motion-picture serials released by Columbia Pictures Corp. A television program involving the same character is presently in the course of preparation. Our Mr. District Attorney and Gang Busters are both published under license from the radio programs bearing the same name. The namesake of our western adventure magazine Dale Evans is the wife of the motion-picture actor Roy Rogers and his leading lady in motion pictures. Dell Publishing Co. , one of our competitors, publishes the Roy Rogers comic magazine, and there is a syndicated newspaper comic strip bearing the Roy Rogers title. There are also a radio program and several television shorts bearing the title "Dale Evans. "" We have cited the above facts to indicate the close interrelationship between the comic magazines, newspaper comic strips, and other entertainment media, such as radio , television, and motion pictures. We of National Comics Group firmly believe that the comic magazines which we publish compare favorably with the products of all of these other media, both from the standpoint of good entertainment for children and adults alike, and from the standpoint of decency and public morals. At this point, we would like to mention some of the things that we have been doing to help improve our comic magazines and our efforts to be of service to the public generally. We have been operating for almost 15 years under a stringent and self-imposed editorial code, a copy of which appears below. It should be remembered that this code was formulated long before there was any criticism of comic magazines generally. NATIONAL COMICS PUBLICATIONS, Inc. From: Whitney Ellsworth, Editorial Director To: All Editors, Artists, Writers Subject: Editorial Policy The policy of the Superman D- C Publications is to provide interesting, dramatic, and reasonably exciting entertainment without having recourse to such artificial and objectionable devices as the portrayal of the female figure in exaggerated form , sexy situations or attitudes , or situations in which violence is emphasized sadistically. Good people should be good , and bad people bad , so that no con fusion can exist in the reader's mind. Heroes should act within the law, and for the law. Research as to background for story and art should be painstaking and accurate. The inclusion of instructive material is encouraged. The following is a list of specific points of policy : 1. Women and girls should be drawn realistically, without exaggeration of physical qualities. They should in most cases be secondary in importance in the plot structure, and should never be involved in questionable situations. 2. Expressions having reference to the Deity are forbidden. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 151 3. Basically good English must be used by heroes and other good persons , though some slang and colloquialisms may be judiciously employed for purposes of characterization. Poor grammar is used only by crooks and villains-and not always by them. 4. No character should be shown being assaulted so that any sanguinary result is visible. No character may be shown being stabbed with a knife or subjected to hypodermic injection. Acts of mayhem are forbidden. The picturization of dead bodies is forbidden. 2 5. The use of chains, whips, or other such devices is forbidden. having a sexual or sadistic implication is forbidden. 6. The kidnaping of children is specifically forbidden. Any situation The kidnaping of women is discouraged, and must never have any sexual implications. 7. Heroes should never kill a villain. The villain, if he is to die, should do so as the result of his own evil machinations. A specific exception may be made in cases where the hero is a duly constituted officer of the law. 8. Whenever crime is depicted, it should be depicted as being sordid and un pleasant. Crime and criminals must never be glamorized. All stories must be written and depicted from the angle of the law-never the reverse. Justice must prevail in every case. Similarly, for almost 10 years we have enjoyed the assistance of an editorial advisory board composed of persons of high standing in the fields of education, child guidance, and psychiatry. The members of the board are: Dr. Lauretta Bender, associate professor of psychiatry , School of Medicine, New York University. Josette Frank, consultant on children's reading, Child Study Association of America. Dr. W. W. D. Sones, professor of education and director of curriculum study, University of Pittsburgh. Dr. S. Harcourt Peppard, director, Essex County Juvenile Clinic, Newark, N. J. This board was formed for the purpose of making professional recommendations to our editors and has been of inestimable value in this connection through the years. The members of the board have no powers of censorship as such, but the high professional stand ing and personal integrity of the individual members would preclude any possibility of their continuing to function on the board if the publications failed to meet their exacting standards . On November 9 , 1949, National Comics was awarded the Medallion of Honor of the Twenty-sixth Women's International Exposition for constructive advancement in comic books. This important award was made as a result of a survey completed by the Women's National Institute as a project of its permanent committee for the prevention of juvenile delinquency. A copy of the letter advising us of this award appears below. TWENTY- SIXTH ANNUAL WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION, New York 17, N. Y. , October 14, 1949. Mr. WHITNEY ELLSWORTH, Editorial Director, National Comics Publications, Inc., New York 17, N. Y. DEAR MR. ELLSWORTH: We wish to extend to National Comics Publications, Inc. , our most heartfelt congratulations. In a survey just completed by the Women's National Institute as a project of its permanent committee for the prevention of juvenile delinquency, in collab oration with women radio commentators, your comic magazines have taken top place as the choice of parents and children. The survey is part of a long term program to encourage realistic and constructive attitudes on the part of the reader and the publisher of comic magazines . The 1949 award of the Medallion of Honor of the Women's International Ex position will be conferred upon National Comics Publications, Inc. , for constructive 152 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY advancement in comic books, during our coming twenty- sixth annual exposition . The award ceremonies are scheduled for 7:30 p. m. , Wednesday, November 9, at the Seventy-first Regiment Armory, New York. We earnestly hope that your schedule may permit you to accept the award personally. We await your response with much anticipation . Very sincerely, GERTRUDE P. WIXSON, Chairman, Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency Committee of the Women's National Institute. We feel that this accolade is not undeserved. The production of good comics-whether for newspapers or comic magazines-depends almost as much on top-notch editorial supervision as upon top-notch artists and writers . As previously stated, in order to produce our 30 magazines, we employ a staff of 10 full-time editors and about 70 artists and writers, some working full and some part time. Since most of our magazines are bimonthlys, our schedule calls for the pro duction of about 18 magazines per month, or something less than 1 each working day. These magazines contain an average of 40 pages of story material. Thus, each of our 10 editors is responsible for processing less than 4 pages a day-a schedule which permits the most careful kind of editorial supervision . We feel that although our editorial operation is not unique, it is typical of the supervision of the very best publishers in our field. What have we at National done to serve the community? A number of things. During the last war we cooperated with the Navy Department in the preparation of special reading aids for use in the Navy's program for the training of illiterates . Special editions of our regular publications were produced in which " basic" vocabulary lists were substituted for those regularly published and exercise pages sub stituted for pages which ordinarily carried advertising. A Navy officer was assigned to work with our editors in our offices on this project, which was eminently successful. We produced a pictorial history of the United States for the Office of Inter-American Affairs. This project was printed in Spanish and Portuguese, and was widely distributed in Latin America for the pur pose of furthering hemispheric understanding. Mr. Nelson Rocke feller, who headed the Office of Inter-American Affairs, was most en thusiastic about the results obtained . Our commercial editions carried important public relations stories for the Army, Navy, and Air Forces, in which the desired message was woven into stories using our regular well-known characters, notably Superman. Similar projects were developed for the Treasury Depart ment, conservation agencies, and others. Almost 2 years ago, we approached the National Social Welfare Assembly, an organization which coordinates the activities of 58 of the Nation's leading youth-serving and social welfare agencies. We pro posed that their organizations make use of the tremendous reading audience served by the thirty-odd magazines published by National Comics. They had grave reservations about our proposal, but agreed that their executive committee should carefully examine our publica tions. As a result of this examination, a working arrangement was evolved. The National Social Welfare Assembly's report on the re sults of this collaboration, distributed at their recent annual conven tion, attests to the success of the experiment. Under the arrangement JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 153 between the assembly and National Comics Group, important mes sages to the youth of America occupy a full page every month in 10,000,000 National Comic magazines. The National Social Welfare Assembly cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered as an apologist for comic books. It is Social Welfare's Voluntary National Organization for cooperative planning and a partner of National Voluntary Agencies and Federal departments. It has 56 foreign associations and 4 associate groups and more than 125 communities participate in its work. Alist of the members of the organization appears below. NATIONAL SOCIAL WELFARE ASSEMBLY, INC. AFFILIATE ORGANIZATIONS American Association of Medical Social Workers American Association of Psychiatric Social Workers American Association of Social Workers American Federation of International Institutes American Hearing Society American Jewish Committee American National Red Cross American Public Welfare Association American Social Hygiene Association Association of the Junior Leagues of America, Inc. Boy Scouts of America Boys' Clubs of America Bureau of Employment Security, Social Security Administration, Federal Security Agency Bureau of Old- Age and Survivors Insurance, Social Security Administration, Federal Security Agency Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice Bureau of Public Assistance, Social Security Administration , Federal Security Agency Camp Fire Girls Child Labor Branch, Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions United States Department of Labor Child Welfare League of America Community Chests and Councils, Inc. Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds Department of Christian Social Relations, Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America Division of Welfare, National Lutheran Council Division of International Labor and Social Affairs, Department of State Extension Service, Department of Agriculture Family Service Association of America Girls Clubs of America, Inc. American Association of Group Workers Girl Scouts of the United States of America International Social Service National Association of Legal Aid Organizations National Board of the Young Women's Christian Associations National Child Labor Committee National CIO Community Services Committee National Conference of Catholic Charities National Council of the Young Men's Christian Associations National Federation of Settlements National Jewish Welfare Board National Organization for Public Health Nursing National Publicity Council for Health and Welfare Services National Recreation Association National Safety Council National Society for the Prevention of Blindness National Travelers Aid Association 72705-50-11 154 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY National Tuberculosis Association National Urban League Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Federal Security Agency Public Housing Administration, Housing and Home Finance Agency The Salvation Army United States Children's Bureau, Social Security Administration, Federal Security Agency United States Public Health Service, Federal Security Agency Veterans Administration Youth Department, National Catholic Welfare Conference Office of Education, Federal Security Agency ASSOCIATE GROUPS Conference of National Agencies and Professional Schools of Group Work and Recreation Education-Recreation Council National Health Council Social Case Work Council In its recent report entitled "How the National Social Welfare Assembly Uses Comics to Bring Social Constructive Messages to American Youth, a Cooperative Program of the National Social Wel fare Assembly and National Comics Publications, Inc., " a copy of which is submitted herewith, the committee points out the following : A second function of the advisory committee is to read National Comics Publications, Inc. , each month to check any infringement of the company's self imposed code and decide whether, in their opinion, assembly copy should be with held from any one or more, of the thirty odd magazines. We are happy to report that to date, no such withholding has been requested. The committee's cooperative program with our organization was most enthusiastically received throughout the Nation, as the following copies of press clippings and letters will attest. [From New York Times, August 18, 1949] COMICS TO CARRY MESSAGES TO CHILDREN ; AUGUST'S TO TELL 10,000,000 "GO TO SCHOOL" Recognizing the mass circulation that comic magazines have among children, the National Social Welfare Assembly has decided to try to use the " funnies" for socially constructive purposes. According to the plan announced yesterday by Frank L. Weill, president, selected comic magazines will be used to transmit worth-while information and ideas to young people, conveyed through the medium of a popular teen- age comic character, Buzzy, and written in the customary magazine style. The first message will appear in August issues of 32 comic periodicals with a circulation of 10,000,000 . It will urge yougsters to continue their school careers as a profitable investment in their futures. Details of the experiment have been worked out by the assembly and National Comics Publications, largest publisher of comics in the country. It is hoped the experiment will lead to an improvement in the comic fare offered to boys and girls. A special committee of the assembly will supervise policy and the content of the messages. The committee is headed by James Scull, public relations director of the Family Service Association of America. Others on the panel are, Mrs. Sallie E. Bright of the National Publicity Council for Health and Welfare Services ; Mrs. Mary Dabney of the Community Chests and Councils of America, and repre sentatives of the Girl Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, Child Welfare League, and the American Jewish Committee. Wh JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 155 Miss MARION ROBINSON, National Social Welfare Assembly, Inc., THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS, Washington 18, D. C. , June 20, 1950. The NATIONAL COMICS GROUP New York 19, N. Y. DEAR MISS ROBINSON: How thoughtful of you to send us the copy of your last report on the comics project of the National Social Welfare Assembly with the assortment of photostats of comic pages you have done this past year. We found all of this material extremely interesting. The project deserves every commendation, for accepting comics as a vital influence in the lives of young people and capitalizing on their influence is a step in the right direction .' I am glad to see that the assembly has been able to work out such a constructive idea with National Comics Publications, Inc., by furnishing them with material for presentation in their publications. The subjects chosen are excellent and give a wide variety and a nice balance, two qualities of good citizenship we like to encourage in our young people. The work you yourself have been able to do in preparing the copy for the strips is outstanding in its presentation of subject material. I wish you might give some thought to doing similar strips for our magazines after you have completed your assignment for the assembly. This is the type of subject matter we like to present in our publications and an occasional picture strip like these you have prepared make an excellent vehicle . Won't you give this matter some little thought while you are " in retreat " this summer? We particularly like the home, the community, and the educational slant. You may be interested to know that the managing editor of our publications was so impressed with this material of yours, that she took several of the picture strips with her to the Junior Red Cross leadership training center she is now attending in Arkansas. She not only wanted to introduce this type of thing to the boys and girls at the camp, but I think also wanted to get their reactions to having this type of material in the Journal. and with every Again, my heartiest thanks to you for sending this report to us, good wish to you personally, Cordially yours, LOIS S. JOHNSON, Editor, American Junior Red Cross News, American Junior Red Cross Journal. NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL, Chicago, August 3, 1949. 205 East Forty- second Street, New York 17, N. Y. GENTLEMEN: The National Safety Council wishes to express to you its sincere thanks for the contribution you have made to safety through the page on safety you prepared and distributed in cooperation with the Advertising Council . We are keenly aware here of the tremendous value of safety education in pre venting accidents, and we realize the large and important segment of the popula tion reached through the medium of comics. We are sure that your public service in bringing this safety message to millions of Americans has helped prevent thousands of accidents and has helped to save many lives. Sincerely yours, NED H. DEARBORN, President. 156 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY COMMUNITY CHESTS OF AMERICA, New York, 17, N. Y. , August 11, 1949. NATIONAL COMICS GROUP, 205 East Forty-second Street, New York 17, N. Y. GENTLEMEN: May we express our appreciation of the attention you have recently given in your magazine to community chests and other community services, particularly in the pages devoted to Give Your Town a Present and the Green Arrow and the Red Feather. These will help boys and girls to become interested in their communities and to learn to do something about making them better places to live. Sincerely yours, MARY K. DABNEY, Director, School Program . Getting back to the question of whether comics portraying violence and crime cause juvenile delinquency, let us examine the statements of psychiatrists, child guidance specialists and others, including informed members of the press , on this subject. The loudest and most persistent psychiatric damnation of the comics has come from Dr. Frederic Wertham of New York City, who, in a series of articles in various publications (Journal of Educational Sociology, December 1949, p. 195) claims to have developed, by a number of case studies, definite proof of a positive correlation between crimes and juvenile delinquency. His conclusions and the material upon which they were based are vigorously attacked by Dr. F. M. Thrasher, professor of education at New York University, and a member ofthe Attorney General's Conference on Juvenile Delinquency who points out in a well documented and penetrating article (Journal of Educational Sociology December 1949) that Wertham conducted no genuine research, and that his conclusions were arrived at because of his own personal bias and prejudice against the comics, rather than the results of careful and impartial sampling and analysis . Dr. Thrasher concludes as follows : In conclusion, it may be said that no acceptable evidence has been produced by Wertham or anyone else for the conclusion that the reading of comic magazines has, or has not, a significant relation to delinquent behavior. * * * The danger adherent in the present controversy, in which forensic argument replaces research, is that having set up a satisfactory "whipping boy" in comic magazines, we fail to face and accept our responsibility as parents and as citizens for providing our children with more healthful family and community living, a more construc tive developmental experience. The editors of Collier's magazine, in which Dr. Wertham's results were first presented , are also doubtful of his conclusions . The follow ing is an editorial appearing in that magazine a few weeks after Dr. Wertham's article : THE OLD FOLKS TAKE IT HARDER THAN JUNIOR Sometimes it seems as if comic books are exciting parents more than they are supposed to excite youthful readers. At least there have been quite a number of irate elders and a few psychiatrists breaking into print lately with charges that the comics are totally bad, and that they are corrupting children's taste, degrading their morals and encouraging crime. Excitable people frequently accuse certain books, magazines, movies, and plays of doing the same thing to adults. The difference is that parents are inclined to fire a broadside of condemnation at the whole field of comic books rather than concentrate on individual offenders. This approach, we believe, is wrong on three counts. It implies the need of censorship—a malignancy that can spread rapidly once it gets a start. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 157 It complicates the job of cool-headed civic and parent groups and responsible publishers who are trying to promote the better comic books and discourage the reading of trashy ones. It exaggerates the importance of comics as an evil force in the lives of American children. Any kid needs some vicarious adventure in his life. The comics help fill that need, as the dime novels did before them. Ayoungster's taste in adventure stories runs to simple problems solved by simple means. Parents are often shocked when these solutions are achieved with the help of fists, knives, and guns. But if a child is healthy and happy it isn't likely that he is going to absorb enough poison from blood-and-thunder cartoon books to steer him toward a career of crime. The comics have been held responsible for juvenile murders. Perhaps the children_involved thought that they got the inspiration to kill from a comic book. Maybe their parents and the authorities thought so, too. We don't. A comic book might provide a suggestion, but not a motive. If a youngster shuts himself up in the unreal world of lurid comics to the point where they seem to dictate his actions , there must be something pretty bad in his real world that he is trying to run away from. Juvenile delinquency is the product of pent-up frustrations, stored- up resent ments and bottled - up fears. It is not the product of cartoons and captions. But the comics are a handy, obvious, uncomplicated scapegoat. If the adults who crusade against them would only get as steamed up over such basic causes of delinquency as parental ignorance, indifference and cruelty, they might discover that comic books are no more of a menace than Treasure Island or Jack the Giant Killer. Simon Stickgold, chief of the division of special services, Illinois Public Aid Commission, Chicago, Ill . , delivered a most interesting address before the National Conference of Social Work on June 15, 1950 , entitled " The Influence of Motion Pictures, Radio and Comic Books on Children." We quote extensively from this speech because in our opinion it is one of the most penetrating expressions of opinion that we have encountered on this subject. One of the more preposterous notions to gain ascendency over the minds of otherwise intelligent persons is the idea that certain forms of entertainment can have a permanently harmful influence on the minds and actions of children. Everything from emotional upsets to murder have been traced by some author ities to bloody radio serials, wild movies, and lurid comic books. If a youngster awakes in the night, screaming with fright, his anxious mother is apt to attribute his nightmare to the gruesome antics of the Shadow-and what is more unset tling -the child himself, borrowing his mother's error, will do likewise. If a 14-year old adolescent from a broken home with a working mother commits a shocking murder, as one recently did in Chicago, and comic books are found in his home, a cause and effect relationship is established and a triumphant "Eureka" rises to the skies from the throats of well-meaning but illogical clergy men, police officers, and self-styled delinquency experts. It is my conviction that the recent furor over radio serials, wild movies, and comic books is sheer nonsense. It is nonsense for two quite important reasons : First, the passion for censorship, whether of children's entertainment or adult art forms, is cut from the same cloth. It is an officious meddling on the part of persons who are generally not qualified to meddle with the mental processes and thought patterns of other people. What is more, when it is not the result of psychic perversion or worse, it is usually motivated by a deep-rooted fear of one of the few worth-while things left to free people—the unencumbered expression and ex changes of ideas, good, bad, and indifferent. Second, it is a misconception to assert or assume that children are adversely affected, in any significant sense, by any of the art forms they so avidly consume. On the contrary-they probably acquire real benefits in the form of mental stimulation and hints for imaginative play. Children, like adults, are primarily molded by their own experiences-not the experiences of gory heroes or villains with whom they really never identify themselves except in their fanciful play worlds. After all, children, like adults, are affected by the basic form of their own life scheme-by the comfort, love, and security they receive or fail to receive at home-by a desire for the respect of their contemporaries-by the pattern of their formal education. Psychologists and social workers know where delinquency starts. Based on experience they can almost figure mathematically the percentage of children who 158 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY will become delinquent in slum areas, middle- class neighborhoods, and high-income groups. Economics, not comics, is at the bottom of practically every known form of juvenile delinquency, and parental maladjustment is at the bottom of the remainder. Delinquent children—and those who are not delinquent, for that matter-are cagey little devils. When they commit an offense and are apprehended , their nat ural inclination is to sh the blame. If some agreeable worker or court attendant offers them a scapegoat in the form of a comic book, they will accept it. Why shouldn't they? It eases their own guilt feeling and it permits the court to find a tangible whipping boy to blame the predicament of the unfortunate waif before it. Yes ; delinquent youngsters have excellent reasons for blaming the movies, radio, and comics for their crimes. But adults who are responsible for the healthy development of children have no such justification. They must know that hundreds of thousands of youngsters today and before the days of the radio and comic books have reveled in blood and thunder fiction without showing any ill effects and have grown and are growing to maturity as upright, intelligent, and functioning members of society. Blood and thunder? Let me quote a few short lines of some traditional children's stories: "Now the mountain belonged to some wild and savage giants who lived on it, and before long the huntsman saw three of them striding toward him. He lay quickly down and pretended to be fast asleep . The first one stumbled against him and said, 'What kind of an earthworm is this?' The second said, 'Tread on him and kill him.' Or this "So then the cook said, ' Tomorrow morning early, when the forester goes out hunting, I am going to boil the water. And when it bubbles in the kettle I am going to throw Fundevogel into it and boil him .' ” Both of these gems are from Grimm's Fairy Tales. Most of the fairy tales, mythological stories , and children's novels have stood the test of time, as a matter of fact are replete with mayhem and murder, and even Penrod-composing the story of Ramirez can think only in terms of killing , shooting , and quick death. What exactly is it in modern children's literature that we object to? It is brutality? Hardly. Brutality has been a part of children's literature for as long as there has been any and, incidentally, it has been a part of life , too . Sex? Personally, I am convinced that it is somewhat late in the day to be worrying about sex; that, at least, appears to be here to stay. What then? Is it that most children's entertainment is trashy? That radio serials, cowboy movies, and comic books are a low form of art? Of course they are . But so are most adult radio stories, movies, and novels. Besides, a child must crawl before he walks and walk before he runs. Out of comics and radio serials and bad motion pictures an intelligent child can ultimately distill the essence of what is good and what is bad and an unintelligent child will not be able to do that no matter what literary influences he may be subjected to. "1 Josette Frank, educational associate in charge of children's books and radio on the staff of the Child Study Association of America, and a noted lecturer in this field , has this to say in her booklet entitled "Comics, Radio, Movies and Children" (Public Affairs Pamphlet No. 148, published by the Public Affairs Committee, Inc. , 1949) : Nor is there any basis in fact for the current news headlines which blame comics for children's delinquent acts, or for reckless claims that they have caused a rise in juvenile crime. Certainly we cannot accept at its face value the plea of a fright ened child, hoping to please the judge by his "reasons, " that he committed his crime because he "saw it in the comics" or "in the movies." Yet such confessions have been quoted as "proof" of the damage wrought by comics. In an article in the Saturday Review of Literature, Dr. Frederick Wertham attempts to trace crime to comics : "A 20-year-old youth in New York City has just killed a policeman. Is that so astonishing when he can see anywhere a typical comic-book cover showing a man and a woman shooting it out with the police?" This brings us no closer to understanding the deep troubles of this youth. And the anxiety it creates in parents brings them no closer to understand ing their children's needs . The causes of crime are not so simple. Children have always done dangerous things, damaging themselves and others. They do not know why they are driven to behave as they do. We shall not cure the causes of this juvenile behavior by blaming it on their reading, or on the radio, or the movies. It lies much deeper, in our society's failure to meet the basic needs of these children. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 159 In response to an inquiry, Edwin J. Lukas, director of the Society for the Pre vention of Crime, writes : "I am unaware of the existence of any scientifically established causal relationship between the reading of comic books and delin quency. It is my feeling that efforts to link the two are an extension of the archaic impulse by which, through the ages, witchcraft, evil spirits, and other super stitious beliefs have in turn been blamed for antisocial behavior. " On this question, Dr. Mandel Sherman, professor of educational psychology at the University of Chicago, states from his experience: " In studying the causes of behavior problems of children for many years, I have never seen one instance of a child whose behavior disturbance originated in the reading of comic books, nor even a case of a delinquent whose behavior was exaggerated by such readings. A child may ascribe his behavior to a comic he has read or a movie he has seen. But such explanations cannot be considered scientific evidence of causation . " The fact that a large number of comic books deal in crime, or at least in violence of one kind or another, reflects the desire of a large number of people, including children, to read about crime and violence . This is nothing new. The greatest literature of all time-Shakespeare, Homer, even the classic fairy tales-abounds in violent deeds. These, in their own time, reflected the deep inner needs of people. They still do. The question whether reading about violence provides safe release for children's aggressive impulses or may, in some instances, stimulate them to aggressive behavior, cannot be answered readily except in terms of the individual child's reactions. Psychiatrists point out that many children find deep satisfaction in sharing the daring deeds of their heroes, that those few children who are driven to experiment with danger would be as likely to respond to any other stimuli. Anything they see or hear may suggest the pattern if the drive is here. There is no substitute for parental vigilance. The well-known columnist Robert C. Ruark, in a syndicated column dated August 4, 1948, during the hearings on the so-called Feinberg bill which would have subjected comic magazines to censorship in New York State, wrote the following article: COMIC BOOKS (By Robert C. Ruark) The comic book- that juvenile narcotic which has replaced Nick Carter and the Rover Boys, and even manages to compete with radio's cliffhangers-has been in for a healthy pasting ever since the young-raising experts dignified the comics as a social force.

There was a bill introduced in the last New York State Legislature, calling for the investigation of the comic book, which one Senator Harold I. Panken referred to as "an obscene glorification of violence and crime. " Fourteen of the major

publishers have since adopted a morals code, intended to cleanse their hack drawn fables of some of the more sordid features, notably sex and sadism. I know that the comic book has replaced Mother Goose, and that brisk, stealthy trading goes on among the youngsters, in defiance of the parental ration. But I am wondering if many young lives will be unduly influenced by what they read, or half read, during that brief space between babyhood and a sudden, all-consuming interest in the opposite sex. Without endorsing any of the dreadful trash to which brother and sister are exposed in their daily conference with the verboten cartoons, I am inclined to think that very little of it rubs off, except in the case of the definitely warped mentality. And that mentality can rarely be protected, because it is a cinch to be swayed eventually, by the more pungent crime-sex-strife anecdotes of the sensa tion journals, the movies, and the radio. And, thinking backward a score of years, most of my remembered violence accrues, not from the penny dreadful, but from the folk-tale and the classic. Also I carried away more smut from Shakespeare than from the two-bit awful awfuls. I just checked through the saga of Jack the Giant Killer, supposedly a cradle standby and as vital a portion of the formative years as a diaper. It is a horrid tale, told dead pan, a story to fill the baby skull with creeping monsters and raise a bumper crop of curious complexes. 160 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY In a dozen pages, young Jack committed 10 cold-blooded murders. He killed by trickery. He was a stabber in the back. He looted. He was regarded as a hero, throughout, and was richly rewarded for a spate of murder and mayhem that would make the career of the recent mad-dog killers, West and Daniels, seem comparatively innocuous. After all, they only accounted for seven strangers. Jack scragged his first victim, a giant named Cormoran, by luring him into a pit then bashing him with a pickax. Stealing the corpse's sword, he then proceeded to drop a noose on, hang, and later stab, two other giants. As an after thought, he liberated three starving women who were hanging by their hair from a rafter. Callously, for personal gain, he engineered the suicide of another giant, in order to acquire an invisible coat, an all-cutting sword, an all-knowing cap, and a pair of fleet shoes. He tricked this poor fellow into stabbing himself in the stomach. He then engaged in a brawl with a magician, "who was exercising his enchant ment on a beautiful lady, " and cut off the magician's head. He was made a knight of the round table as a reward. Employing sheer, perverse sadism, he chopped off another giant at the kneecaps, before killing him, and lopped the nose off another, just for laughs. Sir Jack then stabbed him in the back, and divided his wealth with his friends. He booby-trapped a bridge for Giant Hundel, hanged him with a rope, and then sliced through his neck. In a final orgy, he slew another giant, caused a wizard to be blown away by a hurricane, and married a duke's daughter who had been converted into a female deer. For this bloody escapade, the state rewarded him with a large property, and he lived happily ever after with his society wench. I could be wrong, but I do not believe that the offspring of generations fledged on that heady fare has much to fear from the comic book. For sadism, sex, and black magic, the old boys can still give pointers to the new. This bill was passed by both houses of the New York State Legisla ture, and was immediately attacked by the entire New York press, including the New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune, whose editorial comment is set forth below. [From New York Herald Tribune, February 25, 1949] ANOTHER CENSORSHIP THREAT Every parent knows that comic books, which are neither comic nor books, represent a problem. We assume that Senator Feinberg had every good intention in the world when he introduced a bill at Albany to regulate comic books, and that the State senate was moved by a sense of constructive virtue in overwhelm ingly passing the Republican majority leader's bill on Wednesday. But the remedy is worse than the ailment. In its well- meaning attack on dubious comics the senate has walked into a bear trap and approved a complete bureaucratic machinery of censorship before publication . Let us examine Senator Feinberg's bill . Every comic book would undergo examination by a newly created division subject to the commissioner of education. Permits would be refused to any material " obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, indecent, immoral or disgusting or * * * of such a character as to encourage a breach of the law." The fact of official approval or disapproval, must be published in each comic book. And if any publisher or distributor dares to proceed otherwise, the offending comic book must be submitted 30 days beforehand to the district attorney. The muzzling process is complete . The issue is not whether comic books are cultural props or crime breeders. Censorship is the question. This bill is a dangerous wedge. By establishing the basis that the license comes first, New York encourages further steps toward control of the printed word. This State already has an extremely broad statute on obscenity and the like , which has stood a considerable test by time. Why do we need more law? Today only the comic books are to be licensed ; tomorrow the idea of publication by permit, with all its insidious potentialities, may extend to everything else on the newsstands. By the time the assembly gets around to considering this scheme we hope that Albany's curious taste for censorship will have faded. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 161 [From New York Times, Feb. 25, 1949] COMIC BOOK CENSORSHIP The mental picture invoked by the bill just passed by the State senate, of an agent of the august regents of the University of the State of New York ensconced in a comic book division of the department of education for the purpose of precen sorship of the millions of comic books sold in the State, is for some of us at least a comic one. That such a bill should pass the Senate by a vote of 49 to 6 clearly demonstrates, however, that many people are deeply concerned over the moral and social effect of this flood of pulp paper that has been loosed on the newsstands in the last decade or so. Its publishers are now reaping the whirlwind of indigna tion that is the result of their own failure of selfrestraint. That official censorship should be proposed or effectuated, as it has in many cities , was inevitable. No doubt there have been and are offensive abuses by some comic-book pub lishers. But it is a dangerous invasion of freedom of the press, with which all freedoms are joined , to set aside for governmental precensorship one form of publication, defined as " any publication composed predominantly of pictures or drawings with or without accompany printed statements, expressions or texts, and commonly called comic books." This means, of course, that if anybody chose to publish in a pulp-paper edition of comic book format, copiously illustrated, Shakespeare's Hamlet, or Huckleberry Finn, or for that matter a textbook in geometry, he would have to submit it to the State's comic book director to deter mine whether it was lewd, obscene, “ of such character as to encourage a breach of law. " In other words, no matter how innocent the material to be published, as long as pictures predominated and the format was of comic book dimensions, the publisher would risk jail unless he submitted to the State's comic Watch and Ward Society. There are good comic books, indifferent ones, and some downright bad. A censor who tried to read them all day long would quickly go mad. There is already a remedy in law in every State against obscene or indecent literature, to which local authorities can always resort against comic books. We think the comic books have, on the whole, had an urious effect on children and in various ways. What they have done to adults, who are said to make up perhaps half of the comic-book-readers, we cannot even surmise. But in time, and before they have done too much harm to morals or taste, public opinion will succeed in mak ing the reforms needed. To wait for that to happen is far less dangerous than to abridge freedom of the right to publish. The bill was considered unconstitutional by Governor Dewey, who vetoed it on April 18 , 1949. A short time ago, General Sessions Judge Saul S. Streit of New York, was called upon to pass sentence upon a 20-year old former convict who had been dishonorably discharged from the United States Marines. The defendant's counsel claimed that the defendant was insane and submitted a report by the afore-mentioned Dr. Frederic Wertham, who had found him insane, and who had blamed his insanity in part to the reading of so - called crime comics. Judge Streit in rejecting the insanity plea, stated as follows (New York Times, May 5 , 1949) : Many psychiatrists attribute the commission of crime to the fact that a person has been reading comic books. After they ask the patient if he reads comic books, and the patient replies "Yes, " they come to the conclusion that comics are the reason for crime. They do not take into consideration the fact that hundreds of thousands of persons who read comic books never are charged with a crime. A short time ago, the Red Cross applied to all United States citizens to donate comic books to the Marine Corps to refresh its men en route to Korea. Arecent issue of the NewYorker magazine, comment ing upon the work of the New York State Legislative Fact Finding Commission in respect to comics, had this rather amusing comment: This puts the legislators in a ticklish spot. Should they find against comics and be scorned forever after from the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Pusan? 162 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Should they find for comics and invite abuse at all future psychiatric conclaves? If the committeemen have not yet figured a graceful way out, we have a suggestion for them. They could simply adopt a resolution urging all children in New York State to patriotically relinquish their comic books to the marines for the duration. The leathernecks would be pleased, the psychiatrists would be pleased, and so, we guess, would the children. This article emphasizes the fact that comics enjoy an even greater readership among adults than among children. Based upon our own researches (space does not permit us to analyze the source material in detail) out of every thousand persons of reading age (8 or over) 396 are readers of comic magazines. Of this number, 213 are adults and 183 are children . In this connection, Harry Zorbaugh, chairman of the department of sociology of the School of Education, New York University, has an interesting comment which appears in the Encyclo pedia Americana, 1947 edition , volume 7 , page 362A. He there states : Of men in training camps in the United States during World War 2, 44 percent read comic books regularly, another 13 percent read them occasionally. At post exchanges comic books outsold the Saturday Evening Post, Life, and The Readers Digest combined, by a ratio of 10 to 1 . If comic magazines are considered desirable enough for readership by 17- and 18-year olds in the Armed Forces, can they be so objectionable for consumption by their brothers and sisters a year or two younger? Afew days ago, the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene recognizing the immense social service rendered by comic magazines, adopted the use of such magazines in the treatment of mental hygiene cases. An interesting article appearing in the New York Times of September 1 , 1950, concerning this event is set forth below. STATE IGNORES FREUD, ADOPTS COMIC BOOKS IN HANDLING OF MENTAL HYGIENE CASES ALBANY, September 1. —In an abrupt about-face that might have startled Sigmund Freud, the State department of mental hygiene has temporarily deserted the bleak case histories of psychiatrists' reports for the more colorful pages of comic books. Tomorrow, at the opening of the State fair in Syracuse, the department will dis tribute the first of 460,000 copies of a 16-page comic book. In it are four picture stories of Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead and the trials of their family. The booklet is outwardly indistinguishable for the reams of adventures of Superman and Donald Duck that clog the newsstands and drug stores. But into its pages Commissioner Newton Bigelow has carefully inserted a group of basic mental-health messages. In specially drawn cartoons, the Bumstead family successfully demonstrates that you cannot help yourself by taking out your troubles on a scapegoat; that everybody needs some affection ; that you cannot shirk responsibilities ; and that members of a family have a right to their own private lives . "The universal appeal of the comic book stems from its color, action, and drama, " Dr. Bigelow declared . " In utilizing this medium for education, we hope to reach the same public that is reached by comics in general-cutting across all social and economic strata and embracing every age level . "The dramatization of good mental hygiene in ordinary human relationships is particularly meaningful when the characters involved are as familiar as our next door neighbors. ' "" Aspokesman for the department said that the comic book was in the nature of a one-shot experiment and that there were no plans for the use of others. It is interesting to note that our Communist adversaries have also begun to make good use of comics-although for a more sinister purpose. The following article appeared recently in the New York Herald Tribune. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 163 HI HO, SILVER! REDS PUT COMICS TO WORK ITALIAN BOOKLET FEATURES UNITED STATES SLAVE TRADER (By Barrett McGurn) ROME. -Communists are opening a new front this month on their many-sided battle for Italy as they launch their first ideological comic book, "Pioniere" ("The Pioneers" ) . Publication of the book has followed a year-long debate in Italian Communist circles about what to do about comics, a field in which the United States to date has won an almost total victory in Italy. The new Com munist comic book shows signs of heavy financing but the chances are still good that the United States will remain the victor in the field. The debate about the comics started when Communists decided that Italy's children not only were passionately interested in comic books but that practically no other kind of printed material was finding any favor with them. Communist officials denounced the comics for being American in origin, largely American in design and in subject matter, and a disturbing source of " education in the myth of Americanism." Communist-led children were urged to gather comic books for "peace bonfires" or for sale to paper dealers for funds to finance pro- Communist propaganda, but the appeals must have had little success. According to Dina Rinaldi, the Com munist who is one of the three leaders of the Communist-sponsored organization for pre-teen-age children, Italian children showed such a persistent devotion to the comics that they even set up little markets for swapping the books in order to make each lira buy as much reading time as possible. In a new comic book published in Rome, the Italian Communists' version of an American, a slave trader named Jim Sullivan, arrives by boat to seek slaves from the Bula-Bula tribe in Africa. He says: "Greetings, O powerful Bula- Bula. I am Jim Sullivan and I come from the great country in the West to speak with 99 your wise Chief Bulanga. The native answers : "Leave your firearms in the boat and come ashore. But Chief Bulanga, suspicious, smashes the bottle of liquor which Sullivan offers and warns him that he will get no slaves from the tribe. In closing we would like to quote from an article by Henry E. Schultz, an attorney and chairman of the executive committee of the New York City Board of Higher Education, entitled "Censorship or Self-Regulation", and appearing in the December 1949 edition of the Journal of Educational Psychology. In this article Mr. Schultz reviewed the various attempts by State legislatures throughout the United States during the past few years to ban the sale of comics or to impose censorship on them. Pointing out that 32 bills or resolu tions affecting comic books had been introduced in 16 States, he reported that of all this proposed legislation not a single bill became law. His article concludes as follows : Much of the tumult and the shouting has died. The danger of political cen sorship, of course, remains. We are increasingly convinced that the comic book, strident, awkward and comparatively undeveloped as a medium for the communi cation of ideas and information, can and will be molded into a constructive force for entertainment and education in our society. We are increasingly convinced that the method by which this will be accomplished is in the realm of self- dis cipline or self-regulation. Thinking men and women will agree that in this direc tion lies a true and lasting solution. Censorship bans, repressive legislation, intemporate indictment of a whole industry for the sins of a few can do naught but lead us down a dark and dangerous road from which there may be no returning. We trust that the information contained in this report may be helpful to the committee in arriving at its conclusions. If the com mittee desires any additional information, or any further research on 164 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY our part, in respect to the comic magazines which we publish or the comic magazine industry in general, we would be only too glad to be of further assistance. Very respectfully yours, NATIONAL COMICS PUBLICATIONS, INC. By J. S. LIEBOWITZ , Vice president. APPENDIX Question 1 The approximate total circulation of all comic magazines published by us for the last 10 years is as follows : 1940, 35,000,000 ; 1941 , 44,000,000 ; 1942 , 54,000,000 ; 1943 , 72,000,000 ; 1944, 79,000,000 ; 1945 , 86,000,000 ; 1946, 100,000,000 ; 1947, 101,000,000 ; 1948, 101 , 000,000 ; 1949, 96,000,000 ; 1950 (first 6 months) , 48,000,000. As we understand that the information contained in this report may be pub lished and made available to the public in the form of an official committee report, we would prefer not to set forth our detailed circulation information as to each magazine which we publish since the dissemination of such information to our com petitors might be injurious to us. However, in an effort to assist the committee in the main subject of its inquiry, namely the so- called crime comic magazine, we submit the following is the circulation of the two magazines of this type which we publish, since their first publication date : Mr. District Attorney 1 . Gang Busters 2 1 Commenced publication June 1949, 2 Commenced publication June 1948. State Maine.. New Hampshire Vermont. Massachusetts Rhode Island . Connecticut .. New England___ New York.. New Jersey. Pennsylvania_ 11 Middle Atlantic___. Delaware Maryland District of Columbia. Question 2 In response to this question we submit herewith copy of a highly illuminating report entitled " Reading of Comic Magazines in Dayton, Ohio, " prepared for us in May of this year by Stewart, Dougall & Associates of New York, market analysts. We believe that this report is the best study of comic book readership ever assembled, and furnishes complete information as to age and sex, as well as other characteristics, of comic magazine readers. Percentage oftotal circulation 1947 1,030,000 With respect to geographical location of our readership, we submit the following information as to our net paid circulation by States as of February, 1949. This information appears in the December 1949 Audit Report of the Audit Bureau of Circulations, Chicago, Ill . • 1948 1,066, 000 3, 300,000 State 0. 73 Virginia___ .44 West Virginia . 27 North Carolina_ 28. 1. 6474 3. 11 South Carolina_ 59 Georgia.. 1. 51 Florida.. 6. 65 9. 91 Ohio ... 3. 48 Indiana_ 6. 51 Illinois_ 1949 3,300,000 3,500,000 Michigan.. 19. 90 Wisconsin .. First 6 months 1950 South Atlantic____. 1,400,000 1,500,000 East North Central___- Percentage oftotal circulation 1. 99 1. 41 2. 25 1. 31 1. 72 1. 84 13. 18 6. 11 2. 88 7. 15 4. 12 1. 93 22. 19 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 165 State Kentucky. Tennessee Alabama Mississippi.. East South Central_ - _ - _ Minnesota._. Iowa___. Missouri. North Dakota. South Dakota.. Nebraska Kansas. West North Central ---- Arkansas . Louisianna_ Oklahoma Texas___ West South Central____ Percentage oftotal circulation State 1. 50 Montana_. 1. 63 Idaho .. 1. 27 Wyoming. 75 Colorado .. New Mexico__ 5. 15 Arizona_ Utah.. 1. 61 Nevada___ 1. 43 2. 5547 45 Washington .. 90 Oregon__ 1. 24 California_ 8. 65 • 65 1. 28 1. 33 4. 73 8. 02 • Mountain 14 Grand total_ I I 1 Pacific . Total United States_ United States Territories_ Canada__ Foreign_ Percentage oftotal circulation 0.5347 .32 · 94 · 52 • 644120 4. 03 1. 20 1. 05 7. 14 9. 39 97. 16 1. 4921 1. 14 100. 00 • Question 4 In 1941 we formed an editorial advisory board, comprised of the following persons: Dr. Lauretta Bender, associate professor of psychiatry, School of Medicine, New York University Josette Frank, consultant on children's reading, Child Study Association of America Dr. W. W. D. Sones, professor of education and director of curriculum study, University of Pittsburgh Dr. S. Harcourt Peppard, director, Essex County Juvenile Clinic, Newark, N. J. This board was formed for the purpose of making professional recommendations to the editors of our publications and has been of enormous value in this connection through the years . The members of the board have no powers of censorship as such, but we have always accorded considerable weight to their suggestions in respect to our editorial policy. We compensate them for their services as follows : Dr. Sones, $200 per month; Dr. Bender, $ 150 per month; Dr. Frank, $ 300 per month ; Dr. Peppard, $ 100 per month. A REPORT- HOW THE NATIONAL SOCIAL WELFARE ASSEMBLY USES COMICS TO BRING SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTIVE MESSAGES TO AMERICAN YOUTH A cooperative program of the National Social Welfare Assembly and National Comics Publications, Inc. Early in 1949 the National Social Welfare Assembly became interested in a comics project proposed by National Comics Publications, Inc., largest publishers of comics magazines. Designed to bring socially constructive information and ideas to American youth through the medium of comics magazines, this proposal resulted in coopera tive presentation of a variety of public- service messages depicted on special monthly pages in selected comics magazines. The National Social Welfare Assembly is social welfare's voluntary national organization for cooperative planning and action. It is a partnership of national voluntary agencies and Federal departments . It takes in national organizations and local community representation ; volunteer and professional leadership . The 166 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY assembly has 56 affiliate organizations and 4 associate groups, and more than 125 communities participate in its work. As the national nerve center of health and welfare services, the assembly was approached by National Comics Publications, Inc. , with the suggestion that a page a month of social-welfare content be provided. This copy would run in all issues of the magazines published by National Comics Publications, Inc. , or in such of its magazines as the assembly might designate. It was also suggested that the assembly make criticisms and constructive suggestions about the general content of the magazines. With a monthly circulation of over 10,000,000 (and a readership estimated at 4 times that much) , this company publishes Date With Judy, Mutt and Jeff, Animal Antics, Buzzy, Superman, Bob Hope, Dale Evans, and some 25 other magazines. National Comics Publications , Inc. , has operated for 15 years under a self imposed code designed to prevent abuses for which the comics are commonly criticized . It also retains an advisory board of psychiatrists and educators. The assembly gave National Comics Publications, Inc.'s proposal the most serious consideration. The positive value of reaching millions of young people, many of whom could not be reached in other ways, was thoroughly explored, as well as negative factors such as the possibility of adverse public criticism. The arguments pro and con comics in general were reviewed. The question of what the assembly could do with the medium to achieve satisfactory results was also discussed. Finally, in order to have as sound a basis as possible for making a decision , the assembly engaged a researcher to take a broad sampling of studies previously made and the opinions expressed by professional people and civic leaders. From the research a number of things emerged . In brief: Comics are one of the largest mediums of communication yet to appear on this globe. Fifty million comics magazines are sold monthly-and the number of copies is only a partial count of the readership. Considering this in combination with newspaper comic strips, this means that nearly a hundred million people in the United States alone have the fixed habit of reading comics in one form or another. Organizations using comics as a medium for their own purposes range from big commercial firms like General Electric, the Institute of Life Insurance, through churches and welfare groups like the Lutheran World Council, the National Safety Council ; from political and labor interests , such as the CIO, through schools, universities, and the United States State Department. Opinion concerning the effect of comics on young people varies among profes sional leaders much as it does among laymen. Those who believe comics waste time, help to perpetuate day dreaming, con tribute to nightmares, are opposed by others who feel that comics help youngsters let off steam, relieve tensions, give them a sense of confidence in dealing with the adult world . Some think reading comics unfits children for democratic living , but others dispute this by saying that comics, as modern fairy tales , offer children legitimate food for the imagination. Criticism of low-grade art work and inferior production of some comics is also frequently made. From the research, two things became obvious to the assembly: There is no objective scientific data at the present time on the effects of mass media-includ ing comics- on young people and the enormous circulation and readership ; the impact of ideas conveyed by the comics medium were undeniable. An additional fact stood out-some comics are better than others, by any reasonable standard. The executive committee of the assembly therefore concluded (1) that a refusal to consider the medium would not help to solve any of the problems connected with comics ; (2) that the chance to present socially constructive ideas to an enormous reading public which social welfare could not hope to reach otherwise was an opportunity not to be neglected ; (3) that reputable publishers should be encouraged to maintain high standards, and therefore perhaps raise the standards of the comics field as a whole; A copy of this report is available on request from the National Social Welfare Assembly, 1790 Broadway, New York 19, N. Y. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 167 (4) that such a project would be one way of carrying out an important function of the assembly-the broad interpretation of problems and needs in the health and welfare field. Consequently, the assembly agreed to accept National Comics Publications, Inc.'s proposal and to furnish material for presentation in the company's maga zines. This agreement was made subject to certain provisions covering the assembly's approval of the final form of the material before publication , freedom to deal with other comics publishers, selection of National Comics Publications, Inc. , magazines in which assembly copy appears, etc. It was also stated that the arrangement was not to be taken to mean assembly endorsement of National Comics Publications, Inc., magazines carrying its copy, nor disapproval of ones not carrying it. So far, seven strips have been approved for publication. They have dealt with education, health, youth volunteer work, brotherhood, democracy in the family, balanced recreation, and job and careers after school. Immediately following the appearance of the first of these pages (a back-to school message) the project was reported on by the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and Time magazine, as well as professional publications, and favorable comments were made by outstanding persons in the welfare field. Six months after the project began, National Comics Publications, Inc., received the medallion of honor from the Permanent Committee on Juvenile Delinquency of the Women's International Exposition for "constructive advancement in comics magazines. " In making the award, Mrs. Grace Harriman, of the expo sition's advisory committee, stated : "We are pleased to single out National Comics Publications, Inc., and to com mend them for their high editorial standards, for the educational content they inject into their magazines, and for the public services they perform regularly in cooperation with member organizations of the National Social Welfare Assembly. " The project is handled this way: The assembly's advisory committee for the comics project , composed of qualified persons from agencies in the health, education, recreation, group work, case work fields, and community organizations, discusses a variety of public-service ideas and decides on a topic seasonably suitable for each month. The staff member of the assembly assigned to this work then prepares, with the help of specialists in the appropriate field , a short story embodying the desired message. This is turned over to National Comics Publications, Inc. , whose editorial staff reworks it into comics style and whose artists put it into comic-strip form. A photostat of the page is then gone over by the advisory committee. It is either approved as it stands or is worked over further until it fills the bill to the joint satisfaction of the committee and National Comics Publications, Inc., at which time it is released for publication. Each page appears with the following identification line : "Published as a public service in cooperation with leading social welfare and youth-serving organizations. This page appears in more than 10,000,000 maga zines of the National Comics group. (Superman-DC Publications.) " A second function of the advisory committee is to read National Comics Publi cations, Inc., magazines each month to check any infringement of the company's self-imposed code and to decide whether, in their opinion, assembly copy should be withheld from any one, or more, of the thirty-odd magazines. We are happy to report that, to date, no such withholding has been requested. A third and highly important function of the committee is to offer suggestions to National Comics Publications, Inc. , editors for the development of their maga zines. In accordance with one such specific criticism, the main character in a pop ular strip, Brooklyn, which appeared regularly in several magazines, was com pletely made over to eliminate distasteful facial characteristics and to correct poor grammar. All persons connected with the comics project have been gratified that so far it has proved a constructive and worth-while effort. The possibilities of doing an even better and more far-reaching job have become evident as time has gone on, if, in addition to making specific criticisms, the assembly could suggest certain broad lines of development in the comics field. To do this in any really practical and fruitful way, satisfactory criteria for evaluating the medium must be developed. So far, no such criteria have been devised, though a number of well-publicized studies have been made by organiza tions and local citizens ' groups and, in communities all over the country, parents, 168 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY educators, and other interested people have been discussing standards to help them pick their way through the maze of good , fairly good, poor, and downright bad comics. Standards for art work, legibility of print and other physical characteristics are perhaps the easiest to formulate. When it comes to content and the effects of the material on readers, there is almost a total lack of objective data—although the need for scientific data has become apparent to everyone interested in the comics field . This cooperative project has focused attention on these matters and has raised the question of how the medium can be more widely and effectively utilized to disseminate socially sound information and ideas. The assembly welcomes comments on its comics project and will be glad to submit plans for a scientific study of the effects of mass media on the development of attitudes on young people to any reputable group interested in underwriting it. FUNCTIONS OF THE ASSEMBLY To facilitate more effective operation of organized social welfare. To study and define social-welfare problems and human needs and develop plans of action to meet those problems and needs. To act in behalf of social welfare, where representation of its interests is indi cated. The assembly receives its financial support from its affiliate national organiza tions from local communities ( chiefly from local community chests and councils) , and from individuals and foundations. Reading of COMIC MAGAZINES IN DAYTON, OHIO-A CONTINUING STUDY (Prepared for The National Comics Group, May 1950, by Stewart, Dougall & Associates, New York) STEWART, DOUGALL & ASSOCIATES, New York, July 7, 1950. Mr. RICHARD A. FELDON, Richard A. Feldon & Co., Inc. , New York, N. Y. DEAR MR. FELDON : It is indeed a pleasure to present herewith the report of our 1950 study of reading of comics magazines in Dayton, Ohio. This study parallels in both sample and technique the study of comics-magazine readership in Dayton made in 1948. In our opinion it is valuable not only for the comparisons of readership after 2 years, but particularly for the information in regard to the effect of television on the reading of comics magazines. This has been an especially interesting piece of research, and we have thoroughly enjoyed the entire project. Sincerely yours, STEWART, DOUGALL & ASSOCIATES, INC. , ELIZABETH A. O'BRIEN. JOHANNA B. COOKE. INTRODUCTION This report presents the results of a study of the extent of readership of comics magazines in general, and those in the National Comics group in particular, in Dayton, Ohio. Purpose ofthe survey The survey was conducted in order to achieve two basic objectives : 1. To provide a measurement comparable to the study made in June 1948, in order to observe any changes in comics-magazine coverage or intensity of reader ship that might have occurred since that time. 2. To evaluate the possible effects of television on the readership of comics magazines, particularly among children. Since the study was designed to provide a comparison of present reading and reading 2 years ago, it incorporated the objectives of the original study, which were as follows : JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 169 " “To provide for one American city a reliable measurement of— "The number of homes in which one or more members read comics maga zines. "The extent to which people of different ages and different characteristics read publications of this kind. "Readership by individuals of the 36 magazines included in the National Comics group. "The amount of pass-along circulation achieved by magazines in the National Comics group . " Why Dayton was selected. The city of Dayton was selected originally because it is a fairly typical mid western city, neither extremely large nor extremely small. Net sales of National Comics magazines in Dayton were found to be not dissimilar to net sales in other cities in its size group (estimated population in 1948 was 240,000 ; for 1950 it is 260,000) . For the present study, it was considered essential that the highest possible degree of comparability be achieved. It was therefore necessary to go back to Dayton in order to measure accurately any changes in readership. In addition, there was virtually no television in Dayton in 1948, whereas in 1950 there were two operating television stations and an estimated 67,000 television sets in the Dayton area.¹ From a research standpoint, an almost unique opportunity was thus provided for measuring the possible influence of a new medium on an older one. How the field work was conducted In order to assure the highest possible degree of comparability, the interviewing technique and questionnaire used in the 1948 study were duplicated in 1950 . Except for bringing the list of National Comics magazines up to date, no changes were made in the questions used in 1948. Questions on ownership and watching of television were added. A copy of the resulting questionnaire form is included at the end of this report. The sampling procedure employed was also the same as that used in 1948. Interviews were conducted within the same areas, and the same quota controls were imposed within the areas. The age and sex distribution of the respondents, as well as the representation of the Dayton population according to race and average rental value, were thus maintained . Instruction and supervision were provided by a member of Stewart, Dougall office staff, in order to be sure that the designated procedures were clearly under stood and properly executed. In short, every precaution was taken to so control the survey that the effect of 2 years lapsed time and the influx of television could be measured without the confusion of other variables. The individual sample A total of 1,056 actual individuals were interviewed during the latter part of May 1950. Only one person in a family was interviewed. In order to permit analysis of comics magazine reading among children, persons from 8 to 20 years of age were somewhat oversampled. Proper balance between persons under and over 21 years of age was restored by the duplication of some adult interviews ac cording to established statistical procedure. The final expanded sample, of 1,984 cases representing the estimated population distribution of the city of Dayton has been used as a basis for the data included in this report. Tabulations showing the characteristics of the sample before and after expansion will be found at the end of this report. The family sample If a respondent reported that he or she had not personally read or looked through any comics magazines in the past 4 months, that person was asked whether any other family members read comics. In cases where other members were reported as readers, the interviewer asked to see copies of any comics magazines that were in the home. Presence of such copies was taken as evidence that some member was a comics magazine reader. If no copies were shown, the family was considered a nonreading family. This procedure has probably resulted in a conservative estimate of the proportion of comics reading families in Dayton ; there are very probably families in which one or more members read even though it was impos sible or inconvenient to produce copies for the interviewer's inspection. 1NBC-TV sales planning and research television data chart, June 1 , 1950. No estimates were available for Dayton proper. 72705-50-12 170 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY The measurement of comics-reading families was based on another sample adjustment. The individual sample included representatives of a higher propor tion of large families than occurs in the family size distribution of population. The elimination by random selection of some of the interviews made with mem bers of large families resulted in a family sample that was representative in terms of family size as well as racial and socio- economic characteristics . Both the sample adjustments described were made in the same manner and for the same reasons in the 1948 study. Measuring the readership of comics magazines Individuals who said they ever read or looked through comics magazines were then asked two questions about reading of comics magazines in general: "Have you read or looked through any comic books in the last 4 months?" and, if any had been read or looked through in the last 4 months, "In the last 30 days, how many comic books would you say you have read?" The results of these measurements are presented in this report in some detail. In 1948, 92 percent of those who had read in the past 4 months had also read in the past 30 days. In the 1950 study, 87 percent of those who had read in the past 4 months had read one or more comic books in the past 30 days. Determining the readership of national comics magazines The procedure for measuring national comics readership was the same as that used in 1948. A cover kit, showing the covers of one issue of each of the 36 titles in the national comics group, was shown to each respondent who had read or looked through any comic books in the past 4 months. Looking carefully at each page, the respondent reported whether or not he had read the issue. If he was undecided, he was tabulated as a nonreader of that issue. In order to compensate for some of the confusion that often occurs when only a cover is shown, three complete comic books were included in the kit. Super man, Real Screen Comics, and Date with Judy chosen in 1948 for their variety of circulation and appeal, were used again in 1950 to check identification of contents against cover identification . All respondents who were shown the 36 covers were asked to look through these 3 complete magazines, regardless of whether or not they had previously identified those particular covers as belonging to issues they had read. Analysis of the results of through-the-book identification showed that 23.5 percent of those who claimed to have read the issues when they saw the covers, decided they had not read when they examined the contents. There were, of course, persons who failed to recognize the cover but said they had read an issue when they saw the contents. For the sake of conservatism, however, a minimum measurement was made, and the readership figure obtained by cover identification (referred to in this report as "Claimed Readership" ) was reduced by 23.5 percent to provide the " Verified Readership" measurement. A further analysis shows the verified readership of 20 National Comics maga. zines, representing a combined monthly unit in which advertising space could be purchased. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 171 Sex: Age: Total males.. Total females. Total individuals .. Males: Race: 8 to 14 years. 15 to 20 years. 21 to 30 years. Females: 31 to 45 years . 46 years and over. Characteristics of the sample (based on 1,056 interviews) 8 to 14 years_ 15 to 20 years . 21 to 30 years . 31 to 45 years. 46 years and over . White Other Occupation : Unskilled general laborers. Craftsmen or skilled workers.. Service workers.. White collar workers.. Professional workers or executives. Housewives.. Students Retired Unemployed.. Occupat ion not reported . Economic status: Upper.. Middle . Lower. Education: Total other than students. Did not complete grammar school.. Completed grammar school. Did not complete high school . Completed high school.. Did not complete college .. Completed college ... Education not reported .. Total students.. In grammar school. In high school . In college... Sample before expansion Number 1,056 518 538 117969792 116 115 1129899 114 887 169 11357 306739 295 38339276 113 506 437 673 105 134 159 204322316 383 246 1289 Percent 100.0 49.1 50.9 11.1 9.1 9.2 8.7 11.0 10.9 10.6 9.3 9.3 10.8 84.0 16.0 10.7 5.4 2.8 6.3 3.7 27.9 36.3 3.7 2.66 10.7 47.9 41. 4 63.7 9.9 12.7 15. 1 19.3 3.0 2.2 1.5 36.3 23.3 12.1.9 Sample after ex pansion, percent 100.0 50.1 49.9 5.9 4.9 9.8 13.9 15.6 5.8 5.6 9.9 13.3 15.3 84.3 15.7 14.0 7.1 3.1 7.6 4.9 34.8 19.8 5.3 2.77 11.1 48.6 40.3 80.2 13.2 17.3 17.4 23.0 4.2 3.0 2.1 19.8 12.6 6.7.5 172 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY SUMMARY, READING OF COMICS MAGAZINES IN DAYTON, OHIO Family coverage of comics magazines Since 1948 there has been a slight decline in the proportion of families in Dayton, Ohio, in which comics magazines are read. At the present time, 42.9 percent of all Dayton families have one or more members who read comics, compared to 49.7 percent in 1948. Projected against present population esti mates, approximately 34,300 Dayton families may now be counted as comics reading families. Compared to 1948, the readership of comics magazines in families with children 8 to 20 is substantially the same, inasmuch as 75.2 percent of such families have one or more reader members today, compared to 79.6 percent 2 years ago. The greatest loss of comics magazine reading families since 1948 appears to be among single member families ( 3.3 percent now read comics magazines compared to 33.1 percent in 1948) and in families with children under 8 years of age only. In 1948, someone read comics magazines in 59.8 percent of families where there were children under eight only ; in 1950 comics magazines were read in only 38.0 percent of such families. Reading is much higher among families with children over 8 years old than in either families with no children , or families with only children under 8. The proportion of reader families also increases steadily by size of family. In the 1948 study, comics magazines were read in a higher proportion of non white than of white families. In 1950 the reverse was found to be true : 43.7 percent of white families were reader families, compared to 39 percent of non white families. There also were some differences in the reading among the differ ent economic groups. While, as in 1948, the highest proportion of reader families was found in the lowest economic group, the proportion was about equal in the upper and middle groups. The proportion of reader families is notably high among television homes. Comics magazines are read in 58.6 percent of homes where there are television sets, and in only 35.8 percent of nontelevision homes. To a large extent, this is a function of the presence of children, since there are television sets in twice as man homes with children as in homes without children . Readership of comics maga zines in a family is undoubtedly influenced more by the presence of children from 8 to 20 than by the presence of a television set. It is evident, however, that the presence of the television set is not deterrent to the reading of comics magazines. Moreover, among families with children from 8 to 20, readership of comics maga zines is higher (83.7 percent) in television homes than in nontelevision homes (68.9 percent) . Reading of any comics magazines by individuals It is estimated that the 1950 population of Dayton includes approximately 220,000 individuals 8 years of age and over. The approximate distribution of these individuals by age groups is as follows : Total individuals_. 8 to 14 years_ 15 to 20 years_ 21 to 30 years. 31 to 45 years 46 years and over.. Number 220,000 25, 800 23, 100 43, 300 59, 800 68, 000 Among all individuals in Dayton 8 years of age and over, 39.7 percent were found in 1950 to have read comics magazines in the last 4 months and 34.6 percent were found to have read in the last 30 days. Comics readership among those 8 to 14 and those 15 to 20 remains very high, with 92.7 percent and 72.1 percent of these groups having read in the past 4 months. Adult readership, on the other hand, has decreased. Because of their preponderance in the population, adults still constitute more than half (53.7 percent) the comics magazine audience, even though the propor tion of adults reading comics magazines is so much lower than the proportion of children who read them. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 173 Total readers.. 8 to 14 years.. 15 to 20 years.. 21 to 30 years.. 31 to 45 years.. 46 years and over.. Age groups : Total readers 8 to 14 years… -- 15 to 20 years. 21 to 30 years_ 31 to 45 years.. 46 years and over. Age groups Number 87,400 23,900 16, 600 17,800 21, 400 7,700 Percent The average number of comics magazines read during the last 30 days prior to the time of interview was, of course, considerably higher among children than among adults. 100.0 27.3 19.0 20.4 24. 5 8.8 Average number read 14. 7 18. 7 18. 4 12.5 10. 0 9.0 The greatest significance of these figures is that, while extent of readership has declined (compared to the 1948 study) particularly among adults, the intensity of reading by comics-magazine readers has remained at about the same level for children, and appears even to be slightly higher for adults. The average number of comics magazines read by all comics-magazine readers in 1950 was 14.7, com pared to 14.1 comics magazines per reader in 1948. Among individuals , the incidence of comics-magazine readership is slightly higher, and the average number read is definitely higher among non-whites than among whites. The differences are more pronounced than in 1948, with a greater loss of readers among whites than among non-whites. Examination of the various economic groups shows sharper differences among them than were evident in 1948. About the same proportion of those in the lower group were found to be readers in 1950 as in 1948. There were definitely fewer in the middle and upper groups. While variations occur among the different educational and occupational groups, these factors appear to be interrelated to age in their effect on both the extent of readership of comics magazines and the number of comics magazines read. Comics magazines had been read in the last 4 months by 46.9 percent of indi viduals who had television, and by 35.4 percent of those who did not. The intensity of reading, however, is higher ( 15.4 comics magazines read per reader in a 30-day period) among those without television than among those who had television ( 13.9 per reader) . Considering that the comics magazine readers who had television in the home claimed to spend an average of 19.1 hours per week watching television, it is not surprising that the average number of comics books read is slightly lower than among those who do not have television at home. Reading of comics magazines by adults has dropped quite sharply from 35.9 percent of adults reading in 1948 to 27.3 percent reading in 1950. The average number of comics magazines read by adults has increased from 9.7 to 10.9, how ever. The incidence of adult readers is still higher among adults who live in families with children, and the average number of comics magazines read per adult reader in families with children has increased. In families with only children under eight, adults read 11.9 comics magazines per reader in a 30-day period in 1950, compared to 10.8 in a similar period in 1948. In families with children from 8 to 20, 13.3 comics magazines per adult reader were read in 1950, compared to 9.1 in 1948. The greatest loss of adult readers has been in single- and two-member families, again reflecting the influence of the presence of children on the reading of comics magazines. 1 174 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Reading of national comics magazines Reading of national comics magazines has been studied on a basis of both claimed readership (cover identification only) and verified readership ( cover identification plus examination of the contents) . On a basis of claimed readership , 76.2 percent of all comics magazine readers in Dayton had read one or more current national comics magazines. This is slightly lower than the 1948 percentage (79.6 %) . Again, however, the average number of books read per reader is slightly higher than in 1948 . Examination of verified readers shows 73.2 percent of comics magazine readers verified as readers of one or more national comics magazines, again a slightly lower figure than was found in 1948 ( 75.3 %) . These verified readers had read an average of 5.3 of the 36 current issues studied, compared to an average of 4.5 per verified reader in 1948. Distribution of verified national comics readers All national comics readers: Total... 8 to 14 years.. 15 to 20 years…. 21 to 30 years. 31 years and over.. Males: Total.. 8 to 14 years.. 15 to 20 years.. 21 to 30 years.. 31 years and over.. Females: Total.. 8 to 14 years.. 15 to 20 years.. 21 to 30 years.. 31 years and over. Number 64, 400 20, 100 12,900 13, 600 17,800 33,500 10, 500 6,500 7, 100 9,400 30, 900 9,600 6, 400 6,500 8, 400 Percent 100.0 31.2 20.0 21.2 27.6 52.1 16.3 10. 1 11.1 14.6 47.9 14.9 9.9 10.1 13.0 A special analysis was made of the combined coverage of 20 National Comics magazines which comprise a typical advertising unit for 1 month. Total circu lation of these issues was compared with the total audience reached. The analysis shows that 19,374 copies sold reached 57,500 individual readers, who read an average of 3.4 of these particular magazines . The projected total was, therefore 197,500 readings. This represents the total readings for the 20 magazines, dis regarding reader duplication. The average number of readers per copy on this basis was 10.0. DETAILED FINDINGS HOW TO READ THE TABLES Percentages rather than actual figures are used throughtout the report, since they clearly express all of the findings and also facilitate the reading of the tables. No base lower than 50 has been percentaged. An asterisk ( *) has been used to indicate all such figures . All percentages in parentheses indicate the proportion of the total base to be found in each of the subgroups. In those cases where a part of the total sample is used as the base for a table, a parenthetical note below the title of the table explains what portion of the sample the base figure represents. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 175 Moderate. High. Very high.. Family coverage of comics magazines in Dayton, Ohio, according to average rental in neighborhood, occupation of chief wage earner, and economic status ( based on 1,127 cases; 560 actual interviews) All families. According to average rental in the neighborhood: Very low.. Low. Retired Housewives. Unemployed. Students. FAMILY COVERAGE OF COMICS MAGAZINES According to occupation of chief wage earner: Not employed, total. Laborers, total.. Skilled Unskilled .. Service workers. White collar, total. Sales, clerical.. Professional and executive .. Not reported. According to economic status: Lower Middle Upper...

• Basis too small for statistical reliability.

Distribu tion of families Percent ⚫ (100.0) (7.3) (23.2) (43. 4) (14.7) (11.4) (16.5) (10.0) (2.9) (3.1) (.5) (48.2) ( 18.2) (30.0) (6.7) (27.4) (14.8) (12.6) (1.2) (40. 4) (48. 1) (11.5) Total in group Percent 100.0 . 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 (*) 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 No one in One or more familyreads] members comics read comics magazines magazines Percent 57.1 53.0 56.3 59.9 58.4 48. 4 83.3 87.5 81.8 74.3 (*) 49.7 47.8 50.9 48.0 56.6 58. 1 54.9 52.5 60.0 60.8 Percent (*) 42.9 47.0 43.7 40. 1 41.6 51.6 16.7 12.5 18. 2 25.7 50.3 52.2 49. 1 52.0 43. 4 41.9 45. 1 47.5 40.0 39.2 176 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY READERSHIP OF COMICS MAGAZINES BY INDIVIDUALS Reading of comics magazines by individuals in Dayton, Ohio [ Based on 1,984 cases; 1,056 actual interviews] ACCORDING TO EDUCATION Distribution of individuals... Total in group… -- Have never read comics magazines . Have read comics magazines... Have read in the last 4 months.. Have read in the last 30 days... Distribution of individuals.. Total in group… ----- Have never read comics magazines. Have read comics magazines... Have read in the last 4 months. Have read in the last 30 days . Distribution of individuals. Total in group … ----- Have never read comics magazines. Have read comics magazines ………. Distribution of individuals. Total in group------ Have read in the last 4 months. Have read in the last 30 days.. Have never read comics magazines. Have read comics magazines……… . All in divid uals Have read in the last 4 months. Have read in the last 30 days... 36.3 63.7 Total 39.7 34.6 Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent (100.0) 100.0 (80.2) (13.2) 100.0 100.0 Com pleted college 43.9 56. 1 All indi viduals 28.1 22.7 Percent (100.0) 100.0 36.3 63.7 (3.0) 100.0 39.7 34.6 Other than students 40.7 59.3 16.9 13.6 Did not com plete gram mar school ACCORDING TO OCCUPATION House wives 54.6 45.4 14.9 14, 1 Other than students Percent (34.8) 100.0 Not re ported 43.0 57.0 27.4 21.9 (*) Percent (14.0) 100.0 8 43.2 56.8 (2.1) 29.9 27.3 Com- Did not pleted com gram. plete mar high school school Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent (12.6) (6.7) (0.5) 100.0 100.0 (*) Un Crafts killed general men or skilled laborers workers (17.3) 100.0 55. 1 44.9 20.1 16.9 Total Percent (19.8) 100.0 5.6 94.4 (19.8) 100.0 86.5 82.7 5.6 94.4 Percent (7.1) 100.0 44.7 55.3 36.2 24.8 (17.4) 100.0 34.4 65.6 86.5 91.2 82.7 89.2 In gram mar school 38.4 37.3 30.9 28.5 Students Retired 2.8 97.2 Service workers Percent (3.1) Students 100.0 45, 2 54.8 27.4 22.6 Com- Did not pleted com high plete school college Percent (5.3) 100.0 73. 1 26.9 (23.0) (4.2) 100.0 100.0 8.7 5.8 36.6 63.4 In high school 10.5 89.5 78.9 72.9 37.1 62.9 33. 1 25.8 Unem ployed 37.3 62.7 Percent (2.7) 100.0 25.3 19.3 Profes White sional collar workers workers or exec utives 24. 1 75.9 In col lege Percent | Percent (7.6) (4.9) 100.0 100.0 38.9 33.3 8CCCC 8 42.9 57.1 23.5 18.4 Occupa tion not reported Percent (.7) JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 177 READERSHIP OF COMICS MAGAZINES BY INDIVIDUALS- continued Reading of comics magazines by individuals in Dayton, Ohio— Continued ACCORDING TO TELEVISION OWNERSHIP Distribution of individuals. Total in group------- Have never read comics magazines.. Have read comics magazines... Have read in the last 4 months. Have read in the last 30 days.. Distribution of individuals .. Total in group.. Reading of comics magazines in the last 30 days: Have not read ... Have read 1 or more.. 1 to 5.. 6 to 15. 16 to 30 . 31 to 50 . More than 50.. Number not reported .. All indivi duals Average number read per reader. Average number read per individual.. Percent (100.0) 100.0 36.3 63.7 39.7 34.6 All indi viduals Percent Number ofcomics magazines currently read by individuals in Dayton, Ohio, according to television ownership [ Based on 1,984 cases ; 1,056 actual interviews] (100.0) 100.0 65. 4 34.6 14.5 9.1 6. 1 1.7 2.7.5 14.7 5.0 Have televi- | Do not have sion television Percent (37.0) 100.0 28.8 71.2 46.9 42.2 Have tele vision Percent (37.0) 100.0 57.8 42.2 18.5 10.9 7.7 1.8 2.9.4 13.9 5.8 Percent (63.0) 100.0 40.7 59.3 35.4 30.1 Do not have television Percent (63.0) 100.0 69.9 30.1 12. 1 8.0 5.2 1.6 2.6.6 15.4 4.6 E 178 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Presence of television in the home according to the reading of comics magazines and by age [Based on 1,984 cases; 1,056 actual interviews] Distribution of individuals. Total in group … - - - - - Have television in the home. Do not have television in the home. Distribution of individuals .. Total in group……. Have television in the home. Do not have television in the home. Distribution of individuals.. Total in groupDo not have television at home. Have television at home.. All indi viduals Watch 7 hours per week or less . Watch 8 to 14 hours per week .. Watch 15 to 21 hours per week. Watch 22 to 28 hours per week . Watch 29 to 35 hours per week. Watch more than 35 hours per week.. Don't know; no answer.. Average hours per week per television home. 37.0 63.0 Total Percent Percent Percent (100.0) (36.3) (1.5) 100.0 100.0 (*) 29. 4 70.6 63.0 37.0 6.2 8.6 9.7 5.2 4. 1 2. 1 1.1 18.4 Never read Total 43.8 56. 2 8 to 20 Over 20 years years Have read in last 4 months Have All in- not divid- read in uals past 30 days CC 67.3 32.7 6.1 8.0 8.4 3.4 3.3 2.2 1.3 17.8 8 to 20 Over 20 years years 45.2 54.8 Total 1 (65.4) (34.6) 100.0 100.0 29.2 70.8 Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent (39.7) (18.4) (21.3) (34.6) 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Percent Percent Percent Percent (34.8) (63.7) (20.7) (43.0) 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 54.8 45. 2 6.4 9.6 12.3 8.6 5.5 1.9.9 42.7 57.3 19.1 Total Time spent watching television at home according to number of comics magazines currently read [Based on 1,984 cases ; 1,056 actual interviews] 1 to 5 maga zines 41.4 58.6 (14.5) 100.0 Total 52.6 47.4 8.0 9.8 12.5 9.1 5.6 1.0 1.4 17.7 Have read 45.2 54.8 Have read in last 30 days Percent Percent | Percent Percent Percent Percent (100.0) 100.0 8 to 20 Over 20 years years Have read 1 or more in past 30 days 45.0 55.0 (9.1) 100.0 8 to 20 Over 20 years years 55.6 44. 4 5.6 11. 1 13.3 7.2 3.9 2.2 1.1 18.8 (17.5) 100.0 45. 4 54.6 6 to 15 16 to 30 maga- maga zines zines 39.6 60.4 (6.1) 100.0 53.3 46. 7 4.9 7.4 11.5 Percent (17.1) 100.0 9.0 9.8 4. 1 23.3 45.0 55.0 More than 30 maga zines Percent (4.3) 100.0 60.5 39.5 5.7 10.5 10.5 10.5 2.3 17.5 1 11 persons who had read 1 or more but did not report the number are included in this total but not shown separately. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 179 READERSHIP OF CURRENT NATIONAL COMICS MAGAZINES Verified readership of any current national comics magazines by individuals in Dayton, Ohio, according to age and sex [Based on 787 cases; 539 actual interviews with comics magazine readers] Distribution of comics magazine readers ..... Total in group………. Do not claim to have read any current national comics magazines.. Claimed readers, but not verified . Verified readers of one or more current national comics magazines... 1 to 2.. 3 to 4. 5 or more. Average number read per national comics magazine reader. Average number read per comics magazine reader.. Distribution of comics magazine readers . Total in group.. 1 to 2.. 3 to 4. 5 or more. All comics maga zine readers 23.8 3.0 73.2 22.1 18.7 32. 4 5.3 4.0 Do not claim to have read any current national comics magazines . Claimed readers, but not verified . Verified readers of one or more current national comics magazines .. Total Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent (100.0) (50. 2) (13.7) (9.0) (9.7) (13.7) (4.1) 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 21.0 3.0 76.0 22.5 18.7 34.7 5.3 4.2 Total 8 to 14 years 26.5 3. 1 70.4 21.7 18.6 30.1 10.2 2.8 5.8 5.2 87.0 81.7 20.4 25.4 - 17.6 19.7 49.0 36.6 8 to 14 years Males 16.8 2.8 15to 20 21 to 30 31 to 45 years years years 80.4 23.4 24.3 32.7 15.5 2.8 5.1 4.2 5.1 4.3 Females 10.5 5.3 22.8 5.1 84.2 30.3 13.2 40.8 15 to 20 21 to 30 years years 72.1 24.0 12.7 35.4 5.4 4.8 5.7 4.3 28.6 2.4 Percent Percent | Percent | Percent Percent Percent (49.8) (13.6) (10.0) (10.7) (10.8) (4.7) 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 69.0 20.2 17.9 30.9 36. 1 2.8 61.1 19.4 22.2 19.4 5.0 3.5 5.0 3.1 31 to 45 years Average number read per national comics magazine reader.. Average number read per comics magazine reader.. 5. 1 3.7 1 These averages are merely indicative, since their bases are too small for statistical reliability. 34. 1 1.2 64.7 17.6 23.5 23.5 46 years and over 4.7 3.1 • • 14.9 2.8 46 years and over • 16.3 3.6 REPLIES FROM CHILD GUIDANCE EXPERTS Reply of Dr. Hilde L. Mosse, Psychiatrist, New York City Board of Education, New York, N. Y. NEW YORK 3, N. Y. , August 18, 1950. Senator ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: In reply to your letter of August 4 I am sending you the following answers to your questions: 1. In my experience, yes, particularly among young children (aged 5 to 13) , and especially violent acts such as hold-ups, stabbings, and threats with all kinds of weapons or only fists , where older children force younger ones to comply with their wishes . 180 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY I have found statistics quite unreliable. Very many violent acts committed by children do not appear in statistics . 2. Many factors are responsible ; e. g . , the general trend toward violence in the world, individual, social, and economic frustration, and specifically the glorification of violence and crime portrayed in comic books. 3. I don't know. 4. Yes ; very much so . 5. Yes. 6. I have not seen a child who has not been influenced by comic books, if only in a subtle way. Crime comic books have made children familiar with the idea of crime, with the problems involved in carrying it out and with the lingo. Children's fantasies have been filled with crime stores, and they are therefore more apt to act in an antisocial way. I have a large enough number of cases to make my point clear. Here are five typical cases: Boy aged 6, of middle- class background is involved in gang fights with children aged 6 to 9. They use knives, different kinds of toy and home-made guns, and steal. Girl aged 13 held up a girl aged 6 and took $7.31 from her. Boy aged 13 , together with a boy aged 11 , broke into a freight yard, broke the seals of two cars and stole one bag of about 50 pounds of onions, seven cases of canned soup, and a quantity of potato chips. The same boy, together with four other boys about his age, broke into a fish store and stole $ 134.40 . Girl aged 12 has a severe reading disability, is a chronic truant, comes home late at night. Boy aged 13, together with two boys his age, held up a boy aged 11 . They each pulled out a knife to threaten him, searched him and re moved all the money he had (41 cents) . 7. Yes. Very truly yours, HILDE L. MOSSE, M. D. , Q. P., School Psychiatrist, Bureau of Child Guidance, Board of Edu cation, City of New York; instructor in Clinical Psychiatry, University ofthe State ofNew York Medical College; formerly in charge of the female adolescent ward, Kings County Hos pital, Brooklyn, N. Y. Reply of Charles S. Rhyne, General Counsel, National Institute of Municipal Law Officers, Washington, D. C. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MUNICIPAL LAW OFFICERS, Washington, D. C. , August 10 , 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: I have your letter of August 4 with reference to your investigation of comic books and crime in interstate commerce. I think the best thing we can give you is the enclosed pamphlet which we compiled and published on the subject.¹ Very sincerely yours, 1 See appendix: Exhibit 1 . CHARLES S. RHYNE, General Counsel. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 181 Reply of Arthur J. Freund, Chairman, Criminal Law Section, Ameri can Bar Association, St. Louis, Mo. AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, SECTION OF CRIMINAL LAW, St. Louis, Mo., August 7, 1950. Re Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: With respect to your letter of inquiry, I am not in a position to furnish you with statistics on the first four questions asked. There is a great quantity of this material from authentic sources, and my conclusions would be upon the figures gathered by others . Doubtless you will receive this source material. For the past several years I have been chairman of a committee of this section on motion pictures, radio broadcasting, and comics in relation to the administration of justice . I have spent a great deal of time on this subject, and I have carried on a large correspondence. I think the questions you ask about the comics cannot be answered unequivocally, for the comics are only one form of education for crime by the mass media. Unless you include the motion pictures, radio (including television) , comic strips, and even the press reporting of crime, along with the crime and sex comics and those portraying human cruelty and degradation, you can form no competent judgment, in my opinion, on the comics alone. Attached hereto is a copy of some remarks of mine on the subject of crime portrayals by the mass media. I have said in part and I believe it to be the fact that— Outside of the classroom, the home, and the church, it would appear that the motion picture, the radio, the comics, and the comic strips constitute the most powerful existing educational influences upon the mental growth of the child, the adolescent, and the impressionable. The usual routine for the adolescent and impressionable is to read the funnies in the newspapers; later he turns on the radio; in his more deliberate and, in many instances, esoteric leisure, he reads the comic books, and in his more extended recreational hours he attends the movies. The sequence is variable, but the ingredients of the diet are staple. In each step the emphasis in his leisure menu is crime and criminals. In this there is often the seasoning of illicit sex relations. No one of the media alone at any one time or over any extended period can be said to be more harmful than another, but the insistent and continued repetition of these influences , each complementing the other, must, it seems to us, produce a deteriorating effect upon the mind of the impressionable. Immature and undeveloped minds are molded by these persist ent influences to the concept that crime and criminal conduct is the norm, or at least not far from the norm, of human behavior. Ethical concepts are twisted from reality, weakened , and all too frequently destroyed. In addition, crime techniques are blue- printed with meticulous accuracy. Criminal methods are set forth step by step, thereby giving the recipient an ac curate handbook for antisocial and often criminal conduct. Self-censorship with respect to the portrayal of crime has failed in the motion pictures, radio , television, comic strips, and the comics, and many newspapers play up crime stories in a harmful way. I believe that your committee will fall far short of accomplishment in the area of crime portrayals in the mass media and their effects if you circumscribe your interest to the comics alone. I do not want you to think that I condone the crime and sex comics, for I believe them to be affirmatively harmful, but they are only one 182 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY part of this crime-portrayal business. And I do not think the harmful effects are restricted to what we ordinarily refer to as "juveniles. " I believe the effects are on the juvenile, adolescent, and impressionable minds as distinguished from a specific temporal age group . One great trouble for so many persons is that they do not really know what is going on in the mass-media crime portrayals . I would suggest that you see crime by motion pictures in such current films as "The Asphalt Jungle" or "711 Ocean Drive." These are merely samples of what is going on. Or listen to "Gangbusters," "This Is Your FBI, " or " District Attorney" to hear crime by radio. Or see the numerous crime portrayals on television. Most of my friends do not see or hear this trash, and you simply cannot learn about it unless you, at least, sample it . Enclosed also are reprints of an article by Dr. Norbert Muhlen, ' a recent article by Jack Gould , ' radio editor of the New York Times, and one by Bosley Crowther,3 motion-picture editor of the New York Times. This material contains important points of competent views on the subject under consideration. If I can serve you in any way, please advise me, for we want to be helpful. Respectfully, ARTHUR J. FREUND, Chairman. Reply of Dr. Lauretta Bender, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, New York University- Bellevue Medical Center NEW YORK UNIVERSITY-BELLEVUE MEDICAL CENTER, New York, N. Y., August 18, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR: I am pleased to answer your questions which you have put to me in your letter of August 7, and give you such informa tion as I can from my considerable experience in dealing with de linquency and related behavior disturbance in problem children , especially in regard to the influence of comic books. 1. Your first question apparently implies the supposition "that any relationship between reading of crime comic books and juvenile delinquency" means that "crime comic books may be an influence in exciting children to criminal activity, " since this is the statement made in the first paragraph and also since the second and third questions carry this same inference. It is, however, not entirely clear what is meant by " crime comics, " whether this refers to certain specific comics such as "Crime Does Not Pay" and perhaps the National Comic Publications, Inc. , " Gangbusters" and " District Attorney" or whether this refers to practically all comics which by some people are believed to deal largely with violence and aggression and antisocial behavior, regardless of the general tone and goals of many of the comics. However, I will attempt to deal with the ques tion in the spirit in which would seem to me they were intended . 1 See appendix : Exhibit 2.

• See appendix: Exhibit 3.

' See appendix: Exhibit 4. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 183 It is my belief that comics do not excite children to criminal activity. However, I do believe that in my experience I have found a relation ship between comics and delinquency in children , but that the relation ship is a positive one in that comics can be and are used by children as a means of relief from conflict, confusion, frustration, anxiety, and may prove also to be a vicarious release of aggression. In this way, children's use of comics may be compared to adults' use of literature of all kinds, art, music, theater, movies, etc. as these help us all to a better understanding of life , of other people's problems, of social concepts, and bring all people closer together in a mutual under standing. 17 There is a second and third way that, in my experience , the comics can and do help in the prevention of delinquency. I have found that one of the most important causes of behavior problems and delin quency in boys in New York City is the failure to learn to read, usually due to a combination of a reading disability and inadequate public school teaching. This observation has been confirmed by many other agencies concerned with behavior problem and delinquent boys in our large urban centers . These boys can be greatly helped with comic books, both because the comic book is a median that can be under stood by them even before they can read and also because comic books can aid them in learning to read. The third way that comics are useful is that the psychiatrist and psychotherapist find it difficult in treating such children, to find the means by which they can talk to them without being so direct as to frighten and antagonize the child, causing complete blocking with overwhelming anxiety and confusion. As you know, in psycho analysis and other forms of psychotherapy with adults, dreams and free associations are used. Such methods are rarely possible in children especially with most of the uncultured, inarticulate, impul sive youth which I suppose mostly concerns your committee. As a psychiatrist dealing with such children I have found that a discussion of well-known comic characters is one of the best methods of con tacting, talking to , analyzing, and guiding such children. The comics are better than the movies partly because of the greater variety and accessibility of the comics. Incidentally the great majority of children in my experience identify with the positive characters in the comics, such as Dick Tracy, Superman, Batman, Boy Robin, etc. Those few children who tend to identify with the criminals or negative characters are already severely disturbed person alities suffering from deprivation, frustration , and traumatic ex periences in their early life, usually in their own homes, and tend to identify with negative features wherever they find them in life, movies, television, radio, etc. For the vast majority of children, even problem children, the comics represent an opportunity to come to a better understanding of and be more articulate about the problems of our modern life in our cultures, problems which are both unconscious in the children and in the world directed against the child. I have made several contributions to scientific and sociological literature on this subject which include the following four references. 1. Effects of Comic Books on the Ideology of Children (with R. S. Lourie) . Amer. Jour. Ortho. 11 : 540-550, 1941 . 2. The Psychology of Children's Reading and the Comics. Jour. of Educat. Sociology. 18 : 223-231 , 1944. 3. Influence of Comics on Children. Mutual Broadcasting System. Radio transcript, April 26 , printed by N. Y. Com. on 184 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Mental Hygiene in Influences of Radio, Motion Pictures, and Comics on Children .. 21-25, 1946. 4. Are Stories of Violence Bad for Children? Radio talk. Columbia Broadcasting System. January 19 (incomplete refer ence) . 2. In regard to your second question I have no statistics or specific cases of juvenile crime which show that comics have been responsible for criminal behavior. The references I have given you quote clinical case material indicating the kind of helpful relationship between reading of the comics and the resolution of problem behavior in children such as I have discussed above. Reports in newspapers which state that one or another boy has admitted , when asked, that he has read in the comics about criminal acts such as he has committed, is not evidence that comics cause crime. 3. I do not believe that juvenile delinquency would decrease if crime comics were not readily available to children . The question of censorship and the suppression of publication raises other very difficult problems which are not readily solved. 4. Since 1944 I have been a member of the editorial advisory board of the Superman D-C Publications which subsequently reorganized under the name of National Comic Publications. In this capacity I have received copies of all of the magazines published by them, with the intent that I might render to the publications any thoughts favorable or unfavorable that I might have on the content or any suggestions that I might care to make for subsequent issues and that I would from time to time consult with them on the subject of chil dren's entertainment in magazines or radio and render opinions on abstract questions on the subject. I have also permitted the listing of my name with the editorial advisory board in each of the magazines, as Dr. Lauretta Bender, associate professor of psychiatry, School of Medicine, New York University. I have received a fee of $ 150 a month. This was done with the full knowledge and approval of the New York University. Furthermore, I referred the question of the appropriateness of this service to the New York Academy of Medi cine, of which I am a fellow, and received a letter dated March 6, 1944, signed by Iago Galdston, M. D., executive secretary, as follows: MY DEAR Dr. Bender: I have your letter of March 2. The services which you have been asked to give on the editorial advisory board of the D-C comic magazines appears to me to be entirely in conformity with the rules and regula tions formulated by the academy and by the county medical society, a copy of which I am enclosing. I can, therefore, see no objection to your accepting the engagement offered you. May I add that I personally think that you are in a position to render a valuable public service by supervising these comic magazines. IAGO GALDSTON, M. D. May I also call your attention to the fact that my first scientific consideration of the value of comics in the psychiatric care of problem children was presented at the annual meeting of the American Ortho psychiatric Association , of which I am a member, in February 1941 , and published in the journal of this association in the summer of 1941 , 3 years before I joined the advisory editorial board of the Superman D-C Comic Publications. I hope this is the information that you want. Sincerely yours, LAURETTA BENDER, M. D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 185 Reply of Dr. Josette Frank, Psychiatrist, Child Study Association of America, New York, N. Y. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, CHILD STUDY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, New York, N. Y. , August 23, 1950. United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: In replying to your letter of August 7, I believe it would be most useful to refer you to some of my published writing on the subject of comics and children . The enclosed pam phlet, Comics, Radio, Movies-and Children, published by the Public Affairs Committee, deals with many aspects of this subject which may not be of direct interest to your committee. But on pages 8-10 you will find a discussion specifically dealing with the suggested relationship of comics to juvenile delinquency, which states my point of view. As you will see there, I do not feel that I am an authority on delinquency, and have therefore gone to consider able effort to gather opinions from others whom I consider so.¹ Your committee may be interested also in the survey of psychiatric opinion on Chills and Thrills in Radio, Movies, and Comics, which I reported in the magazine Child Study about 2 years ago. I am en closing this also. While the subject of delinquency is not nominally dealt with in this survey, nevertheless the whole problem of aggression in children is inevitably bound up with its expression in antisocial behavior. 2 The third enclosure is a report of a series of radio broadcasts pub lished for distribution by the New York State Mental Hygiene Com mittee. This, too , deals with many facets of the problem of mass media, but there is pertinent material in it which expresses and sub stantiates my point of view, as well as those of others.3 1 See appendix, exhibit 5. 2 See appendix, exhibit 6. 3 See appendix, exhibit 7. Now to answer your questions categorically: Question 1. I do not believe that reading about crime, whether in comics or elsewhere, will cause children to commit crimes. Children in whom aggressive feelings lie near the surface, and whose emotions are precariously balanced, do undoubtedly read crime stories . These children often seek out such stories in newspapers, magazines, comics and movies; some, however, seem to shy away from them. Whether such reading will upset that delicate balance, or, on the contrary, actually serve to drain off tension and afford release for aggressive feelings, I cannot say with certainty, since there are no studies on which to base such certainty either way. On the basis of much dis cussion with competent psychiatrists, psychologists, and educators, as well as parents, I am inclined to believe that comics reading serves many children-both healthy and disturbed children -helpfully in this way. 72705-50--13 186 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Question 2. I am not in contact with case records or statistics on delinquency, so I cannot answer this question specifically. I have seen newspaper accounts of such cases. On close scrutiny of these reports, where any details were given, it has seemed to me that so many factors had operated in the youngsters ' background and emo tional experience that some kind of antisocial behavior was almost predictable. To ascribe this behavior to comics reading would seem to bypass a deep and fundamental study of the real needs of these children . To expect a child-caught, frightened , miserable-to_be able to explain the causes of his behavior is , of course, absurd . The reported "confessions" of such children that "I did it be appear to me as pathetic defensive devices, natural enough but not to be too readily credited .

• * *""

cause If your committee has not already seen it, a recent report by D. H. Stott for the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust in Great Britain presents studies of the sources of juvenile delinquency in that country through a large number of case histories ; I believe your committee would find it helpful . Question 3. Since I do not believe that crime is caused by comics reading, it appears to me unlikely that a decrease in this reading would decrease crime. For some children, alas, the comics furnish the only available and permissible adventure. Children have always sought this kind of vicarious adventure, historically traceable from the frowned-on "penny dreadfuls" in England through our own dime novels, big little books, and comics. It is my belief that children have sought this kind of reading to meet needs of which we are only dimly aware perhaps as a sort of momentary respite from necessary frustra tions imposed by our society. I must add that I neither relish nor condone some of the excesses to which certain comics have resorted-in the newspapers as well as in the magazines. Excesses of horror and bad taste are never suitable for young readers in any form. I realize , of course, the difficulty of determining what is and what is not good taste and good reading. Two recent surveys by equally reputable and responsible groups of parents and educators produced widely divergent evaluations of specific magazines in the comics field . I do not know how this prob lem is to be met, but I believe that responsible publishers should be as eager as anyone else to rid the field of these aberrations. It has been amply demonstrated that comics magazines can preserve the enter tainment value and appeal they have for children without resort to such objectionable features. On the other hand, I believe that the greatest harm may be done by making of comics a battleground between parents and children. Sen sational headlines and scare articles in the press quite naturally frighten parents , and often lead to really frightening results. Public rituals of book burning have been one deplorable result of such terror. Less spectacular, but even more damaging, are the unhappy relation ships engendered between comics-loving children and parents who have been made anxious and fearful, and who are pushed by their anxiety into punitive and repressive measures leading to resentments and anger. Parents have indeed a responsibility to help their children select suitable comics, along with other reading and activities . Their success in this depends on a relationship of mutual confidence and respect between parents and children. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 187 Question 4. I have been a member of the editorial advisory board of the National Comics Publications for about 9 years . This publisher called upon me in 1941 , when it began to be apparent that enormous numbers of children were reading their magazines. If I recall correctly they were prompted to consult me because in my book, What Books for Children, published that year by Doubleday & Co., I had dis cussed at some length the value of comics reading in relation to children's needs. I believed then, and still believe, that comics have a place along with other reading, and that it is important that children also be introduced to books of various kinds. National Comics Publications therefore invited me to review current children's books in the pages of their magazines . For these reviews they paid me the usual review rates . I believe I reviewed some 300 children's books over a period of several years, until wartime paper shortages crowded out this feature. It was a challenging experiment with a new medium, and the letters from young readers bore out its value-to me, at least. Along with this, the publishers then began to ask my criticism from time to time, and consulted me about certain projected stories, about problems of suitability for children in general make-up, typography, et cetera . Some problems in relation to this seemed to me to call for advice from authorities in the special fields of psychiatry and educa tion. Out of this, if my memory serves me correctly, grew the idea of an advisory board. I am paid a fee for this service. Together we worked out at that time with National Comics Publica tions a statement of standards for the guidance of their staff of writers and artists. This has since come to be known as a "code" applying to their own publications. I hope this covers what you have asked for. I am sorry that because of my vacation schedule your letter reached me too late to make it possible to have my reply in your hands by August 18, as requested. I hope it comes not too late to be of service to your committee. Sincerely yours, JOSETTE FRANK. Reply of Dr. Ernest Osborne, Professor of Education, Columbia University, New York, N. Y. TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, New York 27, N. Y. , August 16, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, The United States Senate, Washington, D. C. My DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: I regret the delay in answer to your letter of August 7. I have not been in residence this summer and have been unable to keep up with my mail. To what extent my opinion will be of value to your committee, I do not know. I shall answer your questions as concretely as possible, however. There has, I believe, been a good deal of unsound thinking and sensational statement regarding the cause and effect relations between comics and juvenile delinquency. It is natural for people to want to 188 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY find a simple answer to a complex problem but such an approach is hardly valid. When it is stated, for instance, that a 16-year-old boy who has committed a robbery or a sex crime, has a library of several hundred comic books and therefore the comic books have been responsible for the crime, the lack of logic should be obvious. For there are doubtless hundreds of thousands of other youngsters with similar collections who have not engaged and never will engage in any delinquent or criminal activity. Yet over and over again such state ments have been made. The roots of delinquency and crime are far deeper. Broken homes or those in conflict, lack of consistent affection, poor schooling, com munity conditions, and a variety of other crime-breeding factors are ones to which we must look. I cannot believe that there would be any perceptible change in the delinquency and crime rate were comics not available. A concerted attack on the overcoming of such factors as suggested above will supply the only effective answer. Prior to a period some three and a half years ago, I was a consultant to the Fawcett Publishing Co.'s group of comics. My responsibility along with that of the other consultants was to read the current issues of comic books and make any suggestions that would involve change in later issues . A retainer or consultant's fee of $50 per month was paid for this service. In no instance did I feel major changes were necessary. For the most part my recommendations dealt with the matter of authenticity. It should be said, however, that the Fawcett people did not publish, to my knowledge, any of the more lurid types of comic books. It may be of interest to your committee to know that my contacts and experience have not been limited to the academic area. I have been a recreation director, camp counselor and director, Sunday school teacher, and parent. At present I am president of the National Council on Family Relations , regional consultant in parent education to the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, syndicated colum nist writing a daily feature for parents, the Family Scrapbook, as well as professor of education working in the fields of family-life education, parent education, child development, and guidance . In addition, I am on the national program committee of the Girl Scouts of America, the national committee for work with boys of the national council of the YMCA, a member of the New York City Committee on Chil dren, and of the National Council on Religion in Higher Education . I am also vice president of the Child Study Association of America. I mention these experiences and affiliations only to indicate that my conclusions regarding comics and their effects do not come out of a purely theoretical background. I trust that your committee will not allow itself to be sidetracked into serious consideration of what I am sure is a very minor factor in generating the conditions to which you are giving attention . The job is too significant to have this happen. Sincerely yours, ERNEST OSBORNE, Professor of Education. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 189 Reply of Dr. Jean A. Thompson, Acting Director, Bureau of Child Guidance, New York City BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF NEw York, BUREAU OF CHILD GUIDANCE, 228 East 57th, New York 22, N. Y., August 11, 1950. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, Chairman, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. Dear Senator KEFAUVER: In reply to your letter of August 5, concerning the influence of comic books in inciting children to criminal activity, I shall attempt to reply to your questions. 1 and 2. In my experience in the field of child guidance since 1936, I have not found any child that I can remember who traced his delinquent acts to a comic book story. I did find , in the psychiatric treatment of children, that they frequently wove the fantasies of comic book stories into their own dreams and fantasies. For example, a child who had a rejecting mother, against whom he felt a great deal of resentment, would sometimes weave a story or draw a picture which closely resembled some comic book tale, and in which the persecuting monster would be symbolic of the perse cuting mother. I have found, also, that children who feel this resent ment are often very guilty about it, and in their dreams they feel that some bad person is going to punish them. They may be fright ened by this dream. Sometimes these frightening characters have come from the comic books, or from radio programs, or from the movies. I feel that it is very true, however, that the comic books , in these cases, have merely played into the neurotic fears that the child already has, and an otherwise well adjusted child, who is not subjected to unfortunate environmental circumstances, seems to be able to read all sorts of scary stories and listen to them on the radio and see them in the movies without any ill effects. In a thorough study of the child with behavior problems, a study which includes psychological examination, physical examination, and psychiatric examination of the child, as well as an examination of his social situation , we find that the roots of his difficulties lie in the background factors of his life , such as his poor home situation, or some physical difficulty, rather than in the story books that he reads. I have felt, for a long time, that our efforts to prevent juvenile delin quency must needs come in the direction of efforts to cure some of the social evils, such as poor housing, poverty, race prejudice, and other things. 3. It is conceivable that a child who, for some reason, is extremely hostile to society or to authority, may take a pattern for the form of his delinquency from an occasional comic-book story. As I said above, I have not known any such case ; but I believe it could happen. The basic difficulty, however, is not the presence of the comic book, but rather the conditions that make the child hostile and unhappy, so that he seeks to solve his problem in an antisocial manner. 190 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 4. For about a year and a half, I did receive a fee for the examina tion of the comic books of one publisher. This was work that I did on a private basis, independent of my regular daily work with the Board of Education of the city of New York. My task was to read 25 to 30 comic books every month. Afew of these were crime stories ; others were the adolescent boy and girl type of thing ; some were west erns. This was an arduous task which I took on in addition to a very full schedule because I believed that, if comic books were to be a part of our culture, it was part of my job as a child-guidance expert to see that they were as good as possible. I regularly sent in my comments and criticisms, and the editorial staff were told to follow my suggestions . My criticisms covered the content of the stories, the art work, and the language used. I sought, also, in these memo randa to educate the publisher and his staff in the kind of thing that would be useful and not harmful to children . I have learned from my experience in a child guidance clinic that children will try to find some way of vicariously expressing the inner resentments which they often feel, and the comic books sometimes give them that satisfaction. It seemed to me that, except for the fact that they were more graphic, they were, in a way, parallel to some of the fairy tales such as Beauty and the Beast, Hansel and Gretel, and The Pied Piper of Hamelin, all of which could be pretty scary to children. It is my opinion that, one of the most unfortunate things about comic books is that, with the visual appeal that they have, children are not so apt to read better books which might, of course, influence them to higher ideals. This, I believe, is true also of the radio . It is so easy for children to listen to the dramas on the radio, and there is no time left for real good books. Sincerely, Approved: JEAN A. THOMPSON, M. D., Acting Director, Bureau of Child Guidance. FRANK J. O'BRIEN, M. D., Associate Superintendent in Charge. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 191 Reply of Dr. Harvey Zorbaugh, Professor of Education, New York University, New York, N. Y. Hon. ESTES KEFAUVER, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, New York 3, N. Y. , August 7, 1950. Chairman, Committee To Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR KEFAUVER: May I assure you, you are not imposing upon either my time or energy in asking me to answer questions in your letter concerning relationship of reading crime comic books and juvenile delinquency. I fear, however, my answers will not be particularly helpful . As a social scientist , I do not believe evidence that will stand up is available either way. 1. "Any relationship " to my mind implies your asking whether in any known cases comic books have had even the slightest contributing influence on the making of juvenile delinquents ; this I am unable to answer. As I indicated above I have never seen a study specifically to this point that would stand up as valid research. The debates of this problem, which I have listened to or have participated in, have consisted in each side lining up its expert testimony, testimony that consisted in opinion based on very meager fact. It is my own opinion that careers of juvenile delinquents are overwhelmingly determined by hostilities and anxieties generated early in life in interpersonal relationships . To be sure as Clifford Shaw has shown in Delinquency Areas, there are communities where delinquency is a prevalent pat tern . Even so, as Slawson has pointed out, we are left with the question "Why do some children take over the delinquent pattern, while others growing up in the same areas (Al Smith and hundreds of thousands of others) become law abiding, socially interested, and substantial citizens ?" I suspect the answer lies in the observation I made previously. To be sure , a child already motivated to delin quency may pick up and use ideas in his delinquent acts from any area of his experience-behavior patterns of other children or adults in his community, movies, picture magazines, newspapers, radio, and comics. It is my belief, however, that comics have very little to do with juvenile delinquency. The curve of delinquency has its ups and downs. It rose sharply and coincidentally with the rise and sale of comic books during the war. To the instability of family life at the time, however, I would attribute this rise in delinquency rates rather than to the increase of comic books. Sale of comic books continued to zoom since . Delinquency rates, insofar as reliable Government statistics are available (may I observe these statistics are exceedingly unsatisfactory from the research point of view) would indicate that delinquency meantime has been decreasing from its wartime peak. I think your committee would find instructive in relationship to your interest in this problem the volume of the Payne Fund report on the influence of movies on children that deals with delinquency. 2. I know of no significant statistics , and I know of no such cases. 3. I doubt delinquency would decrease appreciably. As I indicated above, it is my belief (and I think the mass of research on the causes 192 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY of delinquency backs up my belief) that the causes of delinquency must lie deeper in the fabric of human relationships and community life. 4. No. However, for 2 or 3 years, I believe 1942 to 1945, I was a member of the advisory committee to Fawcett publications on its newsstand comics. May I add however, that I did not consider any of the titles in this group of publications at that time crime comics. Sidonie Gruenberg, president of the Child Study Association of America was chairman of the committee ; Professor Osborne, of Teach ers College, Columbia University, was the other member. Before accepting we talked the matter over among ourselves . We felt that for years educators had attempted to do something about children's radio by criticizing from the outside. We hoped there might be the possibility in this case to improve editorial policies and content from the inside. I must say we had very little influence. For the past 4 years I have been research consultant to Puck, the Comic Weekly. This is a Sunday newspaper color comic supplement (Blondie, Bringing Up Father, Prince Valiant, and so forth). There is nothing in Puck that could be remotely called crime comic. My work with them has been purely audience research and providing ideas for educational uses of their comics, such as that for a comic continuity safety poster campaigm they did for the National Safety Council 2 years ago. The problem you are digging into is going to be difficult to come to any conclusion on through such a canvass of opinion as you have asked me to contribute to. Through the resources of the workshop on the cartoon narrative (a project the School of Education of New York University in which we are doing research into the comics and studying them as a mass medium of communication) , we might be able to be of value to you in the future in a more objective and concrete way.¹ Sincerely, HARVEY ZORBAUGH, Professor of Education, Director, Workshop on Cartoon Narrative, School of Education, New York University. Appendix EXHIBIT I COMIC BOOKS-MUNICIPAL CONTROL OF SALE AND DISTRIBUTION-A PRELIMINARY STUDY (By Charles S. Rhyne, general counsel, National Institute of Municipal Law Officers ) INTRODUCTION One of the current problems before many city councils today is that of con trolling the sale and distribution of comic books which tend to incite juvenile delinquency. The effect of certain types of these so- called funny books on the morals, thinking and behavior of our youth is becoming more evident every day, as can be seen by the newspaper accounts of the juvenile crimes committed. City councils and city law departments are being bombarded with demands by civic groups and newspaper campaigns to bring a halt to this literary menace. 1 See appendix : Exhibit 8 , for reprints of articles from the Journal of Educational Sociology, December, 1949, Harvey Zorbaugh, editor. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 193 I. CITY EFFORTS TO CONTROL Many cities have reached a satisfactory solution to this problem by requesting the cooperation of distributors in removing objectionable books from the newsstands. In Indianapolis, Ind. , the mayor, by holding conferences with book dealers, reached an agreement whereby 50 objectionable books were taken from the newsstands. In Hammond, Ind. , the mayor, citizen groups, magazine dealers and newsstand operators cooperated by removing 35 such books featuring sex and crime. In Hillsdale, Mich. , and Columbus, Wis. , after city officials held a conference with the vendors, a voluntary agreement was reached whereby the vendors agreed to withhold distribution of certain types of comic books. In Washington, D. C., the head of the Juvenile Bureau of the Police Depart ment approached local distributors and requested that they halt the distribution of harmful comic books. After the distributors had volunteered their coopera tion, the publishers contacted the police department and agreed to lend their assistance to the campaign. The publishers have formed an association to self censor their comic books. The association has asked several leading educators and public figures in New York to serve on a committee to decide what is accep table literature for youngsters. Of the approximately 35 publishers, who print 60,000,000 copies of 300 various comic books each month, 16 have already joined the association and are abiding by its decisions. A star insignia will be placed on the front cover of all comic books which meet with the approval of the publishers censorship committee. City Attorney C. D. Klatt of Peoria, Ill. , has advised that the juvenile council, together with the city council committee and officials of the city, conferred with local distributors and requested that certain comic books be withheld from local dealers . A list of objectionable books was compiled and the distributors have voluntarily withheld some of the books suggested by the committee. The juve nile council is planning another meeting in an effort to secure cooperation from all the distributors, if possible. The law departments of Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Oreg.; and Springfield, Mo., are considering proposals for a local ordinance similar to that of Los Angeles County, Calif. , and Terre Haute, Ind. , which are the first localities to pass ordi nances placing a specific ban on comic books. Many cities are using the censorship method to control the sale and distribution of such publications. The censorship is carried out by distributors voluntarily, by city officials, or by a combination of city officials and citizen groups appointed for this purpose. In Racine, Wis. , the book dealers have cooperated with city officials by volun tarily censoring their publications before distribution . There is no State statute in Wisconsin which is specifically directed toward the control of the distribution of literature of this character. In Oneida, N. Y. , and East Hartford, Conn. , dealers have pledged voluntary support to city censorship committees. The cities of Hartford and New Britain, Conn. , have adopted resolutions whereby committees are appointed to assist the comic book distributors in determining which books should be withheld from the newsstands. II. OPINIONS AND LITIGATION In the case of Winters v. New York (68 Sup. Ct. 665 ( U. S. Sup. Ct. Mar. 29, 1948) ) , a New York statute which prohibited the distribution of magazines com posed principally of criminal news or stories of bloodshed or lust was declared unconstitutional because it was so "vague" and indefinite as to be a denial of the rights of freedom of speech and press. City Counselor David M. Proctor, and Assistant City Counselor E. R. Seaver, of Kansas City, Mo., have recently submitted a proposed ordinance to their city council which establishes a method designed to satisfy the United States Supreme Court's decision in the Winters case, by providing that persons intending to sell, publish, etc. , any printed paper, may submit the publication, or draft thereof, to a designated city official for approval before publication. If such approval is obtained prior to publication, there can be no conviction under the ordinance. This form of censorship is thought to be very much in line with the Supreme Court, and other court decisions, upholding the censorship of motion pictures. 194 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Some 20 States have statutes which forbid the sale of obscene, indecent, or immoral literature. The county prosecutor of Wayne County, Mich. , of which the city of Detroit is a part, recently banned the sale of 35 comic books under section 344 of the Criminal Code of the State of Michigan, which reads as follows: "Any person who sells, lends, gives away, or shows, or has in his possession with intent to sell, or give away, or to show, advertise, or otherwise offers for loan, gift, or distribution, any book, pamphlet, magazine, newspaper, or other printed paper, devoted to the publication or principally made up of criminal news, police reports, or accounts of criminal deeds, or pictures and stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust or crime shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ” Also, he stated that section 41 of the Criminal Code as follows, might be applicable : 'Any person who sells , lends, gives away or shows, or has in his possession with intent to sell, give away or to show, advertise or otherwise offers for loan, gift or distribution, any book, pamphlet, magazine, newspaper or other printed paper, devoted to the publication or principally made up of criminal news, police reports, or accounts of criminal deeds or pictures , stories of deeds of bloodshed , lust or crime; and any person, who in any manner, hires, uses or employs any minor child, to sell or give away, or in any manner to distribute, or who having the care, custody or control of any minor child, permits such child to sell, give away, or in any other manner distribute any book, magazine, pamphlet, newspaper, or other printed matter coming within the description of the articles and matter men tioned in this section, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ” Action by the city of Chicago, which was directed toward the banning of certain comic books containing criminal news and stories, has met with opposition by a distributor of Crime Does Not Pay magazine on the basis of the Winters decision. We have been advised by the Chicago law department as follows : "The effort to cope with the comic book situation was prompted by Mayor Kennelly taking the matter up with the commissioner of police , which latter official in October 1947 ordered the Chicago distributors of a certain magazine called Crime Does Not Pay to discontinue sales and circulation in the city. His authority to ban this publication is found in section 192-9 of the Municipal Code of Chicago which makes it ' unlawful for any person to exhibit, sell, offer to sell, circulate or distribute any indecent or lewd book, picture or other thing of an immoral or scandalous nature * *

"A resolution was also introduced into the city council which called for the establishment of a censorship body to pass upon so- called comic books for the purpose of preventing the sale or distribution of such as are harmful or detrimental to youth . This resolution was referred to a committee and has not yet been reported out. The committee's action is doubtless being delayed by the litigation hereinafter mentioned. "When the distributors of the magazine Crime Does Not Pay learned of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Winters v. New York (68 Sup. Ct . 665 (decided March 29, 1948) ) , they instituted , June 28, 1948 , a suit for injunction in our superior court to enjoin the city and its officials from interferring with the sale and distribution of the publication . This suit is entitled Lev Gleason Publications, Inc., a New York Corporation v. City of Chicago et al. (No. 48 S 7312) . It is pending on the city's motion to dismiss the complaint. We understand that plaintiff's case of main reliance is the Winters case, in which the court held invalid a statute of the State of New York on the ground that it was so vague and indefinite as to deny the accused the right of freedom of speech and press . "By section 23-57 of the Revised Cities and Villages Act, chapter 24 , Illinois Revised Statutes, municipalities in Illinois are given express power 'to prohibit the sale or exhibition of obscene or immoral publications , prints, pictures , or illustration .' "By paragraph 106 of the Criminal Code of Illinois , chapter 38, Illinois Revised Statutes, it is made unlawful for any person to sell, lend, give away or show, or have in his possession with intent to sell or give away, to any minor child any book, pamphlet, magazine, story paper or other printed paper ' devoted to the publica tion, or principally made up of criminal news, police reports, or accounts of criminal deeds or pictures and stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust or crime. ' In the dissenting opinion in the Winters case this statute is mentioned as one which will fall as a result of the majority opinion. "By paragraph 468 of the Criminal Code, it is made unlawful to bring into this State, for sale or exhibition, or to sell or offer to sell, any obscene and indecent book, pamphlet, paper, etc. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 195 "In the case of Block v. City of Chicago (239 Ill. 251 ) , the Supreme Court of Illinois sustained the power of the city to prohibit the exhibition of motion pictures which fail to receive the approval of the city's board of censors. It is believed that under this authority the courts would sustain an ordinance providing censor ship of obscene or immoral pictures, books or magazines, if the Winters decision does not stand in the way. " "" With respect to the Los Angeles County ordinance, County Counsel Harold W. Kennedy, and Deputy County Counsel, Milnor E. Gleaves, have rendered an im portant opinion to their board of country supervisors relative to the validity of the ordinance. Because of the importance of this opinion, it is reproduced in full as follows: OPINION Addressed to the Board of Supervisors "An order was adopted by your honorable Board on June 29 referring to this office a proposal for an ordinance prohibiting the sale of literature inimical to the welfare and morals of juveniles in the unincorporated area of the County. The motion to study this matter was proposed by Supervisor Leonard J. Roach, and in proposing such an ordinance he stated this type of publication takes the usual form of so-called ' comic' magazines ' of the type purchased almost entirely by children, and which deal exclusively with crime and sex. ' "It is our opinion that, while the matter is not free from doubt, an ordinance can be drawn which will eliminate the sale of such literature to children , and which will be supportable legally against the attacks to which it is almost certain to be subjected. "Books and pamphlets of the type sought to be prohibited have, in recent months, appeared in great volume upon the news stands and magazine racks within the County. This type of literature is so printed and bound as to resemble in appearance the ' comic' books which have for many years been offered for sale to children, containing more or less harmless, humorous, and adventurous matter. Originally, these were compilations of serial comic strips of the sort appearing in the newspapers. The more recent type of magazine, however, which is sold side by side with such harmless matter, contains almost exclusively accounts of crimes of bloodshed and violence, depicted in great detail by the picture strips. Accompanying these accounts will often appear illustrations of women in varying stages of undress, which are highly suggestive of the coarser aspects of sex in connection with the criminal activities being described . "Other types of the same form of magazine contain little or no accounts of criminal activity, but instead, appear to be imaginative and highly improbable accounts of adventures. These are likewise accompanied by pictures of the female principals lightly clothed and in relatively suggestive poses. "All of these magazines are presumably aimed at the juvenile market originally created by the straight humor-adventure comic. They appear to be widely sought after by young persons of impressionable age, and would seem not only to be of no literary value whatever, but in many cases to be of a harmful character when in the hands of children , who are in most instances no judges of what reading matter may be deleterious to their morals and good citizenship . I "Turning first to that type of magazine last mentioned, containing adventure but not crime stories, we are of the opinion that sec. 311 of the Penal Code pro hibits such of these that so obviously cross the line of permissibility as to be in decent or obscene. That section reads in part : "6 ' Every person who wilfully and lewdly * * * 3. Writes, composes, stereotypes, prints, publishes, sells, distributes, keeps for sale, or exhibits any obscene or indecent writing, paper, or book; * * is guilty of a misde * * * , meanor "The section is for the protection not only of children but of the whole com munity, since it does not matter to whom an indecent or obscene book is shown or sold. Such a book comes within the statute * * * if it has a substantial tendency to deprave or corrupt its readers by inciting lascivious thoughts or arousing lustful desire.' "People v. Wepple ( 1947 ; App. Dept. L. A. Super. Ct. ) , 178 Pac. ( 2d) 853, 855; Commonwealth v. Isenstadt ( 1945) , 318 Mass. 543, 62 N. E. ( 2d) 840, 844. This is true especially in cases where the minds of those into whose hands the publica tion might fall are open to such immoral influences. U. S. v. Moore, 129 F. 159, 196 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 1 161 ; 29 Words and Phrases 68 ; 33 Am. Jur. 21. Whether such a book actually does come within sec. 311 is , of course, primarily one of fact, to be decided by a jury. People v. Wepple, supra. "Applying these rules to the type of book described above, it becomes evident that a jury might find that a given copy contained pictures or descriptions of situations which, because the copy was intended for sale to children, were in nature obscene within the meaning of the Penal Code. " II "Such of these magazines that are largely or completely given over to accounts of crime and violence, however, are not covered by any penal law of this state. Sec. 311 of the Penal Code, quoted supra, deals only with those publications that are ' obscene or indecent. ' The definition of these terms in this state and generally seems to be confined only to matters concerning sex. People v. Wepple, supra, Black's Law Dictionary, 2d ed. , pp. 615, 844; 29 WORDS AND PHRASES, pp. 68-72. The definition does not seem to have been expanded beyond this by decision, and certainly not by legislation , in California, and therefore does not extend to the description or picturization of crimes which are not of a sexual nature. "This particular type of magazine falls accordingly into a field as yet unentered by the State, and in our opinion is a proper subject for legislation by your hon orable Board. 166 * * * "The problem of accomplishing the eradication of this precise sort of evil was emphasized, and made considerably more difficult, by the recent United States Supreme Court case of Winters v. New York, ( March 29, 1948) —US—, 92 L. ed. Adv. Ops. 654. A 60-year-old section of that article of the Penal Law of the State of New York dealing with ' indecency' (sec. 1141 , subsec. 2) provided that any person * * * who * * * prints, utters , publishes, sells, lends, gives away, distributes or shows, or has in his possession with intent to sell, lend, give away, distribute or show, or otherwise offers for sale, loan, gift or dis tribution, any book, pamphlet, magazine, newspaper or other printed paper devoted to the publication, and principally made up of criminal news, police reports, or accounts of criminal deeds, or pictures, or stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust or crime; * * *

is guilty of a misdemeanor, The state tried a bookdealer under the section for having in his possession , with intent to sell , a magazine entitled ' Headquarters Detective, True Cases from the Police Blotter, June 1940.' He was convicted , and the conviction upheld by the Court of Appeals, the state's highest appellate court. It was reversed by the United States Supreme Court, on the ground that the law as drawn violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments. In particular, that court objected to the section as vague, because it did not define the prohibited acts in such a way as to exclude those which are protected by the right of freedom of the press, and there fore did not give fair notice of what acts were punishable.

• *'

"At the outset of any discussion of the case it should be noted that New York by statute, had added an additional area to the boundaries of the term ‘ obscenity' by making the sale, etc. of literature dealing with accounts of crime a misdemeanor under the ' indecency' article . This particular subsection is preceded by another which is very similar in scope to sec . 311 of our Penal Code, and which refers to obscenity in the more usual sense by use of the adjectives ' lewd' and ' lascivious . ' "That New York had the power to expand the definition by legislation is made quite clear by the court (at p . 660) : " "When a legislative body concludes that the mores of the community call for an extension of the impermissible limits , an enactment aimed at the evil is plainly within its power, if it does not transgress the boundaries fixed by the Constitution for freedom of expression.' "It should be further noted that the New York subsection quoted above ' . originally was aimed at the protection of minors from the distribution of publica tions devoted principally to criminal news and stories of bloodshed, lust or crime. It was later broadened to include all the population . ' (p . 658) . "The Winters case did not hold that this type of literature could not be con trolled or prohibited by the states . On the contrary, the court stated (at 657) : " We recognize the importance of the exercise of a state's police power to minimize all incentives to crime, particularly in the field of sanguinary or salacious publications with their stimulation of juvenile delinquency.' JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 197 Unfortunately, such recognition is not accompanied by a clear indication of that sort of statute which would be an acceptable vehicle for the exercise of the state's police power. "The New York statute above-quoted was limited by the New York Court of Appeals to prohibit ' the massing of stories of bloodshed and lust in such a way as to incite to crime against the person' (92 L. ed. Adv. Op. 660) . Even so, it was held by the Supreme Court to be too vague to the extent that men of common intelligence were required to guess at the meaning. " Even though all detective tales and treatises on criminology are not for bidden (by the statute) , and though publications made up of criminal deeds not characterized by bloodshed or lust are omitted from the interpretation of the Court of Appeals, we think fair use of collections of pictures and stories would be inter dicted because of the utter impossibility of the actor or the trier to know where this new standard of guilt would draw the line between the allowable and the forbidden publications 2 " The Court in the Winter opinion gave several indications as to the necessary content of valid legislation on the subject, and these are of some aid in drafting a county ordinance. "1. There must be an obvious ' line between the allowable and the forbidden publications . .. by the use of apt words' (p. 662) . "2. The clause defining the crime should have some technical or common law meaning, thus allowing some ' permissible uncertainty' (pp . 661 , 662) . "3. Meaning of the statute may be inferred from ' the section as a whole or the Article of the Penal Law under which it appears' (p. 662) . "4. Requirement of ' intent or purposes ' by the wrongdoer in committing the wrong would be helpful (p . 662) . "5. Requirement of ' conspiracy to commit a crime ' would be helpful (p. 662) . III "Following the suggestions of the United States Supreme Court, paraphrased above, if your honorable body desires as a matter of policy to impose such regu lations in the unincorporated territory of the County, over which you have police power jurisdiction, it is accordingly recommended that the County ordinance take the form substantially as follows : ( Ed . Note : The full text of the ordinance is set forth, supra p. 12.) "Applying the indications of the Winter case, supra, to this ordinance, it will be noted, firstly, that a careful line is drawn between the allowable and the for bidden publications in sections 1 and 2 and the preamble. Two elements are required before the publication comes within the ban. ( 1 ) It must contain an account of crime which is ' prominently featured.' Thus, it is not necessary that any definite percentage of the publication, or number of pages, be devoted to such material. In re Banks (Kan. 1895) , 42 Pac. 693. A passing reference to a crime, therefore, which is but a part of a general story or account, would not be covered by this ordinance. (2) Only such of those publications that contain the first element, and in addition contain drawings or photographs of the given crimes, are prohibited by the ordinance. The crimes themselves are specifically named as they are called in the Penal Code of this state, and with which all persons are presumed to be familiar. People v. Finnagan ( 1924) , 65 Cal. Ap. 268, 223 Pac. 1014; 10 Cal. Jur. 760, Evidence, sec. 72. "Specifically excepted from the scope of the ordinance are news accounts of crime, and the drawings or photographs that illustrate them. While lurid and unnecessarily descriptive news stories on criminal activity are hardly recommended reading for the child , the element of freedom of the press enters the scales more heavily when current news is weighed by the standard of public morals, even when children are involved. The courts are careful to protect every constitutional right of those publications which carry news to the public. Cf. Crosjean v. American Press Co. (1936) , 297 U. S. 223, 80 L. ed . 660 ; Near v. Minnesota ( 1931 ) , 283 U. S. 697, 75 L. ed. 1357. The line in this ordinance, therefore, while obviously drawn as to content, is not drawn as to the form of publication . It applies to all types of publications without discrimination, be they books, magazines, or newspapers, if the prohibited material is contained therein. Accordingly, even though the ordinance does not purport to cover criminal news and its illustration in publica tions devoted to the general dissemination of news, such a publication would come within the ordinance if it carried the described drawings or photographs which were not connected with such news, and accounts of crime which were not news. The ordinance would therefore apply to comic strips appearing in newspapers if such strips violated the ordinance. 198 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY "The second suggestion in the Winter opinion set out above required that the clause defining the crime should have some technical or common law meaning, In that case the court rejected as vague law that forbade ' the massing of stories of bloodshed and lust in such a way as to incite a crime against the person' (92 L. ed. Adv. Ops. 654, 659–660) . Here, for the term ' massing' is substituted the wording ' in which there is prominently featured an account' and then follows the prohibition of drawings or photographs of certain named crimes. Thes crimes are labeled exactly as named and defined in the Penal Code, and no more technical wording could be used. (Arson, P. C. 447a, 448a, 449a, 450a, 451a; assault with caustic chemicals, P. C. 244; assault with a deadly weapon, P. C. 245; burglary, P. C. 459, 460 ; kidnapping, P. C. 207 ; mayhem, P. C. 203 ; murder, P. C. 187-189 ; rape, P. C. 261 ; robbery, P. C. 211-212 ; theft, P. C. 484-488; voluntary manslaughter, P. C. 192. ) Although the court stated ( 92 L. ed. Adv. Op. , at p. 661) that some ' permissible uncertainty (is proper) in statutes caused by describing crimes by words well understood through long use in the criminal law ..' , we believe that the wording of this ordinance would leave little, if any, uncertainty in the mind of a newsstand dealer when he received for resale a copy of a publication in fact containing the prohibited material. Using the ordinance as a yardstick, there is no need that " . men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning.' Connally v. General Construction Co. ( 1926) 269 U. S. 385, 391 , 70 L. ed . 322, 328. "The third suggestion in the Winter opinion stated that the meaning of the law might ' . . . be gained from the section as a whole or the Article of the Penal Law under which it appears' (at p. 662) . Since the county ordinances are not classified as to subject matter in their numbering, it would seem suffi ciently indicative that this one should bear the usual descriptive title, followed by a short statement of its type and purpose. In addition, the ordinance proper is preceded by a three-paragraph preamble, which sets forth clearly the factual reasons for the enactment of the ordinance, as found by the county legislative body to be true in this county and in need of remedy. While as pointed out by Justice Frankfurter in his dissent to the Winter case (at p. 667) , such a preamble is not necessary to support the constitutionality of a statute (Woods v. Miller Co. (1948) 333 U. S. 138, 92 L. ed . Adv. Ops. 403) , it is still helpful , where there might otherwise be the slightest uncertainty on the part of some as to the mean ing and effect of the ordinance ; it indicates plainly that your honorable Board feels that there is a virulent evil present within the limits of your jurisdiction which should be eliminated from the publications market insofar as child buyers are concerned. Your expressed estimate of the situation being reasonable and not arbitrary, it is not for the courts, therefore, to substitute their own measure thereof for yours. Tanner v. Little ( 1916) 240 U. S. 369, 385, 60 L. ed. 691 , 702. "The fourth and fifth suggestions in the Winter opinion we do not feel to be necessary to support the ordinance. There is no legal requirement that purpose or intent be prerequisites to violation of such a law. People v. Wepple, supra, at p. 856 of 178 Pac. ( 2d) , and cases cited . Sale of the prohibited publication per se is sufficient indication of the crime, since the vendors can have no trouble in identifying a prohibited publication under the standards set by the ordinance; the burden of so doing is rightly placed upon them. Requirement of a con spiracy to sell such publications, as a prerequisite of wrongdoing, would intro duce too difficult an evidentiary problem for practical enforcement; as an addi tional crime, it is superfluous, since punishment for individual sales should accom plish the desired result . "IV. "It should be noted, in conclusion , that one basic principle underlies the wording of the proposed ordinance and its scope. Total elimination of this type of litera ture, though possibly desirable, is fraught with both constitutional and practical difficulties. Parental censorship is probably the most efficient force in social censorship over matters of this sort, and a legislative body with a presently uncertain legal right of total elimination can do much toward correction of the evil by passing laws in aid of the power of the parents to control the reading of their children. Prohibiting the sale of these publications to children under eighteen should do much to extend such control. " III. CITY ORDINANCES, RESOLUTIONS, AND EXTRACTS FROM CITY CODES RELATING TO OBJECTIONABLE LITERATURE The following ordinances, resolutions, and extracts from city codes prohibiting the sale of certain types of literature may be helpful in drafting ordinances on JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 199 comic books. The following is not deemed to be all-inclusive, but merely repre sentative of this type of regulation : Los Angeles County, California "An ordinance prohibiting the sale to children under the age of 18 years of any book or magazine, or other publicatio in which there is prominently fea tured an account of crime, and which depicts by the use of drawings or photo graphs the commission or attempted commission of certain crimes of force, violence or bloodshed. "WHEREAS, The Board of Supervisors has found as a fact that there is a great increase in the number and variety of illustrated crime books, magazines, and other publications being offered for sale in this country, which books, magazines, and other publications deal in substantial part with crimes of force, violence and bloodshed, and that many of such books or magazines are designed in form so as to resemble closely those devoted in substance to matters of humor and adventure and published primarily for sale to children, and are often placed for sale side by side with such humorous and adventure magazines ; and "WHEREAS, It appears that children below the age of eighteen years are of susceptible and impressionable character, are often stimulated by collections of pictures and stories of criminal acts, and do in fact often commit such crimes partly because incited to do so by such publications ; and "WHEREAS, The possibility of harm by restricting free utterance through harmless publications is too remote and too negligible a consequence of dealing with the evil of the publications herein described, when in the hands of children ; "Therefore, The Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles do ordain as follows: "Section 1. Every person, firm or corporation is guilty of a misdemeanor who sells, gives away, or in any way furnishes to any person under the age of eighteen years any book, magazine, or other publication in which there is prominently featured an account of crime, and which depicts, by the use of drawings or photo graphs, the commission or attempted commission of the crimes of arson, assault with caustic chemicals, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, kidnapping, mayhem, murder, rape, robbery, theft, or voluntary manslaughter. "Section 2. This ordinance shall not apply to those accounts of crime which are part of the general dissemination of news, nor to such drawings and photo graphs used to illustrate such accounts. "Section 3. The prohibitions of this ordinance do not apply to any action either positively permitted or prohibited by constitutional provision or by general law. "Section 4. If any provision of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid the remainder of the ordinance, and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby. "Section 5. Every violation of this ordinance is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months or by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment. "Section 6. This ordinance shall take effect thirty days after the date of its adoption, and prior to the expiration of fifteen days from the passage hereof shall be published once in Montebello News, a newspaper printed and published in the County of Los Angeles, State of California, together with the names of the members of the Board of Supervisors voting for and against the same. " Hartford, Connecticut "WHEREAS, In recent months many of our newsstands have become flooded with books, magazines, and pocket novels, many of a serious, immoral, and criminal theme, thus endangering and possibly contaminating the plastic minds of our youth: therefore, be it 66'Resolved, That His Honor, Mayor Coleman, proclaim the week of June 20 to June 27, 1948, as ' Cleanup the News-Stand Week, ' and be it further "Resolved, That copies of this resolution be sent to all magazine and book wholesalers in Hartford as well as to all drug stores and other known news ven dors. " (Adopted June 14, 1948.)

• * * * * *

"Resolved, That an advisory committee of seven members be and hereby is created for the purpose of assisting and advising our local wholesale distributors of magazines, books, and periodicals as to what might constitute unfavorable

200 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY literature, from the standpoint of criminal and sex glorification , especially the types of publications that command the undivided attention of many pre-teen-age and teen-age youth ; that such committee be appointed by the Mayor; this com mittee shall serve until December 6, 1948. " (Adopted July 26, 1948.) New Britain, Connecticut "Resolved, That his Honor, the Mayor, be and he is hereby authorized to appoint a special committee, including nonmembers of the Common Council, to work with the police department and publishers ' agents in an effort to eliminate the circulation of objectionable material. "The local distributor in New Britain had assured the city council that he would cooperate with the authorities to the fullest extent in removing from the news stands magazines and comic books pertaining to crime or sex and all other publi cations of an obscene nature declared to be objectionable by the committee. " (Adopted July 24, 1948.) Topeka, Kansas, Criminal Code "5-1510. Obscene literature. shall be unlawful for any person to bring or cause to be brought into the city of Topeka, or to buy, sell, or cause to be sold or bought, or to advertise, lend, give away, offer, show, exhibit, post up, or distri bute, or cause to be distributed, or to design, copy, draw, photograph, print, etch or engrave, cut, carve, make, publish , or otherwise prepare or assist in preparing or receive subscriptions for, any indecent or obscene book, pamphlet, paper, picture, drawing, figure, image or other engraved, printed or written matter, or any article or instrument of immoral use, or any book, pamphlet, magazine or paper devoted principally or wholly to the publication of criminal news or pictures, or stories of bloodshed or crime. "5-2001 . Penalties . Any person, persons, firm , partnership or corporation who violates, disobeys, omits, neglects or refuses to comply with or who resists the enforcement of any of the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof, except as otherwise herein ex pressly provided, shall be fined not less than one dollar ( $ 1.00) or more than two hundred dollars ($200.00) for each offense, or confined in jail for a period not exceeding ninety days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the Court. Each day that a violation is permitted to exist shall constitute a separate offense. Des Moines, Iowa "Chap. 106 § 14. Indecent or inflammatory books and pictures. No person shall by himself, agent or servant exhibit, sell or offer for sale any indecent or lewd book, picture, paper or magazine or any inflammatory book, picture, maga zine or other thing of such character as to encourage or incite rioting, breaches of peace or lawlessness of any kind or to create a feeling hatred or antipathy against any particular race, nationality or class of individuals. "S18 Penalty. Any person, firm, or corporation violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall upon conviction thereof be fined in a sum not to exceed one hundred dollars ($ 100) or imprisoned in the city jail for a period not to exceed thirty (30) days." Birmingham, Alabama “§ 327. Publishing or circulating indecent or abusive printed matter. It shall be unlawful for any person to print, publish, circulate, sell , offer for sale, give away, deliver, or expose to public view, or cause to be printed, published , circulated, sold, offered for sale, given away, delivered , or exposed to public view, in the city, any newspaper, publication, or handbill of an obscene, licentious , lewd, indecent, libelous, scurrilous nature or which contains any obscene, licentious, lewd, in decent, libelous, or scurrilous articles, or matter, or any abusive and intemperate matter tending to provoke a breach of the peace, or any matter prejudicial to good morals. "It shall be unlawful for any person to aid or abet the printing, publication, circulation, sale, or giving away of a newspaper, publication, or handbill mentioned in the preceding paragraph, by knowlingly advertising therein or giving financial aid thereto." JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 201 Lynchburg, Virginia, City Code "Sec. 4831 . Obscene books, magazines, prints, etc. "(a) Definitions. An obscene publication is hereby defined as any book, magazine, pamphlet, paper, or other thing containing obscene or indecent language, or language calculated to convey licentious , indecent, or sensual impressions, or contiaining any drawing, print, picture, figure, or description of an obscene or indecent character. The term ' person' as used herein shall mean any person, firm or corporation, or any officer, agent, or employee thereof. "(b) Printing, selling, buying, etc. , prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any person to import, print, exhibit, publish, sell, lease, distribute, or circulate any obscene publication ; or to buy or have in his possession any obscene publication for the purpose of sale, lease, exhibition, distribution, or circulation. "(c) Each sale, etc. , a separate offense. The importation, printing, exhibition, publication, sale, lease, distribution , or circulation of each obscene publication, or the purchase or possession of each obscene publication for any of the purposes above enumerated, shall constitute a separate and distinct offense. "(d) Publications declared obscene enumerated. The following publications are hereby declared to be obscene publications, but said enumeration shall not be deemed to be exclusive ; namely: ( 43 publications enumerated by title) . "(e) Penalty. Every person violating the provisions of this section shall be punished for a first offense by a fine of not less than $20.00 nor more than $300.00, or by confinement in jail not to exceed thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment; for a second or subsequent offense by a fine of not less than $50.00 nor more than $300.00 or by confinement in jail not to exceed thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. " Chicago, Illinois, Municipal Code "Sec. 192.9. It shall be unlawful for any person to exhibit, sell, or offer to sell, circulate, or distribute any indecent or lewd book, picture, or other thing of an immoral or scandalous nature, or exhibit in any place where the same can be seen from the public way, or in a public place frequented by children, any picture representing a person in a nude state which is not connected with any art or educational exhibition, or exhibit or perform any indecent, immoral, or lewd play or other representation. Any person violating any provisions of this section shall be fined not less than twenty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars for each offense." EXHIBIT 2 COMIC BOOKS AND OTHER HORRORS Norbert Muhlen ¹ [A Reprint from Commentary, Vol. 7, No. January 1949, New York 1 , N. Y.] PREP SCHOOL FOR TOTALITARIAN SOCIETY? Crime is entertainment, and murder a parlor game, " Viscount Samuel recently said of our times in an address before the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Judging by present-day books, radio, movies, and comics, it seems "as if we were all engaged in a slightly hysterical parlor game, the object of which is to scare the living daylight out of the assembled company, says J. Donald Adams, chronicler of literary tides in the New York Times Book Review. "" Complaints of this sort are probably as old as art and entertainment them selves ; what is undeniably new is the sheer expansion in the mass of entertainment by murder and violence that the last decade has produced. Since the entertain ment industry aims to deliver to its market exactly what the consumers want, what they are willing to pay for, and what will win in the competition with other 72705-50--- 1 Norbert Muhlen here attempts to turn available social-scientific light on a continuously perplexing prob lem for parents and educators: what is the effect of the prevailing terror movies, radio programs, and comic books on the minds of the children who consume them in such enormous quantities? Dr. Muhlen has previously discussed in these pages ( March 1947) the political role of radio ( Radio : Political Threat or Promise?) . He was formerly editor of the Radio Audience, a magazine dealing with popular reactions to radio. Dr. Muhlen is now New York correspondent of Der Monat, a new monthly publication sponsored by American authorities in Germany. He has written Schacht: Hitler's Magician (New York, 1939) and Starving Them to Death ( London, 1939) , and is a contributor to the New Leader, America, and other periodicals. 14 202 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY types of entertainment goods, does this quantitative increase in murder, crime, and agony as favorite contents of mass entertainment reflect a new desire of the people for descriptions of aggression, destruction, and death? The entertain ment industry says "Yes," and cites fairly reliable and continuous scientific tests which have ascertained this mass preference ; and it is increasingly engaged in satisfying this blood-and-guts taste by all the technological means at its disposal. Those given to alarm have two problems to concern themselves with what ominous factors does this new trend signify and portend as to the character of the public mind today, and what further effect may this endless tidal wave of terror entertainment have on our national life? When, shortly before the Second World War, mass distribution of low- cost books was finally achieved, detective and mystery novels became the basic staple of the new book-reading public. At least one-half of the 25- cent books produced today are devoted to the elaborately concocted means by which human beings can trap and kill each other. The same preoccupation has in recent years come more and more to the fore in the movies. In the late 1930's the air waves began to resound with manhunts and murders, and in the following years half-hour crime programs turned out to be the favorite radio entertainment. In the summer of 1948, for instance, sponsors bought more time for "suspense and mystery" than for any other type of program. A somewhat more restrained juvenile edition of the crime stories monopolizes the air waves in the hour before 6 p. m. , with violence slightly watered down ad usum delphini. But the newest, widest circulated, least inhibited, and least understood carrier of horror and destruction is the comic book. Thoroughly different from the older, much-censored, and more refined newspaper comic strips, approximately two thirds of the comic books are devoted to the dehumanized, concentrated, and repetitious showing of death and destruction, whether against the highly realistic background of the " crime and police comics, " or the supernatural level of the Superman-type comics, or in the fantasy world of the Jungle Comics. (The rest of the comic books contain romance, humor, animal stories, and educational subjects—there exists even Bible Comics. ) Their name to the contrary notwithstanding, there is nothing comical inside their covers. "Penny dreadfuls, " as they are called in England, seems a better name, although American comics imported into England are recognized as a class apart, and given a name of their own, "Yank Mags. " "There is a great difference in tone between even the most bloodthirsty English paper [ comic book] and the three-penny Yank Mag," George Orwell, the English essayist, writes. "In the Yank Mags you get real blood lust, really gory descriptions of the all-in, jump-on the-textilles style of fighting, written in a jargon that has been perfected by people who brood endlessly on violence. A paper like Fight Stories, for instance, would have very little appeal except to sadists and masochists." (Fight Stories is one of America's most popular comic books . ) The comic books date back to the middle 1930's, when they escaped the apron strings of newspapers and advertisers, and won the right to indulge without in hibitions in concentrated violence . In the last three prewar years, when the mass appeal of the "action comics" really set in, they sold 10,000,000 copies a month. In 1947, the rate was 60,000,000 copies a month. That means that for every book of any kind published in this country, two comic books were published simultaneously. (In the period from 1943 to 1945, for instance, this country pro duced slightly more than 1,000,000,000 comic books, and 428,000,000 other books, 237,000,000 of which were textbooks and 43,000,000 religious books. ) However, there are three to four readers to every comic book, considerably above the rate for other books. Reading of comic books is by no means restricted to children. An impressive segment of the adult population of America reads comic books regularly, that is, six per month or more.2 Of the men in Army training camps in the last war, 44 percent read comic books regularly, an additional 13 percent read them occa sionally. In the Army post exchanges they outsold the total of the three most popular national magazines 10 to 1. The Army was only a little more addicted to comic books than the rest of the population : 41 percent of the civilian male adult popu lation, and 28 percent of the female adult population, are regular comic book readers. • Figures are from surveys conducted by the Market Research Corp. ofAmerica, by Paul H. Stewart and Associates (quoted in The Comics, by Coulton Waugh, New York, 1947) , and by other commercial market and media research organixations. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 203 These adult comic book readers are neither illiterates nor morons. One study finds that 25 percent of the adult elementary school graduates, 27 percent of the adult high school graduates, and even 16 percent of the adult college graduates (and 12 percent of the nation's school teachers ) are regular comic book readers. In the age group from 18 to 34 years, almost three times as many people read the comic books as do people of older age. Perhaps for biological or other reasons-the interest in, and need for, the entertainment of violence and aggression decreases with advancing age. But it is not unlikely that the young adult comic book readers simply represent the first grown-up generation of children that were brought up on, conditioned by, and habitually addicted to this kind of reading. If this is so, the habit will be still more general among the next adult generation, for the children of today are en masse readers of the comic books. Between 6 and 11 years of age, 95 percent of the boys and 91 percent of the girls throughout the Nation, with few regional differences, read an average of 15 comic books per month. In the age group between 12 and 18, more than 8 out of 10 children still read at least a dozen every month, with the boys again slightly leading the girls. Children of all intelligence levels read comic books. In a survey of 2,500 grade school children in Illinois, Paul Witty reported that "the 10 percent of the pupils who read comics most in one school were compared with the 10 percent who read them least. The average IQ was in the interval 105 to 110, that is , both groups were of the same intelligence level (Journal of Experimental Education, 1941) . Alice P. Sterner, after a study of 372 high-school children in New Jersey, stated that there was no relation between these children's interests in radio, comic books, and motion pictures, and their intelligence (Publications of Teachers College, Columbia University, 1948) . Thus most children will consume more than a dozen comic books per month, go to the movies four to eight times a month, and listen to radio dramas practically every afternoon and evening for several hours. Whether they look at pictures, listen to words and sounds, or read the printed word—and they do all of this together some of the time-they perceive the same world view. The children take their daily lethal dose of crime and cruelty , torture and terror as regularly as their daily vitamin-enriched breakfast food . "Comes a pause in the day's occupation that is known as the Children's Hour. * * *"" In contrast to the official pattern of the American dream, and its world of peace and progress in which people get along with each other, the American day dream (and nightmare) of the media of mass entertainment is acted out in a world in which human relations are opened and settled by daggers, whips, tommyguns, or atomic exterminators. In psychoanalytic terms, the entertainment of a large part of the Nation's adults, and of the overwhelming majority of its youth, is directed toward mortido rather than libido : toward destruction rather than pro creation, toward hate rather than love, toward aggression rather than understand ing, toward death rather than life. Its common denominator is violence--all the forms, techniques, systems, and possibilities of violence. And almost never is there any concern with the reasons for which people act in violence for this there is obviously little time and space in the 90 minutes of a movie, the 30 minutes of a radio play, the 60 cartoons of a comic-book story. The guardians of the public weal have not let all this go unprotested ; the enter tainment industries have had to contend with aggrieved pressure groups as they became increasingly popular. The pattern was established when in the early 1920's a storm of criticism from church organizations induced the motion-picture industry to set up an office for the control of offensive violence (and sex) . Mr. Will H. Hays, former Postmaster General in the Harding administration , the arbiter of morality and taste on the screen, proclaimed : "This industry must have toward that sacred thing, the mind of a child, toward that clean virgin thing, that unmarked slate, the same responsibility, the same care about th impressions made upon it, that the best clergyman, or the best inspired teacher of youth would have. " Mr. Hays suc ceeded at least in giving such respectable appearances to horror as to make it acceptable to the reformers, while leaving it profitable enough for the producers bound on satisfying the demand of the market. The close-up of the victim's slow strangulation , for instance, was banned from the screen and replaced by the dim shadow of strangling hands, or the movement of a rope, or only a blood curdling moan. According to the most recent study ( Tide, September 24 , 1948 ) , of a representative cross section of the population of Dayton, Ohio, 43 percent of the men and 51 percent of the women between 21 and 30 regularly read comic books, while in the age groups upward from 31 years only 35 percent of the men and 26 percent of the women read them. 204 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY The pattern of self- censorship was later repeated by the broadcasting industry when, in the late 1930's, the industry authored and applied a code of rules which either repressed or refined the most direct sound and fury of violence. Vigilant network vice presidents policed the scripts for swear words and too articulate terror. Now in the case of the comic books, the process of enforcing more respectable and acceptable_appearances has been started. In 1947, an Association of Comics Magazine Publishers was founded ; in the fall of 1948, it published a self- regulatory program directed at deleting raw violence and raw sex from the industry's output. A lawyer connected with the industry, who holds a public- school office, presides over a board of experts which will award a "seal of approval" to the comic books meeting its standards. It may be assumed that the success of the Hays office, in the form of a sly camouflage of the image of violence, will in due time be repeated in the comic-book world. With discussion raging as to the possible effects of violence as entertainment, particularly on children, it was only natural that the scientists would be called in-by those attacking, and those defending, the new developments to offer their expert advice. As specialists on the influences playing on human behavior, they could presumably best gage the effects of the communication of horror and violence. Most discussions in the past few years have centered around the comic books, as the most prominent, least reluctant, most intriguing vehicle of violence directed toward children. And the Battle of the Comic Books has developed to some degree into a civil war among psychoanalysts, since the leading accusers as well as defenders are psychiatrists trained in and using the methods and in sights of Freud's dynamic psychology. ( Many of the psychiatrists, educators, and child psychologists who have been most active in public and scientific defense of the comic books are retained by comic-book publishers as advisers . ) To be sure, clinical and social observation on the subject is deplorably scarce, theoretical interpretations, based on general assumptions and a restricted , nonrepresentative number of cases, are the rule, while the contradicting conclusions are delivered with a certainty based on conviction rather than verifiable truth. The crucial question around which the controversy turns is : Do these media sent to the mind of the child fantasy or fact, dreams or reality, play or lesson? The accusers claim that the child can be so deeply impressed by crime and horror stories without end that it accepts their world as the real world to which it has to adjust itself. The symbol of this theory is the little boy who got a Superman cape on his birthday, wrapped it around himself, and sprang out of the window of his apartment house. The defenders, on the other hand, assert that the child, finding it necessary to suppress his violent and aggressive drives under the impact of adults and education, can do this in a more healthy way by finding an outlet for them through mentally participating in the violence play and aggression fantasies of his favorite entertainment media. According to their reasoning, comic books and other horror media are the child's aspirin and penicillin which help him to overcome the pains arising from the task of growing up into a peaceful adult world, while according to the first theory, they are the opium of the nursery, leading the individual child spellbound by their evil charms straight onto the road to crime. There is some evidence that mass media have direct effects on the public mind and behavior, most obviously in the areas of fads and fashions. The publishers of the newspaper funny strips themselves boast that the example of Popeye the Sailor popularized spinach eating among America's children, that in the wake of Bringing Up Father corned-beef and cabbage became a favorite dish of the Nation, that Penny made the teen-agers wear hats, and that the upswept hairdo and bare-midriff dress were invented and publicized by another funny strip heroine. But the more serious charge that they also stimulate and incite socially disap proved actions—as well as approved or ethically neutral actions-is less convinc ing. In August 1948, newspapers reported from New Albany, Ind. , that three boys, aged six, eight, and nine, had tortured a playmate of seven " merely to reenact a comic-book plot. " A few months later, the press publicized the suicide of a 12-year-old boy in Niagara, Wis. , allegedly inspired by Wild West comics ; and the poisoning of a 50-year-old woman in Los Angeles by a 14-year-old boy who got the idea and the poison recipe from another comic book. Many saw this as proof for the theory that, in the words of Frederic Wertham, comic books suggest "criminal or sexually abnormal ideas" to children and make then act out these ideas ( New York Times, September 4, 1948) . Dr. Wertham, a leading psychiatrist who works with the two largest mental hygiene clinics of New York City, has repeated his point in popular and scientific publications, and has marshaled as JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 205 proof for the crime-inducing quality of the comic books seven cases of juvenile delinquents who were also ardent comic-book readers. Using the same kind of argument, L. J. G. Proal, a French criminologist and one of the leading authorities of his day, "proved" 50 years ago, in his work on Le crime et le suicide passionnels, with a few cases and newspaper clippings, that crimes had been committed under the direct influence and in imitation of novels by Dostoevsky, Paul Bourget, and other novelists whom the criminals admitted to have read. M. Proal went further back in history and discovered that Goethe, Shakespeare, Ovid, and other writers were directly responsible for murders and suicides committed by their readers ; that, in other words, crime in life is only a slavish imitation of crime in art. The conclusion, reluctantly suggested by Proal as to the literature of crime in general , and openly called for by Wertham as to the comic books, is to ban these abettors of crime. But since more than 9 out of 10 American children read comic books, while considerably less than 1 out of 1,000 commits a crime after the comic book description, the argument of Wertham, like that of Proal, hardly permits a general conclusion ; neither Proal's nor Wertham's cases are clearly symptomatic or typical for the behavior of readers of Goethe and Dostoevsky on the one hand, or the comic books on the other. In an earlier work, Dr. Wertham himself rejected this simplistic theory of causation: "It seems to me just as inexact, " he wrote, "to say fiction has no influence at all on people's actions as to blame crime on such fiction. Apparently antisocial impulses do not originate in that way. But when they once exist, added impetus may be given them by way of identification with a fictional scene. ' (Dark Legend, A Study in Murder, 1941.) 97 But "the increase in juvenile delinquency," Dr. Wertham charges now, in a second statistical argument, "has gone hand in hand with the distribution of comic books . " (Saturday Review of Literature, May 29, 1948.) But is this not the kind of fallacy that enabled a playful statistician to prove that the stork delivers babies? The evidence, it will be remembered, was: the higher the number of storks in a district, the higher, too, the number of childbirths . Storks as well as childbirths happen to be more frequent in rural areas than in industrial and urban ones. Similarly, a common root cause might in the past decade have led to the increase in juvenile delinquency and the number of comic books. Nearly 50 cities-among them Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, Indianapolis, Terre Haute, and Hillsdale, Mich. -have already acted against the sale of comic books deemed harmful to youth, but there is as yet no news that this has resulted in a decrease in juvenile delinquency. On the other side, Lauretta Bender, another New York psychiatrist and a leading defender of the comic books, denies that the printed word leads directly to imitative behavior by children. "Well-balanced children are not upset by even the more horrible scenes in the comics as long as the reason for the threat of torture is clear, and the issues are well stated. If the child seems to react with some emotional or behavior disorder to reading the comic books, the reason predisposing him to the trigger action it supplies lies within the child and should be sought. It is evident from our case studies that whatever anxiety, aggression, or confusion was attributable to the comic books could be traced further back to the basic traumatic factor within the children's background. * * *"" (Lauretta Bender and Reginald Lourie, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1941.) Four case studies of children are given by the authors. The drive to criminal aggression-and its counterpart, its repression creating guilt and anxiety feelings of a disturbing nature appears in only a minority of children. (But here, it seems likely from the evidence of both supporters and attackers , the communication of violence is likely to increase, if not mobilize and stimulate, these drives . ) Therefore, we should not speak of the effect of these media on " the mind of the child" : we can only observe their effects on the minds of different children with different personalities, backgrounds , and pre dispositions . For healthy children, Dr. Bender sees only healthy rather than harmful effects. "Normal, well- adjusted children with active minds, given insufficient outlets or in whom natural outlets for adventure are curbed, will demand satisfaction in Twenty States' statutes forbid the sale of obscene , indecent, harmful, or immoral literature , and these statutes are being used against some comic books. However, a recent decision of the United States Supreme Court held unconstitutional a New York State law that prohibited distribution of magazines composed principally of criminal news or stories of bloodshed and lust -a law sometimes used against the sale of comic books. On its " balance sheet of civil liberties , " the American Civil Liberties Union listed this Supreme Court decision as a favorable item. 206 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY the form of some excitement. Their desire for blood and thunder is a desire to solve the problems of the threats of blood and thunder against themselves or those they love, as well as the problem of their own impulses to retaliate and punish in like forms. The comics may be said to offer the same type of mental catharsis that Aristotle claimed was an attribute of the drama. " According to Freud and his close followers, this was also the purpose and effect of the entertainment presented by folk and fairy tales. "Fairy tales have a constructive value ; they fulfill children's wishes, they have the same structure as dreams, and their content is really nothing more than the disguised realization of wishes," wrote Sandor Lorand ( Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 1935) . And in an analysis of fairy tales , D. S. Ferenczi wrote: "Fantasies of omnipotence remain the dominating ones. Just where we have most humbly to bow before the forces of nature, the fairy tale comes to our aid with its typical motifs. In reality we are weak, hence the heroes of fairy tales are strong and unconquerable; in our activities and knowledge we are cramped and hindered by time and space, hence in fairy tales one is immortal, is in a hundred places at the same time, sees into the future and knows the past. * * * In fairy tales man has wings, his eyes pierce the walls , his magic wand opens all doors. Aman may live in perpetual fear of attack from dangerous beasts and fierce foes, in the fairy tales a magic cap enables every transformation and makes us inaccessible. " (Sex in Psycho analysis, 1916.) Those defending the modern mass entertainment of violence draw a close analogy between the fantasy of folklore and fairy tales and the fantasy of the comic books. "We concluded that the comics-dealing with universal problems of relationship of the self to the physical and social reality ; replete with rapid action and repetition ; giving continuity to a central character who invites identi fication ; free to experiment with fantastic solutions, but with good ultimately triumphing over evil , like the folklore of other times, serve as a means to stimulate the child's fantasy life and so help him to solve the individual and sociological problems inherent in his living .' (Lauretta Bender, Journal of Educational Sociology, 1944.) This folklore of our time-produced on the assembly line by hard-working writers and cartoonists, stimulating the child's fantasy life by skillfully mixing some sex (for adult readers) with much violence (for the kids) , with technological good (be it the electric chair, the G-man's gun, or Batman's death-rays) ultimately triumphing-can, however, be most easily talked about in such comfortable generalities if one resolutely removes from one's sight their actual, concrete content. If the all-out attackers of the comic books have selected only a few atypical criminal children out of thousands of comic-book readers, the all-out defenders have selected , it would seem, only a few atypical comic books from the hundreds on the newsstands, and concentrated on the fairy-tale qualities of Mickey Mouse and Superman, to the exclusion of the much more frequent Crime, Police, Jungle, Fight, Weird, Rangers, and countless other "action' comics. The fairy tale analogy breaks down when applied to the contents and character of 18 out of 25 comic books given this writer by his news dealer, when he was asked for those he sells most often to the kids in the neighborhood (which is not particularly tough or crime- ridden) . Actually, what problems are shown and solved by these books? 2 "All the revulsion civilized men feel for the beast that appears in a female from time to time * * *," begins a story in one of these books, the story of the "pig-woman," who "like a beast slew men for money" in 62 different cartoons , and was executed only in the sixty-fourth. A half-naked girl, looking like the poorest man's pin-up girl, is , in another book, consecutively crushed by an air plane, attacked by a lion , whipped by a man, attacked by a leopard, tied and whipped by a savage, and finally rescued by a blond man in a bathing suit who says: "Pah, you silly woman. The lumbering rhino stalks better than you. " In another comic book, a wounded man lies on the floor, saying : "Hey fellers , I'm hit. Ugh, wait for me. Ugh, Ugh, " while his three pistol- packing friends voice the following sentiments: "Hank got it in the chest. "He's gotta be finished off. on him." He's done for. Let him croak." He's sure to squeal if them bulls get their claws "He could spill enough to fry us all a dozen times. Let ' im have it." The analogy between fairy tales and mass entertainment does not hold for two reasons: First, fairy tales happened "once upon a time, " in a world con spicuously removed in age and dimension from that in which the child lives; the stories of mass entertainment happen in our day, are acted out by real people, have as background the drugstore, the hotel, the boardwalk, the living room of JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 207 the child's actual environment. While fairy tales do indeed offer fantasies, mass-produced modern murder tales offer facts of life in dark, stark realism . As a matter of fact, quite a few of the comic books are called True Stories , True Crime Comics, Real Detective Comics, and so on, just as the preamble to many crime shows on screen and radio stresses the fact that they are painted from life, after actual happenings. Second, the media of entertainment by violence are produced and consumed continuously, telling in variations the same stories over and over again, and becom ing a routine part of the child's daily life, as repetitious and exciting as other parts of his life. Different from the Punch-and-Judy show in which children used to indulge once in a while, different from fairy tales of which children got tired after hearing them too often, mass entertainment offers new thrills, chills, and lesson everyday, almost every hour. The alcoholism of a man who gets himself drunk every night cannot be considered harmless or healthy, even if we may admit that it is harmless or healthy to get drunk a few times every year. The difference in consumed quantities, whether in liquor or stories , should, it seems, make for different effects ; in both we would seem to have the right to be concerned over the existence of a high " habit-forming" potential. And, indeed, the strong effect of repetition, often indeed the ubiquity, of realistic horror on the child's mind has been observed in the work of several child psycholo gists : "By the very repetition of the ' biff and bang' theme day after day, on radio, printed page, screen, conflict and aggression become too permissible. This either activates a child's guilt on account of his own hostile impulses, or it replaces guilt with underdeveloped conscience, " Dr. Auguste Allpert has observed. Her latter point is confirmed by Dr. Katherine Wolf who notes that "excessive readers (of comic books) do not identify themselves with the hero ; he symbolizes a deity or saviour to whom they delegate all responsibility" (Child Study, spring 1948) . Dr. Wolf found, in an unpublished study conducted in cooperation with Majorie Fiske for Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research, that excessive comic-book readers (those who read more than 5 , sometimes as many as 20, comic books per week) tend to identify themselves with the protégé of the hero rather than with the invincible hero himself (e. g. , the young side-kick of Batman, rather than Batman himself) . Moderate readers on the other hand, tend to identify with the hero. This pattern of identification with irresponsible, " stooge" char acters who have handed all their powers and hopes to an infallible superior human being, remains unchanged among the excessive readers from early childhood to adolescence. In personal interviews with them, the researcher found them usually undersized and underweight, mostly older children of families with numerous off spring, and their personal behavior showed a very aggressive or extremely frightened pattern. This suggests that excessive addiction to the comic books may be a symptom rather than a cause of personality disorders. On the other hand, healthier children, according to Dr. Wolf's study, do not identify themselves at all with comic-book characters before the age of 9 or 10, when they enjoy the thrilling but understandable world of Walt Disney. And they stop identifying themselves with the invincible hero at 14 or 15, when they begin to understand that they have to grapple with the difficulties of life . But even in these so- called normal cases, where no individual fixations or frustrations are "mobilized" by the comic books, it appears quite probable that the image of the strange adult world presented to the children may leave lasting imprints on their minds. It is hard to avoid at least a tentative conclusion that mass entertainment by violence-being part of the child's life in regular routine repetition , and showing the facts of life in seemingly true depiction-tends to become the child's education to violence. People in our society are frustrated by their inability to solve their problems by certain acts and behavior patterns which society has outlawed and suppressed, but vhich nevertheless may seem to some very desirable-aggression, destruction , violence. For many grown- ups, the vicarious experience offered by mass enter tainment may legitimately and usefully help them find escapes from, or solutions of, these conflicts. For adolescents, however, it creates a firm picture of a world of violence into which they grow, and to which they have to adjust themselves ; it conflicts with, and may supersede, the image of democracy, with its moral and spiritual values and emphasis on the sanctity of human life , which they are official ly taught. It is an education which shows individual and social violence as the solution of human problems. The real point is not that the children will tend to resort to violence themselves ; it is rather that they begin to accept violence , when practiced by others as 208 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY "normal," just as Americans in the last war began to accept the idea of putting people in concentration camps, even when practiced by "their" side, as normal. Granted that this message has not been primarily created by the media of modern mass entertainment, which merely express a basic drive, repressed in our time, trying to struggle out of its repression ; nevertheless, it seems inescapable that the continuous expression and communication of repressed desires makes them appear to young minds as a permissible reality , and confirms them as primary forces in future social life. The media of murderous mass entertainment express and also teach a society in which survival means to kill rather than to be killed, to destroy rather than to be destroyed, to be tougher, shrewder, and technically better equipped than your neighbor.5 The hero of the success story of our time is Dick Tracy rather than Horatio Alger; while the latter made good by a prayerful, profitable, peaceable, and progressive life, the former survives by being quicker on the trigger, by slug ging it out without mercy, by keeping shooting and alive even when his situation seems desperate. And this is a perfect picture of godless , totalitarian man. We are taught that there are good and bad people, and the good people will prevail, not because their cause is good, or their means and ways morally better, but because they have— physically, mentally, and technologically-better weapons, or simply better luck. There is no forgiveness for the bad, no temptation for the good. Man belongs wholly either to the good or the bad, those who must be victorious or those who must be killed in the end (these often happen to show a foreign , "racially inferior, " physical appearance) . Finally, there are the dangerous implications emerging from the at first puzzling fact, from Dr. Wolf's study, that among the most intense readers of comic books there is identification , not with the hero, but with the weak person who depends on him . The passivity of modern man- his tendency to be less the active participant than the spectator, less the responsible citizen than the unconcerned onlooker, less an independent individual than a helpless bystander vesting his hopes and his enmities in an omnipotent hero-ruler-is mirrored in this tendency among comic book readers. Again, we may ask, are we dealing with a very early pattern that finds its expression in the attitude children take up toward comic books, or is the attitude inculcated by comic books? And again the answer is-comic books can hardly be given any large responsibility for creating this attitude, but by popular izing it they can hardly avoid strengthening and developing the trend toward the robotization of the indivudual, à la Germany and Russia. The wishdream and Weltanschauung of totalitarian men produced by the in security of our time, expressed by our entertainment industry, taught to our children by their favorite leisure-time occupation , thus seems the real danger of comic books and other horrors . The official juvenile entertainment by violence turns into an underground education to violence. This education to violence, while hardly presenting the " clear and present danger" of causing juvenile crime waves, breaks the ground for a future criminal society . Individual insecurity and social anxiety, the common roots of both the murder trend in entertainment and increasing juvenile delinquency, can lead to brute force and terror as a normal basis for society where today it is only an ab normal individual behavior pattern. If that is the case, the comic books may be helping to educate a whole generation for an authoritarian rather than a demo cratic society. EXHIBIT 3 TIME FOR A HALT RADIO AND TV CARNAGE DEFIES ALL REASON (By Jack Gould) [The New York Times, Sunday, July 16, 1950] If radio and television aren't careful, somebody's going to call the cops. In their desperation to find inexpensive fillers for their summer schedules the two It seems especially unfortunate that comic books have become part of America's effort to help a demo cratic Europe: "Dear sirs: I am the president of the Blue Bolt Comic Club, " a comic book reader writes; " our club is organized to help the unfortunate people in Europe. We send comics to kids who can't afford to buy them. We have sent three packages containing three Blue Bolt comic books in each package * Thusis a distorted and dangerous picture of America distributed together with canned milk and vitamins among the young people of Europe.

• *39

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 209 media have exceeded the bounds of reasonable interest in murder, mayhem, and assorted felonies . Both the kilocycles and the channels are fairly dripping with crime and it is time that a halt was called . Last week the broadcasting industry's admiration for the violent way of life reached the inevitable denouement. The National Broadcasting Co. put a sordid mystery show right in the middle of its delightful Saturday morning schedule for children. The youngsters at home who had just finished hearing a recording of Jack and the Beanstalk were regaled with a lurid tale about a two-timing wife and her husband who was beaten to death with a beer bottle . Actually, it may be doubted if even the television and radio broadcasters them selves realize to what extent they have been gripped by the fad for shooting it out in front of microphone and camera. The figures are both startling and shocking. STATISTICS Taking into account any form of show embodying violence or the threat of violence, including both adult and children's offerings, there was available on the radio last week a total of more than 85 separate time periods at which a listener could tune in a show of this type. This total, incidentally, involved only the four major network affiliates. In television the situation was just as bad . On the 7 stations in the New York area the listener had his pick of more than 75 periods during the week when he could find a taste of life outside the law, the figure including both "live" and film shows. If anything, this total is low because some programs, although ostensibly dedicated to wholesome drama, often incorporate in some degree the theme of homicide . No matter how many novels may be written by disgruntled emigres from Radio Row, broadcasters are not stupid men and they know full well that they are play ing with fire. The volume of protests against the orgy of crime on the air has deluged many a desk in Washington, and Wayne Coy, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, months ago issued a warning. The crime shows are justified by the broadcasters primarily on the grounds of expediency and economic necessity. But there is something fundamentally askew when an industry which constantly prates about its freedom is incapable of en forcing two of the most essential conditions for continued enjoyment of that freedom: moderation and self-control. NO BAN No person either expects or wants a blanket ban on mystery shows ; their appeal is as old and durable as literature itself. And the broadcasters have a thoroughly valid point when they note that other forms of entertainment—magazines, books, and the movies- rely heavily on the crime story. But they err seriously if they think the problem of crime shows on the air can be told in terms of quantity alone. Rather more serious , as a matter of fact, is the quality of such programs after they have been put through the rewriting mill and tailored to fit the needs of two arts which always are in a hurry. The majority of crime shows are presented within a span of 30 minutes and this time often is reduced further by the minutes consumed by the commercials. Although a program series may derive its basic source material from outstanding fiction writers , what is euphemistically known in broadcasting as the adaptation generally squeezes out of an original work much of whatever distinction it may have had. HASTE There is not time in broadcasting for extended characterization or detailed de scription of setting. The writer's job is to "hop up" the narrative so that it cap tures the audience's eye or ear in the shortest possible time and holds the attention of that organ until the Hooper rating is tabulated. In practice this means that the major emphasis must be put on the so-called action. The exposition, the climax and the resolution fall all over each other, with the delights of genuine suspense, characterization and the understated phrase sacrificed to the demands of the stopwatch. It's scant wonder that many a viewer feels he has heard or seen every mystery show before ; he probably has. Ultimately, of course, broadcasting's current preoccupation with crime probably will be tempered by the public itself, just as the worst of the give- away fad finally ran its course. But as with the mania for prize contests , very likely this will not come about until radio and television needlessly have incurred another batch of 210 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY black eyes. If radio and television suffer many more of the same, the public may be justified in coming to the conclusion that the broadcasting industry is incapable of seeing where it is going. EXHIBIT 4 SENSATIONALISM "THE ASPHALT JUNGLE" AND "NIGHT AND THE CITY" MAKE bold attEMPTS (By Bosley Crowther) [ The New York Times, Sunday, June 18, 1950] A smart way of calling attention to The Asphalt Jungle, its new John Huston film , has recently been employed by Metro- Goldwyn- Mayer. It evidently showed the picture to a number of literary lights and then asked them for testi monials before the film was released a form of promotion, incidentally, which can only be risked when one has confidence in a film. And then the company assembled an assortment of responses received and published them in advertise ments under the general heading "Dear John. " The consequent bursts of admiration for Mr. Huston and his film, which is currently playing at the Capitol, have been most impressive, indeed, and one can readily gather that both have the general approval of the literary world. But one thing bothers this reviewer: In none of the testimonials have we perceived any note of an aspect of this picture which has caused us some rather anxious pause. And so, at the risk of appearing to try to horn in on a stunt, we would like to address a letter to Mr. Huston ourself, to wit : DEAR JOHN: Your picture, The Asphalt Jungle, is a most remarkably vivid crime film , and for sheer suspense and excitement on that level it has very few peers. The whole reconstruction of the plotting and execution of a brazen jewel theft which you have shrewdly accomplished in it is as brilliant and natural as such things come. Brother, what melodrama ! When those burglars are cracking that safe, with the police sirens drawing closer, the tension is tighter than a drum. And the performances which you have wrested from your modest and pre dominantly male cast are simply superb in their disclosure of straight personality. Louis Calhern as the big lawyer who secretly finances the "deal" and then tries to doublecross the burglars is, unquestionably, the best of the lot, but Sterling Hayden is close behind him as a cold-blooded hooligan, and Sam Jaffe is wonder fully intriguing as a calm, calculating mastermind. James Whitmore, Barry Kelley, and Marc Lawrence are fascinating, too, and Jean Hagen and Marilyn Monroe are splashy as shady girls. No wonder that W. R. Burnett proclaims that this is "certainly the best picture I've ever had the good fortune to have based on one of my books" even though he has evidently forgotten the picture that his "Little Caesar" made. However, there's this about your picture which is gravely disturbing, John : it purposely heaps abundant sympathy upon the perpetrators of crime. Your criminals are not the brutal monsters that Little Caesar was, obscene and grossly inhuman in their endeavors to conduct their lawless lives. Your criminals are all good fellows, trying to hustle a few dishonest bucks, except for the private detective who pulls a fast one, and that crooked cop. As a matter of fact, toward the finish, you actually permit the lawyer to say, with a touch of wistfulness and pathos, "After all, crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor. " That certainly throws a soft cloak around crime. Now, the thing about this which is disturbing is that you, John, who happen to be one of our most potential young directors, have followed an easy line of mere sensationalism, apparently just for effect. Your picture says absolutely nothing, except the old saw that crime does not pay, which has very little con viction when you've been slugging all the time on the criminals ' side. It is true that some of the critics have endeavored generously to infer that there is some sort of recondite message about the ironies of life in your film. Maybe they're simply recalling your vastly superior Treasure of Sierra Madre. Maybe they find it difficult to believe that you could make such a morally fallow film. But if there is such a message, it certainly does not come through . The Asphalt Jungle, for all its excitement, leaves much to be desired . You have a great capacity to make important films. We need them more than mere stimulation of the nerves and the senses. Sincerely yours. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 211 SAME THING This sort of strong sensationalism, which The Asphalt Jungle contains, is also peculiarly attempted in Night and the City, now on the Roxy's screen, although we must say that there is no comparison in the ultimate effect. However, the disposition to capture audiences with shadiness and shock is quite as pronounced in this instance, and that causes more modest alarm. Directed and filmed in London by Jules Dassin for Twentieth Century-Fox, this moody melodrama, based on a novel by Gerald Kersh, has to do with the sleazy endeavors of a wretched night- club tout to gain control of the local wrestling racket and make himself some sort of power. However, he fails in this endeavor when the key wrestlers whom he hoped to corral stage a private grudge fight in a gymnasium and virtually crush one another to death. Richard Widmark plays the night-club hustler in his well-known morbific style, and Francis L. Sullivan is grotesque as a night-club owner who resists his plans. Stanislaus Zbyszko, the famous old grappler, plays the one decent character in the film-an aged Greco- Roman wrestler who battles Mike Mazurki to the death. All the rest are as specious and trashy as is the cacophonous film. EXHIBIT 5 COMICS, RADIO, MOVIES-AND CHILDREN By Josette Frank Comics, radio, movies, and television-these are a part of our children's world today. They are among the ways by which words and ideas, our culture and our thinking, are being passed along to our children. Yet many view these new de velopments with misgivings, and yearn for the good old days when a child could sit down with a book without being distracted by the voice of the radio and the ever-present lure of a comics magazine. This wish might astonish parents of not so many generations ago who looked upon books themselves as breeders of idleness and daydreaming. When the invention of printing made books available to everyone, pleasure reading was first forbidden, then restricted . Not so many years ago Gulliver's Travels and Huckleberry Finn were forbidden reading for the young. Today we not only accept books, we hope and sometimes insist that our children read them. Indeed, many parents now resist comics, radio, and movies on the ground that they take time which might otherwise be spent with "a good book. " Sooner or later, how ever, we shall probably accept these new developments, too, and learn to use them as we have learned to use books. Some of the questions parents ask Toward that end we need to know more about these "lively arts. " What are they doing to our children, and for our children? What are their values? Their dangers? How can we make them serve our boys and girls better than they do now? How shall we manage our children's radio listening, movie going, and comics reading? As members of the community, what can we do to safeguard not only our own children but all children against the abuses to which all three forms have been subject? How can we help develop these forms as creative instruments for children's pleasure and profit? This pamphlet is an attempt to answer some of these questions . THE COMICS Let's look at the comics first. What are these comics, anyway? What's in them? Why do children-almost all children-love them so? Why do some adults condemn them? What effect do they have on young readers? Shall we forbid them? Shall we ignore them? Can we " improve" them? Somefacts about the comics To begin with, the "comics" are badly misnamed. The name is a carry-over from the early days when comic strips in the newspapers were supposed to make people laugh. Many of today's comics are not funny, and do not pretend to be, though people still refer to the comics magazines as "joke books" or "funnies." Some of the strips are still humorous, however a few with deep and subtle humor, 212 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY but most of the slapstick and nonsensical variety. Some comics magazines are sprinkled with jokes and funny shorts in between other content. Today's comics trace their origin back to the hilarious and sadistic picture strips of Max and Moritz, created by the German artist Wilhelm Busch almost a hundred years ago. Direct descendents of these two bad boys are, of course, The Katzenjammer Kids and The Captain and the Kids, two strips that appear both in newspapers and in comics magazines and have been high favorites with many generations of children. But actually the art of telling stories in picture strips is older than history. Examples of such art have been left by the early Egyptians and the cave dwellers. In American newspapers, comics were introduced at the turn of the century. These were intended for adult newspaper readers, but the children loved them, so it was natural that others should soon appear, addressed directly to the young audience. It remained for our age of mass production to gather the comic strips into magazine form to be sold on newsstands, and make them big business. The figures are staggering: Today 50,000,000 comics magazines are sold on newsstands every month. It is estimated that of the 70,000,000 purchasers of such magazines annually, about 40 percent are children between the ages of 8 and 18. Of course, each book has many more readers, since children circulate them by"swapping" or resale as long as the pages hold together. Surveys point to the likelihood that 98 percent of all children between the ages of 8 and 12 read comics. These readers come from all types of homes and cultural backgrounds, rich and poor, city and country, well-educated and uneducated. Intelligence quotients seem to make no difference, for comics are read by bright and dull children alike, although the bright children are likely to outgrow them earlier. What's in the comics? What is in these magazines ? The greater portion of them still fall, roughly, into about the same groups that children's reading always has-adventure, fantasy and magic, crime and detective, westerns, humor and nonsense, human ized animals, adolescent jitterbug capers, stories about real people, and history and current events. Along with these, however, are an increasing number of highly unsavory crime and horror stories , many of them sadistic and full of sex excitement, whose covers scream with lurid pictures, often promising more murder or more sex interest than their inside pages offer. At present, there is no way to distinguish-without reading_them-the comics that are suitable for children from these unsavory ones. In general, the latter are not among the high favorites with younger readers, but are more apt to attract adolescents and adults . In quality the comics differ widely. At the top are some really fine artists whose drawing is superb comic art and whose strips are justly famous : Terry and the Pirates, originally created and until recently drawn by Milt Caniff ; Soglow's Little King ; and Bud Fisher's original funny men, Mutt and Jeff. Some of the art in comics is mediocre, and some of it is outrageously bad. The same is true of the story material. In terms of its own kind, some of it is imaginative , spritely, and funny; some is commonplace or lacking in taste. Editorial policy ranges from care for details of background and information, and high standards of drawing and editing, to the most slovenly neglect of grammar and spelling. Naturally, too, the social views of editors and publishers find their way into the comics, just as they do in newspapers. (Twenty percent of comics magazines consist of reprints from newspaper strips . ) Sometimes the cartoonist expresses his own social viewpoint. Little Orphan Annie has sometimes appeared as the protagonist of management against labor. Li'l Abner satirizes big business. Terry and the Pirates fight for social justice . Superman strikes at the roots of juvenile delinquency, and so on. A few of the leading publishers of comics magazines maintain advisory boards of educators and psychiatrists who pass upon their material from the point of view of its suitability for children and who have set up standards for guidance in this respect. Why do children love comics? What is the fascination of the comics? Probably the greatest common ingre dient is action. Children like things to happen, and in the comics they do, fast and furiously. The very first page, even the cover, offers a sort of preview of things to come. And from the very outset there is never a dull moment. Even the gentler types of comics never let the reader down, but maintain a swift pace from beginning to end. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY› 213 The action is easy to follow; the relation of cause and effect clear and immediate. As one child put it: " You know by the pictures what the people are doing, and you know by the balloons which person is saying what. " You also know by the pictures which are the " good" people and which the "bad, " and you know more or less what to expect of them. The young reader gets a lot for his money-and with very little effort. Since reading is , for most children, a difficult skill to master to the point of enjoyment, this is no small factor in the popularity of the comics. The fact that all the action is of the biff, bang variety, with everybody and everything being battered about, is especially pleasing to youngsters to whom physical encounters are always fascinating and forbidden. They can hardly take all this very seriously since they take it quite for granted that the battered victims will get up in the very next picture and go into action again, just as, in their own games, the " dead" soldiers or cops or robbers are expected to pick themselves up after the fight and join the play. Very satisfying to the youngsters, too, is the pattern of the comics. To many of us they seem stereotyped, with endless repetition of theme and character. But for children this offers a certain security: They can count on everything turning our as they would have it, for it always does . There is reassurance in knowing that the "good guys" will defeat the "bad guys" no matter what the odds. Just as in the classic fairy tale, the hero will be in danger many times, almost outdone, but always triumphant, thus satisfying children's need for a "moral ending.' For many children the comics provide a reflection of their own fantasies. Identifying themselves with the hero or the villain, they are in there punching. They fancy themselves strong and invincible, able to overcome the limitations of time and space, defending the weak and routing evil. Or they are clever and wicked, but authority steps in (in the form of the law) and their guilt feelings are resolved by punishment of the villain . Perhaps they find in these fancied roles some escape from the frustrations that go with being "small fry" in a world full of people bigger and stronger than they are. Here, too, as in the classic folk tales, children may find release for pent-up feelings of hate, anger, fear, and aggression. Civilized living demands that they speak softly and behave nicely. But along with the fabulous characters in the comics they can fight their enemies, rescue their friends, rough-handle the people who stand between them and their goals, and generally break through the painful restrictions that go with learning to be civilized . What is their effect? So much controversy has raged about the comics that it is hard to separate the facts from the feelings that run so high. The emotional atmosphere that seems to surround this whole question will not help solve the very real problems that are raised , not so much by the comics as such, as by their quantity, their availability, and the abuses to which they have been subject. Many of the recent attacks on the comics have made parents anxious as a result of the scare headlines. This is unfortunate, because anxious parents may do more damage to their children than comics reading. The critics are apt to point to the "horrible examples, without reassuring parents that comics are not all like this and children are not all like this. It is deplorable that sordid and vulgar picture magazines, of any kind, by any name, should be displayed and sold to children. But it should be possible to eliminate these abuses without depriving millions of children of their pleasure in Donald Duck, and without terrifying parents into battling with their children over comics reading. " Crime and the comics Nor is there any basis in fact for the current news headlines which blame comics for children's delinquent acts, or for reckless claims that they have caused a rise in juvenile crime. Certainly we cannot accept at its face value the plea of a frightened child , hoping to please the judge by his "reasons, " that he com mitted his crime because he "saw it in the comics" or "in the movies. " Yet such confessions have been quoted as "proof" of the damage wrought by comics. In an article in the Saturday Review of Literature, Dr. Fredric Wertham attempts to trace crime to comics: "A 20-year-old youth in New York City has just killed a policeman. Is that so astonishing when he can see anywhere a typical comic-book cover showing a man and a woman shooting it out with the police?" This bring us no closer to understanding the deep troubles of this youth. And the anxiety it creates in parents brings them no closer to under standing their children's needs. 214 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY The causes of crime are not so simple. Children have always done dangerous things, damaging themselves and others. They do not know why they are driven to behave as they do. We shall not cure the causes of this juvenile behavior by blaming it on their reading, or on the radio, or the movies. It lies much deeper, in our society's failure to meet the basic needs of these children. In response to an inquiry, Edwin J. Lukas, director of the Society for the Pre vention of Crime, writes : " I am unaware of the existence of any scientifically established causal relationship between the reading of comic books and delin quency. It is my feeling that efforts to link the two are an extension of the archaic impulse by which, through the ages, witchcraft, evil spirits, and other superstitious beliefs have in turn been blamed for antisocial behavior." On this question, Dr. Mandel Sherman, professor of educational psychology at the University of Chicago, states from his experience : " In studying the causes of behavior problems of children for many years, I have never seen one instance of a child whose behavior disturbance originated in the reading of comic books, nor even a case of a delinquent whose behavior was exaggerated by such readings. A child may ascribe his behavior to a comic he has read or a movie he has seen. But such explanations cannot be considered scientific evidence of causation. " The fact that a large number of comic books deal in crime, or at least in violence of one kind or another, reflects the desire of a large number of people, including children, to read about crime and violence . This is nothing new. The greatest literature of all time- Shakespeare, Homer, even the classic fairy tales-abounds in violent deeds. These, in their own time, reflected the deep inner needs of people. They still do . The question whether reading about violence provides safe release for children's aggressive impulses or may, in some instances, stimulate them to aggressive be havior, cannot be answered readily except in terms of the individual child's reac tions. Psychiatrists point out that many children find deep satisfaction in shar ing the daring deeds of their heroes, that those few children who are driven to ex periment with danger would be as likely to respond to any other stimuli . Anything they see or hear may suggest the pattern if the drive is there. There is no substitute for parental vigilance . Do comics create fears? In the spring of 1948 Child Study asked a number of leading psychiatrists whether they have found that comics, movies, and radio create fears in children. All of those interviewed were agreed that radio programs, movies, and comics do not in themselves create fears, but may-for certain children and under certain conditions-precipitate or stimulate anxieties that lie beneath the surface, ready to be awakened. There were wide differences of opinion, however, as to the harm fulness or helpfulness of this material. Dr. Augusta Alpert held that while some children appear to be more immune than others, " comics of the thriller variety make aggression too easy and colorful and in that way threaten the eruption of the child's own aggressive impulses." Dr. Lauretta Bender, on the other hand, saw positive values in comics reading : " Much of what they find in the comics deals with their own unconscious fantasies * * * Comics constitute experi ence with activity , motility, and movement. Their heroes overcome time and. space. This gives children a sense of release rather than fear. " All of those interviewed stressed the need for moderation, and the importance of knowing each child's vulnerability and "tolerance point" for this kind of excite ment. Many children, they pointed out, seem almost to enjoy testing their own capacity to be frightened. For some children, however, horror stories , whether in comics or elsewhere, may be too threatening. Fearful children often protect themselves by avoiding this type of reading. When they do not, we may have to safeguard them. All children, even the hardiest, should be protected from the type of comics magazines whose pages drip with horror and blood. No good can be served by pictures or stories which exploit the appetites of a horror-loving public. While crime stories seem to hold a fascination for many children, as they do for many adults, the point at which this enjoyment becomes unwholesome for the young reader is one which must be carefully watched. A child too preoccupied with crime or horror is showing us plainly that he needs help. Excessive comics reading, too, may be a symptom of disturbance. Dr. Edith Weigert, in the survey already cited, pointed out that "a yearning for anything in excess is a symptom of some disturbance. The child who is excessively absorbed in thrillers, whether in com ics, radio, or movies, should be helped to find more creative interests. " The problem then is not so much to control or limit this reading, but to help the child. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 215 find better ways of coping with his difficulties. This can sometimes be done by channeling his interest into other activities ; sometimes by helping him talk out his problems. Sometimes more direct psychiatric help is called for. Comics and books Can't children find in books the same pleasures they look for in the comics? They can, and many do. The output of children's books, well written and beauti fully illustrated and printed, has increased greatly. Many young readers devour them and beg for more. For the not-too- skillful reader, however, many of these books, including some of the classics, are simply too difficult or too long. Many such children would read nothing at all if they didn't have the comics. Librarians know, too, that many very good readers of very good books also read comics. Between these two extremes of nonreaders and good readers there are probably many comics readers who will go on to other reading if books are made available and attractive to them-not necessarily " classics, " but contem porary, fast-moving, easy-to-read stories. This introduction to books does not happen by itself. It calls for help and guidance from parents, teachers, and librarians. There is no need for an "either or" attitude-books or comics. Children can read both . Whether comics reading is a strain on children's eyes is a question to which more study should be given . In 1942 a dy of Legibility in Comic Books was reported by Lukiesch and Moss in the Sight- Saving Review, citing wide differ ences among these magazines in respect to size and readability of the lettering used. The report concluded that " most comic books represent a great step back ward in the matter of safeguarding the eyesight of children." It offered specific suggestions for improved readability of captions and balloons. Some comics magazines have since made efforts to conform with these excellent and very simple suggestions, but a great many of them are still far below standard in this respect. Parents and comics reading Perhaps the most frequent complaint about comics magazines is that they are so many, so available, and so persistent. Even the parent who raises objections to them on any or all of the counts mentioned would tolerate an occasional comic book. But hordes of them! Not only does a child amass them for rereading, but he clings to his hoard, guarding it against housecleaning mothers and bor rowing playmates. Not only at home, but everywhere he goes there are comics. One cannot shut them out for they are everywhere. Forbidding is worse than useless -even if it were desirable for it only drives their reading underground. A child reading a comic is lost to all else. He hears not, neither does he see. This can be pretty irritating in a household when chores and routines have to be done. And in the classroom, how can arithmetic or grammar compete with the surreptitious comics magazine? The answer to many of these problems seems to lie in the same kind of wise and understanding management we use in all our relationships with our children. There is a time for reading and a time for other thi There are limits beyond which anything may be harmful. These limits cannot be fixed for all children and all times, but are governed rather by the needs of the moment and the needs of the child. We cannot count on rules and dictums: one comics magazine a week, one comic for every "good" book read, one old one discarded for every new one bought. Such devices are meaningless and arbitrary and lead to endless bargaining and bickering. On the other hand, a child can, if he feels his parent is sympathetic, accept the reasonableness of a suggestion to postpone the comics until after his homework is done, or his practicing, or the dishwashing . He can understand why he should not bring comics to school where more urgent matters demand his attention. Such suggestions or directives, however unwelcome, are reasonable and understandable and most children will respond to them, espe cially if they are free at other times to read as they choose. The guidance we give to his selection will depend upon our understanding of the particular child's needs and interests. His choices will often give us clues to the needs he is trying to meet through his reading. Does he prefer the less exciting Disney animals or the sheer lunacy of Popeye? Does he like true stories and real heroes, or prefer fantasy and magic? Dr. Katherine Wolf has found that usually children progress from one of these interests to another, as they grow through various stages in their own development. Young children prefer the gentler animal fables and cartoons . At seven or eight or nine they turn to the more fantastic and magical, and thence to the more realistic " could be possible " tales. 216 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Within each of these categories there are good and bad comics among which we may help children select those which are better edited, better printed , and better drawn. We need to know what is in these magazines and what are the differences among them. We can help children arrive at standards of their own for selecting the best and recognizing the unsuitable. As with everything else within the child's reach- his play, his sports , even his food-he needs parental guidance, and he will accept it if it is based on parental understanding that he also has reasons for his choices, and tastes of his own. These will change and develop and grow as his interests and experiences expand. Can we improve the comics? We can help to raise the standards of publishing in this , as we have in other fields, by asking for really good story material and good art work. To succeed, however, we shall have to define " good" in terms that appeal to children. The children have some reason to suspect adult recommendations of "a good book”— they expect it to be dull , or at least difficult. They will not permit us to take the heart out of their comics. Neither can we safely resort to censorship laws to determine what is and what is not suitable reading for our children. Standards must be based on a sensitive understanding of many kinds of young readers as well as of the comics themselves. Picture strips offer great possibilities for education as well as for pleasure, They are one of the most effective means yet found to tell a story. They convey ideas to many who find reading difficult. It will be a pity if our impatience with some comics magazines blinds us to the virtues of others and shuts off further experimentation with them. Comics can be inspired and imaginative, interesting, and funny, informative and meaningful. There is no reason not to make more of them so. EXHIBIT 6 CHILLS AND THRILLS IN RADIO, MOVIES, AND COMICS SOME PSYCHIATRIC OPINION REPORTED BY JOSETTE FRANK [Reprinted from Child Study, a quarterly journal of parent education, spring 1948] The discussion of children's fears in the winter issue of Child Study suggested an inquiry into the possible relation of movies, radio, and comic " thrillers " to fears in childhood . Accordingly, the following psychiatric opinions have been gathered by Josette Frank and are pre sented here for the guidance of parents. Miss Frank is educational associate on the Child Study Association's staff and consultant on children's books, radio, and comics. Nathan W. Ackerman, M. D., psychiatrist, is director of the Council Child Development Center in New York City. Lauretta Bender, M. D., is associate professor of psychiatry, New York University Medical School. Marianne Kris, M. D. , instructor at the Psychoanalytic Insti tute, is psychiatric adviser to the family counseling staff of Child Study Association. David M. Levy, M. D. , is assistant clinical pro fessor of psychiatry, Columbia University. Reginald Lourie, M. D. , is psychiatrist in Rochester Guidance Center, and pediatric psychiatrist in the psychiatric clinic of Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester. S. Harcourt Peppard, M. D., is acting director of the Bureau of Child Guidance, New York City Board of Education . Edith Weigert, analyst, is a fellow of the Washington School of Psychiatry . Augusta Alpert, Peter Blos, Simon H. Tulchin, and Katherine M. Wolf are consultant psychologists in New York City. Does "blood and thunder" in children's entertainment create or increase their fears? To what extent should children be protected from such experiences? Since we have no research findings on these questions, a number of psychiatrists and psychologists were asked to express opinions based on their own observations and work with children . These opinions showed wide differences on some points and general agreement on others. Despite divergences, however, these many views hold much of value for parents who must manage their children's contact with these modern forms of entertainment in day-to-day living. All those interviewed were agreed on one point: that radio programs, movies, and comics do not in themselves create fears , but for certain children and under various conditions, do precipitate or stimulate anxieties lying beneath the surface JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 217 ready to be awakened. There was agreement, too, that children differ in their fear reactions to various fictional situations . It was on questions of the harm fulness, harmlessness, or positive value of these experiences for children that the greatest divergence of opinion developed . At the outset most of those interviewed pointed out that in a discussion of these entertainment media, they cannot all be lumped together, for comics, radio programs, and movies differ greatly both in content and in impact. The prepon derant opinion seemed to be that visual experiences-the movies-are likely to have the greatest and most lasting impact. Dr. Marianne Kris suggests that movies may be more frightening than comics or radio programs because the visual qualities of the movie presentation exercise a greater appeal to imagination. One might therefore find that scenes of killings or horror in movies may prove upsetting even to a healthy, well- balanced child and still more so to a child already under tensions. Dr. Lauretta Bender agrees that the " auditory patterns of radio are likely to be less clearly received and therefore to be less impressive than the visual patterns of the movies. " Whether or not children will be frightened, she says, will depend on the pattern presented on the screen. "Children are fascinated by the Franken stein monster because it personifies their own fantasies of growing into power. It therefore becomes frightening to them: perhaps they could do these terrible things, or their parents could. Frankenstein personifies their own capacity to let go of impulses to destroy and is therefore threatening. The Superman figure is the reverse of this ; an opportunity to identify with good deeds. He is benevolent and loving and upholds a moral code. Children are frightened by the absence of controls. Clearly they want restraint—they want a moral ceiling on what they might conceivably do. " Dr. David M. Levy, pointing out that "clinical impressions of the effects of contemporary movies, radio , and comics on children seen in psychiatric practice are naturally focused on the anxieties they engender, " goes on to say: "In my experience, movies are much more likely to evoke reactions of anxiety than other media of entertainment. Children have been referred to me because of night errors precipitated by witnessing a particular movie. In contrast, I do not recall any instance where referral was occasioned by anxieties due to a radio program or a session with the comics. Judging by the responses of children seen in practice, movies represent a more intensive experience than the other two media-due to the child's more realistic identification with the characters in the play. A clinical test of their efficacy in eliciting emotional tension could be made by comparing the responses of children immediately following their exposure to samples of the three media with respect to pulse, temperature, blood pressure, insomnia, and night terrors . "Judging by the mothers' accounts of patients ' brothers and sisters , it seems fairly obvious that the majority of children do not have acute symptoms. The children who do react to an exciting movie with night terrors, for example, are reacting to an experience which sets off anxieties usually related to hostile impulses toward someone in their own intimate environment-toward a patent, parent substitute, brother, or sister. As an original source, without any reenforcement from past experiences , I believe the movies are unable to precipitate acute anxiety except in children_of preschool age. We are badly in need of research on un selected groups. Even without the advantage of such study it is a safe inference that it is unwise to subject a child to a movie without careful selection. are too many children with past experiences that can thus be ' set off. ' There "Aside from special traumatic practices , the problem of emotional tension, as such, should be considered. There is a varying degree of tolerance for excitement and this tolerance varies also with age. The same experience that is tolerable at 7 may be unendurable at 3. Regardless of age some children for reasons still unknown can stand very little excitement. For them, excitement must be care fully measured. Some children, on the other hand, crave excitement and become addicts, especially to radio and comics. There are many reasons for this kind of escape. In the main there is an improverishment of interest in intellectual and social activities . As an outlet for the release of forbidden impulses all the enter tainment media, including fairy stories, have been given special approbation. Some children never graduate from the comics , as witness the large number of adults who require a daily dose of such regressions . "Are the child's aggressive impulses, omnipotence ideas, fairy-tale magic wishes, as portrayed in the comics, a salutary influence? Do the comic-strip and the radio programs for children retard intellectual and emotional growth? Or do they have real value as a stimulus to the imagination, as a safety valve of 72705-50 -15 218 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY tensions, as a sedative distraction? On the whole the clinician is more aware of the harmful influence of the present-day media-but they present a fertile field of research for educators, psychologists, and psychiatrists . ' "" Dr. Katherine M. Wolf, in studying children who attended movie thrillers for the first time, found that those children who showed fears were those whose fears were apparent in other areas too. "Thrillers , " she says, " depicit realistic , concrete situations ; children who are not predisposed to anxiety are able to differentiate them from their own experiences . In contrast, the Disney films evoke anxiety even in well -adjusted children. They deal with phantasies in undisguised form. The child feels ' caught' and is therefore afraid. ' Dr. Bender believes that "movies in which the mother is either killed or threatened, as in Bambi or Dumbo, are likely to be frightening experiences unless parents step in and utilize them constructively. A resourceful parent can actually help to resolve the child's anxiety through a movie or radio program by giving him a chance to talk out his own problems in relation to the situation presented in it. This presupposes, of course, that parents are able and willing to listen, to explain meanings, and to clarify confused ideas. " Radio, several contributors noted, presents other problems, such as the age of listeners and individual differences in their sensitivity. Radio is not selective it reaches all within earshot . "" COPING WITH FEAR Dr. Kris believes that "by the time the child is around 6 the fears which are normally present in the third and fourth years are usually under control. Children who do not normally react with fear to other situations are not likely to react with fear to radio either. Where a child's emotional life is already on the verge of imbalance, however, a program or movie may create unnecessary strain. It is true that a child must learn to cope with fear, and it is important not to over protect him; but we should avoid arousing more fear than he can handle. "On the other hand we know that there is an age when children normally are attracted by cruelty. The child does not react to it as the adult does, but enjoys vigor not only in the hero but also in the villain. Literature offers characters for identification . The little boy normally enjoys identifying with the strong man in the story. Children in whose personality passivity plays a dominant part tend, on the other hand, to identify with the weak in these storied situations. Still others attracted by the test of their strength, love to play with danger and are fascinated by it. 'Am I strong enough or am I not? Dare I?' "In all these questions one has to consider the necessity of creating outlets for the child's aggressive impulses. But we do not know whether an outlet with little positive value does not involve the child in additional conflicts . Certain of the thrills offered by popular entertainment seem to be too near more primitive excitement. " The difficulties of controlling which child shall listen are pointed out also by Dr. Nathan W. Ackerman. "The trouble with radio, " he says, "and to a some what lesser degree with movies and comics, is that these mass media strike all types of children-psychotic, neurotic, anxious, and normal . While the normal ones are not likely to be unduly disturbed by exciting programs, we have to take into account that a certain proportion of children are anxious children who need the safeguards we can give them. " On the question of harmful effects , Dr. Ackerman goes on to say : "Parents often assume that dramatic programs or comics create pathology. This is erroneous. No matter how weird or violent they may be, programs don't create disturbances. But given a child who evidences disturbance, one must question the effect of the stimulus (radio, movie, or comic book) on this particular child. Pathology enters the picture when the emotional disturbance persists over a long period and is palpably heightened by this type of entertainment. "A radio program or movie may precipitate in the child an overt expression of an underlying anxiety. In such a case the program should not, perhaps, be said to be harmful, since other accidental stimuli may also create similar effects. We must, however, always be aware of the emotional disposition of each child in order to protect him when necessary. "We see children who, in spite of their shudders, seem irresistibly drawn to horror programs and movies. Such children are, no doubt, impelled to defy the symbolic threat of punishment. They seem impelled to meet this threat, hoping to be able to overcome it. One cannot, of course, generalize on the value or harm of such experiences. How well each child will succeed will depend upon whether he is strong enough to meet fear and end up with a feeling of mastery OV it, or is overwhelmed by the experience and unable to cope with it . ” JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 219 As to just what proportion of children would fall in this " disturbed" group, no statistical answers are available. Dr. Bender believes that "more than three quarters of the children who read comics do not react with fear. " Dr. Reginald Lourie reports that in a study of controlled radio listening with 200 children between the ages of 8 and 12 "between 70 and 80 percent showed no measurable reaction after listening to radio serial programs. About 15 percent showed some change in behavior pattern such as overactivity, hyperexcitability or sleep dis turbances. About a third of this group knew before listening that they would be upset but were almost magnetically drawn to listen. About 3 percent voluntarily avoided listening because they knew it would be too upsetting. "Correlations have not yet been completely worked out, but it would appear thus far that each disturbance experienced by a child after listening can be traced to other current factors . These vary from constitutional excitability to friction with other children, homesickness, or other anxiety-producing stress . In some children, factors of this kind seem to bring them to a susceptible point where fears may be crystallized by the kind of imagery offered by a ' thriller. ' " Agreeing that " certain programs may stir up, in some children, an already existing neurosis, " Dr. S. Harcourt Peppard goes on to say : "On the other hand, radio programs which contain elements of action, adventure, hostility, and suspense are more likely to provide an opportunity for the child to come to grips wit his own antisocial impulses. Listening to these programs he is enabled to satisfy, through dramatization, some of these needs which otherwise might develop into increased fears or even into overt aggressive acts. In our culture , children necessarily are exposed to many fear-provoking and destructive influences . These are a part of reality. Our job is to fit children to live in this reality . Children must have experience with fear and aggression in order to learn gradually to cope with them." THE VALUES OF COMICS As to comics, Dr. Bender goes further in emphasizing the positive values for children. "Much of what they find in the comics deals with their own unconscious fantasies. It is possible ( though I cannot say this with certainty) that they need this material as a pattern for their dreams, to give them content with which to dream out their problems. As in radio serials , the continued stories give them confidence. For here are patterns of life that can be trusted to come out all right. "Comics constitute experience with activity, motility, movement. Their heroes overcome time and space. This gives children a sense of release rather than fear. Sound effects-in the comics as well as on the radio-horses' hoofs coming and going, and other sounds denoting motion, are important in the sensory education of our children. Along with their listening, children often experiment in the use of their own bodies, acting through the motions of the unseen radio characters . Not many carry it to a dangerous degree and those few who do would be likely to use any other pattern this way; i . e . , children have always jumped off heights in imitation of birds or airplanes, even before Superman suggested it to them. "Let the children listen and look, " says Dr. Bender. "We do not always know the problems they are trying to solve or what they are groping for ; but through their comics and their radio we may perhaps help them to formulate and articulate their problems and find solutions for them. " A very different point of view is offered by Dr. Augusta Alpert who is concerned with the "cumulative effect of the threefold bombardment of children's minds with stories of violence. ' "" She says : "By the very repetition of the ' biff and bang ' theme day after day, on radio, on printed page, and topped off on the screen , conflict and aggression become too permissible. This either activates a child's guilt on account of his own hostile impulses, or it replaces guilt with an underdeveloped conscience, depending upon the emotional make-up of the child . Some children appear more immune than others. The action of these stories is so swift, the form so lurid , that the stereo typed ' moral' is lost in the rush. Furthermore, the all-powerful, all-wise, ever present concentrate of manhood and womanhood are hardly suitable or workable ideals for children to identify with. In the psychological sense, aggression is not synonymous with hostility ; nor is fighting the only satisfying outlet . Education has not been resourceful enough in this respect, nor knowing enough about the treatment of frustration, with the result that children are left too receptive to the passive release provided by stories of violence and vengeance. "Comics of the ' thriller' variety make aggression too easy and too colorful, and in that way threaten the eruption of the child's own, precariously controlled aggressive impulses . Fear inevitably follows in their wake. If these experiences 220 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY were safety valves, in the form of vicarious discharge of aggression, nightmares following them would not be so frequently reported.' Dr. Wolf, however, on the basis of her investigation of comics-reading, empha sizes the impossibility of making any "all or nothing" statement concerning the relation between comics and children's fears. "There are, " she points out, "two different patterns of comics reading. Moderate readers use the comics for identi fication ith the heroes. they grow up and realize that perfection is unattain able, they are critical of the unrealistic perfection of the comic-book hero, and their own development weans them from comics reading . In these children comics arouse neither nightmares nor aggression. "Excessive readers on the other hand (and ' excessive ' here refers not to quantity of reading but to intensity of absorption) do not identify with the comics hero. For them he symbolizes a deity or savior to whom they delegate all responsibility. While this almighty figure, by relieving them from responsibility does relieve them from anxiety, he also creates anxiety merely by his all-powerful existence. "Comics evoke, however, the strongest anxiety in those children who, though their psychological make-up is similar to that of the comics fans, actually shy away from comics reading. For these children the comics hero symbolizes the devil , who is threatening rather than helpful. " That comics and radio programs meet many of the same needs as does literature is suggested by Dr. Edith Weigert. She says : "Children in all times have had a certain longing for the gruesome as exemplified in the old fairy tales. This longing derives from the child's need to get beyond his home and nursery into a big world full of dangers which he has already glimpsed and which has already created anxiety. The child has a longing to get acquainted with these dangers, but at a safe distance . In stories and radio programs the child can master them by identification with the hero who masters them. "It is noteworthy that in the traditional fairy tales it is usually the youngest or the weakest who braves the dangers and wins. This is reassurance for the child who is always in the position of being young and weak in an adult world. No child can grow up without anxieties. In fact, our whole educational method applies anxieties in certain doses, for there always is the threat of withdrawal of adult approval children do not comply with what we require of them for our educational purposes. ' " HOW MUCH MAKE- BELIEVE? The question of " how much" was stressed by several contributors. Dr. Peter Blos, granting that children may have a certain " fear-tolerance, " asks : "How much of frightening make-believe can a child tolerate without reaching the point of anxiety which is the danger signal- that is, the point beyond which he cannot handle his own fears? Just when this point is reached varies according to the age of the child and to his individual disposition. Any kind of over-stimulation, whether mental or physical, has disorganizing effects. If you eat too much of the best food it becomes poison This does not mean that the food is poison but merely that you have eaten it beyond the point of tolerance. This is true also of children's exposure to excitement and fear in radio, movies, and comics. "The normal child differentiates between inner and outer reality in his listening in proportion to his own degree of security. The stronger the child's sense of reality, the less vulnerable will he be to fearful situations in fiction or drama. Age is a factor here too : the younger child is less able to differentiate and there fore more vulnerable. " Also warning against "excessive preoccupation with thrillers, " Simon H. Tulchin points out that "while these do have a fascination for children, one would not want to dish them out in unlimited quantities. A child needs all kinds of experiences, but there is danger if the experiences are all of the same kind. And certainly a child whose make-up is highly sensitive may need to be protected from horror films or programs. "It is important, however, to bear in mind that what seems horrible to us as adults may not seem horrible to the child. The adult sees things in the situation which the child does not because these are not within his experience. Often, therefore, we weigh the effects in terms not of the child's reactions but of our own. ' "" Dr. Weigert, too, points out that "a yearning for anything in excess is a symptom of some disturbance. The child who is excessively absorbed in thrillers, whether in comics, radio or movies, should be helped to find more creative interests ." As to this Dr. Kris also adds : "The child for whom radio listening, movies and comics are the paramount activity, is in danger of getting all his entertainment passively JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 221 instead of creatively. I would say, however, that a certain quantity of storied 'thrills' would not be detrimental. ' What is the role of parents in all this? Afew specific directives and suggestions are offered. Supporting Dr. Bender's plea that parents watch for opportunities to help children talk out their problems, Dr. Ackerman suggests that parents find ways of helping the anxious child "not by shocking him into open expression, but by working gradually to help him master the experience for himself. For example, after a very exciting program or movie the parent might talk over with him the whole experience of being scared. Such verbal reliving of the fear situation may help him to gain control of his fears. " Dr. Blos suggests the point at which parents must take over. "Some children are drawn to listen to exciting programs as they might be to explore a dark cellar or an empty house. Such listening will do them no harm. If, however, children are under compulsion to prove to themselves that nothing bad can happen to them (which is proven by constant listening to exciting stories) then we must suspect a lack of self- confidence, and for such children we must find ways of build ing up more active reassurance through constructive activities instead of passive ones. "Some children, on the other hand, protect themselves from programs or movies which they find too exciting by refusing to see or listen to them. This might be called ' living within your capacities' and might be compared with not eating more than your stomach can digest. Children often find this point for themselves . Where they do not, parents must do it for them. " EFFECTS OF PARENTAL ANXIETY Dr. Weigert discusses the effects of parental anxiety: "One of the major problems in children's radio listening is the oversolicitous mother who strives to give her child too much protection . A child growing up without exposure to any anxiety or fear-producing situations would be like a child brought up in a germ-free environment. It is important to find the point to which a child may safely be exposed to anxiety and not to expose him to more than he can safely bear. But anxieties will be much more difficult for the child to handle if the parent is over whelmed by them. If the anxiety is presented in an artistic form and if the adult who presents it is confident that the danger can be mastered, the child is thereby reassured : He thinks, ' I can master it, too. ' "When a child has nightmares, it is safe to say these come from some insecurity in his relations with his parents or others in authority. One might say too that the child who is too greedy for thrillers is somehow unsatisfied in these significant relationships. " For parents, there is a wealth of suggestion in Dr. Lourie's illuminating note that, in the study cited, "when the children had, earlier that day, been engaged in competitive and exciting play of their own, fewer of them listened to the radio. Perhaps this confirms our feeling that these programs fill vicarious needs, and that when enough thrills and excitement are actually experienced, the vast majority of children have no need to listen." "It is significant, " says Dr. Alpert, " that children whose emotional, social, and physical needs are met by the home, school, and neighborhood, pass through a brief, more or less intense addiction to comics and other such items, and go on from there to the next level of development. But the less fortunate children, the vast majority, emotionally underfed at home, suffering from unbearable frustra tions-these are the children who become ' addicts' of thrillers as children and remain fixated on that level indefinitely. For them, these programs fill in the vacuum left by the failure of home, school and neighborhood." Implicit, if not explicit, in all of these contributions is the commandment to parents to know their own child, to know what he is seeing and hearing, and to examine these experiences in terms of his particular needs and interests . What kinds of movies, radio programs and comics appeal to him? Why? Do these seem to give him release or overstimulation as evidenced by sleep disturbance, anxiety, and so on? Do other activities have a fair share of his time and atten tion? Parental management in each case must be guided by the answers to these questions. There is no single formula for all children , no clear course for all parents to follow. There remains, too, the need for parents to examine their own attitudes. Are they really noting the child's reaction or are they voicing their own prejudices and problems? To what extent do children have guilt feelings when they enjoy things of which they know their parents disapprove? May such feelings of guilt 222 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY be more damaging than the actual listening or reading? Does parents' anxiety make the child more anxious? Whatever the answers to these questions, however conflicting the opinions of the psychiatrists, we will find that the differences in tastes and interests about entertainment, which perennially exist between generations, can be bridged by humor and understanding and by real respect for the child's present needs and for his capacity for growth. EXHIBIT 7 [Mutual Broadcasting System, Friday, April 26, 1946, 10 : 00-10 : 30 p. m. ] INFLUENCE OF COMICS ON CHILDREN (Transcript) on ANNOUNCER: The Mutual Broadcasting System presents the last in a series of three programs on the influence of radio, motion pictures, and comics children . Tonight our subject is comics and our moderator is Mr. Austin MacCormick, executive director of the Osborne Association and former com missioner of correction of the city of New York. Mr. MacCormick: MACCORMICK. I guess I should explain before we start, for the benefit of old fashioned adults- none of whom are in this room-who still think of the comics as humorous strips in colored Sunday supplements, that the bulk of the comics that children read today are to be found in 64-page magazines, with over 150 titles, appearing monthly on every newsstand in the country. Approximately 40,000,000 copies of these magazines are published monthly, and 9 out of 10 children between the ages of 8 and 15 read them. From these figures we can surely deduce that comics are here to stay. However, I do know that many parents of comic-hoarding children have found these magazines a thorn in their side. The comics have been accused by many educators and librarians of being vulgar, sensational, and violent . On the other hand it has been said by equally prominent educators and child psychiatrists that children find in comics the satisfaction of some deep, inner needs of their own * * that the complete absorption of children in comics points up significant shortcomings in children's books. What then is the influence of comics on our children-these magazines filled with adventure, mystery, and magic? With us in the studio tonight to dis cuss this highly controversial subject we have Dr. Ernest Osborne, professor of education at Teacher's College, Columbia University, and vice president of the Child Study Association of America ; Mrs. Frances Clarke Sayers, superintendent of work with children of the New York Public Library ; Dr. Lauretta Bender, associate professor of psychiatry at the New York University Medical School; and Dr. William Ward Ayer, pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in New York City. Each of the panel members has very definite ideas on this subject, and each will have 3 minutes to state his case. After that, the meeting will be open for discussion questions and answers-and so on. Dr. Ernest Osborne, our first speaker, approves of comics for children. Dr. Osborne: OSBORNE. I come to this discussion tonight in no missionary spirit . Even though a college professor, I'm realistic enough to recognize that 3 minutes of my brand of oratory won't convince my friendly adversaries on this program that the comics constitute an outstanding cultural contribution to this age. And that especially because I don't believe that myself. But I am convinced that there's been a good deal of rueful head- shaking, or raising of hands in horror about the baneful influence of comics that's pretty far-fetched and sometimes even hysterical . So I have a few tentatively held conclusions, some of which I hope we can discuss fruitfully for ourselves as well as for our listeners . They are presented rather dogmatically, I fear, but that's largely due to time pressure. And so, without further ado, here they are: First, that the diet of so- called good literature approved by school people and by some of our more conservative librarians, not Mrs. Sayers, has not been a very palatable one for a great many children .

Second, that the comics are of deep interest and that, intelligently used by adults, they can be of definite help in effectively introducing many children to the world of books. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 223 Third, that children are as much entitled to enjoy the comic type of literature as adults enjoy the more ephemeral kind of whodunits, the detective stories that most of us enjoy. Fourth, that enjoyment of comics doesn't eliminate nor dull interest in more permanently valuable literature if there is intelligent understanding and guidance on the part of adults and particularly parents. Fifth, that psychologically the comics are the modern fairy tales with their own fantasy, cruelty, and power symbols, and that they provide desirable emo tional release for children who are thwarted and frustrated by the veryday pres sures of life around them-the necessary restrictions that growing up in an essentially adult world brings. And sixth, that the release comes, in part, through their ability vicariously to experience the deeds of valor, the righting of wrongs that are the everyday activities of the various supernatural characters now numbered among America's best-known citizens . But I'm afraid I'm beginning to encroach on the territory of my psychiatrist colleague, Dr. Bender. And I know from past experience that she speaks very effectively for herself. Mrs. Sayers will probably point out the low literary merit of the comics, others here tonight and elsewhere will have many special points pro and con. As a parent, and as a person who has rather close contact with many parents, the comics seem to me to provide a harmless and apparently interesting pastime for children who I, for one, feel have the right to the relaxa tion and absorbing interest that they apparently bring. There are , of course, all sorts of questions that can be thrashed out and I look forward to the opportunity to spend a few minutes at least in the thrashing out process here tonight. MACCORMICK. Thank you, Dr. Osborne. And now, Mrs. Frances Clarke Sayers, who feels quite the opposite about the influence of comics on children . Mrs. Sayers. SAYERS. As a librarian , I am concerned with the influence of the comics on the reading taste of children. The greatest indictment against them is that they impoverish the mind of children by substituting for emotion, sensationalism ; for dramatic action, violence ; and for imagination, contrived invention. They destroy the child's innate ability to respond to real feeling and they rob him of his sense of wonder. The comics reduce everything to the lowest common denominator of violence, vulgarity, and commonplace expression . Their very names are sensational, not imaginative. The Batman, Superman, Flash Gordon, Rip Carter and his Boy Commandoes of 5,000,000 B. C. The color is crude, the paper is cheap, the taste exhilarated and they are very seldom funny. The language is without vitality, unless you consider the following colorful : "No, Moiton, not yet, youse has got to keep submoiged . " This is the way a character called Flannelhead speaks in a recent Superman sequence. And what a bore that Superman can be. The comics are most harmful, I think, when they are the only source of reading for children. Those who have access to a variety of books can be counted upon to take the comics in their stride and can strike their own balance in relation to them. But the trouble is that there is so little time in which to read in childhood and that wonderful span of years between the ages of 9 and 13 when books have a flavor, an excitement hardly equalled again in a lifetime, that time is too often wasted in reading which leaves no residue of remembered experience or emotion. But even greater than the tragedy of chil dren who waste their time in reading comics, is the tragedy of the adults who argue that because children like comics everything must be presented to , them in comic form. These are the people who have put the lives of the great into comics, mythology into comics, the classics into comics and the Bible. In the comics' interpretation of the conversion of Saul, Saul's comment upon being struck blind by the hand of the Lord is as follows : "I can't see a thing. I hope I'm not permanently blind. " It seems rather a weak statement under the cir cumstances. These books, mind you, are used as teaching aids. If education means nothing more than the use of the commonplace and meretricious as a teaching aid, then we are poor indeed. We are not fulfilling our obligation as educators by thus failing to uphold public taste and failing to expose children only to the best. As reading material for the illiterate adult, the lazy minded, the theorist, and the propagandist, the comics may serve. But they are not fit to serve children whose capabilities are limitless and who deserve better of their elders . MACCORMICK. Thank you, Mrs. Sayers. Our next speaker, a child psychia trist (and that sounds as though she's a superchild) , is Dr. Lauretta Bender. Dr. Bender. 224 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY BENDER. Children always have the problem of dealing with frustration. They are frustrated by their own incomplete growth and the ordinary limitations of their own bodies and minds. They would like to run with the speed of lightning and soar into the air and penetrate into the earth-see all things and hear all things and understand all things. Physical nature frustrates them too. Gravity keeps them out of the heavens. The solidity of the earth keeps them on its surface. Time moves slowly and they cannot go backward or forward in time. Social problems frustrate them in the family circle and in every group they are in, depending on the personal problems of the adults, and other children uncul tured to belief and social prejudices . The child's fantasy life tackles these prob lems, using symbolic figures from folk lore, nursery rhymes, plays, art, and the cultural surroundings and their own dreams. The old symbols, such as fairies, forest and barnyard animals, princes and knights are not always suitable for modern problems. Besides, symbols should be numerous and fluid to serve many functions. Superman symbolizes the modern attempt in dealing with these problems. He can overcome the inertia of his own body and mind and the limitations of the physical world. He can fly into space, overcoming time and gravity and bear into the depths of the earth. His eyes can see everything— his ears hear all, If not Superman himself, some one of the many other characters, such as the Batman, the Flash, Captain Marvel, and the Green Lantern. When the aggressive threat to society, or the immediate family, is so overwhelming as to be unbearable, the comics can present the problem symbolically and repetitively so as to allay anxiety. During the war when Superman and Wonder Woman could protect our ships at sea from Nazi submarines through their quick seeing eyes and lightning feet and magic strength--they were a great help to children whose fathers were in the service. Of course, Superman did not save the lives of any fathers, but more children suffered from anxiety and fear of losing their fathers than those who lost their fathers , and the comics gave them symbolic father and mother figures , representing the protective powers of the allied war effort. The comics should not be expected to give all the final answers. The children want news, are becoming articulate about problems, and too, have sug gested the possibility of many ultimate solutions some false, and some magical. The comics should, therefore, experiment with fantastic figures from our dream life, folk lore, history, classical literature, Bible stories, detective literature, current events, and scientific research. The sheer quantity of the comic material is its best protection. The volubility, the rapid flow of repetitious experimental material in language, in art, in social relationships, the cheap publications which may be destroyed or bartered without compunction makes the comics comparable to stories told by story tellers of old. MACCORMICK. Thank you, Dr. Bender. And now, our last speaker, Dr. William Ward Ayer. Dr. Ayer. AYER. Without presenting a blanket indictment of all comic periodicals and acknowledging the educational possibilities of the comic format in our day when adults as well as children get most of their information through the medium of pictures, a method which we are now using for Bible teaching, yet as a religious and moral teacher, I am decidedly apprehensive concerning the influence of the comics upon American youth . Obviously, much of the material is of a danger ously inflammatory character-too much so to be so large a part of the reading and inspiration of children during their formative years-the period of their greatest impressionability. This brief statement does not permit any real survey of the popular comics themselves, and therefore, I suggest these dangers resident within many of them. First, they give a false view of life to developing youth-creating the impression that life should be a continuous, hilarious drama and adventure a suggestion which is palpably and dangerously false. The atmosphere of continuous combat, in the second place, where heroes and heroines must ever be armed with deadly and sometimes supernatural weapons plays too heavily upon the naturally ad venturous spirit of youth, perverts and inflames it to unnatural and unwholesome thoughts and desires. And third, the general philosophy of the modern comic is grossly materialistic. Armed might and dictatorial and arbitrary attitudes are vividly portrayed and subtly taught. Terror reigns, life is a nightmare, normalcy seems an impossibility. To my mind, they present a sort of resurgence of paganism in the form of modern mythology which deifies science and its miracles in such a way as, in the mind of a child at least, to make God unnecessary. Fourth, while I do not suggest that the so- called comics should teach specific religion, I do claim that it is unfortunate to allow them to capture the adolescent JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 225 mind and teach it that superpeople with supernatural weapons are a sort of a substitute for a providential God in his laws in the world. Undoubtedly many of the comics are definitely inflammatory, abetting criminal tendencies in youth, where they do not create them. The worst feature that I see as a religious leader and Protestant churchman is the influence that the Sunday newspaper funnies have upon the scholars who come to our Sunday schools. After they have spent an hour with these colorful, tragic, dramatic monstrosities, their minds are so completely saturated with the blood and thunder, intrigue and crime situations, that it is almost as impossible to implant the truths of God and individual righteous ness effectively in their hearts as it would be to grow a garden where the soil had been covered a foot deep with ashes. The influence of the modern comic craze upon childhood is, I believe, often a deterrent and a detriment to wholesome religious and moral development of youth. MACCORMICK. Thank you, Dr. Ayer. And now for the discussion. OSBORNE. I'm glad that I have a very stable home background, or I would have such a deep feeling of guilt as a parent tonight at some of the adjectives that have been used that perhaps I should leave at once. A word about Dr. Ayer's use of " dangerously false, " "inflammatory, " "pervert, " " tragic, " and so forth. I wonder whether he isn't taking the reading a little too seriously. I think that's something we might discuss perhaps. I'm also a bit worried about what I thought Mrs. Sayers was saying that these comic materials, this literature-she perhaps wouldn't use that word, or like me to use the word- tend to stop children from developing interest in other types, in so-called better literature. I hadn't thought that true in my own family, with my own youngsters, and I'd like to know whether she feels that it really does kill her trade as purveyor of children's stories. MACCORMICK. Mrs. Sayers, do you want to speak now? SAYERS. Yes. No, I think that I'd rather agree with Dr. Osborne that, as I said, the children who read comics and read other things can generally take the comics in their stride, but the comics take the edge off of the real thing, if a child gives too much of his time to the reading of them. He loses his ability to discrim inate and he loses his ability to enjoy subtlety of feeling. And, of course, the sense of wonder is something that concerns me very much because that belongs to childhood. The comics are so contrived, so manufactured, that they really don't see life with that childlike sense of wonder. MACCORMICK. Dr. Bender, I have an idea you feel they help satisfy that sense of wonder. BENDER. Yes, I for one would like to argue that we have a little more faith in our children, in the first place. And, in the second place, in our modern writers, also . Now the idea that the children are impressionable and should therefore be saved from the kind of experience that they get from comics does not take into consideration the thought that, being impressionable, they are also able to discard or to leave aside or to pick and to choose, and not necessarily to be incapable of erasing those experiences which may not be entirely of their own taste. Children do have an amazing capacity to discriminate and choose those things which are useful to them. Furthermore, this is an experimental age and we all of us are experimenting with all sorts of experiences, and children should too. Children are the ones in which we should have the most faith, in my opinion, in being able to select their material and use it, providing we, as adults, share the experiences with them. That is important though, that as adults, we should share their experiences. Of course comics shouldn't make up their total diet. They should have a diet made up of old literature and literature of all sorts of new experiences and old experiences. MACCORMICK. Do you feel, Mrs. Sayers we don't want to stay too long on this one subject that you can't get them to read better things because of the volume of comics read? That you can't get them to read both, I mean? SAYERS. No, I wouldn't say that. No, I know children who read both. We have children who come to the library and go out with Howard Pyle's Robin Hood, and Kenneth Graham's Wind in the Willow and their pockets will be crammed full of comics. That's all right. That doesn't bother me at all. The point is that, as I said, there's so little time to read. I take objection to Dr. Bender's statement when she said that children are able to discriminate. They are up to a certain point, but everyone knows that one's taste is built on what one's experience has been and especially the experience of one's childhood. And that's why it's so important that the best be given in childhood. OSBORNE. Well, I think there is a good deal to what Mrs. Sayers says, but it seems to methat one can hardly ever logically be expected to learn to discriminate unless he has an experience in contact with varieties of materials. And I've always 226 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY felt that both in the case of the parent and the psychologist, the attempt to pro vide only the good, the pure, the noble for children is not very helpful in guiding them to learn to make discriminations of their own. Surely we need to make it possible and it's difficult for us to avoid it, I suppose--for children to have con tacts with all sorts of things, some of which are not as noble and fine and stimulat ing and valuable as others. And then we need to stand by, as Dr. Bender suggests, as parents and adult friends to help them develop their tastes, it seems to me. SAYERS. May I say something? To that point? I don't want to take all the time but it seems to be a law of life and particularly of culture in this country that what is cheap and tawdry has so much more backing, financially and in every way commercially, than what is real and deeply felt . I think that we are getting to be a civilization which takes everything in tabloid form, which wants every thing to come quickly and give-demand little of us. That's what I mean be cause the forces of that tawdry world are so much greater than the forces for what is not noble but what is simply more fun when you know it . MACCORMICK. But I think we are all worried that, in the attempt to eliminate what is called tawdry, we are suppressing a lot of pretty primitive and natural impulses in children, that they should be given some kind of expression under di rection rather than suppression. Dr. Ayer hasn't had much of a chance here, let's hear from him. AYER. If Dr. Osborne is somewhat afraid of my adjectives, may I say that they're my stock and trade, that's the way I make my living. OSBORNE. I was going to say something about that, but then I didn't. AYER. However, I should like to say this, in regard to the adjective "inflamma tory" and so forth . Just as matches lit in the presence of inflammatory material are likely to start a serious conflagration, so it seems to me that these comics, especially when they deal with crime, and blood and thunder in a highly dramatic way, are likely to start a moral conflagration. And I feel that there's some danger there, as a religionist . I'd like to say also to Dr. Bender-she speaks of having faith in our children I'm wondering also if we ought not to make it possible for our children to have faith in us who are parents and religious teachers because they do look to us to guide them in their reading and to keep from them those things which are detrimental. I still believe in the old Biblical adage that if you bring up a child in the way he should go, he'll not depart from it when he's older. MACCORMICK. We're trying hard to decide where he should go in this particular world. The definition changes as time passes. Dr. Bender? We have only a couple of more minutes now. BENDER. It is a shame that we don't have more time to discuss it fully. My feeling is that in this whole field we should keep a very forward-looking attitude and help the children, help ourselves, help all modern literature to see what is really useful to children. Now as a student of human nature and a student of children- both normal and those who deviate slightly from the normal- I feel that deep emotional experiences cannot always be evaluated in terms of old folk lore or in terms of literature, but rather in terms of unconscious mechanisms and unconscious experiences and fantasies which are very significant. The idea, for instance, that the comics relate crime isn't in order to reach children crime, but to teach them what human impulses and problems are, and what the answer is to the problems which we all of us have to face, be we children or be we parents or be we professors. AYER. Could I ask whether or not these psychiatrists believe that the comics in the main present natural and normal experiences or do they not present arti ficial experiences in the main that the child would know nothing about if he didn't read the comics? OSBORNE. Artificial, like many fairy stories that have such high ratings among librarians , among parents, etc. MACCORMICK. Dr. Bender, do you want to comment on that further? BENDER. I find nothing artificial in any human experience which rings true to human beings, be they children or be they adults. And I certainly find nothing more artificial in our modern comics than the old fairy stories or the Biblical stories of the Old Testament. MACCORMICK. We've reached the end of the time, unfortunately, and it was inevitable that we would reach it in a state of disagreement. It's perfectly obvious that we have here in the room not merely two viewpoints represented but several viewpoints, and we're talking to parents and other people who have perhaps & thousand different viewpoints on the subject. I hardly know what to say because, as a moderator, I'd like to be moderate, and this is a very stimulating subject! I have certain worries about the comics, just as I do about anything that the JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 227 children seem to grab so avidly and spend so much time on. I view it entirely from the standpoint of an adult. I honestly don't know what goes on in the minds of most children nowadays. It seems to me that there hasn't been a clear-cut case made that the comic tends to stimulate or promote juvenile delinquency or emotional maladjustment or anything else that's definitely bad. The popularity of comics is one of those things we worry about and don't comprehend. We might if we were children. The main thing, it seems to me, that has come out of this discussion tonight-and out of the whole series on the radio, the movies and the comics-is that we mustn't keep looking for a simple single formula to prevent delinquency and maladjust ment. That formula really doesn't exist. Especially we need to stop thinking quite so much in terms of how are we going to eliminate bad things, thinking that if we could just label something bad and get rid of it we'd be all right. We would probably then find something else just as bad. That is the book-burning and witch-burning approach and it has never been an effective approach to our social problems. Although it sounds sort of goody-goody , I think if we could emphasize the necessity of increasing and strengthening the good resources in our social life, and not worry quite so much about solving our problems by the elimination of the so-called bad things, we'd probably get further. Good reading is one of those things. By the way, I remember that I was not as a boy allowed to read the Katzen jammer Kids because I might learn bad tricks. But, by the same token, they wouldn't let me read either of the Mark Twain books that I wanted to so much Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn- and I lost some good literature by being overcen sured. I believe that we've got to be very careful not to suppress children too much, very careful not to " cabin, crib and confine" their natural and normal impulses. And now we've come to the end of a very interesting series . We've left the subject still open to discussion, yet it has had a great deal of light thrown on it. Thank you all, and as the kids say, " I'll see you in the comics. " ANNOUNCER. Thank you, Mr. MacCormick. You have just heard a discussion on the influence of comics on children. Participating in the discussion were Dr. Ernest Osborne, professor of education, Teachers' College, Columbia University and vice president of the Child Study Association of America-Mrs. Frances Clarke Sayers, superintendent of work with children of the New York Public Library-Dr. Lauretta Bender, associate professor of psychiatry at the New York University Medical School-and Dr. William Ward Ayer, Pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in New York City. Mr. Austin MacCormick was moderator. This program was heard in Canada through the facilities of the Canadian Broad casting Corp. This is the Mutual Broadcasting System. EXHIBIT 8 [Reprints of articles from the Journal of Educational Sociology, December 1949, Comics as Reading for Children, Harvey Zorbaugh, issue editor] THE COMICS AND DELINQUENCY : CAUSE OR SCAPEGOAT Frederic M. Thrasher Expert students of mankind have always tried to explain human behavior in terms of their own specialties. This is particularly true in the field of adult and juvenile delinquency, where anthropologists, psychologists, psychiatrists , and sociologists have been guilty of a long series of erroneous attempts to attribute crime and delinquency to some one human trait or environmental condition. These monistic theories of delinquency causation illustrate a particularistic fallacy which stems from professional bias or a lack of scientific logic and research, or both. Most recent error of this type is that of psychiatrist Fredric Wertham who claims in effect that the comics are an important factor in causing juvenile de linquency. This extreme position which is not substantiated by any valid 1 Wertham, who is a prominent New York psychiatrist, has stated his position on the comics in the following articles : The Comics-Very Funny Saturday Review of Literature, May 29, 1948; What Your Children Think Of You, This Week, October 10, 1948; Are Comic Books Harmful to Children? Friends Intelligencer, July 10, 1948; The Betrayal of Childhood: Comic Books, Proceeding of the Annual Conference of Correction, American Prison Association, 1948 ; The Psychopathology of Comic Books, (a symposium) American Journal of Psychotherapy, July 1948; and What Are Comic Books? (a study course for parents) , National Parent Teacher Magazine, March 1949. 228 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY research, is not only contrary to considerable current psychiatric thinking, but also disregards tested research procedures which have discredited numerous previous monistic theories of delinquency causation. Wertham's dark picture of the influence of comics is more forensic than it is scientific and illustrates a dangerous habit of projecting our social frustrations upon some specific trait of our culture , which becomes a sort of whipping boy for our failure to control the whole gamut of social breakdown.2 One of the earliest of these monistic errors was that of Lombroso and his followers of the so-called Italian school of criminology, ³ who asserted there was a born criminal type with certain " stigmata of degeneracy" which enabled the criminal to be distinguished from normal people. These included such character istics as a cleft palate, a low retreating forehead, a peculiarly shaped head, nose, or jaw, large protruding ears, low sensitivity to pain, lack of beard in males, obtuseness of the senses, etc. These "criminal traits" were explained as due to a reversion to a hypothetical "savage" (atavism) , or to physical and nervous deterioration. Accompanying the physical divergencies in some unexplained manner always went a predisposition to delinquency. Exponents of this theory in its extreme form have even claimed that different types of criminals exhibit different sets of physical anomalies. More rigorous investigators shortly discredited this naive theory. One of these was England's distinguished Charles Goring. He rejected Lombroso's conclusion because it was based upon an inadequate sample of the criminal population, chiefly the inmates of an institution for the criminally insane. As Von Hentig succinctly points out, only "minute sections of crime are found in court or in prison, a certain proportion in institutions for the criminally insane. Crime's most numerous and dangerous representatives are never seen by a judge, a warden, or a psychiatrist. " 4 No valid conclusion concerning delinquents and criminals as a whole can be drawn from the small proportion of their number appearing in clinics or found in institutions . Goring rejected Lombroso's theory further, and more importantly, because it ignored the possibility that the traits to which delinquent and criminal behavior were attributed might be as prevalent among law- abiding citizens . Goring was an exponent of the elementary scientific technique which insists on the use of a control group, a simple yet essentail statistical maneuver designed to protect the scholar and the public against fallacious conclusions about human behavior. The use of the control group as applied to the study of the causation of delinquency simply means that the investigator must make sure the trait or condition to which he ascribes delinquency is not as prevalent among nondelinquents as among delinquents. When Goring studied not merely the inmates of prisons, but a representative sampling of the unincarcerated population, he found " stigmata" to occur no more frequently among prisoners than among people at large. Lombroso's theory was knocked into a cocked hat. Students of delinquent and criminal behavior were slow, however, to heed the lesson implicit in the collapse of Lombroso's theory. Continuing to seek a simple monistic explanation of antisocial behavior, repeating Lombroso's errors of inade quate sampling and lack of control, they have attributed the bulk of delinquency to mental deficiency, to focal infections, to lesions of the nervous system, to psy chopathic personality, to poverty, to broken homes, to one after another of the characteristics of the delinquent or his environment . More rigorous sampling and control have forced the abandonment of these one sided explanations. The assertion of Tredgold and Goddard, for example, that mental deficiency is the major cause of antisocial behavior was based on institu tional samples of the delinquent population . It should be reiterated that such samples are highly selective, since more intelligent criminals are less frequently found in institutions or other groups available for testing. Indeed adequately controlled studies , such as those of Carl Murchison , E. A. Doll, and Simon H. 2 Cf. Katherine Clifford , Common Sense About Comics, " Parents Magazine, October 1948 .

• Lombroso first stated his theory in a brochure in 1876 and this was expanded later into three volumes.

See Cesare Lombroso, Crime: Its Causes and Remedies. Translated by H. P. Horton. Boston: Little , Brown, 1911 . 4 Hans Von Hentig, Crime: Causes and Conditions. New York: McGraw Hill , 1947. 5 Charles Goring, The English Convict. London : Stationary Office, 1913 . 6 A. F. Tredgold , Mental Deficiency, New York: William Wood, 1914 ; and Henry H. Goddard, Feeble mindedness: Its Causes and Consequences. New York: Macmillan, 1914 . "American White Criminal Intelligence, " Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, August and November 1924. 8 "The Comparative Intelligence of Prisoners, " Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, August 1920. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 229 9 Tulchin have conclusively shown that low intelligence of itself is not an important factor in producing delinquency. Sociological studies have shown marked correlations between poverty and delinquency. But again the sample is selective, biased by the fact that official statistics fail to record the large number of delinquencies committed in more prosperous sections of the community ; and again one is given pause by the necessity of accounting for the large numbers of children in the most dire economic need who do not become delinquent. As for broken homes, the studies of Slaw son 10 in New York, and of Shaw and McKay " in Chicago, have shown that the broken home in itself cannot be considered a very significant factor in explaining delinquency. More recently it has been asserted that motion pictures are a major cause of delinquency. The controversy over the truth of this assertion closely parallels the present controversy over the role of comic books in the causation of antisocial behavior. The Motion Picture Research Council, with the aid of a research grant from the Payne Fund, and in cooperation with a number of universities , undertook a series of objective studies of the question.12 The most conclusive of these studies as it bears upon the relationship of the motion picture to the causation of delinquency, was conducted at New York University by Paul G. Cressey.13 Cressey's findings, based upon thousands of observations under controlled conditions, showed that the movies did not have any significant effect in producing delinquency in the crime- breeding area in which the study was made. Cressey readily admits that boys and young men, when suitably predisposed, sometimes have utilized techniques of crime seen in the movies, have used gangster films to stimulate susceptible ones toward crime, and on occasion in their own criminal actions have idealized themselves imagi natively as possessing as attractive a personality, or as engaging in as romantic activities as gangster screen heroes.14 Cressey is careful to follow this statement, however, with the explanation that he does not mean that movies have been shown to be a " cause" of crime, that he does not mean that "good" boys are enticed into crime by gangster films, that he merely means what he has said that boys and young men responsive to crime portrayals have been found on occasion to use ideas and techniques seen at the movies. This type of analytical thinking is largely absent from the findings of such critics of the comics as Fredric Wertham. Furthermore Cressey found that urban patterns of vice , gambling, racketeering, and gangsterism, including large components of violence, were so familiar to the children of this district that movies seemed rather tame by comparison. That this section of New York is typical of the thousands of other delinquency areas in American cities cannot be doubted.15 It is from these areas that the large proportion of official juvenile delinquents come and there is no reason to doubt that the role of the motion picture in producing delinquency is any greater in these areas in other American cities than it was found to be in New York. The behavior scientist has learned that the causes of antisocial behavior-like the causes of all behavior are complex. Delinquent and criminal careers can be understood only in terms of the interaction of many fa rs. valuation of their relative influence demands research based upon the most rigorous sampling and control, and requires the utmost objectivity in the interpretation of the data the research yields. Let us now turn to researches dealing with the influence of comics. After surveying the literature we are forced to conclude such researches do not exist.16 Simon H. Tulchin, Intelligence and Crime. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939. 10 John Slawson, The Delinquent Boy. Boston: Badger, 1926 . 11 Clifford R. Shaw and Henry D. McKay, Social Factors in Juvenile Delinquency. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1931 , pp. 261-284. 12.For a history of this controversy. the results of the Payne Fund Studies, and a critical evaluation of them, see: Henry James Forman, Our Movie Made Children, New York, Macmillan, 1933; Martin Quigley, Decency in Motion Pictures, New York, Macmillan , 1935; Frederic M. Thrasher, "Education Versus Censorship," Journal of Educational Sociology, January 1940; W. W. Charters, Motion Pictures and Youth: A Summary, New York, Macmillan, 1933 ; Mortimer J. Adler, Art and Prudence, New York, Longman's Greene, 1937. 13 Paul G. Cressey, The Role of the Motion Picture in an Interstitial Area. (Unpublished manuscript on deposit in the New York University library. ) 14 Paul G. Cressey, The Motion Picture Experience as Modified by Social Background and Personality, American Sociological Review, August 1938, p. 517. 15 See Clifford R. Shaw and Henry D. McKay, Report on Social Factors in Juvenile Delinquency, National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (No. 13, vol . II) , Washington: Government Printing Office; Delinquency Areas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1929; and Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1942. 16 There is the possible exception of the study of Katherine M. Wolfe nad Marjorie Fiske at Columbia University. The Children Talk About Comics, published by Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Frank Stanton, Communications Research 1948-49, New York; Harber, 1949. This study, which was based on a small number of cases, was inconclusive. 1 230 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY The current alarm over the evil effects of comic books rests upon nothing more substantial than the opinion and conjecture of a number of psychiatrists, lawyers and judges. True, there is a large broadside of criticism from parents who resent the comics in one way or another or whose adult tastes are offended by comics stories and the ways in which they are presented . These are the same types of parents who were once offended by the dime novel, and later by the movies and the radio. Each of these scapegoats for parental and community failures to educate and socialize children has in turn given way to another as reformers have had their interest diverted to new fields in the face of facts that could not be gainsaid. As an example, let us examine the position of the leading crusader against the comics, New York's psychiatrist Fredric Wertham.17 Wertham's attitude and arguments in condemning the comics are very similar to those of the earlier critics of the movies. Reduced to their simplest terms, these arguments are that since the movies and comics are enjoyed by a very large number of children, and since a large component of their movie and comics diet is made up of crime, violence, horror, andsex, the children who see the movies and read the comics are necessarily stimulated to the performance of delinquent acts, cruelty, violence, and undesirable sex behavior. This of course is the same type of argument that has been one of the major fallacies of all our monistic errors in attempting to explain crime and delinquency in the past. Wertham's reasoning is a bit more complicated and pretentious . He disclaims the belief that delinquency can have a single cause and claims to adhere to the concept of multiple and complex causation of delinquent behavior. But in effect his arguments do attribute a large portion of juvenile offenses to the comics. More pointedly he maintains that the comics in a complex maze of other factors are fre quently the precipitating cause of delinquency. We may criticize Wertham's conclusions on many grounds, but the major weak ness of his position is that it is not supported by research data. His findings pre sented for the first time in Collier's magazine 18 are said to be the result of 2 years' study conducted by him and 11 other psychiatrists and social workers at the Lafargue Clinic in New York's Negro Harlem. In this article the claim is made that numerous children both delinquent and nondelinquent, rich and poor were studied and that the results of these studies led to the major conclusion that the effect of comic books is " definitely and completely harmful. " That Wertham's approach to his problem is forensic rather than scientific is illustrated by the way in which his findings are presented in the Collier's article. Countering his claim that the effect of comics is definitely and completely harmful are statements in this article that comics do not automatically cause delinquency in every reader, that comic books alone cannot cause a child to become delinquent, that there are books of well-known comics which " make life better by making it merrier" and others " which make it clear even to the dullest mind, that crime never pays," and that there are " seemingly harmless comic books, " but "nobody knows with any degree of exactness what their percentage is . " A further illustration of this forensic technique is the way in which he introduces extraneous facts and statements which by implication he links with his thesis that the comics are a major factor in causing delinquency and emotional disturbance in children. An example is New York's Deputy Police Commissioner Nolan's state ment that “the antisocial acts of the juvenile delinquents of today are in many instances more serious and even of a more violent nature than those committed by youth in the past. " Even if this statement could be proved, there is not the slightest evidence, except Wertham's unsupported opinion, that the increase is due to the reading of comic books. Wertham then cites a series of sensational child crimes headlined in the press (not his own cases) , which he imputes to the comics without any evidence at all that the juvenile offenders involved ever read or were interested in comic books. A final example of the improper use of ex traneous material is the statement in the Collier's article that "children's court records show that delinquent youngsters are almost 5 years retarded in reading ability," and Wertham is quoted as saying that "children who don't read well tend to delinquency .' These statements are unsupported , but even if true, there is not a scintilla of evidence that the reading retardation or disability of delinquents is due to reading comics. It is quite likely that the percentage of reading disability among delinquents was equally high or higher before the comic book was invented . As a matter of fact there are in this article no data which could be accepted by any person trained in research without documentation. "" 17 Wertham's position was stated in some detail in an article by Judith Crist, "Horror in the Nursery," Collier's, March 27 , 1948. See also material by Wertham cited earlier in this article. 18 Loc. cit. , pp. 22, 23, 95-97. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 231 "" Wertham asserts that the content of the comics is almost universally one of crime, violence, horror, " emphasis of sexual characteristics" which "can lead to erotic fixations of all kinds," and "sadistic-masochistic mixture of pleasure and violence.' Of the millions of comic books which Wertham claims deal with crime and brutality, he is content to rest his case on the selection of a few extreme and offensive examples which he makes no attempt to prove are typical. No system atic inventory of comic book content is presented, such as that compiled by Edgar Dale for the movies in 1935.19 Without such an inventory these conjectures are prejudiced and worthless . Wertham's major claims rest only on a few selected and extreme cases of chil dren's deviate behavior where it is said the comics have played an important role in producing delinquency. Although Wertham has claimed in his various writings that he and his associates have studied thousands of children, normal and deviate, rich and poor, gifted and mediocre, he presents no statistical summary of his in vestigations . He makes no attempt to substantiate that his illustrative cases are in any way typical of all delinquents who read comics, or that the delinquents who do not read the comics do not commit similar types of offenses . He claims to use control groups (nondelinquents) , but he does not describe these controls, how they were set up, how they were equated with his experimental groups (delinquents) to assure that the difference in incidence of comic-book reading, if any, was due to anything more than a selective process brought about by the particular area in which he was working. The way in which Wertham and his associates studied his cases is also open to question. The development of case-studies as scientific data is a highly technical procedure and is based on long experience among social scientists in anthropology, psychology, and sociology.20 An adequate case study, which involves much more than a few interviews, gives a complete perspective of the subject's biological, psychological, and social development, for only in this manner can a single factor such as comic-book reading be put in its proper place in the interacting complex of behavior-determining factors.21 On the basis of the materials presented by Wertham with reference to children's experience with the comics, it is doubtful if he has met the requirements of scientific case study or the criteria for handling life history materials. He does not describe his techniques or show how they were set up so as to safeguard his findings against invalid conclusions. Were the subjects he interviewed studied with the same meticulous care em ployed by a Healy or a Shaw? Did he get complete data on them? Were the circumstances surrounding the interviews such that the subjects gave honest answers to the questions asked by Wertham and his associates? Were safeguards set up to control individual differences in the interview techniques of the eleven different investigators? Even if it is assumed that such subjects will or can give a correct picture of the role of the comics in their lives, how are we to be sure that the interviewers did not ask leading questions and stimulate the responses of the subjects to reply along a preordained line of thinking or imagining? Unless and until Wertham's methods of investigation are described, and demonstrated to be valid and reliable, the scientific worker in this field can place no credence in his results. In conclusion, it may be said that no acceptable evidence has been produced by Wertham or anyone else for the conclusion that the reading of comic magazines has, or has not a significant relation to delinquent behavior. Even the editors of Collier's in which Wertham's results were first presented are doubtful of his conclusions, as is indicated by a later editorial appearing in that magazine in which they say: "Juvenile delinquency is the product of pent-up frustrations , stored up resent ments, and bottled up fears . It is not the product of cartoons or captions . But the comics are a handy, obvious uncomplicated scrapegoat. If the adults who crusade against them would only get as steamed up over such basic causes of delinquency as parental ignorance, indifference, and cruelty, they might discover that the comics are no more a menace than Treasure Island or Jack the Giant Killer. " 22 19 Edgar Dale, The Content of Motion Pictures. New York: Macmillan, 1935. 20 See Paul Horst, et al . , The Prediction of Personal Adjustment. New York: Social Science Research Council, 1941 , especially The Prediction of Individual Behavior from Case Studies, pp. 183-249; Gordon W. Allport, The Use of Personal Documents in Psychological Science, New York: Social Science Research Council, 1942; and Louis Gottschalk, Clyde Kluckhohn and Robert Angell, The Use of Personal Documents in History, Anthropology and Sociology. New York: Social Science Research Council, 1945. 21 Examples of case studies are to be found in the earlier studies of William Healy and Augusta F. Bronner in Case Studies, Series I , Nos. 1-20, Boston : Judge Baker Foundation, 1923, and in the more complete studies of Clifford R. Shaw, et al . , The Jackroller, The Natural History of a Delinquent Career, and Brothers in Crime. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1930, 1931 , and 1938. 22 " The Old Folks Take It Harder Than Junior," Collier's , July 9, 1949. 232 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY The danger inherent in the present controversy, in which forensic argument replaces research, is that having set up a satisfactory "whipping boy" in comic magazines, we fail to face and accept our responsibility as parents and as citizens for providing our children with more healthful family and community living, a more constructive developmental experience. NOTE. Frederic M. Thrasher is professor of education at New York University, member of the Attor ney General's Conference on Juvenile Delinquency, former secretary of the Society for the Prevention of Crime, on the board of directors of the National Board of Review, and author of The Gang. SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS Josette Frank Are comics bad for children? Answers to this question-from psychiatrists , psychologists , educators, librarians , and parents-run the whole gamut from a positive "Yes" to an unequivocal "No, " with many ramifications and gradations in between. The wide range of opinion is astonishing-but even more so is the degree of emotion which seems to be engendered by it. The comics are both accused and defended on various counts by various specialists . Roughly these might be enumerated as follows : There is the question of literary taste and values. -Do comics prevent, or do they promote, good reading tastes and interests in young readers? Librarians, to whom we may look for guidance on this point, are not agreed. Some librarians maintain that they debauch children's literary tastes and encourage low and lazy reading habits. Without the seduction of the comics , they believe, children would read more and better books. This point of view is challenged by other librarians who report that many of their best juvenile customers, voracious readers of good books, are also comics fans . They find , too , that many a reluctant reader is led to reading books via the comics. Then there is the question of reading ability. -Does reading comics keep children from learning to read? Here we might look to the teachers for an answer, yet we find again a wide divergence of opinion. Some teachers are convince that the current deplorable figures on children's reading ability can be blamed, at least in part, on the " effortless " picture res ding of the comics . Other teachers equally concerned with reading skills , cite from their own experience instances in which children's reading ability has been achieved, or noticeably improved, through the medium of comics. They point out the wide range of vocabulary with which young readers become familiar in the comics . Indeed some teachers. report excellent results from the classroom use of comics as reading aids. There is the question , too, of aesthetics . -Are the comics poor art and bad taste, and will they therefore stunt the children's appreciation of good art? Here, too, we find detractors and defenders. There are those who see in the comics only ugliness bad drawing, garish color, and no artistic merit. There are others, equally discerning and concerned with aesthetics, who view comics as a valid art form with values of its own. To them good comics-drawing represents highly cultivated art in a special field . One art teacher deplores the tendency of young children to ape the comics in their spontaneous drawing. Another teacher points. out that this form or formula was the children's first untutored approach to drawing long before the comics became a universal language. The question of eyestrain also comes under consideration . —Are comics, with their irregular lettering and scattery makeup, hard on young eyes? We have no scientific data on this point. We do have statements by some ophthalmologists that they see many children suffering from eyestrain, which is attributable, they feel sure, to the reading of comics. Others counter that the print in the classic books with which most of us spent many hours in our childhood was much worse;. and that comics, because of their shorter lines and smaller blocks of reading matter, are actually easier on the eyes than the solid pages of many books. Since almost all children read comics today, and not all of their parents read the ill- printed classics of yesteryear, these opinions would seem difficult to verify, except through a carefully controlled study. A study of Legibility in Comic Books reported in The Sight- Saving Review ( 1942) , noted wide differences among comics magazines . in respect to size and legibility of lettering, but concluded that "most comic books represent a great step backward in the matter of safeguarding the eyesight of children. " Ofdeeper concern, and much more difficult to define, is the question of the emotional · impact of the comics. Do they, with their emphasis on violence and the biff- bang method of settling affairs, overstimulate children's aggressions, cause tension and JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 233 fears , and even overt acts of violence? Again we find a wide divergence of opinion among people who work with children on the level of their emotional needs. In a survey of psychiatric opinion in Child Study (spring 1948) the variety of re sponse to this question was marked. "Comics of the ' thriller' variety, " said Dr. Augusta Alpert, "make aggression too easy and too colorful, and in that way threaten the eruption of the child's own precariously controlled aggressive impulses. Fear inevitably follows in their wake. If these periences were safety valves, in the form of vicarious discharge of aggression, nightmares following them would not be so frequently reported." At the other extreme we find Dr. Lauretta Bender's view that "much of what children find in the comics deals with their own unconscious fantasies. It is possible (though I cannot say this with certainty) that they need this material as a pattern for their dreams, to give them content with which to dream out their problems. As in radio serials, the continued stories give them confidence . For here are patterns of life that can be trusted to come out all right. "Comics constitute experience with activity, motility, movement. Their heroes overcome time and space. This gives children a sense of release rather than fear. Sound effects -in the comics as well as on the radio -horses' hooves coming and going, and other sounds denoting motion, are important in the sensory education of our children * * * "" There was general agreement, however, among those interviewed, that differ ences among children must be considered in relation to comics. "There is a varying degree of tolerance for excitement, " said Dr. David M. Levy, "and this tolerance varies also with age. The same experience that is tolerable at seven may be unendurable at three. Regardless of age some children, for reasons still unknown, can stand very little excitement. For them, excitement must be carefully measured. Some children on the other hand crave excitement and become addicts, especially to radio and comics. There are many reasons for this kind of escape. In the main there is an impoverishment of interest in intel lectual and social activities . " Differences in the way children read comics, as well as in their reactions to them, were seen as especially significant by Dr. Katharine Wolf. On the basis. of a study of children's comics reading she emphasized the impossibility of making any "all or nothing" statement concerning the relation between comics and children's fears , and pointed out that children go through developmental stages in their reading. "There are," she said, "two different patterns of comics reading. Moderate readers use the comics for identification with the heroes. As they grow up and realize that perfection is unattainable, they are critical of the unrealistic perfection of the comic-book hero, and their own development weans them from comics reading. In these children comics arouse neither night mares nor aggression. "Excessive readers on the other hand (and ‘ excessive ' here refers not to quantity of reading but to intensity of absorption) do not identify with the comics hero . For them he symbolizes a deity or savior to whom they delegate all responsibility. While this almighty figure , by relieving them from responsibility does relieve them from anxiety, he also creates anxiety merely by his all-powerful existence. ' The question of quantity in comics reading was stressed by several of those interviewed. Excessive preoccupation with comics reading may be a danger signal, but it may also bring its own dangers. The continuous bombardment of storied violence may, said Dr. Alpert, " either activate a child's guilt on account of his own hostile impulses, or replace guilt with an underdeveloped conscience , depending on the emotional make-up of the child . " Closely related to these problems is the question whether comics are factor in juvenile delinquency. - Do comics cause children to commit crimes? On this question opinions are vehement on both sides. A number of juvenile court judges have cited the evidence of children brought before them who declared that they had "done it because they read it in the comics. " Such evidence is discounted by others criminologists and psychologists who point out that children in trouble can hardly be expected to understand their own behavior, much less to explain it. The causes of behavior, they insist, are deep and com plex. "In studying the causes of behavior problems of children for many years,' wrote Dr. Mandel Sherman, professor of educational psychology at the University of Chicago, "I have never seen one instance of a child whose behavior disturbance originated in the reading of comic books, nor even a case of a delinquent whose behavior was exaggerated by such readings . " 1 1 Quoted from Comics, Radio, Movies and Children, Pamphlet Publication No. 148 of the Public Affairs Committee, 1949. 72705-50-16 234 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY There remains the question whether comics are a waste of time.-Do they keep children from more worth-while activities and interests? On this question parents, who are the mentors of their children's leisure time, also are not in agreement. Some, eager to have their children profit by the wealth of cultural opportunities and interests that are available to them today, deplore the time they spend on comics when "there is so little time for them to read and do the many other things. " Some, however, impressed by the children's evident pleasure and absorp tion in their comics, believe that the youngsters may be finding therein satisfac tions which make them "worth-while, " measured in the children's own terms . If this is so, they argue, then time spent in reading comics cannot be called "wasted. " With all this difference of informed opinion among authorities in the fields most concerned, and with no specific data on which to base our answers to these questions, how, then, shall parents guide themselves and their children in the management of comics reading? Probably each of us will have to sift and evalu ate—accept, reject, or adapt these various opinions according to our own feel ings about our own children, our philosophy concerning their education, and our understanding of their particular needs and interests . Some parents ardently wish to keep their children " protected" from contacts with art, literature, or ideas which by their standards, are not beautiful and good. They will find it difficult- yes , impossible-to isolate growing boys and girls from the common experiences of their contemporaries. It is not, as some suggest, just because the comics are vogue among today's youngsters, Nor is it due to the laissez-faire attitude that " comics are here and what can we do about them?" One will find it hard to shut out these comics largely because their appeal is more general and more real than many of us want to believe. The children have tested comics by their own standards and found them good. We do not altogether know what gives comics such universal appeal. Perhaps there is a common need for what the comics offer, an element which our children are not finding elsewhere. In any case, we have discovered that isolation and prohibition don't work. Or, if they do work, it is not in the way we have planned . The forbidding parent may find that he has built a barrier of resentment between nself and his child, perhaps much more hurtful than any comics could be. It is not by isolation but by a wide range of contact with many things-the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, the true and the spurious-that children develop taste and discrimination. We can help them to sort out what they read, to recognize differences , to grow in appreciation of real values. In the long run their standards may not, perhaps, be the same as ours. In any case they will be freely arrived at through sampling and experience. There are, of course, adults who read comics , too. Some millions of them. And many of these adults are also parents. From these parents the principal criticism has to do with their children's choices : "I love the really funny ones myself, like Blondie, or Mutt and Jeff, " they say, "but that fantastic Bat- Man stuff, and Superman! What do they get out of that?" The answer is , of course, that each of us looks to reading for certain satisfac tions—we may want humor or we may want adventure or mystery or fantasy or romance. Many of our "best minds" have been addicted to murder mysteries. Children have a right to their preferences, too, within the limits of what is suitable and not harmful. As parents, individually, each of us will naturally be guided by the needs of our own particular boy or girl. A child who reads comics among other things , whose way of life includes wholesome activities, fun and friends, may need to be helped to a sense of values and proportion in alloting his time and interests . He may have to be guided in budgeting his time among the many things to be done homework, family chores, outdoor play. A child, however, who reads comics excessively or exclusively, and little else ; who finds in this reading, or in any reading, escape from real activities and people, surely needs much deeper inquiry into his problems. One may even, if one is alert and skillful, use his comics to gain insight into his difficulties , and help him to talk them out. Discussing his comics heroes and his feelings about them may reveal much to a sympathetic and understanding listener. Most children , it seems, take the violent happenings and fantastic feats of the comics for what they are stories on a printed page. Heroes and villains, and their daring or fantastic or even wicked deeds, offer the young reader satisfactions according to his needs: for some, escape from the humdrum of uneventful days ; for others, perhaps, a delicious sense of identification with super prowess or clever JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 235 ness . Where, however, we find that this reading results in fears or tension we must surely step in and take a hand. It often happens that tense and jittery children are particularly drawn to "thrillers" ; but where the sequence is reversed, and we are convinced that a child's tensions result from this reading, it would certainly seem necessary, for a time at least, to supervise this child's choices in his comics reading, as well as all the other experiences to which he is exposed. Lastly, it goes without saying that a child who reacts to comics, or to anything else, with acts of violence or delinquent behavior, needs help entirely beside and beyond any scrutiny of his comics reading. Whether his actions follow a pattern of something he has read, in the comics or in the works of Shakespeare, we need to search deeply for the springs of his behavior-not merely for something to blame it on. In a world in which so many influences play upon children, within or without parental control, it is the business of all of us who are concerned with children to examine and evaluate these influences . Comics, no less than books, movies, radio, television, and newspapers, make up a sizable part of our children's environ ment. We need to know what is in these comics our children are reading so avidly. We need to understand their appeal to our children and their place in the children's lives. Our sympathetic interest and concern will help our children to evaluate their comics, too ; help them learn to discriminate among comics magazines, to choose what is good and discard what is not. In the last analysis it is their selectivity and their standards which must, in turn influence the comics, whose content and standards of quality and taste are shaped to meet the customers' demand . It is up to us to educate their customers to ask for the best. Furthermore, if we accept the unmistakable evidence that the comics' appeal to young readers, we will learn to make use of this new language- art for our children's education, entertainment, and emotional well- being. For all children, our own and other people's, we will want to keep open all the avenues to wider experiences—to culture, to varied fields of learning, to play and social relationships . As adults responsible for the welfare of children, we will want to see to it that our children are well provided with opportunities and mate rials that will challenge their interest and broaden their horizons ; opportunities for adventure, for fun, for trying themselves out. As a community, too, we will want to make sure that adequate places and opportunities for play, recreation, and education are available to all our children. Comics reading can constitute one but one among many-ways of satisfying these perfectly normal needs of childhood. NOTE.-Josette Frank is educational associate of the Child's Study Association of America and staff adviser to its children's book and radio committees. She is the author of What Books for Children and of the Public Affairs pamphlet Comics, Radio, Movies-and Children. CENSORSHIP OR SELF- REGULATION Henry E. Schultz In October of 1940 Sterling North writing for Childhood Education in an article entitled " A Major Disgrace" characterized the comic book as " sadistic drivel." This attack seems to have been the first major criticism of the comc book to make any significant impression upon public opinion. Sprung from the womb of the comic strip in 1936 the comic book was natural heir to the jaundiced eye of the purist in educational circles, the fundamentalist in the teaching of elementary English. It remained for the widely quoted North polemic to propel the controversy out of the academic and into the public arena. Others took up the cry, but the momentous events that crowded upon the Ameri can scene incident to World War II relegated the attack on comics to a secondary and almost forgotten role. During the war years the mothers of the Nation were engaged in compelling war-related activities and as a consequence occasional warnings against the evil effects of the comic book went comparatively unheeded. The recent era of hys teria can be directly attributed to the activity of Dr. Frederic Wertham, a New York City psychiatrist, who since the close of the war has conducted a widely publicized and sensational crusade designed to rid the Nation of the menace of the comic book. Writing vigorously and emotionally, if not scientifically and logically, in widely read and highly respected journals such as the Saturday Review of Literature, Collier's, Reader's Digest, and the magazine of the National Congress of Parents 236 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY and Teachers, Dr. Wertham has succeeded in frightening parents, teachers, and public officials into the belief that no matter the cost the comic must go. Dr. Wertham has supplemented his articles with addresses before groups and organi zations, radio and television appearances, and newspaper interviews all designed to stimulate action against comics. The fact that the consensus of psychiatric opinion is at variance with Dr. Wertham on the possible effects of comics upon adolescent behavior failed to still his strident call for action. Women's clubs , churches, and civic organizations took up the cry and finally the great National Congress of Parents and Teachers with a membership of 6,000,000 made the drive against comics a cornerstone of its national program. In the meantime various sections of the more sensational press, alert to the nuances of public interest , began to feature as front-page news and subject of edi torial comment not only the activities of Dr. Wertham, but of the organization which had girded themselves for battle. Sorry instances of juvenile misbehavior ; crimes major and minor, scrapes some petty some important, which had normally received little or no newspaper space were headlined and the comic book held to be to blame. Every youngster in difficulty was described as a comic-book addict . In towns, villages, and municipalities throughout the country, sheriffs, prose cutors, mayors, councilmen, and the lawmakers were goaded and prodded into action and many did their best to please and appease the angry torrent which had been loosed. Laws and ordinances, committees on legislation , censors, indeed every device to bedevil and confuse the dealer, wholesaler, and publisher of comics, were cre ated and enacted-books were banned , and finally to cap the climax, mass burn ings of comic books were publicly held in several communities. It was in this climate of public opinion and mass hysteria that the legislators of 45 States began to assemble in the fall of 1948. It was generally predicted that more than half of the States would enact legislation banning the sale of comic books. Already dozens of towns, villages, and municipalities had taken some action— often hasty ill considered action. In almost 100 communities some form of organized suppression of comic books appeared. Ordinances were presented for adoption in Wheeling, W. Va.; Sarasota, Fla.; Cleveland, Ohio ; New Orleans, La.; Monroe, Mich.; Sacramento, Calif.; Quincy, Mass.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Bremerton, Wash.; Newport, Ky.; Nashville, Tenn.; Loraine, Ohio; San Francisco, Calif.; Dubuque, Iowa; and many, to many others. In other communities where legis lation was not attempted, committees representing organizations and church groups threatened newsdealers with boycott, and with the support of public officials embarked on programs to rid their States of "undesirable literature." The ordinances which were introduced and some which succeeded in passage ran the gamut of legislative imagination. Some forbade all books, magazines, or periodicals which "depict excessive cruelty, horror, bloodshed, mutilization, or sadism" or "depict as being attractive, successful, or worthy of imitation, any persons committing any crime or misdemeanor whatsoever" or which " prominently featured any account of crime" or was devoted to "criminal news or reports" or "devoted to stories or acts or deeds of bloodshed , lust, or crime. " Others made it unlawful to distribute any comic or other periodical which contained matters "inimical to the public health, safety and morals". Some limited the restraint to sale or display to children under 18. Others set up boards or commissions empowered to devise codes or standards with authority to ban from circulation publications which in their judgment did not pass muster.. Often the sheriff or police head was authorized to determine what publications were undesirable and in most cases the ordinance included threat of substantial fine and imprisonment for violation. To the dealer faced with the prospect of reading literally hundreds of periodicals delivered to him each month the ordinances were not only burdensome and unfair but unrealistic and impractical. Tothe publishers the problem of meeting the differing standards and codes resulting from the varying view points of individuals in widely scattered communities was formidable.. Obviously, with the best of intent a publisher would find it difficult, if not im possible, to satisfy the mosaic of opinion expressed by these committees, boards, and censors and still attain reasonable national circulation. At the height of the hysteria the General Federation of Women's Clubs invited leading national organizations to assemble in Washington with representatives of comics, motion pictures, radio, and television for a series of discussions designed to bring into more critical focus the differing view points and varied programs of each of these groups. The intensity of interest in the problem was indicated by the presence of delegates from the American Association of University Women,. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 237 American Bar Association, American Legion, Boy Scouts of America, Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, 4- H Clubs, Girl Scouts of America, National Board of the YWCA, National Councils of Catholic Men and Women, National Conference of Parents and Teachers, National Education Association, National Jewish Welfare Board, United States Office of Education, and many others. Out of this meeting came the first breath of sanity and reason--the first recog nition that bannings and burnings were not the solution. The summary report of the meeting contained these significant paragraphs : "Radio, comics magazines, books, newspapers, and movies are important media for presenting facts and ideas, manners and attitudes to the general public. Television combining elements of radio and motion pictures, gives promise of being an unusually potent force in the family circle. The programs and produc tions of all these media reinforce or rival the training of youth in the family, church, playground, school, and youth organizations. They are a large factor in condi tioning our cultural pattern today. Many parents, professional workers, and public officials the Nation over are deeply concerned about the quality of some programs and productions which children and young people are now patronizing. "Socially responsible leaders in these industries have attempted to encourage self-regulation as to standards for programs intended for children and youth . Many citizens' organizations, recognizing the cultural importance of these media, believe that they share with these industries responsibility for encouraging better programs for youth. While they appreciate the need of these industries to make money, they are convinced that in a nation culturally sound at the core artistic products with socially desirable appeal can both secure buyers and produce profits. As consumers, they can help insure the success of such products by learning which they are and patronizing them. "The reaction of young people to the output of these media, as to other experi ences, depends partially upon the interpretation they have learned to make of them through the teachings of the most powerful influences in their lives ; their family, school, church, and community associates. A chief responsibility there fore is upon home and school guidance. "Human beings can and do improve in taste, appreciation and understanding, While it has been demonstrated in many ways that comics, radio, movies, and television can and do contribute to cultural improvement and provide powerful media for transmitting cultural ideals and beliefs , there is great need for further study of their influence on children's beliefs and behavior. Results of such study should be made easily available both to the media and to citizen organizations as an aid to encouraging the quality of product that contributes to the development of happy, wholesome, and socially responsible boys and girls. " Other sane forces began to make themselves heard. The Civil Liberties Union, The Author's League, The National Cartoonists Society, the National Associa tion of Magazine Publishers , and many other groups traditionally interested in the fight against censorship urged caution and expressed deep concern over the trend toward political and legislative censorship. Thinking newspaper editors sparked into action by editorials in Editor and Publisher came to a fuller realization that inherent in the hysteria over comics was a serious threat to the preservation of free speech and a free press. The Association of Comics Magazine Publishers, committed to the principle of self-regulation, has fought valiantly to secure acceptance of its program as a practical substitute for bans and legislation . It is interesting to note that the wave of censorship that threatened to engulf the industry paralleled in many ways the drive for censorship against the motion pictures of the early twenties. The pattern was much the same, the same hysteria, the same excesses, the same attempts to legislate on a problem where legislation was clearly not the answer. In the twenties when the motion picture was under attack a bill was introduced before the Virginia legislature which forbade any woman from wearing a gown which displayed "more than 3 inches of her throat. " In Ohio the proposed limit of decolletage was 2 inches ; a bill introduced in the Ohio legislature aimed also to prevent the sale of any "garment which unduly displays or accentuates the lines of the female figure" and to prohibit any " female over 14 years of age from wearing a skirt which does not reach to that part of the foot known as the instep. In 1920 Congressman Herrold and Senator Gore introduced bills to prohibit the shipment of motion-picture films purporting to show or simulate the acts of ex-convicts, desperadoes, bandits, train robbers, bank robbers, or outlaws. "" Raymond Moley in his book, The Hays Office, has summarized the argument against censorship and for self-regulation as it relates to the motion picture industry in substance as follows : 238 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY "While the arts demand autonomy within their own sphere, those who have in their care the welfare of some part of the community are justifiably concerned with the protection of the public from the physical or moral injury that may result from the fully asserted liberties of any art. But political censorship cannot resolve these conflicting claims. It cannot because, in practice, it permits restrictive power to be exercised by politically appointed , poorly paid individuals, whose decisions are dictated chiefly by their personal predilections and prejudices ; because it has resulted in a vast confusion of standards of propriety as between the States and within the same States as the personnel of the censor boards changed ; because the number of motion pictures produced yearly is so great that no political censor board existed that could inspect all of them, and so much of the work of reviewing them is delegated to poorly qualified subordinates. "The only satisfactory way to protect the public interest without destroying or impairing the vitality of the motion picture, is to insist that the art control itself, that it voluntarily set up instrumentalities which will balance artistic and pru dential standards at the source of production and deny to the art only those .liberties which jeopardize individual character and conduct. "Since the industry itself has become aware of these considerations, it is making every effort to regulate itself. Give self-regulation a chance to prove itself. ' This argument taken from the Moley book, almost verbatim, is equally appli cable to the comic book problem. Martin Quigley, credited with much of the impetus which led to the establishment of the motion picture production code in his book, Decency in Motion Pictures, explains that censorship was unworkable because it "introduced a condition under which the producer and the censor appeared to be playing a game, the prize going to the side which was able to outwit his opponent. Actually the scheme did not provide that the producer was to be equipped with the information necessary to enable him to know what was ex pected of him, nor was the censor equipped to know, with the necessary definite ness, what he wanted . There were available only a few vague, general rules which in strict conscience it would have taken a superman to apply. ' The similarity of the problems was recognized in many quarters. Editorials in the New York Herald Tribune, the Chicago Tribune, and many leading and influential newspapers pointed out that self-regulation in the manner being fos tered by the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers was the only intelligent solution. Many organizations and groups throughout the Nation passed resolu tions luading the code and program of the association. The comics industry through the association brought to issue the constitu tionality of the local ordinance enacted by the county of Los Angeles—an ordi nance which has served as a model for many of the localities where legislation was subsequently introduced. Copies of the Los Angeles ordinance were widely circulated by the Association of Municipal Law Officers and other agencies, and in many sections of the country the example set by the county of Los Angeles was quickly followed. Amidst the welter of ordinances and laws, county attorneys and public prose cutors paid little heed to the salient fact that similar statutes had already been declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in People v. Winters (68 S. Ct. 665) . In that case, involving a sensational detective magazine, a New York statute and those of 20 other States were stricken down by the Supreme Court with this significant comment, "The present case as to a vague statute abridging free speech involves the circulation of only vulgar magazines. The next may call for decision as to free expression of political views in the light of a statute, intended to punish subversive activities ." The New York statute forbade the sale of "any book, pamphlet, magazine, newspaper, or other printed paper devoted to the publication, and principally made up of criminal news, police reports, or accounts of criminal deeds, or pictures or stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust, or crime. " "" The Los Angeles County statute has already been held unconstitutional in its first test and is now before an appellate court. Counsel for the county in the argument before the court on appeal has admitted that included within the sweep of the ordinance are the picturization of crime in magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, in books such as Treasure Island and in newspaper publications. The admission is a perfect illustration of the impossibility of legislating in this field without serious impairment of basic rights and principles, and without declaring criminal acts long considered innocent. At this writing the State legislatures have adjourned. In all , 32 bills or reso lutions affecting comic books were introduced in 16 States. Twenty-seven of these bills were killed in committee but several passed one house. The New JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 239 York bill passed both houses but was vetoed by Governor Dewey with the com ment: "The bill before me makes little change in the language already held invalid by the highest Court in the land. It in substance makes criminal the publication of various kinds of printed material devoted to the publication and principally made up of accounts of or pictures depicting sordid bloodshed, lust, or heinous acts. The addition of the adjective ' sordid' and the substitution of the words ' heinous acts' for the word ' crime' do not meet the objection asserted in the Winters case." Slowly, but inexorably, the dangerous implications of censorship of comics have begun to permeate the minds and collective consciences of legislators and thinking people everywhere. Of all the legislation introduced in the various State legis latures, not one bill became law, although three resolutions were adopted : one in New York, setting up an investigatory committee to hold hearings to determine the need for legislation ; one in North Dakota requesting enforcement of existing laws but imposing no new restrictions ; and one in Nevada earnestly requesting the United States Congress to enact legislation relating to comics. In Albany, capital city of the State of New York, there has recently been on display in the Education Building, under the sponsorship of the State library, an exhibit entitled Twenty Thousand Years of Comics, arranged " to give perspective to the picture story as a means of human expression and enjoyment and to set the background for sane thinking in the present-day discussion of comic magazines and their influence. " The New York Herald Tribune on Sunday, June 12, commenting editorially on the exhibit said : 66* * * Parents worry about how to counter the age-old fascination of evil which some modern pictorialists, like some ancients, are not above capitalizing for the devil's purposes. The suggestion here is that voluntary curbs, such as those self-imposed by the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers, will come to be effective when public opinion makes itself strongly enough felt. Parents have it in their power to see (well, at least try to see) that their children buy only the books which bear the seal of the association's approval.

• * *

"The useful message of the Albany exhibit is that this new, powerful technique, which is built on an interest as old as man' is ' a medium to be studied, ex perimented with and, above all, used. ' " Much of the tumult and the shouting has died. The danger of political censor ship of course remains. But we are increasingly convinced that the comic book, strident, awkward, and comparatively undeveloped as a medium for the com munication of ideas and information, can and will be molded into a constructive force for entertainment and education in our society. We are increasingly convinced that the method by which this will be accomplished is in the realm of self-discipline or self-regulation. Thinking men and women will agree that in this direction lies a true and lasting solution . Censorship, bans, repressive legislation, and intemperate indictment of a whole industry for the sins of a few can do naught but lead us down dark and dan erous road from which there may be no returning. NOTE.-Henry E. Schultz is an attorney. He has long been interested in and has had much experience with the problems of mass media of communication. He is a member of New York City's Board of Higher Education, and chairman of its executive committee. WHAT ADULTS THINK OF COMICS AS READING FOR CHILDREN Harvey Zorbaugh THE CONTROVERSY The past 2 years have witnessed a violent controversy over the suitability of comics as reading for children . It has raged from great cities to hamlets, from north to south, from east to west. Protagonists on either side of the controversy have marshaled their expert witnesses and debated their views in public forums, in press and magazine, and on the air. Out of the emotion generated by the debate has grown a crusade for censorship. This crusade has left in its wake the smoldering remains of fires on which comics have been burned. From the heat and clamor of the controversy one might suppose the parents of America had arisen in a body. But how many are actually concerned? What does America really think about comics as reading for children? No one has known. During these years the department of communications in education of the 240 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY School of Education of New York University has been engaged in a Nation-wide study of adult attitudes toward the comics. Among the questions explored has been that of adult opinion concerning the suitability of comics as reading for children. There follows a summary of this opinion. It should throw light on what the upshot of the present controversy is likely to be, on what action, if any, the public is likely to take and sustain. APPROVAL AND DISAPPROVAL Only a quarter of the adult public are unequivocally up in arms about comics. Their opposition is largely centered on comic magazines-a large majority con sider newspaper comics entirely suitable for children . Favorable Qualified Unfavorable. No opinion.. Adult attitudes toward Newspaper as reading for children Percent6518 Criticisms implying comics are dangerous to the child's character and mental health (too much murder, crime, horror; unrealistic, fantastic, sensational ; give wrong, bad ideas; following their examples gets children into trouble; too exciting, over stimulating ; bad for morals and ideals; etc. ) . Criticisms implying comics are undesirable influence on the child's cultural devel opment (cheap. trashy, waste of time ; poor English and art; keep the child from studying, from reading better things; etc. ) . Other reasons... 8 9 Percent Comic maga zines as reading for children However, another quarter express serious reservations. While approving some comics, they decry others, and assert the medium should be put to better use. 17 Percent Volunteered criticisms of comics fell into two main categories : that they are dangerous to the child's character and mental health, and that they are an unde sirable influence on the child's cultural development. Percent of adults volunteering types of criticism of comics as reading for children 60 1 5 1828 Newspaper Comic comics magazines 36272314 Percent44 156 While both newspaper comics and comic magazines draw criticism on both scores , apprehension over their possible danger to character and mental health outweighs that over their imputed cultural undesirability by 3 to 1 ( newspaper comics, 17 percent versus 6 percent ; comic magazines 44 percent versus 15 percent). The degree to which the present controversy has brought the possible danger of comics reading to the tops of people's minds is illustrated by the fact that, when asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement "comics put ideas 1 This study is based on some 3,000 personal interviews conducted across the country amongadults residing in places of 2,500 population and over. These 3,000 people represent a sample of the total adult urban pop ulation geographically, by city size , age, sex, parental status, and economic level. Two orders of fact constitute the data discussed here: free opinion (volunteered) , and controlled opinion (agreement or disagreement with specific statements) . As an example of volunteered opinion, early in the interview respondents were asked what they thought of comics as reading for children, and their replies recorded verbatim. As an example of controlled opinion, later in the interview, respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements such as "comics provide adventure and excite ment that children need, " and " comics put ideas into children's minds that are too exciting and dangerous." In addition to the 3,000 interviews, following a schedule, on which the statistical data are based, several hundred additional interviews were conducted on an "open-end " basis-that is, the interviewer sat down with the respondent and talked about the comics, for as long as the respondent was interested and the interviewer felt it profitable, letting the interview go more or less where the respondent took it. The results of the "open-end" interviews were used in constructing the schedule, and throw light on what phrases in the schedule's questions and statements meant to respondents. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 241 into children's minds that are too exciting and dangerous," 44 percent agreed. In other words, people have become sufficiently aware of the imputed dangers of children's comics reading to volunteer this belief spontaneously. When stimu lated to react to the specific question, they express this opinion no more frequently. Preponderance of concern with the possible dangers of comics reading, as op posed to concern with its cultural undesirability, is particularly characteristic of those who hold a qualified attitude toward the comics. The quarter of the adult population who are severely critical of comics for children, though more frequently criticizing them as dangerous, often criticize them as culturally undesir able as well . But the additional quarter who hold qualified opinions are over whelmingly concerned with their imputed danger. To be sure, when asked whether they agree or disagree with such statements as "the English used in comics is not good for children to learn, " and " children waste too much time reading comics,' 40 percent expressed agreement. But the psychologic dangers imputed to children's reading of comics are obviously the more alarming, closer to the tops of people's minds. People also were asked to express agreement or disagreement with the state ment "reading comics lowers the moral standards of children. " The open-end interviews made it clear that the majority of the people interpreted "moral stand ards" to mean conformity to the sexual mores. Certainly it had a different con notation than " dangerous, " since more than twice as many persons felt comics reading to be dangerous as felt it likely to lower moral standards. Moreover, concern over the moral threat and over the danger of the comics was held by very different segments of the population. The possible moral influence of the comics was primarily the concern of the older segment, the older the deeper the concern; the possible dangers of the comics were primarily the concern of parents, the younger their children the deeper their concern. Since only 20 percent agreed with the proposition that reading comics lowers the moral standards of children, the inference seems justified that the comics are not widely under fire on grounds of sexual morality. Seventy-two percent of the adults interviewed volunteered favorably comments on newspaper comics as reading for children, 43 percent on comic magazines. Reasons for approving comics as reading for children Amuse, interest or entertain the child . Educate, teach reading, vocabulary. Develop imagination, humor, values. Occupy child, keep him quiet, out of mischief. Harmless, unobjectionable.. Not as bad as " comic books". OtherTotal percent volunteering favorable comments. Newspaper Comic comics magazines Percent318 7 1012128 72 Percent17106 136 1 43 1 Totals add to more than 72 percent and 43 percent because some individuals made more than one type of favorable comment. Comics reading is most frequently approved as recreation for the child. But much approval is not positive. Only about one person in 10 volunteers the belief that comics reading is educational, and even fewer that it contributes to the child's psychological development. Asked to express agreement or disagreement with the statement "comics help to teach children how to read, " 62 percent agreed. But it occurred to few to commend comics for this reason of their own accord. With the statement, "comics provide adventure and excitement that children need, " 41 percent agreed ( 38 percent disagreeing, and 21 percent expressing no opinion) . But few spontaneously cited this as a value of comics reading. Ap proval of children's reading of the comics is largely unrationalized, certainly not as highly rationalized as is criticism . WHAT IS APPROVED AND DISAPPROVED Seven out of ten adults believe there are particular comics which are suitable reading for children. Four out of ten name specific comics they consider un suitable. 242 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Attitudes toward suitability of particular comics as reading for children Some are suitable ; others are unsuitable---. Some are suitable ; there are none unsuitable, or respondent knows of none that are unsuitable Some are unsuitable ; none are suitable , or respondent knows of none which are suitable__. No opinion ----. Comics thought of as drawn for children, such as Donald Duck, and Prince Valiant, and comics about families, such as Blondie and Gasoline Alley, are over whelmingly approved for children ( ratio of approval to disapproval, 96 to 1) . Comics about children, such as Little Annie Roonie, Henry, Nancy, and Little Iodine are considered quite suitable for children , receiving only a modicum of criticism (ratio of approval to disapproval 16 to 1 -Little Orphan Annie receiving more than half of all the criticism of comics about children) . Adventure stores are little commended and widely deplored (ratio approval to disapproval, 1 to 3) . Dick Tracy and Superman proved to be the two most controversial comic charac ters : both rated quite high in approval, but they also were the most widely dis approved. The most widely disapproved comic characters, in the order of their disapproval, were : Dick Tracy, Superman , Batman, Flash Gordon, Smilin' Jack, Terry, Kerry Drake, and the Phantom. For children. About family. About children. About men: Nonadventure. About men: Adventure. About women... All other types of comics are on largely neutral ground—not considered par ticularly suitable for children, but little criticized.2 Types of comics considered suitable and unsuitable as children's reading Types of comic Percen 35 33 6 26 Average number of mentions per type Suitable 148.7 138. 1 109.4 42.3 23.8 12.2 Unsuitable 2.3 1.7 6.9 5.6 60.5 7.8 WHO APPROVES AND DISAPPROVES Opinion on the suitability of comics as reading for children varies, of course' from segment to segment of the population. More men than women consider them suitable, more younger persons than older persons, more of the less educated than the more highly educated, more parents than nonparents. But adults' own comic reading habits are the strongest factor in determining their attitude toward comics for children.3 2 Respondents were asked to name specific comics they considered suitable as children's reading, specific comics they considered unsuitable. The availability and familiarity of given comics was not controlled . Consequently, the results of such a "popularity" contest, as they apply to specific strips, are of unknown reliability . Without rigorous content analysis, which has never been attempted, a significant classification ofcomics is not possible. However, the following classification will prove meaningful to those familiar with comics, and its results are interesting. 381 percent of adult urban Americans read comics , 60 percent are regular readers of newspaper comic strips, daily and Sunday; another 16 percent are occasional readers. 25 percent are comic magazine readers; another 31 percent have read comic magazines. 18 percent read all the comic strips available in their daily and Sunday papers, another 22 percent read most of them. This means 10 or more strips are read by 18 percent daily, by 27 percent Sunday; 5 or more strips by another 22 percent daily, 19 percent Sunday; comic magazine readers average 4 a month. The more frequently people read newspaper strips, the more likely they are to read comic magazines-50 percent of those who read all available newspaper strips, 17 percent of those who read but a few; conversely two-thirds of those who read comic books, as compared with one- third of those who do not, read all or most of available newspaper comic strips. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 243 Proportionsfavorable toward comics for children by own comics reading and education PROPORTION FAVORABLE TO NEWSPAPER COMICS Combined Sunday and daily newspaper comics Regular readers: Read practically all comics .. Read most comics .. Read a few comics .. Occasional readers.. NonreadersComic magazine reading: Usual readers: Read 5 or more this month. Read less than 5 this month . Read none this month.. Have read in past. Have never read.. PROPORTION FAVORABLE TO COMICS MAGAZINES Combined Sunday and daily newspaper comics reading: Regular readers: Read almost all comics: Parents . Nonparents . Read most comics: Parents... parents. Read a few comics: Parents. Nonparents. Occasional readers: Parents.. Nonparents. Nonreaders: Parents.. Nonparents. College Percent Comic magazine reading : Usually read comic magazines: (1) Parents... Nonparents. Have read in past: Parents.. Nonparents. Have never read : Parents. Nonparents.. 1 Base too small for reliable calculation of percentages. 7574535433 38382323 Percent 45 and over 9487 582 8295 8375 6456 1 Too few cases for reliable calculation of percentages. While differences in opinion among educational levels are appreciable, within each educational level the more frequently people read comics the more frequently they approve children reading them . Regardless of educational differences, at least twice as many readers as nonreaders approve comic magazines for children. One might expect the loudest outcry against the suitability of comics as reading for children to come from parents. But this is not the case. 63 Proportion favorable toward comics , or children by own comics reading, parental status and age PROPORTION FAVORABLE TO NEWSPAPER COMICS 52 493722835 PROPORTION FAVORABLE TO COMIC MAGAZINES 5551 High school 27 Percent 36 2726 30-44 8879645447***32 Percent (1) 6348433529 83 87872+ 76 8183 6663 6452 4725329 4867 32 Grammar school 37 Percent 3525 Under 30 898566 Percent 6445 ee 25592 7567 46 90 281II8 86 7678 5374 5553 5855 3934 2131 244 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Parental status and age, like education, have less to do with approval than has the adult's own reading habits. Education, age, and parental status have, however, interesting and significant relationships to attitudes toward children's comics reading. In analyzing vol unteered criticism of comic magazines, we find this illustrated . Regardless of age, the more educated criticize comic magazines with greater frequency than the less educated . Proportion of adults volunteering criticisms of comic magazines as reading for children, by age and education College. High school.. Grammar school. No children . Children under 6.. Children 6-18. Education Parental status College High school.. Grammar school . 45 and over Percent543 Education 5141 Percent (1) 45 and over Parental status also has an influence on the frequency of criticism . Proportion of adults volunteering criticisms of comic magazines as reading for children, by age and parental status 35 53 30-44 Percent 45 and over 30-44 1.5 2. 1 2.3 Percent68785335 50 394549 30-44 Under 30 Percent Under 30 1.7 2.7 4.9 Percent 1 Too few cases for reliable calculation of percentage. While under the age of 30 parental status has no influence on the frequency of criticism, on the whole parents have considerably more to say against comic magazines than nonparents.* Education and age influence the nature of criticism . If the proportion of criticism on the score of the possible dangers of comic magazine reading, to that on the score of its undesirable cultural influence, is expressed as a ratio, we find : 59885 Ratio of criticism of children's comics magazine reading as dangerous to criticism as culturally undesirable, by age and education 5146 Under 30 39 464647 1.7 3.9 9.6 The older college- educated deplore the cultural level of the editorial content of comic magazines almost as frequently as they decry its possible dangers. The younger grammar school educated criticize the cultural level of comic magazines only one-tenth as frequently as they express apprehension over its possible danger. However, education has a stronger influence on the nature of criticism than age. WHERE ARE WE? In summary, adult criticism of comics as reading for children is primarily directed at comic magazines : 65 percent are unqualifiedly of the opinion news paper comics are suitable reading, while only 36 percent are unqualifiedly of the same opinion as to comic magazines. Comics, thought of as written for children , and those about family life , are highly approved. Those about child characters This finding is not discrepant with that above to the effect that as large a proportion of parents as of nonparents are favorable to children reading the comics. Many respondents favorable to children reading comics nevertheless criticized their editorial content. These would seem to have been predominantly older parents. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 245 are little criticized . Approval is largely as recreation, but much approval is unrationalized attitude, considerable approval is negative. Criticism is largely directed at adventure comics. Its basis is preponderently apprehension over their imputed danger to character and mental health, much less but appreciably over their undesirable influence on cultural development. The strongest factor in determining adults' attitudes is their own comics reading habits-the more comics the adult reads himself, the more likely he is to approve children reading comics. Education has a real but less effective influence on adult attitudes the higher the degree of education the more reser vations are expressed about comics as reading for children . Parents of children of reading age and living at home, 6-17, are the most interested in and the most articulate about comics as children's reading -they make more favorable. but also more unfavorable criticisms . On the whole, American adults approve the comics as a medium of entertain ment for children. Fortunately, this approval is neither universal nor complacent. There is a considerable and healthy ferment of criticism—a ferment that should increase the comics' social usefulness as a medium of communication, but is unlikely to cause any great devaluation of the first amendment. All of which is indicative of a healthy democracy. NOTE. Harvey Zorbaugh is chairman of New York University School of Education's Department of Educational Sociology, and director of its Workshop on the Cartoon Narrative as a Medium of Communi. cation. He directed the research from which the data for this article are drawn. AN EXPERIMENT IN THE USE OF COMICS AS INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL Katharine H. Hutchinson This is a report on an experiment, cooperatively conducted by the curriculum laboratory of the University of Pittsburgh and the comics workshop of New York University, in the use of comics as instructional materials in the classroom . The philosophy underlying this experiment may be briefly stated . There should be harmony between the child's ongoing life activities and his experiences in the school-new learning always is a continuation or expansion of learning already possessed by the learner. The normal activities of children involve the same subject material that constitutes the school curriculum-geography, history, science, language, and other academic areas are present in unorganized form in the day-by-day activities of children. Reading comics is a well-nigh universal out-of-school activity. Instead of being rejected and divorced from school experience, might it not profitably be accepted and related to teaching and learning? Puck the Comic Weekly was used as the vehicle for exploring this possibility. The curriculum laboratory analyzed Puck-the Comic Weekly's features for theme and characteristic content, maturity required of readers, relative interest for each sex, and relationship of content to conventional school curriculum. Using this content analysis as a point of departure a pilot study in schools of the Pittsburgh area of the use of comics as instructional material in the class room was conducted. The results of this study were cooperatively analyzed by the curriculum laboratory, and the comics workshop. A manual was then prepared describing the projected experiment, summarizing experiences in try- out study and offering suggestions as to how comics reading may be related to curri culum and instruction.¹ Teachers throughout the country were then offered the opportunity to parti cipate in the experiment. Two thousand and twenty-seven teachers, geographi cally distributed over 27 states, expressed interest in so doing. They received the manual. Each week they also received an advanced copy of Puck-the Comic Weekly, and a newsletter analyzing its content and offering suggestions as to its use. The news letter quickly became a medium for the exchange of ideas and experience among the participants. At the conclusion of the experiment participants received a questionnaire asking their evaluation of their experience. It is not known how many of the 2,027 teachers who received the materials made use of them during the 13 weeks of the experiment. Four hundred and thirty- eight teachers who had, however, returned the questionnaire. There follows a summary of their experience as 1 Those interested in securing a copy of this manual, Comics in the Classroom, may do so by addressing Harvey Zorbaugh, Comics Workshop, School of Education , New York University. 246 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY revealed in their contributions to the news letter during the course of the experi ment, and their replies to the questionnaires at its end. The subject areas in which the comics were reported as being used, the types of classroom or home use, and the relative number of participants making such use were : School subjects : LanguageReading Literature Social studies_ Personal-social relations . Science---- Percent Classroom activity : 2854 28774622 Reading exercises .. Oral story telling .. Class discussion_. Written composition. Picture study .. Helping slow readers. Percent 516178163229 The tables reveal that, at one time or another during the 13 weeks, the comic strips included materials that could be used as a resource in each of the con ventional school subjects, and for the more common of classroom activities. It is not possible to report the instructional usefulness of these comics for different age groups quantitatively, because while the participants included representatives from each of the four levels-primary , intermediate, junior and senior high school, the relative numbers in each could not be equated . Judging from the distribution of respondees by grade levels, the greatest availability for use of comics in instruction appears to be in the middle grades and junior high school. How the comic strips were related to instruction is illustrated by one of the participant's use of the Prince Valiant story of February 29, 1948. The episode in this issue pertained to the return of the Vikings to their homeland after they had spent a winter in the neighborhood of Lake Ontario. This comic is largely pictorial with limited verbal text, but the latter gives clues for the understanding of the pictures. In this case there were the expres sions-"We go to a far land" ; "We sail down the great lake and come to the place of the thousand islands "; "a current aids them" ; and "ship lunges madly down the rapids. " The teacher presented the following study questions : What the phrases "great lake, " "thousand islands, " suggest as to the location of Prince Valiant's ship ? What country was their destination? (Previous installments had re vealed that the Vikings were breaking camp and going home. ) Near what lake had the Vikings passed the winter? What does the presence of " island mountain, " "thousand islands , " and " rapids" suggest about the origin of the St. Lawrence River? Make use of the map of North America and try to find the route home that would be taken. What might be the reason why northern Europeans reached America before western Europeans? The participant reported that the class identified the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario from the allusions in the text. Map study located these features. and the pupils found that the Vikings' ship was sailing toward the Atlantic with Greenland as its destination. Discussion brought out several facts bearing on the discovery of America : the Vikings were nearer than the Western Europeans, they knew more about the Atlantic Ocean, and probably they were better sailors. From a relief map of North America the pupils could observe how the St. Lawrence had cut through the Appalachian high land and decided that the process must still be going on because of the presence of rapids and rocky islands. The lesson also raised some questions to be answered by further study : the origin of the Great Lakes ; when rivers cut through mountains what is the movement, rivers down or mountains up? And why don't we use the Norsemen's route to Europe? A wide variety of instructional methods as applied in different subject areas were reported by the participants. The largest number was in the subjects read ing, and oral and written language. The participants generally agreed that based on the comics in which the children already had interest, reading and language activities had greater zest and were entered on with increased interest . It was also reported that the physical form of the comic strip which gives clues in the pictures to the meaning of the printed text , was an aid in assisting poor readers. Following are the instructional methods and devices that were developed in connection with the use of comics for reading activities : Reading for story and interpretation ; identification of new words ; finding meaning from context and dictionary ; carrying the thread of the story from installment to installment ; anticipating the development of continued stories ; identifying allusions to literary characters ; supplementary reading related to geography, history, science growing out of allusions in comic strips ; and finally the use of selected strips for diagnostic work in reading relating to comprehension, word identification, interpretation, and phonics. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 247 Selected comic strips were used to provide material to stimulate speaking and writing. The advantage reported was that the class group had a shared experience when they observed the same strip which stimulated oral or written language. The language activities mentioned were oral retelling of stories, rewrite of stories in prose form, rewrite of balloons to express different development of story, writing dialogue for pantomime strips , rewrite of balloons expressed in ungrammatical or provincial language, writing scenarios for favorite comics, and dramatization of selected stories . Many of the strips included science , history, literature and geography. This subject matter appeared either in the form of direct reference or by implication in the characters and setting of the story. Among the strips rich in such content were "Prince Valiant, '" "Dick's Adventures in Dreamland, " "Jungle Jim, " and "Buz Sawyer. " The teachers reported that interest in the story led out to interest in the school content related to the story. The pseudo-science in " Flash Gordon" was used by some general science teachers as a lead to the study of related science that was sound. Among the learning activities in the content subjects mentioned by the participants were map study of locale of story, identification and follow-up study of historical allusions, science and pseudo-science allusions , and geography allusions . Many teachers discovered comic strips to be particularly useful in special classes and for slow-learning pupils in regular classes . Children in these groups are usually, over age for the level of school work they are attempting and school material prepared for the grade level is often too childish in subject material for these pupils . A number of comic strips proved to be a resource in this situation . The text of some strips is written in simple language but the action deals with more mature interests . The interest of these older children in the strip led to reading practice, difficult to get with conventional materials. The consensus of opinion as to the usefulness of the various strips , by grade level and subject, is as follows: 1. "Dick's Adventures in Dreamland"-Grade level: intermediate and high school. This comic proved to be an effective instrument in teaching American history. Pupils were attracted by the costumes and properties which gave reality to the story. It was found to be available both for history and geography study and source material in reading and language. 2. "Bringing Up Father" -Grade level : high school. The maturity of these stories limited their usefulness to the upper grades. This comic reflects a num ber of different problems in social relations and portrays many familiar social situations and these were used in the study and discussions of personal and social behavior. 3. "Flash Gordon" -Grade level : high school. This vigorous tale in science fantasy is presented in good simple language. It was used as practice material for reading activities. The science and pseudo-science was projected into dis cussion and further reading . It was found that the adventure theme attracted the poor reader, hesitant otherwise to make an effort. 4. "Little King” -Grade level ; junior and senior high school. This strip was found to be too subtle for younger children but was available on upper levels for both human behavior study and language activities . 5. "Donald Duck"-Grade level: primary, intermediate and junior high school. The frequent moral lessons in these stories were used to provoke dus cussion of personal and social behavior problems in the story. The stories were adaptable to different reading and language activities. 6. "Blondie" -Grade level : junior and senior high and occasionally inter mediate. This comic depicting many family situations and problems was used as the basis of study of individual and group behavior. This strip frequently turns a neat plot and was adaptable to oral and written reproduction by pupils. 7. "Buz Sawyer" -Grade level : intermediate and high school. This rowdy and varied adventure story was of greatest use as reading material, especially for the retarded reader who needed to be attracted by novelty of content. The frequent geography and science allusions were used as leads for supplementary work. 8. "Tillie the Toiler" -Grade level: high school. The "smoothies, " who are the principals in this strip, appealed to the teen-age group and were leads to the consideration of the pupil's own personal and social behavior problems. The strip was also used for language study exercises. 9. "Jungle Jim" -Grade level: intermediate and high school. This contin ued adventure story was used as reading material, especially for older boys with retarded reading skills . The background geography, history, and science con tent was used as points of departure for further study in textbook or other sources.. 248 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 10. "Room and Board" -Grade level: intermediate and high school. This strip when appropriate was used as a basis for discussion of human behavior with particular reference to the different human types who appear in the strip. Novel language activities were based on this comic. 11. "Little Iodine" -Grade level : intermediate and junior high school. This strip was popular with children and had a wide variety of uses . Many angles of child-parent behavior were used as a basis for discussions in family relations. The sharpness of the plots in the stories made them adaptable to retelling by pupils. 12. "The Phantom" -Grade level: intermediate and high school. This fan tastic adventure strip was good practice reading material both for normal and retarded readers. The allusions to geography, science, and pseudo- science provided basis for discussion and reading in these fields. 13. "Little Annie Rooney" -Grade level : intermediate and high school. The age of the lead in this strip made it possible for middle-aged children to project themselves into the story and the adventure interest led them to read for meaning. The strip was of unusual value as a source of reading material. Frequent men tions of history and geography were given school subject application. 14. "Lone Ranger" - Grade level : intermediate and high school. This story was of chief interest to boys in the middle years and used in reading and language work. The setting in the old West was a source of appeal, especially to boys. 15. "Uncle Remus" --Grade level : primary and intermediate. Many of the stories in animal parable were interesting sources for discussions of behavior and social relations . The reading material in the vernacular, while difficult, provided challenging leads to language activities. Not the least of the values of this strip reported was its use for wholesome schoolroom enjoyment. This The 16. "Believe It or Not" -Grade level : intermediate and high school. informational pictorial was used both as means and end in instruction. striking and novel facts were of themselves worthy of study and learning. Many items were used as introductions to further readings and study in history, geog raphy, science, and mathematics. 17. " Barney Google and Snuffy Smith" -Grade level : intermediate and high school. This was a valuable strip for instructional purposes when recognized as a portrayal of characters and life in a backward region . Character studies, primitive living, simple and immediate moral values, all are present in this comic from time to time and were contrasted with more sophisticated life. The pro vincial language provided basis for teaching language by contrast. 18. "Prince Valiant" -Grade level : intermediate and junior high school . Found available for history , geography, and science reading and activities. Many of the picture panels were useful for intensive study in relation to these fields. This comic had frequent mention by the participants in relation to art activities. A large majority of the teachers who participated in the experiment appraised their experience with the use of comics in the classroom favorably. General evaluation of study by responding participants (in percent) Enjoyed experiment. Used device for first time. Found helpful for motivation .. Increased individual participation . Helped pupil- teacher relations.. Increased interest in reading.. Yes 836274795842 No 28

• 4*

4 123818 3811 Uncertain or no answer 60874217 25 Appraisal, however, was not uniformly favorable. In general, the more frequent criticisms of using comics in the classroom were that current strips do not fit into the sequence of work going on in the classroom ; education is serious business and should not be approached through levity ; comics introduce improper language; they make learning too easy ; parents misunderstand and misinterpret the purpose of comics in the classroom ; teachers do not have time to do these extra things. We will leave these comments for the interpretation of the individual reader. Some of them certainly are quite valid either as weaknesses or difficulties . On the other hand, some of them point to a philosophy of education opposed to that which underlies this study. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 249 On the positive side , this report will be closed by quotes from two letters , one an evaluation by a school principal and other by a lay observer. "I have been using selected comic strips to stimulate reading interest and for pupil critical analysis of conversation used in these comics. I have found for many poor readers comics have strengthened their desire to read well, for they see reading as an immediate means to obtain the full pleasure that can come from comics. Pupils have become self- critical of their own speech and their learning. does not stop each day with the close of school, for the pupil reads with independ ent analysis the comics of his daily paper. "-T. S. F. Principal ; Hope Valley, Rhode Island. ( A possible byproduct of the study came from an unexpected source. The correspondent, whose letter is reproduced , on his own initiative examined the study materials and made the following comments. "My first reaction is one of admiration for the manner in which you have con verted an entertainment medium into an educational medium. My second re action is a feeling that your plan must inevitably produce better comics by the more responsible artists. When an artist realizes that his own feature is being closely studied by school children under competent teacher guidance, and that he is contributing to the social awareness and moral development of grade pupils, he must surely delineate his own characters and situations with greater care. As your plan gains wider use and acceptance it will certainly result in lifting the level of comics."-Mr. Frank Reilly, Director Books and Comic Division , Walt Disney Productions. NOTE. -Katherine H. Hutchinson is a critic teacher of the Falk School of the University of Pittsburgh. She directed the pilot study and experiment she describes above, and is the author of Comics In The Class room . OUR CHANGING WORLD OF COMMUNICATION 1 THE COMICS : MASS MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION 72705-50 When readers of the New York Journal, October 24, 1897, turned to its Sunday supplement the American Humorist-guaranteed by its publishers as " eight pages of iridescent polychromous effulgence that makes the rainbow look like a piece of lead pipe"-it is safe to say no one of them realized he was witnessing the birth of a new medium of communication. Here was the latest adventure of cartoonist Richard Outcault's already famous Yellow Kid . But where the previous week it had been presented in a single cartoon, this Sunday morning the adventure was drawn through a series of six cartoons. The Yellow Kid's own thoughts and words were still lettered on the front of his nightgown. But the parrot in the cartoons was talking in speech balloons. It was the first "comic strip . ' " It would occur to few to bracket the names of Richard Outcault, Caran d'Ache, Wilhelm Busch, and William Hogarth with those of Guttenberg, Edison, Marconi, and Zwerkyn. Yet, with the inventor of the rotary color press, their names are perhaps as significant in the history of mass communications. Hogarth's com bination of speech balloons with the cartoon, Busch's and d'Ache's experiments in telling stories through a sequence of cartoon panels, and Outcault's combination of both in the Yellow Kid constituted a genuine invention. The Yellow Kid was born at an auspicious moment. Newspapers were well on the way toward achieving the mass circulation that was to take them into nearly every American home. Cheap color printing had arrived. The Journal and World had installed the rotary color presses that would_make_possible mass production. McClure's, first of the great syndicates such as King Features, which would give mass distribution, was building. Hearst and Pulitzer were battling for supremacy in the mass circulation field . Color comic supplements, catching the public fancy, were a major weapon in this battle. (Hearst and Pulitzer hired Outcault back and forth in a way reminiscent of today's struggle between NBC and CBS for Jack Benny. ) Shortly the early experiments of Outcault (the Yellow Kid and Buster Brown) , James Swinnerton ( Little Jimmy) , and Rudolph Dirks (the Katzenjammer Kids) were to become "the comics. " 1 When, in 1904, the publishing house of Cupples & Leon reprinted collections of strips of Happy Hooligan, Alphonse and Gaston, and the Katzenjammer Kids in 1 Reprinted from the Rho Journal, April 1950. -17 250 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY book form, the prototype of today's comic magazine made its appearance. To be sure, in the American Antiquarian Society's collection of Americana are two comic books, The Adventures of Obidiah and The Fortunes of Ferdinant Flipper pub lished in 1843. But these earlier books, while telling their stories through se quences of cartoon panels, did not employ speech balloons. Other collections of daily and Sunday strips sporadically appeared. But it was not until 1935 that Eastern Color Printing Co. launched the comic magazine as we know it today. Conceiving that a page 7 by 10 inches could economically be printed in units of 16 pages on its four- color rotary presses, it launched Famous Funnies for sale in 5- and 10- cent stores. Fun and New Comics shortly followed, the first comic magazines the editorial content of which consisted not of reprint but of original material. Detective Comics appearing in 1937 is said to have been the first comic magazine, of an original nature, with a definite editorial policy. The great news distributing companies soon made comic magazines available throughout the country. From these antecedents come "the comics. " The Department of Communica tions in Education and The Workshop in the Cartoon Narrative, both of New York University's School of Education, this year have completed the first com prehensive study of attitudes toward the comics. Abyproduct of this study is a picture of the current readership habits of urban adults, those living in communi ties of 2,500 population and over: 81 percent read comics, 77 percent read strips in the daily papers, 76 percent read features in the colored Sunday supplements, 25 percent are current readers of comic magazines, while an additional 31 percent have read comic magazines. Starch estimates fully 90 percent of children to whom newspapers are available read the comics they carry, and reports on the basis of a study completed a year ago that comic magazines, of which 306 separate titles were on the newsstands in October, are read by about 92 percent of children 6-17. The readership habits of the rural population are unknown. The continuing study of newspaper readership of the American Newspaper Pub lishers Association reveals that comics have a higher readership than any other type of editorial content, their readership being exceeded only by that of front page headlines. Gallup has found comics are read by three times as many news paper readers as read important news stories . Roper discovered that while only 14 percent of readers have a favorite columnist, 51 percent have a favorite comic character. There are comic strips with larger regular audiences than any radio program. At the time of Colorado's last gubernatorial election, a poll conducted by the Denver Post found that while only 30 percent of citizens could identify from his name the Democratic nominee (who was chief justice of the State supreme court) , and 31 percent the Republican nominee (who was State treasurer) , 81 percent correctly identified Dagwood Bumstead. Of children recently queried across the country by the Ladies Home Journal, only 50 percent could identify the governors of their States. Ninety-three percent, to be sure, identified the President. But Dick Tracy was correctly identified by 97 percent. Within scarcely more than a generation , Outcault's experiment with the Yellow Kid has developed into a mass medium, a reality recognized by Lancelot Hogben when he titled his recently published history of communications From Čave Painting to Comic Strip. II What editorial content have the comics conveyed to this mass of readers? No real content analysis of the comics has ever been attempted. A cursory sampling of comics distributed to newspapers by the syndicates and sold as magazines on the newsstands make it obvious, however, that like the products of the major motion-picture studios and broadcasting networks-their primary purpose is not to inform but to "entertain. " It is clear from Coulton Waugh's history of the medium that early strips earned the names "funnies" and "comics" because they caused people to laugh. The source of this laughter was satire. Satirizing our manners and morals, our human foibles and the dilemmas in which they involve us, with rare exceptions contem porary, the early comics kept close to the familiar experiences of our daily lives. It was such editorial content that not only accounted for their rapid growth in acceptance and popularity, but made them genuine Americana, an invaluable repository for sociologists and historians of our folk history and folkways. Among strips most popular today, Chic Young's Blondie, Al Capp's Li'l Abner, George McManus' Bringing up Father, and Frank King's Gasoline Alley are in this tradition . The Comics by Coulton Waugh, New York: The Macmillan Co. , 1947. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 251 While the satire of the early strips was typically urbane and gay, it was some times strong stuff. As Al Capp comments, men find the story of man's inhumanity to man a very funny story; the sure-fire formula of successful slap stick is the inhumanity of men other men have been inhuman to.³ There were those who found the early comics vulgar, who found their more pointed satire brutal. Their angry protests killed the Yellow Kid. Aided by pulpit and conservative press, they attempted in 1910 a vain crusade against comic art reminiscent of today's crusade against comic magazines. Others have feared propaganda creeping into the comics. Satire is a potent weapon when turned on social and political events. Comics, like the rest of the newspaper, and like motion pictures and radio programs, reflect the attitudes of their creators . There are comic artists who freely editorialize in their strips . One may agree with Coulton Waugh that conservatives have their Orphan Annie, liberals their Joe Palooka, Communists the Daily Worker's Lefty Louie. Recur rent controversies between Harold Grey, Al Capp and Bill Mauldin and their syndicates or subscribing newspapers arise out of such editorializing . The line between satire and propaganda is at times a fine one. But in whichever category you may incline to place Phineas Fogg or the Shmoo, there has never been wide spread or consistent criticism of the editorial content of the comics for propa gandizing. On the whole, the comics achieved their growth as a mass medium undramatic ally, with little of the fanfare and furor that accompanied the growth of the motion picture, radio, and even the press. When, in 1944, the Journal of Educational Sociology compiled a first bibliography of the comics, it could discover but a meager number of articles worth noting. They included little on newspaper comics save human interest stories about comic characters and their creators, and a few serious attempts to analyze the comic's psychological appeal. The majority of titles dealt with the more recent but already controversial phenomenon of the comic magazine. In the 1930's a new trend had become apparent in the comics' editorial content -a trend to the excitement of violent, often fantastic, adventure. There had always been strips that resolved their situations in violent ways, Mutt and Jeff for example-but the violence had been slap- stick. There had been strips , like Little Nemo, of fantastic adventure-- but their fantasy had been that of the dream. But Dick Tracy and Superman were of another order. As the trend to violent adventures grew, with increasing frequency exploiting the seamier if not patho logical aspects of living for plot, there was a rising crescendo of protest. The protest was primarily directed at comic magazines. The social controls that operate on the editorial content of newspaper comics (letters to the editor, cancellation with the syndicate, the syndicate's own editing to forestall such cancellation) , operated less effectively on newsstand dealers, news distributing companies, and comic magazine publishers. Violent adventure magazines proved enormously successful in newsstand sales . A larger and larger proportion of titles followed their editorial formula. In 1940 Sterling North, then book reviewer for the Chicago Daily News, gave voice to the rising protest when he characterized them as "lurid publications (depending) for their appeal upon mayhem, murder, torture and abduction badly drawn, badly written and badly printed a strain on young eyes and young nervous systems-70 percent (of which are) of a nature no respectable newspaper would think of accepting. "" Sterling North's indictment was widely quoted. There were pulpits which thundered. The National Congress of Parents and Teachers took up the crusade. The war temporarily diverted the energies of the comic magazine's critics to more immediate problems. But the war over, and with New York psychiatrist Dr. Frederic Wertham stepping into Sterling North's role , the crusade was resumed and gained momentum. Increaasing numbers of titles had turned to crime stories for their plots . The charge of the critics was that they were responsible for an increasing rate of delinquency and crime. News dealers were boycotted . There were public burnings of comic magazines. Local censorship ordinances and boards mushroomed. Censorship bills were introduced in 16 State legislatures . A bill was drafted for introduction on the floor of the House of Representatives. Though the controversy had no appreciable effect on syndicate sales of comic strips to newspapers , it cut deeply into newsstand sales of comic magazines. As a result it has influenced the editorial policies and content of comic magazines. Titles and sales of crime magazines have markedly dropped. An Association of The Comedy of Charlie Chaplin, by Al Capp. The Atlantic Monthly, February, 1950 . 252 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Comic Magazine Publishers has come into being, adopted a code, and moved in the direction of self- regulation. While none of the censorship bills introduced in State legislatures became law, in almost 100 local communities some form of organized suppression of comic magazines appeared . However, the Los Angeles ordinance has been declared unconstitutional in the lower courts, and it is probable other such ordinances will also be. This is fortunate. Making a scapegoat of comic magazines, particu larly through censorship, is a sorry substitute for facing and accepting our re sponsibility as parents and citizens for providing children with more healthful family and community living, a more constructive developmental experience. The controversy has had, however, a positive outcome of great significance. The public has become aware of comics for what they are, a major mass medium of communication. Like press, motion pictures, and radio, not only magazines but also newspaper comics hereafter will feel the influence of an active critical opinion. This is healthy. It will not revolutionize their editorial content. Like that of all mass entertainment media in a democratic society, it will remain close to the common denominator of the experiences, interests, problems, concepts and language of us all. But an effective critical opinion will influence editorial con tent in the public interest. How far, and how consistently is our, the public's responsibility? III What is the future of the comics? They are here to stay as a mass medium. But how will they be presented to their public? What may their editorial content be? Only a crystal ball, across which floats images of the future in four colors, would lend one the confidence to predict. However, it is clearly within the realm of possibility that color television and facsimile, building mass audiences, might ultimately become a major means of distribution of comics-either as animated cartoons or as a supplement of a newspaper printed in the home. They might cut radically into the distribution of present newspapers and comic magazines. Again, with the trend toward shorter working days and weeks, with more leisure to be occupied, they might not. At most we have, in possible mechanical de velopments for the distribution of comics, a fascinating field for speculation . One thing, however, is clear. Until recent years we have talked of " the comics. " There is a growing tendency, however, to make a distinction between the medium and the entertainment which has been the bulk of its editorial content. There are increasing experiments in the use of the comics medium to communicate a wide variety of attitudes, ideas , knowledges, and even skills. These experiments began in the field of advertising . The tremendous reader ship of comics suggested to the advertising departments of newspapers that the pages on which they appeared were a potential source of advertising revenue. The amount of advertising now appearing in Sunday comic supplements has proven them right. As might have been anticipated, advertising placed in comics supplements captured high readership. Shortly, advertisers began experimenting with the adaptation of their copy to the comic page environment-giving it a lighter, humourous tone supplemented by cartoons. It was but a logical next step to writing copy in comic strip form. Such ads, skillfully done, achieved even higher readership. Little Lulu's first appearance for Kleenex had a readership of 91 percent; Judge Robbins, for Prince Albert, averaged 72 percent for years. These figures chailenge the readership of all but the most successful entertainment features. Comic continuity advertising in comic magazines proved equally attractive to readers. It naturally occurred to many that if you can sell cigarettes , breakfast foods, facial creams, washing machines, and refrigerators through comics, you might equally successfully " sell" attitudes and ideas. The war was the occasion for a large scale and successful experiment in so doing. Comics were widely used on the home front to promote bond drives, blood banks, and salvage, to recruit women for industry and the armed forces, and for many other purposes. They were also employed, as for example Milton Caniff's General Orders, in the armed forces training program. Meantime, the tremendous popularity of comic magazines led business and industry to experiment with the use of comic leaflets (known to the trade as "industrials" or " special purpose comics") in their institutional advertising and public relations. Louis Birk, specialist in their production, after surveying their use estimates their distribution has run to more than 100,000,000 of copies. Business and industrial sponsors are increasing yearly. The use of comics by business and industry resulted in many social and com munity agencies exploring their possibilities . The International Committee of JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 253 the YMCA, the Anti-Defamation League, and the East-West Association have employed them to combat prejudice ; the United Nations Association has enlisted them in the interests of world peace, the National Lutheran Council in the interests of European rehabilitation, the United States Treasury to promote the sale of victory bonds, the Catechetical Guild to fight communism. The CIO and the National Labor Service have put their stories in comic continutiy-as have Community Chests, the National Safety Council, the Cooperative League, the National Tuberculosis Association, the Venereal Disease Education Institute, the International Council for Exceptional Children. The National Social Welfare Assembly are presenting their point of view to the community in the magazines of the National Comics Group . The National Mental Health Foundation is producing social purpose comics to educate the public on mental health. The State Department is using comic leaflets as part of its program for telling the story of America abroad. Numerous political candi dates have used comics to present their platforms to the people among them LaGuardia, Goldstein, O'Dwyer, and Harry Truman (the publisher of whose comic leaflet gravely notes that the 3,000,000 distributed , added to the vote predicted by the pollsters, comes close to the popular vote he received) . Comics increasingly are being used for frankly educational purposes. Many "industrials" have proven valuable as supplementary materials in the schools . Hundreds of thousands of General Electric's science and social studies have been requested by teachers. The Association of Secondary Science Teachers includes "industrials" among supplementary materials mailed monthly to its members. Many thousands of copies of King Features' Dagwood Splits the Atom are being distributed to pupils as the Atomic Energy Exhibit tours our schools. Scholastic Magazine binds selected " industrials" in its issues. Frequent articles on the comics are appearing in educational journals. Under lying these articles are certain educational assumptions: that the schools have the responsibility for understanding out-of-school influences on the development of children; that schools should utilize the motivations of children's environmental interests ; that all media of communication should be employed for educational purposes. The School of Education of New York University is conducting a work shop on the comics as a medium of communication. The workshop program has three aspects. Beyond studies of readership, there has been little or no research on the comics. Does, or does not, the reading of comics of violence and crime cause emotional disturbance and delinquency in children? If so , in how many children? What children? Why and how? Does, or does not, comics reading interfere with the development of reading skills? Are there, or are there not, children who learn more readily from comics than from text? These are among many questions to which the workshop is attempting to turn up valid answers. The workshop also conducts a studio in which, under competent comic artists and script writers, students are experimenting with the development of instruc tional materials. Little of this sort has been attempted before. The Armed Forces, to be sure, are following up their wartime use of comics with an experiment in translating training manuals into comic continuity. Business and industry are increasingly using comics for employee education. The Philadelphia Public Schools are trying comics in the teaching of foreign languages. But few instruc tional materials have been developed for public school use. Among those now under production in the workshop are materials for teaching English in the schools of Puerto Rico, and materials to stimulate discussion of intergroup attitudes . Finally an unanticipated byproduct of its research and experimentation-the workshop is frequently consulted by outside agencies on the production of educa tional comics. Among organizations which recently have consulted with the workshop are the University of Arizona Agricultural Extension Division in behalf of the 4-H Clubs, the Traffic Safety Division of the Motor Vehicles Bureau of the State of North Carolina in behalf of the education of teen-agers in safe driving, the National Safety Council, the National Social Welfare Assembly, the National Mental Health Foundation , the Pan American Union, and the State Department. IV Reactions to the rapidly growing use of the comics as a medium of communication vary. Those who believe with Chancelor Robert Hutchins of the University of Chicago that there are only 100 great books (none of them comics) , looking upon comics as the pablum of the half-witted , fear for a brave new world nurtured 254 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY There is no arguing this point of view- it is not an opinion but an Others point out that the health of a democracy depends upon discussion and consensus, which in turn depend upon intercommunication. They call attention to the fact that studies of reading ability make it a matter of sound conjecture that the people of the United States as a nation read on a sixth- to a seventh-grade level. On Rudolph Flesch's readability scale this means printed material of a difficulty somewhere between that of True Story and Liberty magazines . The Armed Forces during World War II, desperately as they needed men, rejected 250,000 because they could not read. The last census reported 10,000,000 Americans adults to be functionally illiterate.¹ These facts are a severe indictment of our vaunted educational system. They make it clear that many facts and concepts , vital to American democracy, cannot be sufficiently widely communicated by the printed word. To ignore this is to forfeit democracy. While educators are working to lift our ability to com municate through language symbols, there remains the need for the fullest use of media that minimize language, spoken as well as written. As we are becoming increasingly convinced this is true, the comics are being more and more widely used as a medium of communication. The comics-like the press , the movies, radio and television are a mass medium. Mass media exert tremendous influence. Privately owned, and largely operated for profit, their influence is not necessarily in the public interest . Only an informed, vigilant and effective public opinion will keep it so. But public opinion too frequently operates negatively. Let's find positive , constructive social uses for the comics. upon them. allergy. -- HARVEY ZORBAUGH, Chairman, New York University School of Education's Department of Educational Sociology; Director, Counselling Center for Gifted Children; Director, the Workshop on the Cartoon Narrative as a Medium of Com munication. о

See also

• Seduction of the Innocent by Fredric Wertham