Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents Part 8

_XIV. Changing Times and Concepts_

Since the beginning of the twentieth century the undermentioned aspects of a changed social order have become evident. It is not within the province of this Committee to make an appraisal of the tenets implicit in any of them. Ecclesiastics may preach against the sins involved; opposition may arise to the philosophy of education; commercial and professional interests may inveigh against the inroads of the State, but this Committee is concerned only in their effects on the s.e.xual behaviour of young people whose habits and characters are being affected. It is now necessary to examine them.

=(1) Contraceptives=

Perhaps the first major shock to "respectable" society regarding s.e.x was when it became known, soon after the beginning of the First World War, that the Army authorities were distributing "condoms" to troops about to go on leave. Probably this was the first recognition by the New Zealand Government of contraceptives. This decision by the Army was accepted by society, not without misgivings, on the basis that it was much more important to guard against the spread of venereal disease than to endeavour to enforce continence among the troops. Society was obliged to choose between two evils, and it chose what it regarded as the lesser.

Contraceptives thereafter came into common use, are now purchased by a majority of married couples, and by many unmarried persons. Their acceptance by the married has posed some problems which have required the attention of the Courts in England. It was not foreseen, when they came into use, that questions would arise as to the validity of certain marriages where one party used contraceptives to avoid having children.

The Committee has found a strong public demand that contraceptives should not be allowed to get into the hands of children and adolescents.

Whatever views may be held concerning the use of contraceptives by older people (married or unmarried) no responsible father or mother would countenance their possession by their young sons and daughters.

The Committee is unanimous that adolescents should not buy or have contraceptives in their possession.

=(2) The Broadening of the Divorce Laws=

The subject of divorce was very fully discussed in the Houses of Parliament in England, in New Zealand, and elsewhere after the First World War.

If parents are unable to live happy lives together or to become reconciled after differences have arisen, the interests of the children may be improved, or may be worsened, by a legal separation or a divorce.

Tension in the home may be just as big a factor in the causation of delinquency as a divorce or separation of the spouses.

Juvenile delinquency in all its forms is frequently a.s.sociated with homes where the marriage is broken either by a divorce, separation, or discord. It is not so much the separation as the tension which precedes and succeeds it that results in children getting out of control.

The matter is noted here solely because, if parents cannot agree together, they are less likely to discharge their duties to their children. Greater is the responsibility which rests upon them in these unhappy circ.u.mstances. If parents are unwilling to shoulder the extra burden caused by the break-down of their marriage, some action by the State may be required if it seems likely that children may suffer.

=(3) Pre-marital Relations=

One aspect of the moral drift is the number of people who entertain the nebulous idea that it is somehow not wrong to have pre-marital relations or to live together as man and wife without marriage.

Such a view is opposed to all the ideas of chast.i.ty which are inherent in our morality. Apart from that, an irregular s.e.x relations.h.i.+p may be psychologically[6] disadvantageous.

However much adults may desire a good moral standard to be observed by children and adolescents, they have no right to expect it unless they conform to proper moral standards themselves.

=(4) "Self-expression" in Children=

Early in this century psychologists said that the repressive influences of early discipline were stultifying to the development of the child.

They advocated that the child's personality would mature better if uninhibited. This has been interpreted by many people to mean that you should not use corrective measures in the upbringing of children and that their natural impulses must not be suppressed. Some of these people have even thought it wrong to say "No" to a child.

People brought up in this way have now become parents. It is difficult for them to adopt an att.i.tude to their children which does not go to extremes either way. As a revolt against their own upbringing, they are either too firm in their control or too lax. Children brought up in both of these ways have been featured in the case notes of delinquent children placed before the Committee.

=(5) Materialistic Concepts in Society=

Education, medical and hospital treatment, industrial insurance, sickness and age benefits, and other things are all provided by the State, when the need arises, without direct charge upon the individual.

The virtues of thrift and self-denial have been disappearing. Incentive does not have the place in our economy which it used to have. The tendency has been to turn to the State for the supply of all material needs. By encouraging parents to rely upon the State their sense of responsibility for the upbringing of their children has been diminished.

The adolescent of today has been born into a world where things temporal, such as money values and costs, are discussed much more than spiritual things. The weekly "child's allowance" is regarded by some children as their own perquisite from the benevolent Government.

The dangers inherent in this materialistic view is that many young people who could profit from further education do not feel a sufficient inducement to continue study. They leave school too soon, and the broadening influences which could come from further education in the daytime, or the evenings, is lost to them. In the result, these young people, having too much interest in material things, and not enough in the things of the mind and the spirit, become a potential source of trouble in the community.

One suggestion made to the Committee was that saving and thrift should be encouraged, or that this might be enforced through the Children's Court in cases where it is found that offenders have fallen into criminal immorality through having more money than suffices to pay the reasonable necessaries of life. While the powers of the Children's Court might be extended or used for this purpose in extreme cases where adolescents are brought before the Court, the best help can come from wise action by parents to prevent their powers of direction and control being undermined through young persons having too much freedom and too many of the material things which are not necessary for their well-being.

_XV. The Law and Morality_

=(1) History of the Law Regarding Morality=

At no time in the history of the British Commonwealth have Parliaments or the law-courts endeavoured to impose a system or code of morality on the people. Men are not required by the governing powers to observe the moral law, any more than they are required to attend Divine wors.h.i.+p. But Parliament, in the shaping of legislation, and the Judges in the administration of justice, have frequently had regard to that indefinable sense of right and wrong which becomes implanted in the human breast. Furthermore, the law, while not coercing any one into following a particular course of moral conduct, has, nevertheless, always been careful to restrain people from acting in such a way as may cause offence to those who do observe the principles of religion or of morality.

Offences against religion (for example, blasphemy and disturbing public wors.h.i.+p), and offences against decency and morality (for example, indecent exposure, indecent publications, and prost.i.tution) are strongly reprehended.

In determining what conduct on the part of an individual should be condemned the law has always endeavoured to maintain a balance between freedom of the individual and the rights of the community not to be harmed by the exercise of that freedom.

The law is not interested in sin, or even immorality, but it is vitally interested in the effects of them. A person may stay away from church, but he must not scoff at the Holy Scriptures. He may bathe in the nude, but not at a public beach or near where persons are pa.s.sing. A human model may be posed for an artist, but must not be exhibited in a shop window.

One other feature of the law regarding morals is that there are some things which adults are not restrained from doing but which the law will not suffer to be done by minors. Common examples are found in the restraints which are imposed on children smoking, or entering upon premises open for "drinking" or betting.

Similarly, through reason and experience, the law has found it necessary to set some limits on the right of an individual to do what he likes with his own person. The community has an interest in the life of every citizen. More particularly may this be said to be so when the State spends much money on the education and health of the people. Suicide has always been wrongful; attempts at suicide are therefore punishable, partly because the State has an interest in maintaining human life, and partly because suicide is a result of sin and a breach of morality.

=(2) Protection of Women and Girls from Defilement=

At common law the woman was always regarded as the mistress of her own person. Consent was therefore a defence to a charge of rape. The Legislature subsequently interfered for the good of society and in the interests of morality by legislating against abortion, against soliciting for the purpose of prost.i.tution, against the keeping of brothels, and against procuration for the purpose of carnal knowledge.

The next development of consequence in the law on this matter was in the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 (England). This statute, which was subsequently followed in New Zealand, made it a criminal offence to have carnal knowledge of girls. The penalties were graded according to the ages of the girls involved.

As an indication of the seriousness with which the law, by successive stages, has regarded s.e.xual offences it is convenient here to summarize the penalties set out in sections 212 _et seq._ of the Crimes Act (N.Z.).

Rape Imprisonment for life.

Attempted rape Imprisonment for 10 years.

Carnal knowledge of girl under 10 Imprisonment for life.

Carnal knowledge of girl 10 to 11 years Imprisonment for 10 years.

Attempted carnal knowledge of girl under 12 years Imprisonment for 7 years.

Carnal knowledge of girl 12 to 16 years Imprisonment for 5 years.

Indecent a.s.sault on female Imprisonment for 7 years.

The above are the maximum penalties. The modern tendency is to inflict much lesser punishment upon an offender, to grade the punishment having regard to such matters as the damage done, the past history of the offender, and the prospect of reform.

=(3) Consent as a Defence=

The consent of a girl under 12 years of age cannot be raised as a defence to any defilement charge.