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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Digital Library Collections
This is a PDF of a folder from our textual collections.
Collection: Reagan, Ronald: Gubernatorial Papers,
1966-74: Press Unit
Folder Title: Issue Papers - Juvenile Delinquency
Box: P30
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https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digital-library
To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library inventories visit:
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Juvenile
GOVERNOR'S CONFERENCE ON DELINQUENCY PREVENTION
Sacramento, California
April 22, 1968
FOR RELEASE AM,
TUESDAY, APRIL 23
SPENCER WILLIAMS, ADMINISTRATOR
HEALTH AND WELFARE AGENCY
There is a great deal of concern expressed these days about the
younger generation--school drop-outs, drug abuse, promiscuity,
delinquency, violence, an unwillingness to accept conventional
standards, and their failure to develop their own moral standards.
And rightfully SO.
These are serious problems--and the fact that similar concerns may
be seen expressed on the walls of ancient Egyptian edifices does
little to minimize their importance today. But I would like to have
such matters considered in their proper perspective.
Today's youngsters are bigger, healthier, probably smarter,
certainly better educated and far more aware of the world they live
in than their elders, and just as courageous.
We have had a few youngsters burn their draft cards. We have had a
handful of highly publicized cases of desertion from our armed
forces, but our youth have generally done a magnificent job in the
treacherous jungles of Vietnam. Officers experienced in World War II
and Korea say these are the best troops they have ever led--that
they are more capable and more dedicated.
The total immersion of our youth in television with its multiple
impact, its capacity to show life in all its variety and its ability
to present history in the making has given them near-direct exposure
to a universe unknown to us at their age.
Attendance at institutions of higher learning has dramatically
increased. Between 1964 and 1967 the full-time total enrollment of
our public institutions--the university, state colleges and junior
colleges--went up more than 58 percent.
-2-
Enrollment has also increased at the high school level and more of
the pupils are staying on to graduate. Meantime, the high school
drop-out rate has declined. During this decade, the percentage
dropping out has been virtually cut in half.
More than 95 percent of our yountsters are law-abiding. Far less
than 1 percent are arrested annually for drug law violations. Less
than 1 percent are arrested annually for anything that could be
remotely described as an act of violence.
More than 90 percent of California's youngsters are living in the
normal atmosphere supported both emotionally and financially by
their own parents.
There are some highly vocal protesters; there are some hippies and
before them the beatniks, and earlier yet the zoot suiters; but I
am convinced these represent a miniscule portion of our youth. It
is to the credit of our youngsters that more of them have not been
swayed by the wide newspaper and T.V. coverage given to the oddballs.
But there is the other side to the coin. In the Western states,
38 percent of those persons 25 or older failed to finish high
school. These Census Bureau figures are even more startling when
broken down by race. They show that 52 percent of the Negroes 25
or over dropped out.
The current 13 percent drop-out rate in California means that 35,000
students that finished the eighth grade four years ago didn't
graduate from the 12th grade last year. The 13 percent AVERAGE
rate varied from school to school--from nothing or close to it in
some schools to a deplorable 40 percent in others.
And this at a time when a high school diploma is more and more
becoming the minimum requirement for employment. Experts in the
field say that 40 percent of all blue collar entry positions require
-3-
a high school diploma. It rises to 85 percent at the white collar
level and is required for about 90 percent of all civil service
examinations.
One of the results was that during a year of all-time high employ-
ment--and with many jobs unfilled--unemployment averaged 389,000
persons, many of
these new, unskilled entrants to the labor
force.
Most significant so far as the future is concerned is the fact that
some 600,000 of those on the welfare rolls are children- 480,000 of
them less than 12 years of age.
While, as I said, more than 95 percent of our youngsters are law-
abiding, little percentages make big totals in California.
There were more than 125,000 arrests of juveniles reported last year
for violation of criminal laws. In addition, there were 198,000
arrests for delinquent tendencies. Together this represents less
than a 3 percent increase in the rate per 100,000 persons in the
10-to-17-year-old age bracket.
Unfortunately the percent increase was much higher for arrests for
major law violations. These offenses that would be a felony if
committed by an adult were up 20 percent. Drug law arrests
accounted for most of the increase. Statewide there were nearly
15,000 juvenile drug arrests last year. That is an increase in
rate of about 180 percent. The bulk of the juvenile drug arrests
were for marijuana--almost 11,000. But on a percentage basis
dangerous drugs registered a larger increase, up from one thousand
in 1966 to more than 2800 in 1967.
As in previous years, the greatest frequency of drug arrests was
observed in the 17-year-old group.
-4-
A survey recently completed showed that the percentage of drug
involvement of youngsters committed to the Youth Authority virtually
doubled between 1965 and 1967.
Use of drugs has been encouraged by presumably well-meant scientific
reports that marijuana is no worse than alcohol and perhaps not as
bad. What is left unsaid by that argument is the deadly peril of
alcohol itself. Also glossed over are equally scientific reports
of marijuana-induced psychosis.
Violence, though still a small component of juvenile delinquency,
was up. The robbery rate was up more than 20 percent and felonious
assaults were up 18 percent.
Juveniles accounted for more than half of all the arrests for car
theft and for burglary.
At the end of the year there were 21,500 wards under commitment to
the California Youth Authority. Nearly 50,000 other youngsters were
under probation supervision for delinquent or criminal acts.
Another 41,500 persons, some of them youngsters, were under juris-
diction of the State Department of Corrections.
No segment of our society has a corner on delinquency, dependency
or any other problem. But neither are our children with problems
evenly distributed across the state. The dependent, the drop-outs,
the delinquent, tend to be concentrated in particular areas.
Oakland provides a typical illustration.
A household survey made in the spring of 1966 showed that 142,000
residents of Oakland were living in what was described as a slum
area. That is 40 percent of Oakland's residents. While 4.7 percent
of the state's work force was jobless at that time, 13 percent of
the slum area labor force was idle. 41 percent of the teenagers
were unemployed.
-5-
A quarter of the families in the slum area reported annual incomes
of less than $2,000 at a time when the national median exceeded
$6,000. With 40 percent of the city's population, the area had
66 percent of the total welfare cases. Most significantly, the
area received over 80 percent of the aid given to families with
dependent children. One-third of the persons 25 years old or older
have only an eighth grade education or less. That's a third that
have--at best--only an elementary education.
Why do I recite these dismal statistics? To show that there is a
huge job still to be done. While by far the largest percentage of
our youth are decent kids who stay out of trouble, many of them need
help to do SO.
What can we do to help? What more can we do?
Let me suggest some additional ways. I say additional because your
presence here demonstrates that you recognize and are concerned
about these inter-related problems. That's the first step--a vital
first step.
I say additional ways because I know that many of you have long been
working to curb crime and delinquency and will have already under-
taken many of the suggestions that I will outline.
You know that these multiple problems can't be solved with slogans
or overly-simple solutions. There aren't any panaceas. Simply
publishing offenders names in the newspaper or installing juvenile
juries won't eliminate delinquency. Neither will "getting tough"
nor being indulgent.
The causes are far too deep to yield to these superficial remedies.
We have a double problem: We must aid those already caught up in
the conditions that breed delinquency. While we do that, we must
move further to an attack on the conditions themselves.
-6-
How do we go about it?
First of all I would say to you who are civic leaders that you
should familiarize yourselves with the extent of the problems in
your community and the location in which they are centered. Identify
the youth-serving agencies and support them in their efforts.
Identification may not be as easy as it sounds. There has been
such a proliferation of efforts that Governor Reagan asked the State
Social Welfare Board to make an inventory. A similar inventory of
community resources would assist in effective planning. Identify
the gaps as well.
Be critical of present efforts, but make sure that criticism is
based on all the facts, fully understood and is constructive.
Assure yourselves your local governmental agencies are aware of
their responsibilities and equipped to carry them out. Let them
know you are back of them.
To those of you representing local government, I would say that you
should welcome and encourage citizen interest and participation.
It is only with strong citizen support that you can fully realize
your professional objectives.
There are many important youth-serving agencies, public and private,
but there is none more important than the school.
The schools are in a strategic position to apply the preventive
medicine that we need to reduce delinquency, illness and public
dependency. There are at least two main reasons why that is so.
First, education--or rather its lack--is the common denominator of
failure. The unemployed are the uneducated. The dependent are the
children of the uneducated. And the delinquent? Youngsters
committed to the Youth Authority lag an average of two grades
-7-
behind their age level. Only half of the persons committed to the
Department of Corrections last year had completed the eighth grade.
Second, the schools provide a focal point where the needs of
children can be recognized and plans made to meet them. The school
has contact with nearly every child in the community--and at an
early point in his development.
There is little problem in recognizing the child who is prone to
emotional or social maladjustment. He can be identified with great
precision through scientific tests. He can be spotted equally well
by an experienced kindergarten or first-grade teacher.
But once identified the problem becomes: "What to do about him?"
It does little good to recognize the problem if there are no
resources with which to help him. Indeed the lack of resources may
not only be accentuating his problems, but creating problems for
the other children.
Faced with overly-large classes, the best of teachers may be hard
pressed to even maintain control, much less provide individualized
attention to those with language handicaps, inadequate educational
backgrounds or learning problems.
There is not only the question of class size, but class content as
it is related to the needs of the pupils. Other factors are the
condition of the school plant, availability of educational materials,
and most important of all, the qualifications of the teachers.
In other words, schools should be viewed in terms of their overall
efficiency. We must take care that we do not compound already
difficult problems by having our least effective schools in the
areas where the most demanding job must be done.
Are the students who graduate from your schools equipped to enter
the labor market?
-8-
What is the drop-out rate at your schools--how does it compare with
the statewide average? What are the practices regarding suspension
and expulsion? There are no statewide statistics on expulsions,
but education officials believe there has been a dramatic reduction
in the number of pupils excluded from school.
I hope that the rising incidence of drug abuse does not cause a
reversal of this trend. I can well understand why school officials
would not want to leave a pupil who is a drug user in a position
where he could influence others to join him in drug abuse. But the
schools and its pupils are part of a larger community. Removing
the offender seldom answers a problem; indeed, it is almost certain
to add to the problem. Expelling a student is like giving him a
free ticket to the Youth Authority.
Increased emphasis on guidance, curriculum improvement, and
required establishment of continuation schools have all been factors
in the continued improvement of our school system. The development
of the junior colleges has opened a whole new dimension in education.
But there is much more that can and must be done. Neither the
schools nor government can or should do the whole job.
The private, voluntary agency has traditionally played a major role
in combatting delinquency and assisting in the correctional process.
Such assistance takes many forms. I want to emphasize one tonight.
In view of society's lowering moral tone, I think we need new
stress on our character building organizations and activities.
Think what the children of today are exposed to--and exposed is the
right word. Nudity has become commonplace in our mass media. Laws
designed to provide vital freedom of speech and press have been
perverted to create a billion dollar business in smut. Our news-
papers have reached new heights of candor--that's the nicest way I
can put it--in describing deviant sexual behavior.
-9-
Our children need the moral vaccination offered by such groups as
the church, the scouts, the Y's, the boys clubs, and many other
deserving organizations through their organized recreational and
character-building activities. To provide the greatest service
these groups must involve the children who are deprived of a strong
family life and lack the ability to secure these advantages for
themselves.
Progress has been made in this direction, but much yet remains to be
done--much that may require a different approach to the provision of
these services. Few of these services today are located within the
poverty areas. Even if the facilities were, participation by
neighborhood youth will require encouragement.
Just opening the doors won't do it. It will take active recruitment.
Furthermore, and understandably, they frequently won't stay in such
unaccustomed surroundings unless they receive positive support.
These are perhaps new roles for volunteers or paid aides.
The traditional organizational pattern of some of our groups
requires extensive volunteer leadership by male members of the
immediate community. That is an unrealistic expectation in the
poverty area noted by the absence of male heads of families. This
dictates that other patterns be developed.
Financing is always a problem. It is obvious that these programs
cannot be self-supporting in the poverty areas and that funds will
have to come from outside sources.
Speaking of money, let's not use it as an alibi. More money isn't
the only answer to every problem. Indeed it may not be the answer
at all.
The answer may be more effective use of the enormous sums that we are
already spending. Education already accounts for 50 percent of all
State General Fund expenditures. More than $1.4 billion is paid out
-10-
in local school subventions. The Health and Welfare Agency comes
next at a little over 30 percent of the General Fund. Local
government is spending additional millions.
Our challenge is to make the most effective use of the tax money we
are now receiving. Our watchword should be to make full use of our
existing resources. I suggest we are not now doing SO.
At the state level I have gathered together eight of my department
heads concerned with the various phases of youth problems. I have
asked them to coordinate existing services for maximum effect.
This approach will also disclose the gaps in service, so I have
asked them to develop the additional services needed to avoid
problems of poverty, dependency, illness and crime.
I don't expect them to do this in a vacuum. The same thing can and
must be done locally. Already in the local government there are a
variety of youth-serving agencies whose efforts, unfortunately,
are all too often fragmented, uncoordinated, overlapping, and
sometimes even competing.
The wide variety of private agencies, volunteer groups and
individuals who are anxious to serve must be involved. Too often
now they stand ready, but unasked. This is a tragic waste.
All these great resources, public and private, must be brought
together systematically for maximum effect.
Certainly the child should not be dealt with piece-meal. School,
health, probation, recreation, character building, and welfare
problems are all intertwined. Not only should the child be
considered as a whole, but the family should be recognized as the
interacting unit that it is. The basic kiln in which we fire the
building block of our society: the individual responsible citizen.
-11-
Effective use of the resources themselves requires coordination of
effort tailored to fit local conditions. More than that there should
be a primary point of reference. The busy school administrator,
welfare worker, juvenile officer, minister, physician, or for that
matter, parent, should have a single source to which he could turn
for the assistance needed by the problem child. And the system
should cycle information back to him so that he could improve his
own program or appropriately modify his way of meeting similar
problems in the future.
What is needed is total mobilization. Nothing less. We can't
afford to wait on protocol to see who starts it or stand on ceremony
as to who runs it. Some one person, any person, in every community
must resolve to take the leadership in pulling together all available
resources to provide a concerted and coordinated effort.
We must do it now. I hope that you return to your home communities
with a sense of urgency. Solution of the problems of poverty,
dependency and delinquency will not wait. Each of us must bear the
responsibility for finding answers.
Delinquency can be prevented. It will take hard work, patience,
the ability to accept failure in stride, enthusiasm and concern.
It will require the concerted, vigorous and intelligent efforts of
the individual, the private sector and all levels of government.
The broader condition of which delinquency is but one symptom can be
corrected. We must bring all our citizens into the full fabric of
our social and economic life. With commitment and dedication by all
this can be achieved. I am confident that it will be achieved with
the help of concerned citizens such as you here tonight who know
the seriousness of the problems we face and by your presence have
already indicated your dedication to achieving a solution.
# # #
State of California
Human Relations Agency
Memorandum
To
:
Rus Walton
Date :
March 12, 1969
Press Secretary
File No.:
Office of the Governor
Subject:
From : Office of the Secretary
In accordance with our discussions with Governor Reagan, I
am forwarding herewith, a draft of material concerning
delinquency prevention that can be used as a speech or seg-
ment of one.
As a part of the draft, I have outlined (starting toward the
bottom of page four, and running through page six) our par-
ticular projects to test the delinquency early warning system
that I proposed.
I will be happy to provide any additional information you
may desire.
SPENCER WILLIAMS
Secretary
Human Relations Agency
attachment
CC Paul Beck
Press Secretary
Office of the Governor
12 1969
DELINQUENCY PREVENTION
Half of the residents of this nation's central cities feel they
cannot safely walk their neighborhood streets at night. 1
Bus
drivers are afraid to carry change. Many businessmen are concerned
about remaining open at night. Fear has altered our way of life.
And with good reason. Parts of some of our cities have become
jungles. The FBI reports that violent crime rose 21 percent in
the first nine months of 1968. In the cities robbery was up
32 percent over the same period in 1967. Murder was up 17 percent
forcible rape up 18 percent and aggravated assault was up 14
2
percent
The National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence
reported youth "account for an ever-increasing percentage of
crime, greater than their increasing percentage of the population".
The peak years for crimes of violence are 18 to 20. These youth
are generally treated as adults in California.
There were more than 300,000 arrests of juveniles--defined as
youngsters under 18 years old--in California in 1967. (Preliminary
statistics for 1968 are not expected to be available until May.)
Some 125,000 of these juvenile arrests were for violations of
criminal laws.
¹Gallup Poll pre-election 1968.
2 Uniform Crime Report released December 16, 1968.
-2-
The rate of arrest of juveniles for major law violations statewide
was up 20 percent. These are offenses that would be a felony if
committed by an adult.
The juvenile robbery rate was up almost 22 percent and aggravated
assault increased 18 percent. Juveniles accounted for more than
3
half of all the arrests for car theft and for burglary.
The greatest increase, however, came in drug law violations. Drug
abuse has continued to skyrocket. In the first half of 1968, more
than 15,000 youngsters were arrested for drug law violations--up
164 percent from the same period a year earlier. 4
Nationally one boy in six is actually referred to the juvenile
court. About 40 percent of all the male children now living in
the United States will be arrested for a non-traffic offense
during their lifetime. 5 Offenses by females are also on the
increase. Juvenile arrests for girls in California rose by a
greater percentage in 1967 than did boys.
Because of these ominous statistics these disturbing trends
this administration is placing far greater emphasis on delinquency
prevention.
3 Crime and Delinquency 1967.
4 Drug Arrests in California, 1968 Mid-Year Summary.
5 President's Crime Commission, page V.
-3-
Delinquency is a complex phenomenon and for that reason we are
approaching its prevention through a variety of means.
There are two primary needs. We must aid those already involved
in delinquency or who have a high potential for becoming delinquent.
At the same time we must address ourselves to correction of those
conditions associated with a high incidence of delinquency. While
no segment of our society, no geographic section of our state, is
free of delinquency, there is no question but that delinquency is
concentrated in the slum areas of our cities.
The slums are the breeding grounds of delinquency, dependency,
and alienation. There are concentrated the broken and disordered
families, poor housing, minorities, hard-core unemployment,
jobless youth, and those on welfare.
It must also be evident that state government indeed, all
government, cannot successfully prevent delinquency alone. No,
delinquency prevention requires the full involvement of the
private sector.
This kind of new coordination has been achieved in our attack on
drug abuse, a specific form of delinquency. Our inter-agency
council on drug abuse has brought together not only the govern-
mental agencies involved, but the medical profession, parents and
-4-
teachers, churches, private health associations, the State Bar,
and other representatives of the private sector.
This broad but coordinated involvement may set a pattern for an
attack on crime and delinquency generally.
Coordination of effort, elimination of overlapping, duplication
and competition, is the theme of a group of proposals approved by
the Delinquency Prevention Commission earlier this year to set up
youth service bureaus. Aided by State and federal funds, these
bureaus will be established under local control in nine communities
representing a broad cross section of the state. The bureaus will
provide a central point to which schools, parents, police, the
courts, and other organizations can refer young persons. This
will provide more effective use of existing resources.
I have also included in the budget for 1969-70 a $200,000 appropria-
tion for delinquency prevention. I anticipate that these funds
will be used primarily to finance two unique delinquency prevention
projects now being developed by the Human Relations Agency.
The projects would establish a delinquency early warning system--
somewhat akin to our nation's DEW-line system for warning of
attack--that would identify potential delinquents early in their
public school careers.
-5-
Those identified would then be given help by responsible older
youth (17-24) under professional guidance. These "older brothers"
will provide a model the youngsters will want to imitate. They
will also provide some counseling and help with tutoring and with
wholesome recreational activities.
In turn, these older youth will be earning funds that will help
them continue their education and, more important, the project
may open new careers for them. The project training and their
continued education could well be a stepping stone to a career in
correctional or other rehabilitative work.
The project will also employ adult members of the community who
would be expected to maintain liaison with the schools and perform
a variety of tasks aimed at strengthening family and community
controls.
For instance, he might contact churches, service clubs, local
merchants, and other governmental units to bring all available
resources to bear on particular problems. Depending on his
capabilities, he might also work with the families, helping them
with budgets and promoting their involvement in school and other
activities. The adult will also provide an example for the
youngsters.
-6-
Each team will be headed by a professional caseworker who will
provide guidance to the "older brothers" and to the adult aides,
plan the approach to each case and offer formal counseling to
youngsters and parents.
The demonstration projects will be subject to rigorous evaluation.
About 300 boys whose current behavior is predictive of delinquency
would be selected for each of the two projects, but they would
not necessarily know of their selection.
One hundred eight would be selected at random from the pool to
participate actively in the project. Another 108 would be
randomly designated as a control group. They wouldn't know about
it and would continue in school and the community in the usual way.
The two groups would be subsequently compared at intervals in
terms of school suspensions, arrests, number of days in detention,
etc. Later on comparisons would be made in terms of school
completion, employment and so forth.
The projects will be located in two different areas, both of which
have in large measure the ingredients that foster delinquency to
provide a double check on effectiveness.
Meantime, we are seeking to correct those conditions that breed
delinquency. Lack of effective education is one of the
-7-
characteristics of the delinquent. Wards committed to the Youth
Authority are three or four grades behind where they should be.
I have asked that greater emphasis be placed on basic education,
kindergarten through the 12th grade. I have budgeted $105.5 million
in new money for the public schools, including additional aid to
programs for the disadvantaged.
I have also asked for a $5 million increase in scholarship funds
so that family financial condition will not be a bar to higher
education.
I believe we must also seriously assess the need for a system of
technical institutes to help prepare many of our young people who
will not go to college for careers in our expanding economy.
We have been handicapped in our generally successful summer youth
employment programs by archaic and unreasonable barriers that
keep youngsters from getting jobs. For example, a person under
18 can't be hired to drive a vehicle even though he has a perfectly
valid driver's license for it. I am asking the Legislature and
the Congress to remove these obsolete restrictions so that more
of our youth can get summer and part-time jobs. Many need work
both for the income and its maturing influence.
-8-
The basic problem has not been lack of jobs, but lack of skills
by those unemployed or under-employed. Employment has been at
record levels and there are many jobs available, but unfilled.
Unemployment has been the lowest in a decade.
We have already put into effect the Work Incentive Program and
have some 10,000 persons in training assignments that should
ultimately remove them from the welfare rolls and put them on
payrolls.
Throughout state government, various departments are providing
employment and training for the disadvantaged through development
of new career opportunities.
We are endeavoring to stimulate greater participation in apprentice-
ship programs by minority youth. We are fostering a positive
program to eliminate discrimination.
In the welfare field, we have placed greater emphasis on substituting
self-reliance for dependency and are conducting a pilot program
to test various means of achieving that aim.
We are organizing a new Department of Human Resources Development
centralizing administration of job training and placement efforts,
pinpointing responsibility and pooling funds to get the most out
of them.
-9-
The Department plans a street to workbench program, bringing all
of our resources together in a concerted effort to train the
disadvantaged, place them in productive employment and keep them
on the job.
By providing job training and placement for those now unemployed
and by improving education opportunities for those who are now
or should be now in school, we will do much to eradicate the
root causes of delinquency.
Coupling this with a delinquency early warning system and effective
treatment measures, we can hope, at last, to stem the rapidly
spiraling increase in delinquency.
Delinquency can be prevented. But it will require the concerted,
vigorous and intelligent efforts of all levels of government, the
private sector and, above all, the concern of each of us as
individuals.
FOR RELEASE P.M., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19.
JUVENILE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE
Flamingo Hotel
Santa Rosa
March 19, 1969
SPENCER WILLIAMS, SECRETARY
HUMAN RELATIONS AGENCY
Your conference theme is Juvenile Delinquency: Then, Now and Where.
Let's start with a look at the then and now. Where we must head is to greater
emphasis on prevention.
The first statewide statistics reporting juvenile arrests were gathered
for the year 1957; the most recent tabulated are for 1967. There were many
problems of definition and collection in the early days which make comparisons
between the two figures something less than exact, but they do show the trends.
What's happened in that span of 11 years? The scene has changed. he
actual number of arrests, for both law violations and delinquent tendencies have
more than doubled from 1957 through 1967. Delinquent tendency arrests had a
slight advantage in the percentage of increase.
Arrests rose more rapidly than did the general population resulting in
a 55 percent increase in the rate of arrests to total state population. Other
indices based on the youth population 10 to 17 show that delinquency began to out-
strip youthful population growth in 1962 and has since continued until in 1967
new referrals increased five times as much as the youth population. The scene
has also shifted literally. Whereas the higher rates were in Southern California
a decade ago, the higher rates are now in the Northern portion of our State.
Most of the offenses have increased in about the same proportion as the
general increase. Auto theft and rape increased less than expected, but drug
arrests skyrocketed. This has brought an influx of arrests of children from
middle class families, radically changing the characteristics of the offender
population.
Unofficial figures for 1968 indicate juvenile drug arrests will reach
a total of nearly 30,000. That's almost 25 times as many as in 1957. Perhaps
worse, it is twice as many drug arrests as in 1967. In Sacramento County there
were more children placed in juvenile hall for drug abuse last year than the total
from 1845 through 1967.
There is one hopeful element. It appears that since June there has been
some leveling off of arrests, but the level is in the stratosphere.
The fact that the second half of 1968 was not markedly worse than the
first half is no grounds to slacken our efforts to curb drug abuse.
Furthermore, sophisticated analysis will be needed to uncover the real
significance of this flattening of the curve. It is important to understand the
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movement of each of the categories that involve drug abuse. Arrests of both
adults and juveniles for hard narcotics offenses have been a declining percentage
of the total. Less than one and a half percent of the juvenile drug arrests have
been for the hard narcotics.
As you know, the use of drugs and the choice of drugs are influenced
by complex factors.and the statistics are affected by law changes, reporting
procedures and so on. Nonetheless, part of the credit for the lesser use of hard
narcotics must be given to the California Rehabilitation Center and its after-
care program.
Users of hard narcotics are notorious for their tendency to relapse--
so much so that many persons involved in narcotics enforcement formerly regarded
death as the only cure for use.
The California Rehabilitation Center Program has demonstrated, however,
that about 18 percent of those released have been able to abstain from use of
narcotics or other anti-social behavior for three consecutive years. More than
500 persons have earned their discharge from the program for maintaining a clean
record for three years.
Even those who relapse are not necessarily lost. A study of all those
released in 1965 showed that eventually 59 percent maintained a clean record for
at least a year. While this may not sound impressive, it is really quite signi-
ficant.
Control is another important element of that program. Patients who
begin to dabble with narcotics are speedily returned to confinement before they
can engage in other crimes. A University of California report said that of
almost 2,500 former addicts who were released, only 10 were returned with new
felony crimes.
We are trying to improve the program still further. The center at
Norco is operating practically at capacity with some 2,100 men and 350 women
currently under treatment. We are transferring the women to a new unit on the
grounds of Patton State Hospital. That will provide additional space for men at
Norco. In addition we are giving the former branches at San Luis Obispo and
Tehachapi independent status. Incoming addicts will be assigned to the most
suitable unit. The unit as Tehachapi, for example, puts more emphasis on
vocational training. This unit already has 650 patients.
This Department of Corrections program is, of course, for adults.
While the largest portion of drug arrests still involve adults, the biggest
percentage increase is in juvenile arrests. Contrasted with 1960, adult arrests
are up over 200 percent, but juvenile arrests are up nearly 2,000 percent.
-3-
The Departments of Mental Hygiene and Youth Authority also have drug
abuse treatment and research programs. These programs are primarily directed at
abusers of drugs other than the hard narcotics. That is where the big increase has
been.
Over the 8-year period, 1960 through 1967, juvenile marijuana arrests
were up more than three-thousand percent. But the big increase in the first half
of last year came in dangerous drugs with juvenile arrests up 323 percent in a one-
year period.
This shift to dangerous drugs is particularly alarming, especially to
the extent it reflects growing use of a methamphetamines
often known as speed
or crystal. This powerful stimulant seems to induce a paranoid, senseless
violence in its users. Its use has turned the Haight-Ashbury into a weapon-ridden
jungle.
In addition, the amphetamine user, trying to get down from his high
gently, is encouraged to use heroin or barbiturates. I was tempted to say that
perhaps that was good because we are better able to treat narcotic users. But, in
fact, coupling the methamphetamines with heroin only complicates matters. The
drug of preference indicates some of the users inner needs and is basically what
counts in treatment.
The Youth Authority drug abuse treatment program at the Youth Training
School at Ontario has two sections: one for narcotic and barbiturate users and
the other for the hallugenogenics and stimulants.
Preliminary evaluation indicates substantial success with the narcotic
and barbiturate users, but a little worse than average results for the others.
The evaluation was made 15 months after the first groups were released
to parole. About 80 percent of the narcotic users succeeded in remaining on
parole. But slightly less than half of the stimulant users succeeded. The
others had their paroles. suspended, revoked, or were given bad discharges within
the 15 months. These are preliminary figures and are for the first group. The
next evaluation may show a different picture.
This cautious appraisal seems to show that the young narcotic user is
a loner, afraid of social contact, seeking escape, who can be helped to adjust to
others--who can be socialized. Users of the stimulants are aggressive and social
and not reached effectively by the techniques that help the others. Various pro-
gram modifications for the second group are being studied. There is an important
lesson here--not a new one, but one that it seems must be constantly relearned:
people do things for different reasons and effective treatment for one may not be
effective for the other. We are not likely find an effective treatment. We
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need varieties of treatments matched with people and problems.
In addition to Correction, Youth Authority, and Mental Hygiene, other
units of the Human Relations Agency with a direct interest in drug abuse are the
Departments of Public Health, Rehabilitation, and Social Welfare. Inclusion of
these Departments in the same agency has facilitated coordination of efforts to
reduce drug abuse.
But as in other areas of crime and delinquency, the Human Relations
Agency has only a fraction of the total responsibility. Local law enforcement
plays a major role. Other federal and state units have enforcement responsibili-
ties. Drug abuse is also a medical problem and a legal problem. It is also a
problem to parents and teachers, to churches, to youth groups, and all concerned
citizens. In the past, efforts have been fragmented, sometimes contradictory.
Now for the first time, all these diverse interests have been gathered together by
Governor Reagan in an Inter-agency Council on Drug Abuse for a coordinated attack
on the problem.
The main thrust will be prevention. Two educational efforts are already
underway. The California Medical Association, the Congress of Parents and
Teachers and the Youth Authority are collaborating on the production of an informa-
tive brochure for parents.
You will soon be seeing and hearing throughout the State the opening of
a long-term multi-media campaign against drug abuse. The campaign will be
directed by a respected advertising agency. Print space and broadcast time has
been pledged to Governor Reagan by the California Newspaper Publishers Association,
Southern California Broadcasters Association and the California Broadcasters
Association. The California Outdoor Advertising Association has indicated its
full support. Out-of-pocket costs will be paid by concerned business firms,
foundations and other private contibutors.
The Council and its efforts are a splendid example of teamwork between
the governmental and private sectors in the public interest. This kind of
cooperation, involvement and coordination may well set a pattern for attack on
broader areas of crime and delinquency.
We are still in the organizational phases, but the Council shapes up
this way. There will be five task forces: education, legislation and government,
research, treatment, and administration of justice. The Justice Task Force is
headed by Capt. Roger H. Guindon, head of the Los Angeles Police Department,
Narcotic Division.
Those who have already accepted membership on the task force include
Daniel P. Casey, Regional Director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and
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dangerous drugs, John Storer, Chief of the State Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement,
John Warner, President of the Narcotic Officers Association, Lew Ritchie, now of
the Youth Authority, two judges, a district attorney, and representativesof the
State Bar and the Peace Officers Association.
Because of your special interest, I want to take this occasion to invite
the Juvenile Officers Association to nominate a representative for membership on
this distinguished task force.
The Inter-agency Council will be composed of three representatives from
each of the five task forces. This will provide broad representation and still
keep numbers small enough to make it a working group.
Periodically the full membership of the task forces and others will
meet together in a drug abuse conference.
Drug abuse is one of several manifestations of current social unrest.
Another is the emphasis on rights. This emphasis first greatly affected the
juvenile field in California in 1961 when the juvenile court law underwent
comprehensive revision.
Since that time with further legislative modification and various court
decisions, we find more and more juvenile court actions contested as to law and
fact. The parent-type adjudication is becoming less significant as the adversary
case grows in prominence. Continuing the trend, there are currently legislative
proposals to require the same type of verdict in a juvenile case as in a criminal
proceeding.
There is no question that extension of the whole set of rights to
juveniles has created operational problems for all of us in the administration of
justice and has on occasion worked against the interest of the juvenile. Emphasis
on rights, insistence on formal procedures has brought youths into the justice
system whose cases would have been disposed of informally in other times.
But we must recognize these rights, first of all because they are
rights. More significant, we cannot instill respect for our democratic government
or for law and order by demonstrating disrespect, discrimination and injustice.
We ought instead to provide a model that proclaims our adherence to the
basic tenants of our democracy.
We must not curtail the freedoms that our system of government is
designed to provide, nor allow the lawless to infringe on the rights of the law-
ful. We simply cannot tolerate law-breaking whether symbolic or actual
whether
for so-called good cause or for candidly evil purpose. But in maintaining law
and order we must take care that we do not further alienate the dissident element
that we should be trying to bring within our system. We don't want to drive the
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dissidents outside our governmental system. We don't want to confirm their
distorted view that they cannot be heard within our legal framework. We must
provide what Chief Tom Reddin has defined as "the delicate balance point
between overaction which becomes oppressive and underaction that constitutes
permissiveness. 11
Nowhere has this been more difficult than in youthful demonstrations.
Confrontation, deliberate provacations, physical attacks have been designed to draw
forceful police response. Public reaction has not been, I judge, what the
organizers had hoped.
Pepper fogging, mace, tear gas, use of batons, the dragging of
demonstrators off by their heels have been generally understood as necessary,
though these tactics have not been universally applauded.
The participants, college age, draft age, and older, have generally
been regarded as knowing what they were doing and getting what they deserved.
They were treated as adults, legally and practically.
Last week, however, police in one community were called to quell
disturbances in a junior high school. I intend no comment on that particular
situation. But it may be the forerunner of others.
The point I want to make is that it will be very difficult to
publicly justify the use of these same techniques on groups of 12 and 13 year-
olds, even if, objectively, their conduct calls for it. Use of force suitable
for adults on children provides exactly the ammunition the agitators seek.
Obviously, however, we cannot permit bands of militant 12 year-olds to
close down junior high schools anymore than we can permit older students to
close down universities.
Other effective techniques must be developed to cope with the problem.
One answer
the best answer in the long run
to this dilemma is
prevention, but there may be little time to implement it. This is a real
professional challenge to the juvenile officer as well as many others.
Prevention will obviously require a close and cooperative relationship
with school officials. Prevention will be. greatly aided by development of good
relationships with the community.
Prevention means innovative ways to meet the problems of changing
times, swiftly and effectively.
Prevention also means getting at the root causes of crime and
delinquency as we know them. We at the State level are placing far greater
emphasis on delinquency prevention than ever before and we are endeavoring to
strike hard at its roots. But basically delinquency is a local community
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problem that is most effectively dealt with locally. The attack on delinquency
and its causes is the concern of every citizen.
But leadership in the attack on delinquency must be the concern of every
juvenile officer. Prevention efforts by the police, particularly those specifi-
cally charged with responsibility for juveniles, must be given new emphasis.
We must make the effort and we must succeed. We cannot permit the
sacrifice of a generation to drug abuse. We cannot permit the substitution of
anarchy for democracy.
###
State of California
Human Relations Agency
Memorandum
To
:
Rus Walton
file
Date :
April 9, 1969
Press Secretary
Office of the Governor
File No.:
Juvenile
Subject:
Delinquency Prevention
From : Office of the Secretary
On March 12, 1969, I forwarded draft material to you concerning delinquency
prevention that could be used as a speech or segment of one.
Attached are two revised pages of that material sent to supersede the original
two pages, bringing statistical information up-to-date.
SPENCER WILLIAMS
Secretary
cc. Paul Beck
DELINQUENCY PREVENTION
Half of the residents of this nation's central cities feel they
cannot safely walk their neighborhood streets at night 1
Bus
drivers are afraid to carry change. Many businessmen are concerned
about remaining open at night. Fear has altered our way of life.
And with good reason. Parts of some of our cities have become
19
jungles. The FBI reports that violent crime rose 21 percent in
the first nine months of 1968. In the cities robbery was up
30
16
32 percent over the same period in 1967. Murder was up 17 percent
mm/6
13
forcible rape up 18 percent and aggravated assault was up 14
2
percent.
The National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence
reported youth "account for an ever-increasing percentage of
crime, greater than their increasing percentage of the population".
The peak years for crimes of violence are 18 to 20. These youth
are generally treated as adults in California.
There were more than 300,000 arrests of juveniles defined as
youngsters under 18 years old--in California in 1967. (Preliminary
statistics for 1968 are not expected to be available until May )
Some 125,000 of these juvenile arrests were for violations of
criminal laws.
].
Gallup Poll pre-election 1968
MARCH 10 1969,
2 Uniform Crime Report released becember 16, 1968.
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The rate of arrest of juveniles for major law violations statewide
was up 20 percent. These are offenses that would be a felony if
committed by an adult.
The juvenile robbery rate was up almost 22 percent and aggravated
assault increased 18 percent. Juveniles accounted for more than
3
half of all the arrests for car theft and for burglary.
The greatest increase, however, came in drug law violations. Drug
abuse has continued to skyrocket. In the first half of 1968, more
than 15,000 youngsters were arrested for drug law violations- up
4
164 percent from the same period a year earlier.
Nationally one boy in six is actually referred to the juvenile
court About 40 percent of all the male children now living in
the United States will be arrested for a non-traffic offense
during their lifetime. 5 Offenses by females are also on the
increase. Juvenile arrests for girls in California rose by a
greater percentage in 1967 than did boys.
Because of these ominous statistics these disturbing trends
this administration is placing far greater emphasis on delinquency
prevention.
3 Crime and Delinquency 1967.
4 Drug Arrests in California, 1968 Mid-Year Summary.
5 President's Crime Commission, page V.
UNOFFICIAL INDICATIONS ARE THERE WAS A LEVELING OFF IN
THE SECOND HALF.