The “Toughest Kid” on the Street

These eleven-year-old delinquents are a challenge to the community

The following outlines give in graphic form the delinquency records of these two brothers:

JOHN MORAN’S DELINQUENCY RECORD

May 7, 1907Arrested in company with other boys. Remanded until the 8th. Pleaded guilty. Sentence suspended.
June 9, 1908Arrested for theft with another boy. No complaint. Discharged.
October 22, 1908Arrested for selling newspapers at midnight. (No record of this at S. P. C. C.) Committed to the Catholic Protectory. Discharged November 20, 1908.
June 10, 1909Arrested on a charge of improper guardianship; found asleep in a hallway at 2:30 a. m. Adjourned until June 14, then paroled until August 14.
July 24, 1909Arrested for begging and selling newspapers at night. Discharged. (No parole investigation.)
October 7, 1909Arrested at 11 p. m. in a disturbance in the street. Recommitted to the Catholic Protectory.

MICHAEL MORAN’S DELINQUENCY RECORD

November 9, 1905Arrested for theft of shoes and committed to the Catholic Protectory. Released September, 1906.
December 12, 1906Arrested for stone throwing and committed to the Catholic Protectory. Released January, 1908.
May 1, 1908Arrested for burglary—stole iron fixtures from a vacant house. Paroled.
June 23, 1908Charged with truancy. Committed to the Catholic Protectory. Released December 14, 1909.
April 23, 1910Arrested. Hearing 25th. Fined $1.00.
January, 1911Arrested for stone-throwing. Sent to the truant school.

One of the most important elements in the problem is the attitude of parents toward the commitment of a child. Perhaps most of them resent it and look upon it as a misfortune and a disgrace. The very fact of commitment is denied if possible; the boy is “in the country,” or he is “visiting relatives.” The parents are anxious to have him home again as soon as the term is up or an application will be accepted.

Another group of families take a commitment with the same indifference with which they accept all the other unavoidable facts of life. If babies die, or the husband is out of work, or the children are sent away for a couple of years, it is all a part and parcel of the inevitable, all equally removed from choice and regret. Often the parents are so busy earning a meager living that they hardly know where the children are passing their time, and so the boys develop into rowdies who spend their nights on roofs or stairs and their days in loafing. Victims of drunkenness, need, and sickness, they do not know the meaning of discipline, and it rarely occurs to their families that they can do anything in the matter, much less that they ought to.