Police Juvenile Liaison and Child Care
| Published date | 01 March 1970 |
| Author | Fred Baddeley |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X7004300311 |
| Date | 01 March 1970 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
FRED
BADDELEY
A Child Care Officer considers the new relationship
of
the Police
and the Children's Departments.
POLICE
JUVENILE
LIAISON
AND
CHILD
CARE
The Children and Young Persons Act 1969 gives the children's.
departments in conjunction with police authorities astatutory
duty to work together in closer liaison than ever before. This joint
combination of forces should prove most beneficial, for the annual
insidious increase in juvenile delinquency is now a matter
of
the
gravest concern, and social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists
seem to be quite powerless to combat or even to contain the present
flood-tide of anti-social behaviour. Acorner-stone of the newconcept
of social rehabilitation as outlined in the Bill will be intermediate
treatment, which simply means that each offender found guilty
before a juvenile court will normally be allowed to remain within
his home environment subject to overall guidance and directions
from his named supervisor. At the moment there are approximately
32 liaison schemes operating in depth and they have greatly helped
to pioneer this new cult of intermediate treatment and adventure
training. The fundamental principle embodied in all such schemes
is to "provide an efficient personal service for dealing with children
and young persons in which it is not considerednecessary or desirable
that the alleged offender should be prosecuted and also to prevent
juveniles from finding themselves liable to prosecution".
For
example, Liverpool city police started the first police juvenile liaison
scheme in Great Britain in 1951, and to December 31,1968,175,934
visits had been made to homes of offenders; 88,004 to schools; and
95,591
to shops and offices. The Lancashire constabulary's figures
for the first six months of 1969 make impressive reading, and in the
near future they may be dealing with approximately 1,500 children
per month.
It
should be appreciated that the juvenile liaison scheme
has only operated throughout the amalgamated force area since
April 1. The figures quoted below are therefore not a true record as
prior to that date only eight divisions of the old Lancashire county
police are included and since that time seven further divisions and
12 boroughs have been incorporated.
Children dealt with in the first six months of 1969:
First Offenders
Second Offenders
Potential Delinquents
Information Files
Under
Supervision
Visits made to Homes and Schools, etc.
March 1970
2,073
259
347
1,508
1,144
16,438
155
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