Problems of the Educator
| DOI | 10.1177/000486586900200409 |
| Author | E. C Moylan |
| Published date | 01 December 1969 |
| Date | 01 December 1969 |
| Subject Matter | Original Articles |
238 AUST. &N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (Dec., 1969): 2, 4
Problems
01
the
Educator
E. C. MOYLAN*
AS I have
interpreted
my invitation to address
this
conference, it is to
pro-
vide a background paper for discussion - a
paper
which does
not
seek to
provide a well formulated, "ready-to-wear"
plan
but
rather
to suggest some
areas for discussion, areas which
are
important
in
any
society in Australia
today.
In
looking
at
the
problem, I am going to look briefly
at
what
Is crime
and
delinquency,
then
at
the
community,
then
youth,
then
the
families
from which
they
come
and
finally
the
educator. Therefore, Iam using
the
word
"educator"
in its widest connotation.
In
doing this, I am going to be
raising issues
rather
more
than
providing answers which, in
any
event,
would be only my opinions for
what
they
would be worth. My concentration,
therefore, will be on
the
juvenile field which surely demands
our
concentrat-
ed
attention
within
the
total
context of crime prevention,
treatment
and
after-care.
If
we
can
solve some of
the
problems of youth,
then
we have
made a
major
contribution to
the
goals of
this
organisation.
The
President's Commission on Law Enforcement
and
Administration
of Justice in
its
1967
"Report on
the
Challenge of Crime in a Free Society"
pointed
out
that
"America's best hope of reducing crime is to reduce
juvenile delinquency
and
youth
crime.
In
1965
a
majority
of all
arrests
for
major
crimes
against
property were of people
under
21 as were a
substantial
minority of
arrests
for crimes
against
the
person.
The
recidivism
rates
for
young offenders
are
higher
than
those for any
other
age group. A
substantial
change in
any
of these figures would
make
a
substantial
change in
the
total
crime figures for
the
nation". No doubt,
the
same or similar comment could
be made in
regard
to juvenile delinquency in Australia.
As I see it,
the
first problem is one of determining
what
we
mean
by
juvenile offences. Terms such as "crime", "offences"
and
"delinquency"
are
legal terms,
not
medical, psychological or sociological, even
though
in
at-
tempting
to
understand
the
complexities of
an
occurrence
that
is criminal
or delinquent or
that
consitutes
an
offence one needs
to
take
into
account
those
other
factors
that
might
have
influenced
the
individual to a
parti-
cular course of action. Certainly these factors are crucial in
attempting
to
apply protective, rehabilitative or
treatment
measures.
There
are
a
multi-
tude of definitions of "crime" in
the
writings of
the
experts
but
it
seems to
me
that
we
must
generally accept
that
definitions
are
usually relative only,
because
an
act
regarded as a crime in one society
may
be considered unob-
*Assistant Under Secretary and Deputy Director of the Department of Child Welfare
and Social Welfare, N.S.W.
To continue reading
Request your trial