Recent Book: Communications: The Police Communications System
| Author | George Twist |
| Published date | 01 October 1970 |
| Date | 01 October 1970 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X7004301016 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
effort:
(l)
running away is becoming amajor concern in this com-
munity; (2) males and females are evenly distributed; (3) the peak
age of incidence for both groups is 15 and 16 years; (4) thirty-nine
per cent of those involved were Protestant, twenty per cent Catholic,
and
two per cent
lewish-thirty-nine
per cent either failed to respond
or indicated no religious preference; (5) twenty per cent
of
the
youngsters were
not
living with their natural parents; (6) seventy-
seven per cent were first offenders-however, over half
of
the 1969
runaways had either involved themselves in other types of anti-
social behaviour associated with the present offense or had past
or post involvement; (7) offenders travelled to a variety
of
state-side
locations as well as Canada,
but
over fifty per cent remained in the
local area; (8) nineteen per cent returned home within the first six
hours, thirty-two per cent returned within twelve hours, and forty-
one per cent came home within twenty-four
hours-only
two young-
sters stayed away more than two weeks; (9) September was the most
popular month of leaving while the particular day of the week
showed little
fluctuation-although
a slightly higher incidence might
be noted on Thursday, Friday and Saturday; (10) a variety
of
thirty
reasons were offered for the runaways' leaving home and vary from
family-related problems, school associated problems, adventure
or experience, drugs and other types of anti-social behaviour, mental
illness, pregnancy, to no reason at all (see above for a complete
listing); and
(ll)
six reasons were given for returning home,
and
these included: police pick-up, the encouragement
of
a friend, no
money, returned on own, party or activity ended, and turned in.
The results of this effort leave many questions unanswered and
suggest the importance
of
additional research regarding runaways in
an affluent community. There is need to replicate the investigation
in this and other affluent areas in order to further validate the present
findings. Sociological and psychological oriented studies of these
youth need to be undertaken in order to clarify their background
and consequently create abetter understanding
of
the affluent subur-
ban runaway.
It
would also be
of
value to look into their value
structure and examine its effects on their behaviour. Related to this
is an exploration into parental and community values and how they
relate to these youngsters. Needless to say, much needs to be done
in this area. I would hope
that
this small effort in some way offers a
first step in this direction.
RE~ENT
BOOKS
COMMUNICATIONS
V. A.
LEONARD:
The Police Communications System. Charles C. Thomas,
Springfield, Illinois. $5. 75.
Though limited to a description of
the American scene, this is an interes-
ting and non-technical handbook for
October 1970
all those concerned in police communi-
cations.
Following apotted history of the
339
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