Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents by Oswald Chettle Mazengarb et al.

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1954

NEW ZEALAND

REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE

ON

MORAL DELINQUENCY

IN

CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

_Laid upon the Table of the House of Representatives by Leave_

BY AUTHORITY: R.E. OWEN, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, WELLINGTON.--1954

20 September 1954.

The Right Honourable the Prime Minister,
Wellington.

Sir,

Having taking into consideration the matters referred to us on 23 July
1954, we submit herewith the report and recommendations upon which we
are all agreed.

Accompanying the report, for purposes of record, are four volumes
containing the evidence of the witnesses who appeared before us and a
large file of the submissions which were made in writing.

We have the honour to be, Sir,

Your Obedient Servants,

O.C. MAZENGARB, Chairman.
R.A. BLOODWORTH }
J. LEGGAT }
G.L. MCLEOD } Members.
Lucy V. O'BRIEN }
J.S. SOMERVILLE }
F.N. STACE }

_The Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and
Adolescents_

CHAIRMAN

Dr OSWALD CHETTLE MAZENGARB, Q.C.

MEMBERS

Mrs RHODA ALICE BLOODWORTH, J.P. (_Children's Court_).

Mr JAMES LEGGAT, E.D., M.A., _Headmaster, Christchurch Boys' High
School_.

Dr GORDON LOGIE MCLEOD, LL.B. (N.Z.), M.B.Ch.B. (N.Z.), D.P.H. (Eng.),
_Director, Division of Child Hygiene, Department of Health_.

Mrs LUCY VERONICA O'BRIEN, _Vice-President of Women's Auxiliary of
Inter-Church Council on Public Affairs: Arch-Diocesan President,
Catholic Women's League_.

Rev. JOHN SPENSER SOMERVILLE, M.C., M.A., _Chairman of the Inter-Church
Council on Public Affairs_.

Mr FRANCIS NIGEL STACE, B.E.(Elec.-Mech.), B.E.(Mech), _President, N.Z.
Junior Chamber of Commerce_.

SECRETARY

LEN JOSEPH GREENBERG, O.B.E., J.P.

_Contents_ _Page_

I. Preliminary Observations--
(1) Sensational Press Reports 7
(2) Press Reports from Overseas 8
(3) A World-wide Problem 9

II. Order of Reference and Procedure followed 10

III. Narrative--
(1) The Hutt Valley Cases 11
(2) Cases in Other Districts 13

IV. Has Juvenile Immorality Increased?--
(1) Difficulties of Comparison in Absence of Statistics 13
(2) Unreliability of Available Statistics for Comparative 14
Purposes

V. A Change of Pattern in Sexual Misbehaviour--
(1) Younger Groups Now Affected 18
(2) Precocity of Girls 18
(3) Organization of Immorality 19
(4) Recidivism 19
(5) Changed Mental Attitudes of Girls and Boys 19
(6) Homosexuality 20

VI. Searching for the Cause 20

VII. Some Visual and Auditory Influences--
(1) Objectionable Publications 21
(2) Films 23
(3) Broadcasting 25
(4) Press Advertising 26
(5) Television 26

VIII. The School--
(1) Teacher and the Child 27
(2) Co-education 28
(3) School Leaving Age 29
(4) Relations with the Child Welfare Division 30
(5) Sex Instruction in School 30
(6) "New Education" 31

IX. Community Influences--
(1) Housing Development 31
(2) Recreation and Entertainment 35
(3) Liquor and Gambling 36

X. The Home Environment--
(1) Feelings of Insecurity: The Unloved Child 37
(2) Absent Mothers and Fathers 39
(3) High Wages 40

XI. Information on Sex Matters--
(1) When Should This Information be Given? 41
(2) Who Should Give This Information? 42
(3) The Source of Information 42

XII. The Influence of Religion on Morality--
(1) The Need for a Religious Faith 43
(2) The Need for Religious Instruction 44
(3) The Need for Family Religion 44

XIII. The Family, Religion, and Morality--
(1) The Importance of the Family 44
(2) The Place of the Family in the Legal System 45
(3) The Sanctions of Religion and Morality in Family Life 46
(4) The Moral Drift 46

XIV. Changing Times and Concepts--
(1) Contraceptives 47
(2) The Broadening of the Divorce Laws 48
(3) Pre-marital Relations 48
(4) "Self Expression" in Children 49
(5) Materialistic Concepts in Society 49

XV. The Law and Morality--
(1) History of the Law Regarding Morality 50
(2) Protection of Women and Girls from Defilement 51
(3) Consent as a Defence 51
(4) Weaknesses in the Law 52
(5) Proposed Reforms 54

XVI. Child Welfare in New Zealand--
(1) History of Legislation 54
(2) The Children's Court 55
(3) Corporal Punishment Abolished 57
(4) Defects in the Act and its Application 57
(5) Changes Proposed 60

XVII. Summary of Conclusions 63

XVIII. Recommendations--
(1) Proposals for Legislation 66
(2) Proposals for Administrative Action 67
(3) Parental Example 68

XIX. Appreciation 68

Appendix A: Table of Sexual Offences for Which
Proceedings Were Taken in New Zealand 69

Appendix B: List of Witnesses, Submissions, and
Order of Appearance 70

_I. Preliminary Observations_

=(1) Sensational Press Reports=

In the second week of July 1954 various newspapers throughout the
Dominion featured reports of proceedings in the Magistrate's Court at
Lower Hutt against youths charged with indecent assault upon, or carnal
knowledge of, girls under 16 years of age.

The prosecuting officer was reported as saying that:

The police investigations revealed a shocking degree of immoral
conduct which spread into sexual orgies perpetrated in several
private homes during the absence of parents, and in several
second rate Hutt Valley theatres, where familiarity between
youths and girls was rife and commonplace.

He also stated that:

... in many cases the children came from excellent homes.

A few weeks previously reports had appeared in the press of statements
made by a Child Welfare Officer and a Stipendiary Magistrate that
juvenile delinquency (meaning delinquency in general and not only sexual
delinquency) had more than doubled in recent years, and that in many
cases the offenders came from:

... materially good homes where they are well provided for.

Such statements naturally provoked a good deal of private and public
comment throughout the Dominion. The anxiety of parents deepened, and
one leading newspaper asserted editorially that:

It is probably quite safe to assert that nothing that has
occurred in the Dominion for a long time has caused so much
public dismay and so much private worry as the disclosure of
moral delinquency among children and adolescents.

There is room for difference of opinion as to whether or not the ensuing
public discussion of sexual offending was desirable. On the one hand it
provoked many conversations on the subject between children themselves
and a noticeable desire to purchase newspapers on the way to and from
school. On the other hand the focusing of attention on the existence of
the peril to school children caused many parents, temporarily at any
rate, to take a greater interest in the training and care of their
children than they might otherwise have taken; it caused some heads of
schools to arrange for sex instruction; and it also resulted in a public
demand that something should be done to bring about a better state of
morality in the community.

Following hard upon the newspaper reports of these cases in the Hutt
Valley there was the news that two girls, each aged about 16 years had
been arrested in Christchurch on a charge of murdering the mother of
one of them. It soon became widely known (and this fact was established
at their subsequent trial) that these girls were abnormally homosexual
in behaviour.

There were also published in the press extracts from the annual report
of the Justice Department to the effect that sexual crime in New Zealand
was, per head of population, half as much again as the sexual crime in
England and Wales. The reasons why the Committee does not accept this
statement at its face value are stated later under Section IV (2).

=(2) Press Reports from Overseas=

In view of the fact that the happenings in the Hutt Valley were reported
in all New Zealand newspapers, and by many newspapers in Australia and
Great Britain, the Committee points out that the increase of sexual
delinquency is not confined to any one district or any one country.

It cannot be too strongly asserted that the great majority of the young
people of the Hutt Valley are as healthy-minded and as well behaved as
those in other districts, whether in New Zealand or elsewhere. It just
happened that, through the voluntary confession of one girl in Petone,
many cases were immediately brought to the knowledge of the police.

In the absence of comparable statistics from other countries, the
Committee can merely quote from some of the reports received in New
Zealand at about the same time that the Hutt Valley cases were reported.

(_a_) _England_

In Monmouthshire last year there was an increase of 88 per cent
in sexual offences. The biggest increases recorded were for
indecent assault on females--132 in 1953, compared with 75 in
1952--and for offences against girls under 16 years of age. In
his annual report the Chief Constable states that this shocking
record is a further indication of the general lowering of moral
standards ...--_The "Police Review" (London), 19 February 1954._

(_b_) _New South Wales_

POLICE UNCOVER WILD TEENAGE SEX ORGIES

Detectives have uncovered evidence of an amazing sex cult in
which a bodgie "high priest" and a number of pretty teenagers
indulged in wild orgies in a Sydney suburb.

It is alleged that the "high priest" made the girls participate
in lewd rituals, swear a profane oath on "the bodgies' bible"
and worship at a "bodgies' altar".

Following these sensational allegations, four men were
arrested. Police expect to arrest another seven. Disappearance
of the 15-year-old daughter of a respected Erskineville family
started the police investigation which uncovered the sex cult.
Both the girl and the "high priest" undressed, and, as she lay
on a bed, he compelled her to engage in grossly obscene acts
with him.

Then, while the "high priest" performed a gross act of
indecency, the girl swore the "widgies' oath" on the "bodgies'
bible".--_Sydney "Truth" 27 June 1954._

(_c_) _South Australia_

ADELAIDE POLICE SEIZE TEENAGERS IN SWIFT RAIDS

In a series of lightning raids Port Adelaide police have
arrested six teenagers who they claim are members of a sex cult.
Vice Squad detectives say the cult indulged in sex and drug
parties. The Port Adelaide Police Chief Inspector, G.E.
Mensfort, said that when the cases came to Court he suspected
revelations similar to those in the Hutt Valley, which recently
shocked New Zealand. A number of teenage youths have already
appeared in Port Adelaide Police and Juvenile Courts on carnal
knowledge charges ...--_Telegram in the "Dominion", 30 July
1954._

(_d_) _London_

MANY GIRLS IN BAD COMPANY

One black spot in an otherwise more optimistic report by the
Police Commissioner on crime in London is a disturbing increase
in the number of 17-and 18-year-old girls who are coming under
the notice of policewomen on their beat, says the _Daily
Mirror_.--_N.Z.P.A. to "Evening Post", 2 September 1954_.

=(3) A World-wide Problem=

There have been waves of sexual crime in various countries at various
times.

Juvenile delinquency itself has been the subject of much research
(especially in the United States) during the past fifty years. But
although such offences as indecent exposure and sexual assault by
juniors have been included in published figures, no special mention has
been found by this Committee of the aspect of sexual delinquency now
being discussed in New Zealand. What is entirely new in New Zealand (and
probably in other places, too) is the attitude of mind of some young
people to sexual indulgence with one another, their planning and
organization of it, and their assumption that when they consent together
they are not doing anything wrong.

Clergymen and publicists in various parts of the world have been
declaiming about illicit sexual practices and their effects on young
people, but this is the first time that any Government has set up a
Committee to sift the available data on sexual misbehaviour with a view
to finding the cause and suggesting a remedy.

While this report was being typed there appeared in the local
newspapers the following telegram despatched from London on September
14:

INQUIRY INTO VICE WAVE IN BRITAIN

A Government committee, including three women, is to open
tomorrow a searching probe into Britain's homosexuals and
prostitutes, to decide whether the country's vice laws should be
changed.

The Government's decision to set up the committee followed
public alarm at the vice wave in Britain, highlighted by a steep
increase in homosexual offences.

The Home Secretary, Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, has charged the
committee with considering the law and practice relating to
homosexual offences and the treatment of persons convicted of
such offences, and offences against the criminal law in
connection with prostitution and solicitation for immoral
purposes. According to the police, prostitutes in London alone
have soared to a record of more than 10,000. Convictions for
sexual offences exceed 5,000 a year, compared with the immediate
pre-war total of 2,300. The figures for male homosexual offences
have bounded even more sharply.

The extent of juvenile immorality in New Zealand may have been greatly
magnified abroad. If the good name of this Dominion has been sullied by
these reports, the Committee hopes that any damage may be repaired by
setting out the facts in their true perspective and by demonstrating
that we can, and will, do something in the interests of morality which
may also give a lead to other countries.

_II. Order of Reference and Procedure Followed_

On 23 July 1954 a Special Committee was appointed by the Government with
the following Order of Reference:

_To inquire into and to report upon conditions and influences that
tend to undermine standards of sexual morality of children and
adolescents in New Zealand, and the extent to which such
conditions and influences are operative, and to make
recommendations to the Government for positive action by both
public and private agencies, or otherwise._

The Committee held its first meeting on Tuesday, 27 July, to determine
points of procedure and to make arrangements to hear all who desired to
make submissions. There were placed before the Committee files of
letters which had been written to Ministers of the Crown, and hundreds
of newspaper clippings, relating to this topic. Some days were occupied
in the sorting and reading of this material in anticipation of the task
which lay ahead.

The Committee commenced the hearing of evidence at Wellington on
Tuesday, 3 August. It sat in Christchurch for the convenience of people
in the South Island on 31 August and 1 September, and in Auckland from 6
September to 10 September.

Altogether 145 persons (18 on more than one occasion), appearing either
in a representative capacity or as private individuals, were heard. In
addition, 203 written submissions were made by interested organizations
and private persons, and a large volume of relevant correspondence,
addressed direct to the Committee, was considered. A list of the persons
who appeared before the Committee and of the organizations or societies
which made either written or oral representations is attached.

It should here be observed that the Committee, not having the powers of
a Commission of Inquiry, could not summon witnesses before it. All
officers of the Crown, and all public agencies from whom information was
sought, were helpful. Much of the evidence, however, was secondary or
hearsay evidence. The Committee had not the power to trace some of the
stated facts back to their source.

It was thought undesirable to interview any of the children involved in
recent happenings. Reliance had to be placed on information regarding
each individual made available by the police and Child Welfare Officers,
and, in some cases, by the heads of their respective schools. Similarly,
there was much secondary evidence of indecent behaviour and of other
facts said to have been derived from reliable sources. The absence of
direct evidence on some of these matters, however, did not prevent the
Committee from looking at the problem in its broad general aspects, and
from reaching conclusions which could not be affected by a closer
scrutiny of some of the individual matters narrated to the Committee.

_III. Narrative_

=(1) The Hutt Valley Cases=

Before proceeding to examine the extent of sexual laxity among children
and adolescents it is convenient to narrate the factual happenings which
caused this problem to assume such large proportions in the public mind
in July and August last.

On the 20th day of June 1954 information was sought from the police
concerning the whereabouts of a girl 15-1/2 years of age who was missing
from her home at Petone. A few hours later this girl called at the
Petone Police Station. She stated that, being unhappy at home with her
stepfather, she had, since the previous Christmas, been a member of what
she called a "Milk Bar Gang" which (in her own words) met "mostly for
sex purposes"; she had "become tired of the sex life", was worried about
the future of its younger members, and desired the police to break up
the gang. She gave the names of other members of the gang to the police.
By interviewing persons named by this girl, and then interviewing others
whom they in turn named, the police were able, without difficulty, to
obtain admissions and evidence of sexual misconduct by 65 children.

The procedure followed was for the parents to be visited at their
residences by a constable in plain clothes, told the nature of the
inquiry, and informed of the desire of the police to interview the
children at the police station. When a parent and child attended at the
time appointed the parent was informed that, either through a sense of
shame or fear of the parent, the child might not make a full disclosure
of the facts known to her. Some parents consented to their children
being interviewed alone; others desired, and were allowed, to remain for
the questioning. After each interview the parents were permitted to read
the statements of their children and to sign them before the children
themselves were asked to sign.

The disclosures thus made, immediately recalled certain similar
occurrences in the same district during October/November 1952. It
speedily became apparent that the 1954 situation was much more serious
in that there were approximately three times as many children dealt with
and that three of the children had been involved in the earlier trouble.

For purposes of comparison the Hutt Valley cases are set out as follows:

Girls involved 6 17
Girls pregnant 2 ...
Boys involved 11 37
Boys over eighteen ... 5
Charges laid 61 107
Committed to care of State 3 girls 5 girls
1 boy
Placed under supervision 3 girls 4 girls
7 boys 7 boys
Admitted to probation 1 boy 6 boys
Admonished and discharged or otherwise
dealt with 3 30
Dismissed in Children's Court ... 3
Acquitted in Magistrate's Court ... 1
Acquitted in Supreme Court ... 3
(One boy appeared in both Supreme Court and Magistrate's Court; thus
showing 60 persons dealt with.)

=(2) Cases in Other Districts=

It cannot be supposed that sexual misbehaviour was confined to the Hutt
district. Similar environmental conditions obtain in other districts. It
was reliably stated in evidence at Wellington that if a girl elsewhere
were to carry her story to the police similar revelations would be made
there.

In Auckland matters came to the knowledge of the Committee which do
cause grave concern. Here again the Committee was not engaged on a
fact-finding mission, but was seeking to evaluate the evidence in a
broad way.

It appears that, a few weeks before the Hutt cases were reported, the
headmaster of an intermediate school informed the police of a case of
theft of money by a schoolboy who was found to have L22 in his wallet.
In the course of their inquiries into this the police were started on a
train of investigation into sexual practices of children on their way
home from school, at the homes of parents, and elsewhere. As a result,
about 40 boys and girls in the 12--15-year-old group (but including also
a girl of 9 years) were implicated. In addition to this, there were two
cases before the Court in which several girls had given evidence of
their agreement to sexual intercourse with older men. One of the accused
men has recently been sentenced to a term of imprisonment, while the
other is still awaiting trial. As this latter case, and also a charge of
murder against a boy aged 14, are still _sub judice_, the Committee is
unable to comment on any of the factors involved.

This much may, however, be said that, from the police, welfare officers,
a headmaster, and social workers in Auckland, the Committee learned of
an accumulation of sordid happenings occurring within a short space of
time which people who regard themselves as men of the world could
scarcely believe possible in this Dominion.

No submissions were presented to the Committee that sexual offending by
juveniles in the South Island had increased to any alarming extent. Such
cases as were mentioned to the Committee followed previously recognized
patterns.

_IV. Has Juvenile Immorality Increased?_

=(1) Difficulties of Comparison in Absence of Statistics=

In seeking to ascertain whether immorality among children and
adolescents has increased or is increasing it should be pointed out that
there are not any statistics available either in New Zealand or
elsewhere from which reliable guidance may be obtained. Sexual
immorality is, by its very nature, a clandestine vice. Any available
figures can comprise only such things as detected offences against the
law, or registration of ex-nuptial births, or births which have
resulted from pre-marital intercourse. Figures are not available
concerning immoral acts which do not become the subject of a criminal
charge.

Charges of unlawful carnal knowledge or indecent assault arise, for the
most part, from complaints made by females. From feelings of chivalry or
other reasons it is not in the nature of the male to inform on the
female. The common experience is that a charge of sexual impropriety
comes from information supplied by the female. So long as a girl is
prepared to be silent, the offenders remain unknown. As with older
people, so also with children.

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