Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents | Page 7

indictable offences reported to the police are "cleared up", whereas in New Zealand 64 per cent of indictable offences are "cleared up". A comparison which takes this and all other relevant factors into account could probably place this Dominion in a much more favourable light.
Whatever inferences may be drawn from the statistics presented in this report--whether juvenile immorality has increased or not--any nation is wise that, from time to lime, surveys its moral health.

V. A Change of Pattern In Sexual Misbehaviour
When this inquiry was mooted all members of the Committee heard the oft-repeated comment that sexual delinquency was not new--it had been going on through the ages and always would go on. Many people also said "You cannot make people moral by Act of Parliament".
Although there is some truth in each of these statements the Committee does not feel that the matter should be dismissed in that way. First, such an attitude is not a desirable one to adopt when seeking a remedy for a social evil. Secondly, the continued existence of a vice, however far back it may be traced, is not a reason why special measures should not be used to deal with it when it assumes considerable proportions.
Intemperance and dishonesty have always been apparent. But there have been times when these vices have reared their heads in new ways and in new circumstances which have compelled action by the Legislature. The consumption of alcohol by persons in charge of motor vehicles is but one illustration of the way in which an old vice may become such a great evil in altered circumstances that stern measures have to be taken. Stealing was reprehended in the Ten Commandments, and so was covetousness. Theft was always punishable at common law; but, soon after company promotion became a feature of our commercial life in the latter part of the nineteenth century, firm action had to be taken by the Legislature to protect the public from the effects of a misleading or fraudulent prospectus.
Similarly, in this matter of improper sex behaviour among children, it is not merely its extent, but certain features in its new pattern, which command attention. These features are:
=(1) Younger Groups now Affected=
Immorality appears to be more prevalent now among younger groups in the community. In the Hutt, and also in Auckland, most of the cases were of boys and girls whose ages ranged from twelve to fifteen years; but some of the young girls also associated with boys several years older than themselves.
=(2) Precocity of Girls=
In former times it was the custom for boys to take the initiative in seeking the company of girls; it was conventional for the girls to await any advances. Nowadays, girls do not always wait for an advance to be made to them, nor are they as reticent as they used to be in discussing intimate matters with the opposite sex. It is unfortunate that in many cases girls, by immodest conduct, have become the leaders in sexual misbehaviour and have in many cases corrupted the boys. At one school there were 17 children involved--10 of them were girls of an average age of 13.2 years and 7 boys of an average age of 15 years. Another disturbing feature is that in the case of boys more than half were committing their first offence, whereas only one-fifth of the girls were offending for the first time. The Committee has not overlooked the fact that the offending girls may themselves have been corrupted by a male in the first place. But the fact remains that four-fifths of the girls involved in the particular cases that prompted this inquiry had an admitted history of prior sexual misconduct.
The following extract from the evidence of a headmaster is impressive of this new feature:
... We have not the same worry about boys as we have about girls. The worst cases we have are girls, and it is quite clear some of them are an absolute menace. They have dragged boys into this sort of thing. In general the girls are far worse than the boys.
=(3) Organization of Immorality=
These immoral practices have been organized in a way that was not evident before. For example, a boy of 17-1/2 years, trusted by his parents with the charge of their home, abused the trust by arranging sexual parties on three successive weekends for groups of several girls and boys. There was also the case of a girl of 14 years who invited a girl of the same age to her home during the absence of her parents for the express purpose of having intercourse[1] with her brother aged 15. This improper use of a parent's home has also occurred in other districts.
=(4) Recidivism=
The second outbreak of Hutt Valley cases revealed that two boys, one girl, and one family had become involved