Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents | Page 6

and that at another. This section
is to indicate the difficulties which arise in making comparisons (even
when figures are available) between different sections of the people at
different times and between different groups of people.
(a) Sexual Crime Among Adults
No inference can be drawn from any comparisons between sexual
crime of adults and sexual misbehaviour among children. The
Committee did, however, examine the statistics of sexual crime in New
Zealand to see if there was any marked increase which might throw
light upon the conduct of children. From the annual reports which had
been submitted by succeeding Commissioners of Police it collated the
figures of sexual crime. The table as prepared is set out in Appendix A
to this report. A perusal of that table will show that the increase of
sexual crime in the years 1920-1953 is not any greater than might
reasonably have been expected having regard to the increase in
population. In other words, the rate has remained constant. But the
great increase in the number of indecent assaults on females (from 175
in 1952 to 311 in 1953) did call for special investigation. At the request
of the Committee, these figures were broken down into the several
districts in which the crimes had occurred and, as a result, it appeared
that there had been an astonishingly big increase in the Auckland

district. The Committee has had two separate explanations of this. In
the first place, it was explained that the apparent increase was due to a
change in the method of compiling the returns in Auckland. On
reference to Auckland officials the Committee was informed that the
method of compilation had not been changed. Whether or not this type
of crime increased substantially throughout the Dominion in one year
must, for the present, remain undetermined.
(b) Statistics of Juvenile Delinquency
The figures compiled for the Committee by the Superintendent of the
Child Welfare Division show that:
(i) There was a substantial increase in juvenile delinquency during the
Second World War.
(ii) After the war was over, the rate settled down to something like the
pre-war rate.
The following is a fair selection of these figures (alternate years being
taken):
Number of Offences and Rate per 10,000 of Complaints of Children
Juvenile Population Year Out of Control, etc. 7-17 years 10-17 years
1934 1,653 53 73 1936 1,786 57 79 1938 2,447 77 105 1940 2,464 79
107 1942 2,421 79 107 1944 2,493 84 113 1946 1,786 60 83 1948
1,589 51 74 1950 1,464 46 66 1952 1,883 56 78 1954 2,105 56 81
In making comparisons it should be noted (as explained later) that
during recent years the Department has undertaken much preventive
work which may account for a return to the pre-war rate in spite of the
existence of other factors leading to an increase in delinquency.
(c) Juvenile Delinquency in Maoris and Non-Maoris
Another illustration of the care required in the use of statistics is
afforded by a comparison as between Maori and non-Maori offenders
in the 10-17-year-old group. (For the purpose of these figures "Maori"

means of the half-blood or more).
For the year ended 31 March 1954 there were 565 Maori delinquents,
or 28 per cent of the total number of juvenile delinquents. During this
same period there were 1,433 non-Maori offenders, or 72 per cent of
those delinquents. But the Maori offenders came from 10 per cent of
the juvenile population, whereas the non-Maoris came from 90 per cent
of that population. On that basis juvenile delinquency among Maoris
was three and a half times that among the rest of the child inhabitants
of New Zealand.
The Committee has been unable to arrange for a dissection of the
figures to ascertain whether there was a bigger percentage of sexual
offenders among young Maoris than among other sections of the people.
A considerable portion of offences may come from factors inherent in
the culture and traditions of the Maori and their difficulty in
conforming to another mode of living.
(d) Children Under Control or Supervision
It is interesting to find that after the war there was a steady decline in
the number of children committed to the care of the State, or placed
under supervision, until the year 1953. This is shown by the following
table:
Year Ended | Under Control or 31 March | Supervision | 1934 | 7,259
1936 | 7,272 1938 | 7,403 1940 | 8,043 1942 | 8,221 1944 | 8,531 1946 |
8,048 1948 | 7,267 1950 | 6,525 1952 | 6,088 1953 | 6,177 1954 | 6,283
There would have to be reservations in any inferences drawn from
these figures. For instance, the decrease may have been due to extra
preventive work done by welfare officers. The earlier reduction or the
later increase in