Center for Labor Education & Research, University of Hawaii - West Oahu: Honolulu Record Digitization Project
Honolulu Record, Volume 10 No. 7, Thursday, September 12, 1957 p. 8
Vital Job for Gov. Quinn
Judge Corbett of the Juvenile Court, by admitting the press to report on his court in action last week, gave readers of newspapers a slight look at another aspect of our widespread juvenile delinquency problem.
It was noteworthy that the judge, in analysing the cases before him, was influenced by the opinions of psychiatrists.
Psychiatry is the science of mind, and psychiatrists know that all crime—juvenile and adult—has emotional origins. It is a sickness of the mind.
Crime, because it is rooted in the mind, knows no social, economic and racial barriers and often the trend toward crime . starts in the cradles of the rich and poor alike.
A baby's eyes—the windows to his mind— watch very move of the adult father and mother and the infant mind starts storing up impressions that will affect his behavior later on. In other words, how adults treat the child, and what conclusions, he draws from their behavior, decides whether he will be social or anti-social.
The increasing juvenile statistics today are simply a reflection of the increasing adult delinquency and crime. They mean that more and more parents are proving incapable of showing leadership to their children.
The children are out of control at their source. The next step for them is down the street to a neighborhood "gang" of other anti-social children who, in reality, need the attention of psychiatrists instead of policemen.
These anti-social children aren't disturbances by choice. They are really disturbed emotionally. Their minds are becoming sick.
They upset classes in kindergarten and grade schools. The teachers can't cope with the young "rebels" because too many teachers (1) have scant knowledge of the mind and the emotions and (2) the teachers are victims of over-crowded classes.
The Department of Public Instruction, the Police Department, and various social agencies must dovetail their action and turn more to the full-time employment of psychiatrists and psychiatric social workers. These skilled men and women, via the disturbed children, would gain access to the parents—the source of today's gravest social problem— and convert hapless adults and juveniles from crime statistics info useful citizens.
If there is not this concerted community action, under psychiatric leadership, our social structure will continue to deteriorate. Because crime is essentially a sickness, we can, if we all kokua, reduce it to a bare minimum in the same way as we are successfully tackling polio, T.B., cancer, etc.
Aware of the Values of the psychiatric approach, Police Chief Dan Liu told the Police Commission on Sept. 6 that he wants psychiatric examinations for prospective policemen because it is the only way to get a superior police department.
It is a Territory-wide job that needs positive leadership. Governor Quinn, a family man, has been asked by President Eisenhower to "humanize" the administration here.
The governor could set the ball rolling by calling a conference of psychiatrists employed by the Territory. They'll open his eyes and mind to the naked fact that the problem starts with adult ignorance and neglect.
If Gov. Quinn shows humanity, foresight and courage in this critical situation, he won't have to worry about glad-handing for support.
The support will be his on a vast flow of Territory-wide gratitude—adult and juvenile!
It is only common humanity to feed the hungry. If our hospitals are too big, too complex, too impersonal to do these small kindnesses for the sick, something is very wrong.