Question

in three paragraphs or more discuss the role of the U.S. Children’s Bureau in dealing with postwar juvenile delinquency. How did the Bureau raise public awareness and opinion of delinquency as a social problem?

Answer 1

The Children's Bureau is reputed be the first national department in America which concentrates solely on betterment of the conditions of children all over the world. President William Howard Taft was instrumental in establishing this bureau which proved very efficient in tackling various challenges faced by the society like; maternal and neonatal mortality, child exploitation, juvenile delinquency, malnutrition and maltreatment of children etc. Lilian Wald and Florence Kelley were the pioneers who sought the government's help to prevent the atrocities against children during the era of 1900 which led to the formation of the bureau in 1912.

Post World war II, there was a baby boom in America, due to a considerable stability. The baby boom was followed by the advent of radio and television which became a rage with the teenagers. The attractive advertisements made the adolescents crave for the opulent and lavish lifestyle which was portrayed on the screen. The innocent teenagers started experiencing many emotions of which they were unaware of before and started to like the thrilling, colorful and fast-paced lifestyle depicted in the movies. The immoral and crime-filled lifestyle which was endorsed by the media, made the children think that it was acceptable and a sign of being cool and modern to be on the wrong side of law. They resorted to crime just for the thrill of it or due neglect and lack of parental control. This led to the creation of juvenile offenders who committed crimes before they reached adulthood.

The U.S. Children's Bureau was instrumental in forming the norms for the juvenile courts. The juvenile courts were required to maintain data related to rate of delinquency. The bureau also researched into the coaching and instruction of delinquent boys and girls in state-run schools. It was found out that the number of juvenile delinquents were increasing day by day. The Bureau studied the reasons of rise of juvenile delinquency during and after the war.  A detailed study into the reasons, rectification and restriction of juvenile delinquency was undertaken and the results were made available and used to improve the lives of juvenile delinquents.

The Children's Bureau initially placed a lot of hopes and leaned on the courts to prevent and rehabilitate the juvenile delinquents, but could not get the expected and effective backing from the juvenile courts. After formulation of the Social Security Act, the Bureau got a chance to put into practice novel programs which would help to curb and cure the issue of juvenile delinquency by the means of welfare programs for children which are backed by the state. The Children's Bureau also found out that the number of juvenile delinquents were more in the rural and interior areas. As many of the juvenile delinquents escaped or were not reported to the courts, the true nature of the mammoth problem was not realized in the past. But, the Children's Bureau was very influential to highlight this grave problem. Thus, through elaborate and persistent research and publishing the astonishing statistics of juvenile delinquents for public knowledge, proved helpful to garner the attention of public and raised awareness that delinquency was not just a problem of the urban region but a social problem plaguing the entire country.