THE WHY OF PARKS 9 



the two months when the playgrounds were opened. The study showed 

 the following facts regarding five districts: District i: Here there were 

 fifteen fatal accidents during the school year. Seven playgrounds were 

 opened in the summer and there was not a single fatal accident. District 2: 

 Here there were twenty- two fatal accidents during the school year; during 

 the summer only two. District 5: Seventeen fatal accidents occurred during 

 the school year; only one during the playground season. District 4: 

 While a particularly large number of fatal accidents occurred here during 

 the school year -- seven in the small district -- there was only one 

 fatal accident during the summer, with ten playgrounds in operation. 

 District 5: In this district of heaviest child congestion, there were twenty- 

 five fatal accidents during the school year and only ten during the sum- 

 mer. Thirty-four playgrounds were in operation last summer. In 1926, 

 2,128,723 children attended one hundred and twenty-two playgrounds, 

 operated by the Department of Recreation. The police records show 

 that for the entire summer there were only twenty-two fatal accidents, 

 of which only four were within the vicinity of a playground opened at the 

 time of the accident. 



PARKS AND RECREATION AREAS PREVENTIVES OF DELINQUENCY 



Juvenile court officials, social workers and educators have testified 

 that play areas under wise leadership tend to diminish juvenile delin- 

 quency. Many police and criminal court officials have stated that whole- 

 some recreation is a potent force in the lessening of crime among adults. 

 Every child is possessed of a number of impulses and interests which are 

 normal and naturally good, all of which will be expressed in some fashion 

 or other. The results of the attempts at the expression of these impulses 

 are not always in line with the regulations and standards established by 

 organized society. It is perfectly natural and right for boys to want to 

 play baseball, but if they play in a place forbidden by the local laws of the 

 community, as in the streets in some cities, or if some private property 

 is damaged through playing the game, the results of the expression of this 

 impulse become a misdemeanor. In the great majority of such cases the 

 difficulty has come because the community has not provided the environ- 

 ment through which children can express their natural interests. 



Many adult offenders are only continuing to repeat acts which they 

 began without reasoning during childhood, when their natural impulses 

 were thwarted by unfortunate environmental conditions. The checking 

 of juvenile delinquency is the road to follow in checking adult crimes. 

 If real progress is to be made in dealing with delinquency, the emphasis 

 must be placed upon a policy of expression rather than one of repression. 



