﻿Edmondson : Juvenile Delinquency and Adult Crime 61 



both parents for the good of the offspring thru a long period of 

 infancy — may be deduced certain conclusions useful in formu- 

 lating standards for home care. 



For purposes of this study home care affecting juvenile delin- 

 quency^ may be divided into two chief functions, the physical 

 care of children — the provision of material things, food, clothing, 

 and shelter; and what for lack of a better term may be called 

 spiritual care — the provision of training and discipline and guid- 

 ance of children in their family life. Those homes in which either 

 or both of these functions have broken down may be described 

 as incompetent homes. 



14. Home Conditions — Housing 



In the materials used in this study information is given in 

 regard to certain economic conditions related to the physical care 

 of the juvenile delinquents included here. Such facts as home 

 ownership, rents, size of house, and the keeping of boarders by 

 affecting the physical well-being of children affect also their moral 

 well-being. 



An examination of the families of juvenile delinquents in this 

 study in regard to home ownership shows that no Colored families 

 own or are trying to buy homes, that about 20 per cent of both 

 the Old Immigration and the Americans, and 60 per cent, or 

 over half, of the New Immigration, own or are buying homes. 



Home ownership as here given is not an indication, as might 

 be supposed, of high economic station. Many of the homes are 

 not paid for but are being bought on the payment plan. The 

 drain thus made on the income of the family leaves the family 

 oftentimes on the verge of sinking below the poverty line, often 

 makes it necessary for boarders to be kept, for the mother to go 

 out of the house to work, or other sacrifices to be made. 30 So 

 that however fine is the desire to own a home, and however worthy 

 the satisfaction of that desire, it cannot be denied that often- 

 times the necessary pinching, saving, denial, and loss of privacy 

 in the home are not sufficiently compensated thereby. 

 , The American families pay an average rental of S25.46 a 

 month, the Colored $8.50 a month, the Old Immigration $20.25 

 a month, and the New Immigration $9.61 a month. That is, 

 the average amount of rental paid by the American families is a 



30 Breckenridge and Abbott, p. 81. 



