's Court and bringing an offending child up on an offence
can best be illustrated by what happened in the cases of carnal
knowledge and indecent assault which were brought prominently to the
notice of the public recently.

The offending boys were charged under those sections of the Crimes Act
which prescribed maximum penalties of five or seven years imprisonment.
In most cases convictions were recorded and the boys were admonished and
discharged; in a few cases the charges were dismissed; in other cases
the boys were committed to the care of the Superintendent or placed
under the supervision of a Child Welfare Officer.

The girls, not having committed a breach of the Crimes Act or any other
statute, could not be charged. Their parents were, in appropriate cases,
summoned to Court upon the complaint that they had the custody of a
"delinquent", or a child not under proper control.

That the above distinction is not merely a formal one is shown by the
fact that an offending boy's name, and the decision of the Court
regarding him, is always recorded in the _Police Gazette_. As the girl
is not charged as an offender her name is not so recorded, even although
(as shown in Section V (2) of this report) it may have been the
misbehaviour of the girl which led the boy into the commission of the
offence charged against him.

When a sophisticated girl entices a boy into the commission of an
offence it is anomalous[7] that his name should be recorded in the
_Police Gazette_ while the girl, who may be the real offender, is not
charged and, even when the girl is committed to the care of the State,
her offending is not recorded in the _Police Gazette_.

=(3) Corporal Punishment Abolished=

By the Statutes Amendment Act 1936 the power which formerly existed for
the Court to order a whipping was abolished in so far as children are
concerned. (The penalty of whipping was later abolished in all other
cases by section 30 of the Crimes Amendment Act 1941.)

Representations have been made to this Committee that the abolition of
corporal punishment as a deterrent may have led to an increase in sexual
misbehaviour. It was pointed out that parents and school teachers may
resort to physical chastisement where thought desirable, and it was
suggested that a Magistrate should have power to order a whipping in
suitable cases.

There is, however, a big difference between a parent or teacher himself
punishing by the cane or strap soon after