Mental Defectives and Sexual Offenders: Report of the Committee of Inquiry Appointed by the Hon. Sir Maui Pomare, K.B.E., C.M.G., Minister of Health — John Shaqi
Mental Defectives and Sexual Offenders: Report of the Committee of Inquiry Appointed by the Hon. Sir Maui Pomare, K.B.E., C.M.G., Minister of HealthNew Zealand. Committee of Inquiry into Mental Defectives and Sexual Offenders
Science
Mental Defectives and Sexual Offenders: Report of the Committee of Inquiry Appointed by the Hon. Sir Maui Pomare, K.B.E., C.M.G., Minister of Health
New Zealand. Committee of Inquiry into Mental Defectives and Sexual Offenders
Mental health laws -- New Zealand; People with mental disabilities -- Care -- New Zealand; People with mental disabilities -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- New Zealand; Sex offenders -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- New Zealand; Sterilization (Birth control) -- New Zealand
As the Committee are called on to deal specially with the problem of
increasing manifestations of sexual depravity they cannot pass by the
fact that in the course of the last twenty years the younger members of
the community have been spending a steadily increasing proportion of
their time, during the most impressionable period of life, in what are
liable to prove forcing-houses of sexual precocity and criminal
tendencies. There is every reason for regarding the habit of "going to
the pictures" without adequate restrictions as contributing seriously to
precocious sexuality, and also to weakening the powers of inhibition and
self-control in other directions--powers which are the distinctive
attributes of the higher human being.
Alongside these considerations, the bodily harm done to the young by
frequently spending their afternoons and evenings in hot, stuffy,
overcrowded halls shrinks into insignificance, though serious enough in
itself.
The Committee endorses the opinions expressed by Education authorities,
and by practically every organization throughout the Dominion concerned
with the welfare of children, upon the harmful effect of moving-picture
shows as at present conducted. The Committee sympathizes with proposals
for reform along the following lines:--
(1.) Stricter censorship, not only of films, but of picture
posters, handbills, and advertisements.
(2.) Regulations as to the age of admission for children when
unaccompanied by a responsible adult, and to such pictures as
are not pronounced by the Censor as suitable for children.
(3.) Proper safeguards for the morals of children and young
persons within picture-theatres, including adequate
supervision of the premises.
The Committee desire it to be clearly understood that in this report
they have not particularly dealt with mental disabilities resulting from
diseases such as syphilis, or toxic influences such as alcohol, drugs,
&c. These questions have already been covered to some extent by the
Report of the Venereal Diseases Committee, and in any case would involve
too wide a field of investigation for the present inquiry.
An authoritative summary taken from this year's report of the Director
of the Division of School Hygiene is quoted in the Appendix as pointing
out most of the faults and mistakes in environment and upbringing to
which reference has been made, and because it draws special and
much-needed attention to the injurious effects of overwork and excessive
competition and the need for more sleep and rest.
We would merely add to this very clear, practical statement that
encouragement of excessive competition, inside or outside the school,
for any purpose whatsoever, is costly and damaging to the whole being,
and that, in the opinion of the Committee, nothing needs to be impressed
more strongly on parents and school-teachers than Froebel's injunction,
"Give space and time and rest."
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