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EISTORY OF THE RECREATION .AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION PROJECTS
IN LOS ANGELES COONTY FROM JANUARY 1933 TO DECEMBER, 1935.
1
«NJ•• i by
ARTHUR H. MILLER
Pioneering in the field of the social sciences is a unique and precarious dis-
tinction. To the men and women of Los Angeles county, its elected and appointed of-
ficials of government, its employees in several departments and its civic leaders,
belongs the distinction of being first in the United States to cope with the econo-
mic and social menace of the depression by mustering the most potent factor of the
depression itself, the training and experience of its hundreds of unemployed white
collar citizens, into the serviceo
Rapidly developing into a county-wide movement• it became a march or the con-
structive and swiftly organized forces of recreation against the devestating inroads
of juvenile delinquency. Three years of retrencl:ment in appropriations and budgetary
allotments to the established recreation and delinquency prevention departments had
resulted in curtailment of facilities and personnel at a time of the greatest need.
Unemployment and forced idleness had thrown a tremendous burden on the organized
recreation systems of the county, out of all proportion to the funds at their dispo-
sal with whioh to carry it. Even normal progress and growth to meet public demands
were impossible. Voices were raised in protest end appeal but were met with fiscal
records of an appalling depletion in taxes. The desperate answer of controllers and
boards was, 'Cut! Necessities come first.' And so the situation was deadlocked; the
menace of delinquency increased and public morale approached a condition of public
hysteria.
The Los Angeles County Probation Department, in the front line of defense with
its kindred agencies, was making a desperate stand under the handicap of curtailed
budgetso It raised warning signals of a serious nature. From years of experience
in coping with delinquency problems, it pointed out that the situation was getting
out of hando Its reports indicated that the home, which must bear the brunt of mi-
