Special Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency 13.108 The Special Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency was established on April 27, 1953, with the approval of S. Res. 89, 83d Cong., to investigate the causes of what appeared to be an increased amount of criminal activity by teenagers and to determine what steps the Federal Government might take to combat this trend. The subcommittee was directed to focus on the adequacy of existing laws in dealing with youthful offenders of Federal law, to examine sentences and other correctional actions taken by the Federal courts, and to determine the extent to which juveniles were violating Federal narcotics laws. What began as a specific inquiry for a fixed time period grew during the 83d Congress and succeeding Congresses into a far-reaching investigation extended numerous times by other Senate resolutions. Subjects of the subcommittee's investigations include the relationship between juvenile violence and crime and such media as television and comic books; the effectiveness of the juvenile court system, youth institutions, juvenile community control programs of Government agencies and social welfare organizations, and youth employment programs; juvenile crime and narcotics and nonnarcotic dangerous drugs; exploitation of youth by black market adoption, prostitution, and confidence game rackets; juvenile access to weapons, such as switchblade knives and mail-order firearms, and to pornographic magazines and books; delinquency among American Indians; particular youth-oriented crimes such as auto theft; and the interstate shipment of fireworks, among others.
