Students practice juvenile delinquency
Crime class probes the criminal mind
By MARY QUINN Kansan Staff Writer
Have you ever wanted to commit a crime?
If the answer to this question is yes, you ought to think about enrolling in Juvenile Delinquency #177, in the sociology department.
William R. Arnold, professor of sociology, said the course was designed to observe the interaction of members of a juvenile group while they plan a crime. It is not the crime itself, he said, but the planning and execution of the crime which gives the basis for observation.
The class is divided into groups of seven, the average size of a gang, he said. They take on the role of a delinquent while planning a crime, Arnold said.
He discussed the crimes planned in last semesters class but said few were carried out. One group decided to rob a bank, but after approval of the bank president it was squelched because the bank's bonding company decided it was too risky.
Another group was going to paint windows of the campus traffic control booths black, but they retreated from their venture. Some students decided to rob a liquor store. After choosing and easing the store they asked a police officer's permission to execute the experiment, but permission denied. However, they spent an interesting hour at the police station discussing crime in Lawrence, Arnold said.
The only crimes completed were robbing Arnold's home and the delinquent act of having class called off by employing an impersonator. One morning a group of students walked into Arnold's office with nic-nacs they had taken from his home. He said they did him a favor by breaking into his home because he then took precautions against this happening with actual thiefs.
Arnold said the students wrote papers discussing the development of norms in the groups, development of leadership in the group and the reasons for retreating from or executing the crime.
"In the heat of discussion the
Senior class spends for many reasons
Senior class fees are used for a variety of activities, said Don A. Farrington, Oswego senior and senior class president.
Activities financed by senior class fees include the senior coffee, senior breakfast, an undetermined number of class parties, the annual senior film and the HOPE award. A portion of the $12 fee is also allotted for such items as sweatshirts and hats.
Class officers and committee chairmen decide how class fees are spent.
"We try to poll senior class members on how they would like their money spent whenever it is possible," Farrington said.
A $3,000 loan fund available to senior needing financial aid is also supplied by the fees, Farrington said.
Part of the fees also pays for a class service project, Farrington said.
"But," he said, "This year an emphasis is being put on utilizing manpower and not just money."
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He said that no students have committed crimes to his knowledge except against him and other members of the class.
police when they call.
desire to complete the crime heightens and if the students can't leave immediately to commit the crime, they rarely execute their plans, Arnold said. If they
deceive and plan over a long period of time, enthusiasm for the act dies."
Arnold said he always gambles that the students won't go
through with the act if it is against the law. But, he requires students to inform him of their plans when committing a crime so he can explain the situation to