Note—Former Senator Robert C. Hendrickson, New Jersey, served as chairman of this subcommittee until December 13, 1954.

Senator Johnston and Senator Wiley did not participate in this report, having been appointed to the sub-committee on February 7, 1955.

VIII. Conclusions

While not attempting to review the several findings included in this report, the subcommittee wishes to reiterate its belief that this country cannot afford the calculated risk involved in feeding its children, through comic books, a concentrated diet of crime, horror, and violence. There was substantial, although not unanimous, agreement among the experts that there may be detrimental and delinquency-producing effects upon both the emotionally disturbed child and the emotionally normal delinquent. Children of either type may gain suggestion, support, and sanction from reading crime and horror comics.

There are many who believe that the boys and girls who are the most avid and extensive consumers of such comics are those who are least able to tolerate this type of reading material. The excessive reading of this material is viewed by some observers as sometimes being symptomatic of some emotional maladjustment, that is, comic book reading may be a workable “diagnostic indicator” or an underlying pathological condition of a child.

It is during childhood that the individual’s concepts of right and wrong and his reactions to society’s standards are largely developed. Those responsible for the operation of every form of the mass media of communication, including comic books, which cater to the education or entertainment of children, have, therefore, a responsibility to gear their products to these special considerations.

Standards for such products, whether in the form of a code of by the policies of individual producers, should not be aimed to eliminate only that which can be proved beyond doubt to demoralize youth. Rather the aim should be to eliminate all materials that potentially exert detrimental effects.

To achieve this end, it will require continuing vigilance on the part of parents, publishers and citizens’ groups. The work that has been done by citizens’ and parents’ groups in calling attention to the problem of crime and horror comics has been far-reaching in its impact.

The subcommittee notes with some surprise that little attention has been paid by educational and welfare agencies to the potential dangers, as well as benefits, to children presented by the growth of the comic book industry. As spokesmen in behalf of children, their responsibility requires that they be concerned for the child and the whole world in which he lives. The campaign against juvenile delinquency cannot be won by anything less than an all-out attack upon all conditions contributing to the problem.

The interest of our young citizens would not be served by postponing all precautionary measures until the exact kind and degree of influence exerted by comic books upon children’s behavior is fully determined through careful research. Sole responsibility for stimulating, formulating and carrying out such research cannot be assumed by parents’ or citizens’ groups. Rather is must also be assumed by the educational and social welfare agencies and organizations concerned.

In the meantime, the welfare of this Nation’s young makes it mandatory that all concerned unite in supporting sincere efforts of the industry to raise the standards of its products and in demanding adequate standards of decency and good taste. Nor should these united efforts be relaxed in the face of monetary gains. Continuing vigilance is essential in sustaining this effort.

Source: Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Comic Books and Juvenile Delinquency, Interim Report, 1955 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1955).