However, the bulk of juvenile arrests were “due to such offense as selling newspapers after seven o’clock in the evening and shining shoes on the street. 

Aggressive street stops and searches for policy slips were common. Incidents of casual police brutality and disrespect of black citizens contributed to the “belief of the majority of the negro citizens of Harlem that the life of a negro is cheap in the estimation of the police.”

The committee investigated adult delinquency thrives in an environment of poverty, broken homes, lack of recreational facilities, and vice.”