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Delinquents with Scrapbooks. On the other hand, many authorities—and some editors—agree that publicity makes the job of rehabilitation harder, that it may actually be an incentive to crime. Says Captain Robert Summers of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office: "It glorifies them in the eyes of gangs. Using their names does nothing but give them status." Some delinquents even display scrapbooks with clippings about their misdeeds.
While recognizing the complexity of the dilemma, many responsible editors look at the rising juvenile crime rate and wonder whether the traditional policy of secrecy is still valid. They agree with Brooklyn's Adult Court Judge Samuel Leibowitz, once Manhattan's most famed criminal lawyer, who says: "Whatever happens in the courts is public property, and the public should know what the judge's actions have been. We can trust the good judgment of the press."