Page:1954 Juvenile Delinquency Testimony.pdf/272

260 Having passed the senate, it then passed both Houses of our Par- liament. and was proclaimed and became law.

Now, our subsequent experience has been somewhat as folloys and here I must say I am speaking on the basis of opinion for the reason, a8 I have said, statistics on this matier are hurd to ebtain but it is my impression, and L know this view is shared by the majority of those interested in the problem, the criine comie as such pretty well diseppeared from the Canadian newsstands within a year or so follow- ing the enactment of this legislation.

‘But within about the same period of time alternative forms of

comic magazines began to appear. Speaking 1 in general terms, these

tool: tlie form initially of an incrense in the | number of love and sex and girlie comics which began to hit the newsstands. And that as an Interesting comment gave rise to a separate study launched by our Senate on the subject. ‘They set np a committee to look into the sale and distribution of, I think the word they used was salacious literature.

One of the reasons why the demand for that rose so rapidly was the

‘apid increase in the cireulation of that. type of pulp magazine fol- lowing the virtual disappearance of the crime comie.

I mention that merely as an interesting aside.

Then there crept back into circulation in Canada the crime comic again in its original form, but it also began to appear in other alterna- tive forms and there the alternative form I have in mind is what I think you have deseribed generally as the horror comic. I would venture the opinion that, the reason’ the crime comic to a lesser extent and the horror comie to a greater extent reappeared and began to appear respectively, was in part because of the lack of pr osecution of any publisher or printer or vendor under the new crime comic section. There were no prosecutions until about a year age. And parily perhaps due to the fact that the public and myself and other similar interested persons eee niuy have felt, now we have done our job, we can stt back and relax, with the result that there wasn’t the sane vigilant supervision of the newsstands to pick out. offensive publications, bring them to the attention of the authorities and de- mand prosecution.

Whatever the reasons, anyway, the crime comie ta tts original form began to reappear and the horror comic tn a much exhtlarated formTI mean it is now cirenlaling to an extenl even greater than the present circulation of the erime comic and il is in Canada at any vate relatively newer in form and appearance. It has made its appearance Jater than erime eomics. I think it. would be fnir to say it. made its appenrance only after the enaciment. of legislation in 1949.

But. [I have fo express it again as my personal opinion that even the horror comie was in fact adequately covered by the legislation which we had enac ated 1 in 1948 because that legislation refers by defi- nition to the commission of crimes, real or fictitious.

Now, again, t€ might be an interesting leval point as to whether the courts would Say that a fictitious crime means merely a crime com- mitted by a human being, the erime had not taken place in faet, whether they would confine it to that or whether tt would be broad enorgh lo eover ihe case of a crime commilted by these fantastic beinus, ghoul of the swamp and the Batman, those creatures that can