The western Sydney suburb of Fairfield was reportedly in the grip of a delinquency epidemic in the 1960s. A spate of recent attacks on amenities by ‘leather-jacketed-louts’ led to calls for further investment in recreational facilities for young people.
The district was undergoing dramatic changes, doubling in size in the space of eight years and undergoing a minor ethnic revolution. Those under the age of 21 now outnumbered people above that age, with large numbers of teenagers often seen gathering at local coffee shops and milk bars.
Four Corners’ reporter Frank Bennett spoke to community leaders, local parents and young people, as well as two teenagers with criminal records, about what it would take to keep offenders off the streets.
This episode of the ABC's Four Corners aired on 4 July 1964.
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