An excerpt from a “preliminary study” that discusses efforts to restrict comic books because they lead to delinquency in young people.

In this excerpt from “Comic Books—Municipal Control of Sale and Distribution—A Preliminary Study,” published in 1948, Charles S. Rhyne discusses how some communities believed that children who read comic books were likely to become juvenile delinquents. Many communities began to restrict the sale of comic books to minors because of violence, sexual content, and other factors. In this excerpt, Charles Rhyne advocates for this “literary menace” to be halted before it does even more damage.