The Purple Gang (1959)

Jody Lawrance: Joan MacNamara

Quotes 

• Joan MacNamara : [after she sees Harley backhand a boy, grabs Harley's arm]  He's just a boy! I'm from the welfare department.

  [shows her badge] 

  Police Lt. William P. Harley : [to the desk sergeant]  Book him, book all of 'em.

  [he starts to walks away] 

  Joan MacNamara : Now wait a minute.

  [she grabs his arm, turns him towards her] 

  Joan MacNamara : Some of these young men are- are underage!

  Police Lt. William P. Harley : They're not young men, miss, they're hoodlums.

  Joan MacNamara : There is a law in this state that says no juvenile can be locked up with an adult criminal.

  Police Lt. William P. Harley : I know the law, miss. I've already got a special tank prepared just for them. Does that satisfy you?

  Joan MacNamara : [with attitude]  No. The whole system is wrong. Those boys should not be locked up at all. You see, what youth needs now days is a little psychological adjustment.

  Police Lt. William P. Harley : [interrupts, moves closer]  They're three-syllable words, lady. How do you expect a policeman to understand them?

  [walks away] 

• Joan MacNamara : [to the police commissioner, while unaware that Harley is behind her listening]  You take this- this spectacle I witnessed last night. *Big,* burley policemen, *man*-handling boys.

  Police Lt. William P. Harley : Just a minute, miss. These are not nice little boys being ill-treated by big, bad policemen. They're tough, you understand, they're tough and they're dangerous and they're getting worse.

  Police Commissioner : Go easy, lieutenant. Dr. Riordan here and Miss MacNamara are...

  Police Lt. William P. Harley : [interrupts]  I know who they are and what they are. I also know that gang of punks we rounded up last night, the Purple Gang, and to them you don't spout big words outta books.

  Joan MacNamara : They have grown up without love, without home life, with no real feeling of security!

  Police Lt. William P. Harley : Look, miss, and you too, Doctor, you've got to start your work in the cradle. When kids turn criminal and start running in gangs it's too late, and with this bunch you've just turned loose it's a way too late.

  Dr. Riordan : They're products of their environment...

  Police Lt. William P. Harley : [interrupts, bellowing]  Aren't we all products of our environment? You say they suffered shock in childhood, they come from broken homes... so do thousands of kids, yet they manage to grow up and make decent citizens. Look, I- I tell ya, Chief, the only solution now is to get tough.