The Adolescent Criminal
- Author:
Norwood Eas’t
collaboration with Percy Stocks and H. T. P. * j With Foreword by Sir Alexander Maxwell. J- Churchill. 1942. Pp. 327. 45s. jj,
This book is the result of an investigation into . characteristics of 4,000 lads between 16 and 20 ye^f age, received at the Boys’ Prison at Wormwood Sc^ between 1930 and 1937, before entering one of Borstal Institutions. In some ways it may be reg^T, as a continuation of Dr Charles Goring’s classic stu?| 3,000 English convicts, the results of which were P., lished shortly before the outbreak of the last Like Dr Goring’s, the enquiry on which the present v is based had a semi-official character and could be cajjv out only with the fullest support of the Home Oj, Although the result of team work, it was through, directed by Dr Norwood East in his former capaCwMedical Prison Commissioner, assisted by Dr H. - Young, the senior medical officer at Wormwood Dr Percy Stocks, medical statistician at the GejL Register Office, and by several prison medical on1 and women visitors. Sir Alexander Maxwell, Pern^1:, Under Secretary of State, Home Office, formerly man of the Prison Commission for England and WL has contributed the Foreword in which he pays tribute to Dr East’s outstanding contributions to theoretical study and practical treatment of j criminal. Mr. Alec Paterson, the Prison Commiss1^ in charge of the Borstal Institutions, and ^ experts, were frequently consulted in the course enquiry.
The investigation had to be limited to boys.1.;, London and surroundings whose homes could be vis’j The available data, however, have been analysed v admirable skill and thoroughness.
In addition to its theoretical aim?to elucidate scientific methods some of the causal factors in adole?, criminality?the enquiry had to serve three 1 j immediate practical purposes : (1) to supply the i with the information needed for their decision a ? whether the cases were suitable for a Borstal sente , (2) to ascertain the presence of mental deficient- mental disorder; (3) to collect the data for the sel^ of the most suitable Borstal institution.
The principal chapters of the book are concerned ^ hereditary and familial, environmental, physical, n^, and personality factors. The results are convent; summarized at the end of each chapter, and the stati5 material fills no less than 112 Tables.
The figures given are interesting enough in thems^ even if, as the author readily admits, their significance may sometimes be difficult to assess ov^ the lack of corresponding material for the geIpopulation or a special control group. For inst% 52 per 1,000 of the families of the lads had a cflPyj history, a fact which, as such, does not reveal very & j The proportion was particularly high, however, ? group convicted of offences against property and ^ the recidivists, which may indicate that a criminal f^, history was a contributory factor at least as far as c ( against property and recividism are concerned. ^ author’s view, the data show the need for further res?, on the fundamental problems of inheritance. Cofl^ to Dr Goring’s findings, no evidence was obtained o’J. association between recidivism and stature. There vV( slight excess in weight among lads with more thafl^ previous conviction which, as the author suggests, have been due to the wholesome diet in Appro and Borstals. , ?nf1 certifiable at One hundred and forty lads were fou defectives, the time of examination, i.e. 123 as proportion - as moral defectives, and 15 as in^ne-. markedly of ca- 3-1 per cent, for mental dcficien Y ^ generai higher than the corresponding figure am g? Qf the Population. The author comments that mitted an tads might have been certified before they sornetimes offenceand that ” ascertainment is inadequate”. The proportion was, hi probably higher for first offenders than f?r rec’, c0’ntrol after because many defectives are placed unaerc chapter their first offence. In a particularly n^eS” 8character on Personality Traitsstress_ is I attempt defects as contrasted with mental defect , acquisi- is made to measure the instincts of agg ‘however, Von sex, and gregariousness. Jhe resul > changes n the author’s view not inconsiderably a in the examining personnel. , . m?nv respects Sexual offenders proved to be i nteuigence was different from the rest. Their average ‘ an(i their significantly below that of the other g Nation and families showed an excess of mental ‘ -Deen at insanity. A higher proportion of them ?*dard yi, Special Schools or had failed to reac? any interest ?vas ?f solitary habits, depressed and-wit disease was mi school work. No history of venereal ci sea! _ noted among the 125 lads of this sr?uP> thc average.
t^ge of lads with a younger sister wasbe dwelling There was a smaller number of inhabitants per a 1 >an among the other groups. further details Reasons of space forbid to quote any balanced att^? ihis book which in its cautious an ti ation of attitude, can be regarded as a model ?wes Jye to be ross-sectional factor analysis. That i innaitudinal ” supplemented by future studies of the , Lressed in the ype’ X-Q- of individual life histories, is duly eats the including chapter. There the auth Hubert’s ^commendation, made in his and ? *? Crime ” Report on “The Psychological Tre?.?f?n should be sPecial kind of penal instlU*t Qn|y Qf stabhshed for the study and treatmen al types nf??rual and unusual types but of certai ^ have of lawbreakers as well. In a post-war era, this wi to be one of the first steps in penal retorm d in Meanwhile, the ground has been we UP P^ his standard work, for which the au missj0ners Uaborators as well as the Prison _ crimino- J^rve the thanks of everyone intereste ogical research. H.M.
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