The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
ò.2o NO fi* * U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR JA M E S J . D A V IS , Secretary CHILDREN'S BUREAU GRACE ABBOTT, Chief THE PRACTICAL VALUE OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF JUVENILE DELINQUENTS M O N O G RAPH PREPARED FOR THE C H IL D R E N S ’ B U R E A U By WILLIAM HEALY, M. D.* DIR E CTO R. JUDGE BAKER FOUNDATION, BOSTON « Bureau Publication N o. 9 6 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1922 Sta. 7 Digitized 6c for 5 9FRASER c. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OWING TO LIMITED APPROPRIATIONS FOR PRINTING, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS BULLETIN IN LARGE QUANTITIES. A D D IT IO N A L C O PIE S OF THIS PUBLICATION M A Y BE PROCURED FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D . C. AT 5 CEN TS P E R C O P Y https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis lLS~*C CONTENTS. Page. Letter o f transmittal------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5 The juvenile court itself------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Basic nature o f juvenile-court work----------------------------------------------------------------Methods o f the court------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Principles of scientific study of delinquents----------------------------------------------------Working values o f scientific study-------------------------------------------------------------------The field for scientific study------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------General relation of delinquency to mental life------------------ ------------- -------------Mental defect and delinquency-------------------------------------------------------------------------Proportion of defectives among delinquents.--------------- --------------------------------- ® * 15 16 17 Peculiar personalities------------ ;--------------------------------------------------------------------------Elements o f mental life related to delinquency---------------------------------------------Mental life specifically related to delinquency-------------------------------------------------The many factors implicated---------------------------------------------------------------------------Examples o f summaries o f cases---------- -------— -------------------------------------------------Greatest needs o f juvenile court------------------------------------------------------------------------ 20 22 24 26 28 30 *2 Chabt. Percentages o f 1,212 juvenile repeated offenders distributed according to “ Intelligence Q uotient” measured by the Stanford revision o f the Binet-Simon age-level scale---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 12 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis L E T T E E OF T E A N S M IT T A L . U . S. D e p a r t m e n t of L abor, C h il d r e n ’s B ureau, W ashington, July 18, 1921. S i r : Herewith I transmit a discussion o f the Practical Value of Scientific Study o f Juvenile Delinquents, which has been prepared by Dr. William Healy, director o f the Judge Baker Foundation, Boston, He was requested by the Children’s Bureau to do this for several reasons: 1. The study of the physical and mental qualities of a delinquent child and o f his history and surroundings is an approach to the indi vidual and his needs, rather than to an offense and its legal penalty. Therefore it is in so far an essential application o f the philosophy on which the juvenile court rests. 2. Thus far little specialized training for this scientific service exists. It is important that it be developed and that competent and devoted men and women shall find in it satisfying opportunity. 3. As Dr. Healy’s paper so clearly shows, however, the scientific study o f juvenile delinquents compels the inclusion o f the social field and the careful correlation o f all the facts and circumstances sur rounding the child. Thus far it has been recognized that the social aspect is significant; that it is also scientific and that no one aspect considered alone is conclusive are still not so fully accepted. 4. This greater conception points emphatically to the errors which must follow examinations consisting merely of a series o f physical and mental tests o f the individual, however well devised, if unrelated to the social elements which may have conditioned the physical and mental state. 5. Because o f the service which can be rendered by a statement o f the values and methods o f scientific study, as an every-day guide to the progressive conduct of juvenile courts, this report is needed. Dr. Healy has had a unique experience as a physician and psycholo gist. He was probably the first psychiatrist ever attached to a juvenile court. His service to the Cook County (Chicago) court con tinued for eight years until he accepted the invitation to the same service in connection with the Boston Juvenile Court, the new posi5 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 6 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. tion carrying increased opportunities for scientific research. His ob servations have been published in several volumes and form a new and important contribution to the study of delinquency. Respectfully submitted. J u l i a C . L a t h r o p , Chief. Hon. J a m e s J . D a v i s , Secretary o f Labor. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis THE PRACTICAL VALUE OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF JUVENILE DELINQUENTS. TH E JU VEN ILE COURT ITSELF. The idea o f the juvenile court has challenged the world by its im portance.1 O f all courts dealing with offenders, its procedure, as demonstrated during its 20 years o f existence, strikes at the most practical as well as the deepest issues relating to delinquency and delinquents. When operating effectively, the juvenile court together with its agencies has the chance to check and prevent the development o f crim inal careers vastly more than other courts. I f it succeeds, it renders to the delinquent and to society a service that is great indeed, because o f the very fact o f the moral and economic expensiveness o f continu ance in delinquency. I f it fails, much has been lost because the con ditions o f causation, bound up so strongly with the possibilities o f prevention, are many times more readily alterable at the juvenilecourt age than ever again.2 1 The juvenile court is an institution of which Americans may feel proud and through which the typical American genius for practical issues may well be expressed. An earlier plan in some States provided for a procedure apart from adults. First of all, Massa chusetts developed the idea and long had separate sessions for juveniles; and pro bation, always a cardinal feature of work with young offenders, began there. Else where, too, the principle had partially evolved, but not into an organized court. The first juvenile court, with its definitive scheme of an especially interested and especially informed judge, and of probation officers with adequate qualifications, and of detention and sessions entirely apart from adult offenders, was established in Chicago in 1899 through the practical insight and determined efforts of a group of Chicago women. Scientific diagnostic study as a regular service for delinquents and for a court began in the juvenile court in Chicago in 1909. This work, which was started and continued under the name of the Juvenile Psychopathic Institute, was soon perceived to have much wider bearings and usefulness than study of merely psychopathic cases; the cases of quite normal offenders often justify as much, if not more, attention given them for the sake of effective understandings. 2 Unless, of course, we make delinquency in the open world (heaven knows there is enough of it in institutions for delinquents) impossible by reverting to the ancient practice of wholesale capital punishment or prolonged incarcerations for all sorts of offenses. But this is altogether against the tenor of modem civilization and, it must he sharply remembered, these methods led to no such safeties of either property or person as exist to-day. It is not aside the mark tot speak of this because of the lingering idea that somehow mere incarceration or other punishment does check the career— of course statistics do not show this. Perhaps we say, with some sort of consciousness of the underlying facts, that we are sorry that A or B is subject to misguiding environmental influences or is skewed a little mentally, and then we go on to say that, after all, we can not have A or B carrying on such things— stealing, prostitution, forgery, or what not— and as judges, we therefore will commit for 3 months or 18 months or some other set time. ’ As if that were going to right causations and prevent recurrences! A specific case: The judge understands in a recent case that a young man, easily ascertainable to 7 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 8 THE P R AC T IC A L V A L U E OF The purpose o f the juvenile court has all along been quite clear. Differing from courts established under the criminal law, its business is not to follow set forms of treatment o f offenses. Its idea is individualization both o f understanding and o f treat ment. O f course, the juvenile court is part o f the social machinery for the prevention o f delinquency as a measure o f public welfare, but in the very accomplishment o f this it has, explicitly or implicitly, to seek the welfare o f the individual. And so it is that in dealing with the fact o f delinquency in the juvenile court, inevitably the prime consideration is the offender as a person. The juvenile court started from observation o f injustice. Under an older régime the offending child or youth was handled for the most part as if he had much the same experience and world knowledge and mental growth and stability as the normal adult. I f court or jail or reformatory procedure had any other basis, it was by act o f mercy and sympathy and not through a definitely established per ceptive justice and, except in occasional matters, not through methods o f treatment founded on the essential facts o f youthful life. But the idea o f the juvenile court, founded on the conception o f a better understanding o f the conditionings o f conduct in childhood and youth, might just as well have sprung from the modern ideal o f achieving results. Had attention been well directed to the great social problem o f crime, it could have been understood ages earlier that it is during the youthful, formative periods o f life that tendencies toward social misbehavior begin, and that this is the time o f times in which to gain understanding o f causes and beginnings and is the time in which to thwart such warpings o f character and habit. Studies o f actual facts teach nothing if not the importance o f treat ing with delinquent tendencies in youth. Whether we turn to con vincing earlier statistics' from abroad or to the work o f Glueck in tracing backward the careers of Sing Sing prisoners, or to recent studies o f the later life o f youthful offenders in Chicago seen at the Juvenile Psychopathic Institute, it stands out clearly that criminal tendencies and careers with astonishing frequency begin in child hood or adolescence. And, after all, why should we expect it to be otherwise ? Do we not know well enough that in all o f us the de velopment o f behavior tendencies, the set o f our own characters and o f our own habits o f thought and action begin long before adult life. be unusually fine in other characteristics, is probably “ queer ” in sex tendencies, but “ We can’t have him going around snipping girls’ hair.” So the young man is given, four months. Now, does mere incarceration lessen these or other bad tendencies? Indeed, it is not difficult to learn that this intelligent and physically sound young man already has served a term without any effect upon his behavior in this respect— and one might naturally expect much less from others less well endowed. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis S C IE N T IF IC S T U D Y OF J U V E N IL E D E L IN Q U E N T S . 9 Although existing in some places as an offshoot o f other courts, the peculiarly basic work o f the juvenile court does not allow it to be regarded fairly as any addendum to another court. Properly it should require o f the judge more thoughtfulness, a wider education in the human sciences, more shrewd discernment, more close reason ing on the relation o f theory, fact, and proposed treatment to out comes than is demanded in any other court. And all this just be cause o f the wide range o f scientifically ascertainable conditions, motives, and influences leading to juvenile transgressions, the wide range o f treatments possible, and the very absence of the fetish of unscientifically concocted forms and codes o f practice and procedure, which in some other courts form such a drag upon effective dealing with offenders. BASIC NATURE OF JUVENILE-COURT W ORK. The commanding interest that the work of a progressive juvenile court is bound to have for scientific students o f human affairs arises because some o f the most fundamental operating causes of human behavior are here to be ascertained and studied. It is here that scientific knowledge as related to conduct can be utilized‘ and further developed, as scientific knowledge is developed and utilized in other fields. And then the most far-reaching importance o f the juvenile court lies in its practical relationship to the whole crime problem. Crime costs in this country some three or four millions o f dollars a day and hundreds o f thousands o f persons annually are sentenced. The ju venile court with its possible hold on many beginnings—when it and its agencies have grown to a higher stage o f achievement— is in the most strategic position for reducing this vast blot on social life. Many potential criminals already come, and many more, if special attention were paid to their embryonic stages, might come before the juvenile court. Not that the juvenile court3 is ready to guarantee to check all beginning criminal careers—-even from the standpoint of bare knowledge the sciences having to do with human life are still in the making, while the science o f conduct itself has lagged far behind— but much greater accomplishment is possible even now with the in jection o f businesslike sense into the situation, applying essential facts that are known and readily ascertainable. Knowledge is being steadily accumulated; to utilize that and to acquire more is the part o f a wise practical procedure aimed at results, immediate and future. 3 What is here said of the procedure with juvenile delinquents as now established under the law would apply just as well to any other scheme, for example, if it was desirable for the sake of early prevention, etc., to handle delinquents in connection with the schools*. No brief is offered here for the present arrangement, but respect for the law and use of its authority are certainly most desirable. 63259°—22-----2 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 10 T H E PRACTICAL VALUE OF METHODS OF TH E COURT. The work o f judges in juvenile courts, and o f other officers o f the law making decisions there, proceeds very largely in accord with personal tendencies and moods. Immediate treatment o f the case, to be specific, is (a) sometimes by the methods o f personal appeal— by warning, exhortation, scolding, sermonizing, threatening—or (b) frequently by a direct attempt at a shrewd guess concerning what should be done in the case, o f course with the help that observation in the court room offers.4 (c) Sometimes there may be fairly prolonged weighing o f the meager facts that have been obtained; occasionally there is a demand for more data, but (d ) often the treatment is left to the judgment o f probation officers, with the feeling that in the court room there is so little opportunity for learning all the facts necessary for satisfactory adjustment. At any rate, it is most significant that individuals are'passed with comparatively great rapidity through a court procedure that ends often in a judgment rendered which, one way or another, is o f the greatest import in constructing the behavior tendencies o f a life. And, it should be noted, it happens sometimes that an apparently milder or more negative decision, such as placing on probation, is a decision o f the most positive import for the bad, as when it means sending the individual back to deleterious influences, perhaps un known to the court because o f incomplete studies o f the causation o f delinquency. Deciding treatment that is tremendously influential at the forma tive period o f life vastly outweighs in importance in the world o f realities any decision o f a criminal case that may take weeks in court or perhaps fill pages o f the newspapers. PRIN CIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC STU DY OF DELINQUENTS. The manifold practical issues that are intrinsic in juvenile-court cases not only justify by their importance careful case study, but make it an absolute necessity, i f exceedingly significant conditions are not to be overlooked. Unfortunately it is not yet grasped by many as a matter o f shrewd common sense that the practical aspects o f delinquency really are * This represents, apparently, what some call the methods of common sense; this with an occasional admixture of (c) weighing of data. Indeed, one has known clear ac knowledgment of this situation by a very experienced, busy judge; “ I am paid to make guesses,” he said. But to stand up for the “ common sense ” as against the scientific method is to be just in the position of the farmer who has not come to see the application for him of scientific agricultural studies. It is not seeing into the problems or really seeing them at all, this being satisfied with the bare application of “ common sense.” The challenge to those who do not of themselves reach out in the ways of progress here comes through demonstrating what is already acknowledged in other fields, namely, the superior accom plishment of scientific effort. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis S C IE N T IF IC S T U D Y OF J U V E N IL E D E L IN Q U E N T S . 11 manifold and that manifold though they are, knowledge o f causa tions and carrying out a diversity o f treatment is thoroughly prac ticable. Indeed, not foresighted in the sense o f the best conceptions o f the juvenile court is the procedure that fails to appreciate acquirement o f enlightening knowledge o f the delinquent and his background or to demand the attempt at adjustment through the many con structive possibilities as well as through restrictive measures. It is the very richness o f the outlook that presents itself during sci entific case study (and really scientific study can mean only wellrounded study) that, more than anything else, justifies undertak ing it. % • /on i,/.; A good study does not, any more than in the biological sciences, mean merely application to the individual o f a label, be it in terms o f “ mental rating,” “ psychopathy,” “ instinctive levels,” or any other stereotyped pigeonholing. It does not mean calling by a name which seems learned, as if one knew much about the delinquent, but which in reality very frequently offers little to explain the de linquency or to guide treatment. It is a misconception o f the present time, even o f those who want to be progressive, that a ready-to-wear classification is sufficient. Most prevalently accepted is the categorizing in terms o f “ mental age,” according to a mere handful o f mental tests, but under the influence o f the exponents o f other classificatory ideas, various other terminologies are also grasped at as i f completely explanatory. Classification by “ intelligence levels ” or by these other categories does not and never can represent the whole individual, or even the elements most essential for the student o f delinquent tendencies to know, such as the individual’s habits o f mind and body, the forces which drive him, his motivating experiences, his reactions to his environment, his ideation as related to delinquency, causations in the environment itself, his special resources o f mind and body that can be utilized for reeducative treatment. For the sake o f mental classification (invaluable though it is posi tively and negatively— of course we need to evaluate the human ma terial we are working with) we can not throw away the everyday knowledge o f many generations that there are forces operating both from without and from within which are the decisive factors in the formation o f delinquent trends. It is to the better understanding o f these forces as well as o f the individual’s capacities that we must address ourselves. It is for this that we bespeak the value o f scien tific studies o f indi vidual careers, o f all that goes to make a delinquent what he is in his behavior tendencies. The following diagram indicates some o f the general differences between a formally legal and a scientific method o f procedure. We https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 12 T H E P R A C T IC A L V A L U E OF would stress the great contrast in treatment—the formal legal con ception with its implications that how to treat conduct disorders is a matter well known and capably defined, mainly according to offenses, balanced against the newer idea that treatment should be the outcome o f what is learned by the gathering o f sufficient data, and in general by the development of a science of conduct. C ON TRASTIN G M ETH ODS. UN SC IE N T IF IC . SC IE N T IF IC . M A IN F A C T OF CASE REGARDED AS O FFE N SE . HUM AN IN D IV ID U A L who has offended. CO N SID E R A TIO N OF CASE Limited by determination o f fact, nature, and degree o f offense with some few representations concerning offender. Including careful study of various aspects o f case— physical, mental, social— applying the methods o f sci ence or o f business where causes and effects are investigated. D IS P O S A L OF CASE Dealing with affair according to above determination o f offense, but with limited knowledge of offender and causation. Dealing directly, as fa r as possible, with causes or needs in their relation to future career, B A S IS OF AD JU ST M E N T THEORY A S C E R T A IN E D F A C T S concerning how offenders are to be dealt with. concerning causes and make-up o f the individual ; the latter interpreted both as related to cause and to potentiali ties. W ORKING VALU ES OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY. The working values that accrue even through scientific knowledge o f personality alone were impressed on the writer from the day o f beginning in the Chicago court. The very first case studied was that of a girl about whom long columns had appeared in the newspapers; she disappeared from home and when found, made startling and apparently important statements which included an account of her own deliberate sex misconduct. Not insane and not feeble-minded, we found her, nevertheless, to be a most peculiar person who had been influenced recently by emotional stirrings to the extent that she felt some sort o f im pulsion to thus allege herself immoral and to make most serious charges against others. Our study, aided by a short investigation, quickly set the Whole affair in its right light and the girl quieted down and told the truth. It had https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis S C IE N T IF IC S T U D Y OF J U V E N IL E D E L IN Q U E N T S . 13 been quite different in the case o f her neurotic mother, we learned, who, un recognized as an abnormal personality, had been the cause o f serious hard ships experienced by a couple o f good men in a certain church circle where she had made false allegations. It is a matter o f great interest that the girl herself ever since has been known for what she is and that when several peculiar situations have arisen as a result o f her conduct, her case has been effectively handled by officers who have had to guide them knowledge o f the fundamental feature of the situation, namely, her personality. In great practical contrast, especially from the standpoint o f public economy, was the case o f a young woman which appeared in the adult courts in Chicago a year or so later. She made terrible accusations against some prominent people and the matter was heard at great length with very puzzling evidence presented in court. But the girl’s first deposition and the character o f her in juries would have made it quite easy for any experienced student of abnormal psychology to determine the true nature o f the casa H ad there been any chance to act as friend to the court one might have made the situation plain to the judge as it was made clear to a certain group, of people who asked professional advice for determining their sympathetic attitude toward the case. As it was, certain pathetic circumstances and the girl’s strong statements won for her a public following o f really good people who through general ignorance o f such personalities and the fact that no one acting as friend to the court made any study o f her personality trends, pushed public opinion strongly in her favor. The trial o f this case cost the State over $15,000 and the outcome was nil. Very few o f her sympathizers ever realized that she was an hysterical false accuser and self-mutilator. Or take another very simple instance; shortly after we began work an experienced officer said that since we were interested in delinquents he would bring in what he and his colleagues called their best example of the criminal type— “ This boy is a genuine, bora criminal.” But five minutes’ observation showed the lad to present the signs of juvenile paresis, with eyes not reacting to light, with absent knee jerks, etc., a victim o f congenital syphilis— a boy with a nervous system as thoroughly diseased as it could well be and leave the patient active, merely appearing to be a desperate conduct problem. For those doing even the simplest scientific work among delin quents, the citation o i such obvious examples from the material of 10 or 12 years ago is quite unnecessary— there is ample recognition nowadays o f what such human problems may signify, and there are already established many centers for examination o f such cases. But taking the country over, a vast number o f peculiar individuals do even nowadays pass along through courts quite unrecognized for what they are. THE F IE LD FOR SCIEN TIFIC STUDY. But scientific study should not be limited at all to such psycho pathic material, nor to personality from the standpoint alone o f abnormal psychology. The frequency with which mental defectives and the psychopathic appear before courts is enough to justify diagnostic examinations, but certainly studies should not be confined https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 14 TH E PRACTICAL VALUE OP to these classes—by no means the largest proportion of youthful delinquents as seen in courts are abnormal mentally. There must be equal interest in anything causative that involves the individual or that has influenced him. Adequate practical study means no short routine o f examination, whether in giving age-level tests that do help as a part o f mental testing, or in giving a physical examination—that rarely indeed throws light on the causation o f delinquency. Courts that begin with such examinations or with having special blood tests made, etc., examinations, o f course, so important in many ways, should have clear insight into the limitations o f such humanitarian work as sources o f information that really help in the effective treatment of conduct problems. Adequate study means finding the influences at work in the delin quent’s life, influences perhaps remaining over from early child hood experiences or arising perhaps from family conditions on the basis o f which grudges are formed (on the day this was written there was brought to light in court here a semiprofessional career with just such an antisocial foundation), influences perhaps from hidden bad habits, or involving matters o f frequently recurrent ideation or impulse— adequate study means finding any o f a thousand and one conditions and experiences, the existence or absence of which one can not tell beforehand. Nor can the individual be studied apart from his setting, his en vironment, any more than a biologist can hope to know what con ditions the behavior o f a starfish by studying it in fresh water or as taken from a laboratory jar o f alcohol. We are properly concerned with the study of delinquents that takes in enough points o f view to lead to such a rational explanation that effective treatment can be prescribed therefrom. As has been pointed out many times, it is very rarely that any one factor in the background can be reasonably selected as the sole cause o f delinquency— the fact is that usually several causes are interwoven. Now, there is no way o f evaluating or indeed of know ing at all many o f these causes, except as one ascertains them by a thorough analysis o f the situation and then studies them in the light o f their influences on the mind and so on conduct. The following case illustrates notably how various factors may be present. A boy only years old was presented in court for continual truancy, un manageableness at home, frequent taking o f considerable sums from home and elsewhere and recent stealing of a large amount of money. There were im portant physical findings; he showed poor development, although markedly mature physiognomy; there was defective hearing on one side with discharge from the ear, he complained o f headaches, he was anemic and had many badly carious teeth. H e was very much retarded in school, but he proved himself to have good general mental ability. H e was reported irritable, restless, and stub- https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF JU V EN ILE DELINQUENTS. 15 born, although with us he was very reasonable and quiet. H e had mature knowl edge concerning delinquency and showed strong attitudes against school life and fam ily control. Concerning heredity, unfortunate traits in both parents were reported; each came from families with a striking admixture of strong and weak qualities. The developmental history showed that there had been much nutritional difficulty in early infancy with evidences of nervous irritability, and poor appetite all along. The home life was characterized by poverty and quarreling, the father used obscenity in front of the children; he had died the year before, then the mother began working out. From any one of the several categories o f facts that we have mentioned, the conclusion might be readily and superficially drawn that each o f these might sufficiently account for the delinquency. Hom e conditions and the lack o f good upbringing probably most frequently would be selected as the cause. In spite of the importance of these facts we soon were convinced that none o f them w as the main root of the delinquency, because after the first study which brought out all the ordinary facts and after having been, placed in a good country home away from old bad influences he began stealing again. Further study led to the discovery o f the direct causation of the boy’s re markable thieving propensities; it was a matter o f ideation. In great detail this little fellow told us of specific emotional experiences connecting the idea of stealing as obtained from a certain boy with what this boy told him in the way of bad words and bad sex matters. H e spoke in a most clear and convincing way, as many others have done, o f his struggle against certain ideas, against “ bad words ”— “ W hen they come in my mind I try to cross them out like this ”— “ The words, they make me feel queer, it 'makes me think o f going into places, taking things, and then I dream at night of taking things.” After this patient inquiry into what w as iu his mind that made him steal he entirely stopped the stealing. H e had brought out the real facts of his mental life, brought them out into the light o f day, and the facts evidently enlightened him as they enlightened us. A sudden transformation became now possible and did take place. For long he has been reported from his country home as the nicest boy in the neighborhood and he ranks well up toward the head of his class in much of his school work. The deeper inquiry gave him the chance that he needed to know himself and to deenergize the inner driving forces of his misconduct. A careful study o f even a few o f the simplest cases o f stealing, for example, shows motives so different, shows such variations in impulse, in personality background, and in the stealing as phe nomena o f reaction to environment, that good sense itself calls for knowledge o f causation and personality in every case in order to have any clear idea o f how effectively to combat the delinquent tendency. GENERAL RELATION OF DELINQUENCY TO MENTAL LIFE. Scientific study o f social behavior is builded foursquare upon the fundamental fact that conduct is action of the body and the mind. A ll conduct, o f course, directly emanates from mental life. And many elements and conditionings o f mental life are concerned in that product o f mental activity which we call social behavior. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 16 T H E P R A C T IC A L V A L U E OF The many studies o f exterior conditions or physical states or per sonal habits which have been or are being made o f delinquents are not to the point if they are not interpreted in relation to actual causa tion o f the delinquent’s misbehavior. Nothing is any more striking to the careful student than the fact that reactions between per sonality and living conditions are not fixed and are not a priori pre dictable. Poverty, in one case a stimulus to formation o f fine character tendencies, in another instance is the motivation o f even major crimes. Bad neighborhood conditions in some cases result in disgust rather than in acceptance o f local standards o f morality. Adolescent strivings and aggressiveness may lead in a direction o f ambition and fine accomplishment, or may find outlets largely in delinquent trends; And so on through practically the whole list o f possible causations o f delinquency. The only direct means o f knowing the forces actually operative in a given case is through study of the mental life, the definite direc tive agent of conduct. This is the realm of a practical psychology, which takes into account mental capacities, mental balance, instincts, impulses, the impress o f experiences, and the many elements o f conscious and subconscious mental activity. MENTAL DEFECT AND DELINQUENCY. A t present the most generally recognized function, o f scientific study o f delinquents is determination o f mentality in terms o f nor mality or feeble-mindedness. This is a most important task be cause, without such study, in spite o f the belief o f some that they are able to detect feeble-mindedness by physiognomy and other ap pearances, it is not possible to classify individuals mentally. A p pearances are often misleading. Some authors have published photo graphs o f groups in which it is impossible to detect the mentally defective. After years o f experience, the writer, sitting with the judge o f the juvenile court in Chicago, once felt sure that a certain delinquent boy as seen in court was feeble-minded and agreed in this with other observers, but later examina tion during continuance of the case proved the facts to be quite the contrary. Another judge, intelligent and foresighted, sending a boy of 14 years for examination, said that very likely the boy should be committed to the State school for defectives. Physiognomy and attitude— the lad w as slouchy, unkempt, heavy-eyed, he held his thick lips open and was altogether most dull in general appearance— gave apparently a fair basis for the opinion. Examined mentally, however, on a considerable number o f tests, he proved himself to be quite reasonably bright and these findings were well substantiated when, after being placed in a decent home, the boy not only completed grammar school at 14 with a fairly good record, but, until he went to work a few months later, maintained average standing in high school. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis S C IE N T IF IC S T U D Y OF J U V E N IL E D E L IN Q U E N T S . 17 Even more frequent and certainly more costly because o f the work that may be put upon them, and sometimes more dangerous because o f peculiarly vicious trends, are the cases which show the reverse o f the above error, the cases in which a defective person o f fairly nor mal appearance is judged to be normal. In illustration, take the case of Jennie, 12 years old, who with two- other girls about her own age was in court for shoplifting. The probation officer who dealt with the group informed us that Jennie was undoubtedly the leader because she seemed by far the brightest as well as the most aggressive o f the three. This judgment was based on the fact that the girl was attractive in appearance, with regular features and vivacious expression, and that she told a story o f the delinquency with considerable force and detail. The fact that the girl was in the fifth grade tended to corroborate this opinion, particularly since she came from an ignorant, foreign-speaking fam ily. Very little was offered her in her family life and she spent the greater part o f her free time on the streets. These facts seemed sufficient to explain the delinquency. H ad one been satisfied with this, much effort might have been expended on probation in the attempt to improve the home situation and to provide Jennie with better recreational interests, as is done in other cases. Had the miscon duct persisted, the court or some agency called in might have incurred the expense o f probationary placement in some other fam ily before the State institu tion for delinquents was considered., A s a matter of fact, Jennie proved to be unquestionally feeble-minded and not o f high grade. (The other girls, duller in appearance, graded as normal.) The contradiction o f the test findings to her school record was accounted for when the school authorities later stated that because o f her good attendance and her troublesomeness in school she had been promoted by various teachers to get her out o f their rooms, although it was recognized that she could not do the work o f the grades, indeed she could scarcely read at all. There was no special class for the backward in the school where she had been passed along. In a summary o f the case the writer stated that it was clear that this girl’s dynamic traits which make her ignorant parents feel that she is bright enough are just such as would indicate social danger. She seems very properly a case for institutional training and protection. H er physical attractiveness and vivacity, with as little supervision as her fam ily offer her, are a liability rather than an asset. It must not be assumed from the above that the place for all men tal defectives is in institutions; even some o f the definitely feeble minded show good character traits, perhaps have been brought up under good moral conditions and have responded well. Here again, it is a study not o f the individual alone, but o f the interaction be tween the individual and his environment. PROPORTION OF DEFECTIVES AMONG DELINQUENTS. For the sake o f fairly sizing up the facts in general concerning mentality and delinquency we have gone into the matter o f mental abnormality with much care. (B y abnormality is meant either (a) https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 18 TH E PRACTICAL VALUE OF mental defect or (5) mental aberration; that is, psychosis, insanity, or severe psychopathic conditions.) In two Chicago series, each of 1,000 young repeated offenders, only about 67 per cent and 75 per cent, respectively, could be diagnosed as clearly normal.5 O f the abnormal, the larger proportion consisted o f mental defectives; a much smaller number represented cases o f mental disease. Dr. Bronner6 surveyed 500 delinquents as they came into the Juvenile Detention Home, including first offenders, and found that very prob ably 9 per cent o f these were defective to the degree o f feeble mindedness. Recently the Judge Baker Foundation has been doing much more intensive work and in a series o f 1,000 young repeated offenders in Boston percentages are found quite similar to those of the Chicago series—the defectives form 22 per cent, among these the clearly feeble-minded who should undoubtedly be educated and pro tected in a suitable institution being 12 per cent o f the whole num ber; the aberrational cases were about 2 per cent. Since the most widely recognized grading o f “ general intelli gence ” at the present time is according to the Stanford revision of the Binet-Simon age-level scale (imperfect though we readily ac knowledge this to be), it may be worth while giving a graph o f our findings according to this scale o f mental tests. But it must be em phasized that for practical diagnosis there is much else o f value for which other tests should be given to delinquents— getting an “ intelli gence quotient” forms only one part o f a good schedule in testing. And, then, tests themselves do not form the sole criterion o f diagnosis. From the accompanying chart it is readily seen that if, as usually reckoned, all having an I. Q. below 70 are pretty surely feeble-minded, then 7 per cent o f the total number belong in that category. But at the other end o f the scale we find that no less than 8 per cent— those above 110-1. Q.— are supernormal. T o be sure, some o f the 16 per cent falling between 70 and 80 I. Q. would be classed by us as defective to the degree o f feeble-mindedness, but there is all along the line a great need for interpretation according to language and school advantages and our final groupings do not at all necessarily coincide with the I. Q. classifications. However, these figures and the chart serve to bring out clearly the main point, namely, the astonishingly wide range o f mental ability which delinquents present— some o f them ranking twice and more than twice as capable as others. The implications o f these great differences, and indeed o f lesser varia tions, should be very clear in the endeavor to bring about adjust ments so that their behavior tendencies will approach normal. 5 For detailed figures see “ Youthful Offenders: A Comparative Study of Two Groups, Each of 1,000 Young Recidivists,” William Healy and Augusta F. Bronner. Proceedings of the Second Pan American Scientific Congress, Washington, January, 1916, or American Journal of Sociology, July, 1916. 8 Journal of American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, November, 1914. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF JU VEN ILE DELINQUENTS. IQ 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 PERCENTAGES OF 1212 JU V E N IL E REPEATED O FFENDERS D IS TR IB U TE D ACCO RDING TO “ IN T E LL IG E N C E Q U O T IE N T ” M EASURED BY T H E https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STA N FO R D R E VIS IO N OF T H E Bi NET-SI M O N A G E -LE V EL SCALE. 20 THE P R AC T IC A L V A L U E OF The striking fact brought out by these and other studies o f the mental capacities o f series of delinquents is that a much larger pro portion o f mental defectives is to be found among delinquents as they appear in court than in the ordinary population, perhaps ten times as many.7 And this, o f course, is highly significant. But since it is well known that some individuals o f very limited mentality maintain themselves in the world without misbehavior and, indeed, sometimes show very good character traits, from the mere fact o f deficient men tality the outcome in behavior can not be predicted. In other words, even a defective individual can not be considered apart from any special capacities which he may have, such as special abilities in mental powers or assets o f personality, or apart from formative ex periences and the influences o f his given environment. This is mentioned particularly because o f the great emphasis that lately has been placed on findings on test of “ mentality.” Too fre quently mental ages or “ Intelligence Quotients ” are cited as if these offered a complete guide to prognosis and treatment, and answered exactly the problem o f responsibility o f the individual. A little re flection upon the fact that individuals mentally normal, some even very bright, are misdoers for reasons quite apart from matters o f mental capacity and that many feeble-minded people live decently and do their work in the world very well, should indicate how neces sary it is to cultivate knowledge concerning causations o f delinquency and discrimination in rendering judgments which prescribe some form of treatment. PECU LIAR PERSO NALITIES. Scientific studies o f delinquents mainly began with the extreme variations from the normal— deep mental defects and the insanities. (Many other branches o f science have started from investigations o f “ strange cases.” ) But frank cases o f mental disorder may be left out o f discussion here because of their obvious implications. How ever, there are peculiar personalities that vary much less from nor mality ; knowledge o f their characteristics and their special needs has been advancing. In such instances often nothing less than a very careful study will show the facts necessary for a workable diagnosis and for a satisfactory outline of what treatment is necessary. In a scheme for exhibiting merely certain practical findings and outcomes in two typical peculiar-personality cases the careers o f A 7 Perhaps the reader has noted the great variations in stated percentages of mental defectives among delinquents, as given by different investigators. The main cause of this is that examiners have neglected to call attention to the fact that special groups are highly selected— delinquents in institutions are almost entirely those who have failed on probation, and, of course, have more defectives among them. This selection is itself from an already selected group; even delinquents as seen in court are merely the offenders who have been caught. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis S C IE N T IF IC S T U D Y OF J U V E N IL E 21 D E L IN Q U E N T S . and B may be compared. These are young fellows who had many similarities in personality and needs—needs which showed clearly from a common-sense standpoint as soon as the facts were pictured with anything like completeness. A. B. SUCCESS. F AILU RE . Special treatment on probation following scientific study. During 5 y ears; court appearances— fined, probation; placed o u t; 2 correc tional institutions. Then for first time studied. S IM IL A R IT IE S . ' '•* (a ) Delinquencies. Mischievous, destructive. Much violent temper. Carrying weapons. Immorality with girls. Burglaries — m ajor; repeated, semi-professional. . ; ........ >. \ : .• (&) Personality traits. Much physical strength and activity. Impetuous, rough. Unusual love o f excitement. Great chafing at restraint. “ Ungovernable ” temper. Gregarious. Attractive to girls and boys. (c ) Mentality. Normal by tests. (d ) Background. Poor fam ily life. Gang companionship under city conditions, etc. (e ) Needs. Rough, life. active, adventuresome TREATM EN T. A. B. A fter very serious delinquencies, pro bation officer tried to understand, but no specific adjustment carried out. Delinquencies continued. Court con sidered him too bad for juvenile cor rectional institution— asked for study A fter a year of hit-or-miss ordinary probation, was committed. From in stitution ran away six times. Then sent to “ The Island.” W hen recover ing from an injury swam away. En listed in Navy but parents interfered. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 22 T H E P R A C T IC A L V A L U E OF A — Continued. B— Continued. and advice. Treatment recommended: Free, rough life in western mountains. Carried out. Immediate success in good conduct and continued now for two years. Delinquency again. Recently studied after these five years of poorly di rected effort. Recommendations not considered feasible because of further delinquency. Committed to another in stitution. Soon escaped. Worked on boats satisfactorily, but apprehended and sent back to serve out commit ment. Eaeh o f these boys with their “ nervous ’’ tendencies and tempestu ous careers might have been called “ psychopathic,” as is the fashion of to-day if behavior persistently does not conform to the required group standards. But such mere appellation gives no clue to possible adjustments. As in many cases, the undesirable behavior tendencies were not shown under all conditions. B had done fairly in school and had a normal record in the N avy; the heat o f the engine room, how ever, he found too much for him. Not a word o f suggestion about A ’s being abnormal in mind or behavior ever developed after he got into the life suited to him. And concerning causations, in both cases the behavior might have been “ explained ” by “ crime movies,” by cigarettes, by detective stories, in accordance with any pet theory held, but such superficial explanations would have offered no real picture o f either ease and would have given no clue to adjustments which were most desirable and economical. ELEMENTS OF MENTAL LIFE RELATED TO DELINQUENCY. An enumeration o f the main categories o f qualities and elements o f mental life that in practical studies of delinquents have been found to have to do with conduct may be valuable here, perhaps, for ref erence. It is not to be supposed that all of these categories can be suc cessfully inquired into by anybody except some one with interest and training in these matters and with sufficient time, which usually is well within feasible limits. But thoughtful consideration o f these classes o f facts will serve to enrich the knowledge and aid the every day judgments o f any who wish to deal understandingly with de linquents. There are— (1) The problem o f mental capacities in terms o f standardized norms as far as these have been established. This should mean mental capacities not only estimated as so-called “ general intelligence ” according to some age-level scales o f a special limited group o f tests, such as the Binet system and its modifications, but also as measured by the performance on other tests which indicate special abilities or disabilities, many o f which are most https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF JU V EN ILE D E L IN Q U E N T S . 23 important for success or failure in school or vocation or other social adjustment. The interpretation o f test findings is a difficult matter; it demands training and experience. (2) Then there is the problem o f mental balance. This runs all the way from such constitutional states as hyperexcitability, or from temporary states o f lack o f self-control, such as are ex hibited oftentimes following chorea or as adolescent phenomena, to the chronic psychopathic conditions and to out-and-out in sanity or psychosis. (3) Certain dynamic qualities o f mental life, such as states o f temporary or constitutional lethargy and laziness, as contrasted to alertness and forcefulness, etc. One is concerned here with the problems of the extent to which the individual uses the ca pacities with which he is endowed. Even feeble-minded per sons may be energetic mentally and, o f course, many a normal person is lazy in the use o f his talents. (4) The qualities o f mental life which are subsumed under the head o f personality characteristics. These are many, form ing long lists as developed by special students of the subject. Bearing particularly on delinquency are such traits as love of adventure, egocentrism, revengefulness, stubbornness, rebellious ness, etc. But the good character traits, such as loyalty, gener osity, kindliness, responsiveness, etc., must not be overlooked. They are equally important for prognosis and for determin ing the value o f the expenditure o f effort in social treatment. (5) Certain traits and trends as related to characteristics o f the individuals group are sometimes important for the produc tion o f delinquency. Does he show special reaction tendencies, not in themselves abnormal, perhaps even in connection with his ambitions, which cause him to fail to adjust so markedly in his immediate circle, in his family or school life, that misconduct results ? (6) O f immense significance frequently for the student o f delinquency is the mental content—ideation or imagery. Just what comes into the offender’s mind that tends to result in de linquency ? Sometimes, certainly, the urge is from within. What is there forming the substance of his conscious thought or o f his mental pictures, often so intimately related to his delinquency? Is it something that he remembers as having seen or heard or read or imagined? In considering this aspect o f mental life, however, one must also be on the lookout for definite mental vacuity, lack o f healthy mental content, absence o f ideas and normal mental interests. This is a striking finding in some individuals, accounting for the ease with which bad influences slide in and take hold. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 24 TH E PRACTICAL VALUE OF (7) Some experiences, from without or even internal, which have been peculiarly fixed in the mind by accompanying emo tional states and which are repressed can subconsciously become actuating forces o f conduct. This matter o f mental experiences plus repressions is worthy o f much attention in many cases show ing the most persistent trends toward delinquency. It is especially o f importance because the discovery o f this specific cause o f misconduct may often be the means o f a quick checking o f the misbehavior or, at least, may be the basis o f an effectual reeducative process. (8) The fact and force o f mental habit should never be lost sight o f either in considering the main causes o f repeated de linquency or in thinking of what to do in working fo r the de linquent’s reformation. Whether tendencies are deep-set in the sense o f being habitual is a matter o f great importance in the outlook. (9) General mental attitudes, such as grudge form ations against individuals or groups or against society as a whole, or intense dissatisfactions, may be most important to unearth for the understanding o f conduct. O f course, peculiar mental atti tudes may be largely dependent on personality characteristics, but they may be induced by special environmental conditions and maladjustments, and particularly by the hidden experiences and sore spots spoken o f in the preceding paragraph. A t any rate, such attitudes and their causes badly need recognition in order that there may be appropriate prescription o f mental and social therapy. (10) The mental impulsions which in rare cases make for de linquency in a powerful way should also be a subject for skillful interpretation. Impulses toward wrongdoing sometimes amount to out-and-out obessions, with recurrent ideation or imagery, which the individual may sometimes be able to fight off and sometimes not. In other cases the ideation or impulse arises only in the face o f a given situation, usually a special chance or opportunity for the given kind o f delinquency toward which the individual has impulsions. Frequently the genesis o f the impulse can be traced, and the value o f doing so is proved by the change in conduct which so often occurs. MENTAL LIFE SPE CIFIC ALLY RELATED TO DELIN QUENCY. Just because it is mental life which always stands directly back o f conduct, and because nothing in the outer world makes for mis conduct unless it influences the mind first, just because o f this https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis S C IE N T IF IC S T U D Y OF J U V E N IL E D E L IN Q U E N T S . 25 sequence established in the very nature o f things, we may theoreti cally expect to find, and we actually do find, our best diagnoses in any instance o f delinquency arising from consideration o f the situa tion in terms o f the outline o f mental life given above. Here is the make-up o f the individual and here are the directly dynamic elements. Knowing these, a much fairer estimate o f the outside factors may be made, as they really are influences and as they have to be thought o f for adjustments. This is much more valid than generalizing about bad influences o f one sort or another. As a matter o f fact, many o f the external conditions absolutely necessary to be altered for a successful outcome are only to be known as true causations through sympathetic inquiry into the mental life. Hundreds o f illustrations might be given o f the general value o f this approach (indeed, all the cases cited bear on this point). In many instances the really enlightening information -first comes through learning what the individual has in his mind that steers him toward de linquency. The following case brings out the point that the 44mental insides ” o f a delinquent may give the first clue to the causative forces at work affecting him. A boy o f almost 12 years, B illy S., has been stealing for three years, very repeatedly and from various sources, a couple o f times rather considerable amounts. Recently he stayed away from home several times, once as long as five days. H is father joined in the court complaint against him. On ex amination the boy proved to be normal physically and mentally, although somewhat retarded in school work. From school and from home we received reports that he was unusually reserved. Now, viewing the facts as they were obtained from the several sources, one might offhand have explained this delinquency as “ bad inheritance,” if one’s pet theory were centered on heredity, for even a little investigation showed a record o f considerable family misbehavior. B ut then one might also have picked out poor recreational advantages or immoral neighborhood influences. As the result o f the ordinary investigation, the home, however, was considered good; to be sure, the mother was dead, but a houskeeper, evidently competent, kept the house neat and clean ; the father earned well and wTas good to the children. Following the report of the boy’s extreme reserve, even at home where his father was kind to him, we felt the necessity of an approach which would dig up the foundation of this mental and social reaction, not normal at all in such a degree. A chance for the boy to talk quietly and an inquiry conducted with patience first brought out the fact that there had been a companion, Dick, who had been the earliest influence in development o f the idea of steal ing. But the crux of the affair appeared with the revelation of unsuspected facts. Suddenly, as if to lay bare the heart of his trouble, he blurted out, “ I go away because I don’t like to stay th ere; it’s no good; he’s not married to her. Dick told me about these things.” W h a t this boy revealed was verified (curiously enough in this case with the help o f the father himself, who did not conceive that his own liaison could have anything to do with his son’s types o f misconduct). https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 26 T H E P R A C T IC A L V A L U E OF I f the situation had not come out, unfortunate ideation, repression, and delinquent reactions to the inner mental life undoubtedly would have gone on to most undesirable habit formation. It was clear that reconstructive measures were needed in a complex situation that was not at all brought to light during the inquiry in court. THE MANY FACTORS IM PLICATED. Perhaps enough has been said above to indicate that scientific study o f delinquents can not possibly leave out of account the forces or the negative elements in the individual’s experiences and environ mental life which in any ascertainable measure have tended toward the production o f his delinquency. No careful evaluation of causes or o f the outlook can afford to neglect any o f the possible factors such as companionship, street life, poor parental understanding and control, vicious example in the home, special temptations that are offered through unfortunate recreations and occupations. But, as before stated, many o f these are only to be recognized as actual per nicious forces through discovering their specific effect upon the individual, upon his mental life, m odifying his ideas and impulses in the direction o f delinquency. Not only the varying nature o f the data necessary for explanation o f the delinquency but also practical outcomes as related to causation could be given in many illustrations. Often greater changes in be havior could be obtained if other and better avenues for treatment were open, i f in public and private institutions and under estab lished routines o f endeavor with delinquents there were cultivation o f an understanding o f the scientific facts implicated in. each case. But even with things as they are, greater accomplishment is possible in any jurisdiction dealing with juvenile delinquency. The way to get better resources for treatment is to know causes and show the value o f meeting causes. Cessation o f the delinquency is the desideratum, not the scientific facts in and for themselves; the aim is to cure. W ith this in mind one must balance carefully what is causative and alterable in the en vironment and what is not, and what is causative and possible to in fluence in the inner mental life and what is not. A n admixture o f factors is the rule, and in considering adjustment o f the case the whole picture properly is to be contemplated. A few diagrammatic illustrations o f pictures sketched after careful study o f cases as they run in a day’s work are here given. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis S C IE N T IF IC S T U D Y OF J U V E N IL E D E L IN Q U E N T S . 27 Causative. Personality characteristics: Boy, age 16$. Unmanly, pleasure loving, etc. Adolescence (perhaps). Bad companions in excess. Parental indulgence and lack of supervision (very marked). Undesirable occupations. Physical. Truancy earlier. Good conditions, exOut late nights. cept teeth and asLoafing. tigmatism. Gambling. Larceny. „ Mental. Good ability. Weak character traits. Causative. Mentality. Lack of parental control, ignorance. Home conditions: Poverty, crowded. Bad companions. Truancy. Much sleeping away from home. Causative. Adolescent impulse. Companionship affair. Poor parental standards. Shoplifting on one occasion. Boy, age 15. Physical. Poor development. Vision, teeth, tonsils. Mental. Moron. Pleasant, persistent worker. Girl, age 15$. Physical. Normal. Mental. Good ability. Superficial. # Causative. B oy, age 15. Neurotic make-up. Adolescent accentuation of irritability; changeableness, etc. Habits: Smoking, tea, coffee in excess. Bad sex habits. Physical. Beading— many detective stories. Normal development. Bad companions recently. Defective vision. Signs of nervous instaEarlier truancy. bility. Loafing. Runaway. Burglary. Larceny. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis ,, . , Memai. Good ability. Lazy, stubborn, un truthful. 28 THE P R ACTICA L V A L U E OF EXAM PLES OF SUMMARIES OF CASES. In the endeavor to get the case clearly in mind for ourselves and for the judge who refers it (or for the parents or agencies who in not a few instances are the first ones to bring in even severe problems in delinquency), we are accustomed in conference to develop a summary o f our findings. This is done after the separate studies are ready to be put together. O f course, such summaries differ greatly in com plexity and length as written up for use. Examples read as follow s: SUMMARY. (Not for public files.) 1001. Joe Doe. Age 13-5. November 21, 1920. P hysical: Very poor general development. Poor nutrition and strength, but upright attitude. Responsive expression, rather strong features. Enuresis. M ental: Grades as supernormal on age-level tests. W orks very well with concrete material. Good in learning ability, especially for ideas. Somewhat retarded in school, but no disability for any type o f school work. Comparatively poorer in apperceptions. Very friendly. W ith us interested in mental tasks and works well. Reported very repressed and quiet at home. Delinquencies: Excessive petty stealing from home. Much sleeping away from home during the last three years. Earlier frequent truancy. Background: (a ) Heredity : Father decidedly bad-tempered and mother nerv ous and irritable. Families otherwise reported negative, (b ) Developmental: Scarlet fever severely at 3 years. Enuresis began at 8 years and continued, (c ) Home conditions: Poorly kept; mother away much in store with father. Frequent quarreling and bad temper in the home. Decidedly irregular living conditions— fam ily absorbed in getting ahead, (d ) H a b its: Tea and coffee in excess. Sex habits. Smoking. Direct causation: (1 ) Neighborhood companions with whom he began steal ing and from whom he received early (2 ) bad sex knowledge. On the basis o f this there has arisen a definite (3 ) mental conflict. Boy gives a very clear account o f this and of his ideation— sex words associated with thoughts about stealing. (4 ) Unintelligent home control and discipline. Much afraid o f his harsh father. (5 ) Earlier school dissatisfaction due to the boy’s great dislike of a certain teacher. Outlook: Clear that this boy has many needs and that conditions under which he has been living are extremely unfortunate. H is fam ily has taken a strong attitude against him without knowing anything about the experiences he has had or the causes back o f his behavior. They have not made the least attempt to live in better neighborhoods, though they know the boy has associated with bad companions. Unlikely that he can make good under present fam ily condi tions and in the neighborhood where he has had so many bad experiences. Should be placed in another home and receive aid in overcoming his sex habits, then his enuresis may cease. Altogether he should improve much after this exploration of his conflict if he has any sort of chance to build up other and better ideas and mental interests. Could well be pushed ahead in school. He naturally has good reading interests and is interested in boys’ clubs. For general upbuilding should recommend good country home, stopping smoking, https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF JU V EN ILE DELINQUENTS. 29 and should not be allowed tea and coffee. H is native ability and many good traits ought to make it possible to succeed with him. W e should receive fre quent reports and advise about details as necessary. SUM M ARY. (N ot for public files.) 1002. Jane Doe. Age, 16. August 2,1920. Physical: Good development and nutrition. Some complaint of headaches. Slight signs of nervousness. Several badly carious teeth. Attractive appear ance, with mixture of childishness and maturity. M ental: Very good general ability. Unusually good rote memory powers and learning ability. Fairly good school work. Quick reactions in all ways. Motor control extremely good. Pleasant, responsive, frank, but not introspective; happy disposition with not much feeling o f responsibility. Very strange con trast between the paucity o f her mental interests and mental content and her decidedly good mental ability. Delinquencies: For some months stealing goods from employers. Background: (a ) H eredity: Father and his fam ily, negative. Mother, abnor mal mentally, readily confused, intensely religious, incompetent. (S iblin gs: Older sister earlier immoral.) (b ) Development: sickly pregnancy. Chil dren’s diseases. Otherwise negative, (c) Home conditions: Father much away from home, mother as above, no normal companionship in family. D irect causation: (1 ) Bad companions; professional thieves, accidentally met. (2 ) Lack o f good parental understanding, sympathy, and control. (3 ) No good mental interests o f any sort in the home or elsewhere. (4 ) Mental characteristics as above, particularly her mental vacuity; undoubtedly also q, factor in her getting mixed up with the bad crowd. Outlook: W ith definite constructive measures outlook would seem to be de cidedly good. Needs much chance for confidential friendship, and her good abilities demand much in the way of education and development o f normal mental interests. Doubt whether it is possible for her to succeed at home with this weak, aberrational mother. The suggestion from her relatives that she be sent to an academy seems excellent. Little doubt that if she came in con tact with some good personality her own better possibilities could be awakened. It is remarkable that she has been able to keep so free from sex affairs, con sidering her companionship. On account o f headaches specialist should ex amine eyes for astigmatism. Teeth need attention. It may be that just the above form o f summary is not necessary (we have altered our method several times), but its sequence is logical: There is the individual (a) physically and (b ) mentally (in cluding personality and character traits) and this ( c) is what he has done that brings him to our notice; ( d) here are the main back grounds o f his life as we can know them by inquiry and (e ) suchand-such appear to be the definite elements o f causation. Putting together all the above, the ( / ) outlook and recommendations are to be stated. I f anything is to be omitted it is the elements o f the background that are not presumably causative. In skillfully prescribing treat https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 30 THE P R A C T IC A L V A L U E OF ment for delinquency the delinquents make-up o f body, mind, and character, and the causes o f his delinquent trends are never to be left out o f consideration. GREATEST NEEDS OF JUVENILE COURT. The very greatest needs o f juvenile courts are those things which make for practical success in the job at hand— alteration o f conduct tendencies. I f not striving for the best accomplishment, for what is the court existing ? The first step toward measuring success and failure in the juvenile court can be made only by taking scientific account of the human material treated and the causes o f delinquency as specifically met with. The next step is the relating o f this scientific knowledge to outcomes. I f the expense deters from undertaking scientific study, consider what $20 or $30 spent in diagnosis, in carefully calculating what ought to be done, amounts to in the light o f the heavy cost of a failure, namely, a delinquent career; or the hundreds of dollars that institutional treatment will mean; or what months o f poorly directed effort in probation will entail. I f it is alleged that lack o f time prevents, let us state that usually a satisfactory study can be made in a few hours o f well-organized work (with the aid, of course, o f the ordinary official reports and with special appointments made).8 With a staff equipped to obtain the social and other background facts and to make the physical and psychological investigations at the same time, a well-rounded study can be made in a comparatively short period. And what are three, four, five, or even more hours spent on this important task o f attempt ing to find the right direction in which to work, in comparison with months and perhaps years o f possibly poorly guided endeavor, whether the child is on probation or in an institution ? Or consider the possible value of such diagnostic effort as against no endeavor at all to strike at any real source o f trouble, because such source was not known to exist. I f lack o f supply o f scientific students o f delinquency deters, then more good workers must be trained in this field— as they have to be trained for any other technical undertaking. First and last, it can be said about this whole matter o f the scien tific study o f delinquents that as it stands now the juvenile court for 8 It may be of interest to state that our experience is proving the practicability o f studying the majority of delinquents in an office in a building apart from the court, without provision for observational or other detention. The advantages are mainly the creating of a good attitude on the part of the delinquent and his family and the avoid ance of the moral dangers of detention. If, as is occasionally necessary, cases have to be seen over and over they can return in the spirit that one continues consultations in the office of a physician. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF JU VEN ILE DELINQUENTS. 31 the most part is in a very uncritical stage. The effectiveness o f its measures, to say nothing o f its possibilities, are very little gauged. The juvenile court, so far, is a fine-spirited adventure, perhaps car ried out in a high-minded and sympathetic way, but with no ledger worthy o f the name for balancing expenditures o f effort over against success and failure. The scientific spirit introduced into the juvenile court will ennoble the whole procedure; it will make the work more intelligent, more calculable; it will aid sympathy to be more productive o f good results. o https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis