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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

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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.--------------- ---------------------------------

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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------------------------------------------------------------------------

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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----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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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

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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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 .

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

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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.

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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 .

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

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T H E P R A C T IC A L V A L U E

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

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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 .

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

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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-

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SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF JU V EN ILE DELINQUENTS.

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.

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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.

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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)

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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.

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IQ 50

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

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THE

P R AC T IC A L V A L U E

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.

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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.

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 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.

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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

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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.

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(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

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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).

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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.

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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.

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,, . ,
Memai.
Good ability.
Lazy, stubborn, un
truthful.

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,

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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
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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.

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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.

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