YOUTHFUL CROOKS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5319, 29 August 1928, Page 3

YOUTHFUL CROOKS.

FROM GANG TO GAOL. DRASTIC REFORM URGED. Sydney’s crime wave invests, with peculiar interest the reforms urged by the Principal Medical Officer of the New Sduth \W.a.l'es Education; Department, Dr. Hanvey Sutton, involving briefly, a- complete re-organisa-tion of effort if medical a,nd psycho- / ’.logical investigation is ,to play its "T, part in the treatment of potential criminals. : Thatjthe' true criminal, as- distinct from-.-the amateur, “crook” who deviates temporarily from the straight t and narrow Path goes through a welldefined probationary process, from the street into the gang and then into, ga.ol, is the, opinion of leading medical men and psychologists. DRIVE TO ROOT OUT CRIME. Sydney educational authorities are of opinion that not only is lack of parental control a big factor, in, juvenile crime, but also -that the compulsory school age should be increaseu, as a moral priotectiqn a-nid to miidm'se the drift into- unskilled .a,nd dead-e,nd occupation's. Of IPI2 boys who were mentally tested in connection with the work of •thfe, Children’s Court, 23 per , cent. Were rhgay.ded as having an intelligence; Quotient of 100 or more'; 35.5 per cent., 90-100 ; oj- a total qf 55.5 rper cent, of normal intelligence ; 24.7 per. cent, gave, tip intelligence quotient 80-90 and were regarded a/S retarded ; 6.1 per cen,t., 75-80 ; 5.5 per cent., 70-75 ; 5.2 per cent., under. 70. It is considered that about 10 per cent., therefore, wer-e definitely or' probably -• feebleminded, and about 15 per, cent, suitable for educaton at a special school. WHAT TESTS REVEALED. In an, investigat'on of the problem at the end of last year Dr. Haryey Sutton had revealed to him a position which, he says, is applicable to-day, h and which bears out his, plea for. rais-. ing the compulsory school age, espe--7 cially in the ease of girls, to 16 years, ■itt order to control more- effectively the critical period of early adolescence. The compulsory school age in New South Wales to-day is from 7 years to 14 yeafts. Dr. Haryey Sutton discovered that at the end of primary school life a in boys, but in girls, the rise occurs ip, serious offences, and delinquency becomes proportionate more frequent in the older girls than in the older boys when, compared with the Incidence in the school ages. At the School ages onlv about 4 per cent, of delinquents at each age are girls involved 3 n serious charges whereas they form 28 pel cent- of serious charges at the a,go.® i of 15 and? 16. 1 bad companionship. i Progress is possible, says Dr. Hair vey Sutton, only by sav*ng, the boy or. girl from the, push’and bad comrpartionship. He found that of truants 8 pen cent, definitely fee.blemin-ded ; off delinquents, 5 per cent. Delinquents definitely and probably mentally defective equalled 10.6 per. cent., agid, including suspicious cases, the total ■suitable for education at a special ■ school was 17 per cent. The menta.l defective’s chance of -becoming- a delin.qutent, according to this authority, is pro.babl-y at least 12 time's that of the ordinary normal boy. This quota of mental defectives, ■he suggests, would best, be segregated in a special school for mental defeclives. Dr. Harvey Sutton sayfe that it is ' from the metropolis and the crowded ' city population rather, thap from the country and the residential that the main stream of truancy and delinquency flow? 3 along its potentially evil course in, later years. . TEAM WORK NEEDED. Dr. Harvey Sutton urges reform providing for the' case of every seji-i--ous delinquent among the youth of the community being investigated by a psychiatrist, psychologist, .apd ' a probation officer. The psychiatrist, for example, lie contends, would' be of value in making a .thorough physical estimate, 'especially of those defects knqwn .to have an i-iiffluence on educaUqnal progress and on health development, ~-such as nose and throat defects apd defectiv® hearing, those associated wi th mental instability, such as rickets, epilepsy, and encephalitis. Secondly, he would watch for anomalies of growth. Thirdly, he woiuld report on special clinical, types of mental behaviour, including various phases of sex aberration. Fourthly, Venereal disease, especially in girls, would be tested, if necessary. The diagnosis of feeblemin-dednese nnd the estimate of capacity for responsible conduct as possibly influ- ' enced by these various factors would, ’ he suggests, be'.the main idea of the collaboration of the psychiatrist and psychologist.