SUBNORMAL YOUTHS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 121, 12 August 1927, Page 8

SUBNORMAL YOUTHS

Sir, — It is most revolting to read of cases in our Courts of sub-normal, abnormal and morally-deficient people dragged up and punished severely as though they were highly responsible citizens. Some years ago a commission was set up and a report was published upon this question. But like the Venereal Disease Report, and many others of a similar nature, it was thrown to the discard, and the recommendations absoluteiy ignored by the authorities. The sentence on an unfortunate youth as reported yesterday was two years’ hard labour, three years’ reformative detention. In the name of common sense, why not the reformative detention first?

It is like a surgeon saying he will operate for appendicitis when the case develops into peritonitis. Then we read the suggestion that a sub-normal youth should be “disciplined.” How perfectly ridiculous. One might just as well talk of giving old Jamuna at the zoo a thrashing merely because she was born an elephant.

My opinion is that none of these unfortunate human derelicts should be dragged into court for punishment at all, which is as inhuman as it is ridiculous. Their cases should be handled only by the trained psychiatrist who is the only one fully qualified to take charge of them. It is only psychotherapy which can get at the root causes of abnormality, and effect a cure, if possible, in the individual case. But the present foolish methods of dealing with them are, I am sure, only such as to make them 10 times worse. And in the meantime the least one can ask is that any judge or magistrate called upon to deal with such cases should be versed at any rate in the elements of phycho-therapy. For these cases are really not legal at all and those charged are irresponsible mental derelicts. HUMANIST.