Kate Friedlander - A Psycho-Analytical Approach to Juvenile Delinquency

THE PSYCHO-ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

THE SOCIOLOGY OF YOUTH AND ADOLESCENCE

In 12 Volumes

THE PSYCHO-ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Theory: Case-Studies: Treatment

by
KATE FRIEDLANDER

First published in 1947
by Routledge

Reprinted in 1998, 2000, 2002
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Transferred to Digital Printing 2007

1947 Kate Friedlander

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library

The Psychoanalytical Approach to Juvenile Delinquency
ISBN 0-415-17668-9
The Sociology of Youth and Adolescence: 12 Volumes
ISBN 0-415-17828-2
The International Library of Sociology: 274 Volumes
ISBN 0-415-17838-X

Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent

CHAP.

TABLE OF CASES

PART I
THE DEVELOPMENT TOWARDS SOCIAL ADAPTATION

PART II
THE FAILURE OF SOCIAL ADAPTATION

PART III
TREATMENT

TABLE OF CASES

The actions of delinquents are harmful to community life. Law-abiding citizens, being conscious of their better social attitude, feel justified in condemning the behaviour of the offender and pressing for his punishment. They rationalize their attitude on the ground that they themselves undergo frustrations for the sake of the community, whereas the delinquent gratifies his desires to the discomfort of his fellow-citizens. They overlook the fact that for them life is much more satisfactory if they obey the laws of the community and that in the long run the delinquent himself suffers by his antisocial behaviour much more than society. Furthermore, they probably do not know that delinquency is a disease of society, just as cancer, for instance, is a disease of the individual.

During recent decades the problem of delinquency has been approached scientifically from various angles. It has been considered as a social problem, as a penological and criminological problem andfrom the point of view of the individual offender as a psychological problem.

More progress might have been made in modifying public opinion if the various sciences engaged in studying delinquency had co-ordinated their lines of investigation. The psychological approach, for instance, is in disfavour with some workers, who argue that the psychology of the individual does not explain the social implications of delinquency. That may be so, but without an understanding and a detailed knowledge of the individual's problems sociological research cannot proceed satisfactorily.

This book is an attempt to show which problems in the vast field of research in delinquency can be solved by psychoanalysis ; and in what way sociological and criminological research workers can make use of psycho-analytical findings in order to further their own investigations. I do not wish to convey the impression that psycho-analysis can do more than explain certain manifestations of delinquency. This field of research is one which by its very nature needs the co-operation of sociology, criminology, penology and psychology (including psychiatry) if it is to achieve valuable results.

April 1945.

The Criminal Justice Bill (5) which was before Parliament at the outbreak of the Second World War was an indication that the end aimed at by modern methods of dealing with delinquents and criminals is now definitely recognized to be the re-education and rehabilitation of the offender. This is shown by the extension of probation as a form of treatment for delinquency and by the emphasis laid on the provision of hostels and remand homes of various kinds, as well as of centres of observation. Since the beginning of this century, research in the field of criminology, penology, sociology, psychology and psychiatry has furnished the scientific facts which have led to the modification of the criminal law.

The question arises whether this modification of the law, though it provides many more facilities for treatment, especially of the juvenile offender, will be sufficient in itself to guarantee the best use of the available methods. In other words, has public opinion advanced enough to allow full use to be made of modern methods of treatment? A few facts will show that it was not the law alone which stood in the way of a more scientific approach to the handling of delinquents during recent decades, nor is it so to-day.

Mannheim (17) analyses those tendencies which seem to him to work in a direction entirely opposed to the re-education and individual treatment of offenders. In the economic field it is the principle of less eligibility which blocks the way to reform. At every stage of the development of better penological methods, for instancewhether these methods consisted in better diet in prisons, a wage system, vocational training, or after-care for Borstal boysit could be observed that large sections of the public were opposed to their introduction, generally on the ground that better conditions for prisoners would put them above the poorest classes of the population and would therefore constitute a definite incitement to crime. In the social field, the stigma attached to various kinds of punishment shows that at bottom the idea of retribution and vengeance is still active in the mind of the public and of the authorities. Mannheim (17, p. 59) states that Even now, during the debates on the Criminal Justice Bill, it is becoming increasingly obvious that this old idea (principle of less eligibility) still represents the most formidable obstacle in the way of Penal Reform.