A Pilot Study in Follow-Up Work with Delinquent Girls

Abstract

One may accept a view of the delinquent child similar to that of A. E. Jones who speaks of "persistently unruly juveniles too young for Borstal for whom a new kind of institution, more drastic than the ordinary approved school, may be necessary". Or one may share the view suggested by Shaffer who says that, "the practical problems of the psychological practitioner have been greatly clarified by the concept that all behaviour, no matter how strange, has its motives. Only since the dynamic concept has entered psychology has much progress been made in the solution of adjustment difficulties." In other words he suggests that delinquent behaviour, as any other, is motivated and that it has its roots in a maladjusted personality; in which case the problem in dealing with delinquency ceases to be that of punishment and becomes that of attempting to reorientate and adjust the personality of the children concerned in such a way that the maladjustive behaviour is abandoned. The only valid way of measuring the success of the methods used in dealing with the problem in either case is by means of careful follow up studies. Sheldon & Eleanor Glueck who have carried out follow up studies with large numbers of cases over extended periods are most emphatic: "The significance of follow up studies of the results of peno correctional treatment need no longer be laboured. Not only do such researches furnish a gauge of the effectiveness of social institutions developed for coping with the problems of delinquency and crime, but they furnish an insight into the natural history of delinquents and criminals, into the changes in their behaviour with advancing years and under the impact of difficult environmental stimuli".