Forty-Four Juvenile Thieves: Their Characters and Home-Life (II)

From its earliest days psycho-analysis has emphasized the critical importance of the child's first few years. Despite this there has been relatively little systematic investigation of possible adverse factors in the young child's environment. The investigation reported here has sought to remedy this situation by enquiring into the early environment, and in particular that part of it comprised by the parents, of a number of habitual thieves. The result has been that certain specifically adverse circumstances have been identified and their significance demonstrated both statistically in the whole group and clinically in a few individual cases. The conclusion has been drawn that, had it not been for certain factors inimical to the healthy development of the capacity for object-love, certain children would not have become offenders. Conversely, and equally important, it may be concluded that the socially satisfactory behaviour of most adults is dependent on their having been brought up in circumstances, fortunately common, which have encouraged or at least permitted the satisfactory development of their capacity to make object-relationships. These findings thus not only confirm the general psycho-analytic thesis that it is the early years which count in character development, but demonstrate beyond doubt that the elucidation of the problem of juvenile delinquency is dependent upon psycho-analytic investigation. Nevertheless it would be foolish to suppose that psycho-analytic investigation alone, even extended to cover statistical enquiries of the kind reported here, would be sufficient. Though juvenile delinquency is to a great degree a psychological problem, it is also a problem of sociology and economics.

We must remember that the cases studied in this investigation are not a typical sample of Court cases. They are a highly selected sample, referred to a Child Guidance Clinic because they were specially difficult or because the child was obviously not emotionally normal. There are many other