This is a description and critical account of the English system of care of youthful criminals. The discouraging results of American reformatory and correctional practices impel the authors to an inspection of the presumably more successful English methods. They compare these with the current American efforts at management and treatment of youthful offenders. Illustrative case histories, giving accounts of eight young criminals, some neglected, some successfully treated, are intended to show the scope of the problem and the range of the treatment efforts. Complete neglect in treatment is contrasted with the effects of a thoughtful plan of treatment, including psychotherapy.

Borstal is an English village which gives its name to the prison for boys, and to the system of training which is in use there. The Borstal idea dates back to 1894, when a Committee on Prisons called attention to the fact that large numbers of youth pass