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This volume contains an examination of the Borstal System of handling delinquent youths in England. It is named after Borstal Village where the experiment had its beginnings some forty years ago. By 1939 it had grown to include five walled Borstals (reconstructed prisons) and five open Borstals. It originally was designed for those between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one. The Borstal is run on the “House plan”. There are classification methods, individual attention, programs, and interviews. The period of training is for two indeterminate periods within four years. Matrons are used as part of the personnel. An attempt is made to have conditions resemble those of the outside world.
The training program consists of daily routine, academic training, trade training, a wage system, discipline, grades and privileges. Efforts are made to keep as much as possible contact with the home community. Parole periods vary and average two of the four years devoted to training. “An attempt at ‘psychological treatment of crime’ was begun in 1934.” It is said that features of the Borstal system are almost entirely absent from the procedures of the reformatories of the United States. “The Borstal figures show the largest measure of favorable results from reformative treatment that appear validly established anywhere.” The book goes into all of these factors in some detail. Anyone interested in the institutional handling of the delinquent youth will find much of interest in the volume.