CURING CRIME BY PSYCHOLOGY

Northern Advocate, 27 December 1937, Page 8

CURING CRIME BY PSYCHOLOGY

A school for magistrates, the first of its kind, opened at the Tavistock Clinic, Bloomsbury, recently. J.P.’s from Central London and from Croydon, Southport and Huntingdonshire had signified their intention of attending. “The object of the course.” the “News Chronicle” was informed by a director of the Clinic, “is to open magistrates’ eyes to the necessity of understanding the psychology of crime. “Treatment afforded most criminals in the courts to-day is of the quack variety. “The usual pay a pound of take a week in prison is like the oldfashioned bottle of medicine—entirely useless.” Experts to Teach Them. Experts such as Dr. J. A. Hadfield, lecturer in mental hygiene, University of London; Drj Denis Carroll, codirector Institute for the Scientific Treatment of Delinquency; and Dr. Manuel Miller, senior physician of the Children’s Department of the Clinic, will be the instructors. They will explain the technique of unearthing the motives and causes underlying crime, and will show that many “criminals” are merely ordinary people suffering from gland disturbances, poisons in the system, mental conflicts, poverty, wrong training, unemployment or other conditions of environment. Motoring Offences, Too, “Even motoring offences should be dealt with psychologically,” said the “News Chronicle’s” informant. “All accident proneness is due to I such causes as an unconscious suicide [ wish, repressed aggression, inferiority j complex or other abnormal mental I condition.

‘The sure way to reduce the death toll of the roads is to investigate the real causes, not to impose fines.”

It is hoped If the school is successful, the Government will be induced to set up similar classes throughout the country.

All magistrates, it is believed, will in the near future be required to have a thorough training in the psychology of crime.

The immediate need if for a travelling panel of psychologists and psychiatrists who would the new service to courts which are outside the reach of experts.