“EMOTIONALLY FLIGHTY”

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 14, 7 April 1927, Page 1

“EMOTIONALLY FLIGHTY”

WOMEN DELINQUENTS NEED FOR SYMPATHY THE BORSTAL REGULATIONS (From Our Resident Correspondent.') WELLINGTON, Wednesday. “The offender and not the offence is chief consideration in the treatment of women under the Borstal regulations.” So says Mr. B. L. Dallard, Control-ler-General of Prisons, who also points out that the aim of detention as carried out at Point Halswell was not punitive, . but essentially corrective, the object being to arrest criminal tendencies in the incipient stages. It had been observed by psychologists and students of criminology, Mr. Dallard said yesterday, that among young women one of the main causative factors in delinquency was emotional instability. The typical female offender was emotionally flighty. She had little power of self-control, and she exercised little reasoning or critical judgment. Her crimes were usually of an impulsive nature. In this connection there was ample scope for the tactful and sympathetic influences of women interested in social welfare. The aim was, by creation of new and wider interests, to counteract the repressive effect of institutional atmosphere by regular visits to the institutions, and giving friendly talks and advice to girls. However, teaching, training, humane treatment and kindly influences in an institution would avail little unless a helping hand were extended when an inmate was released. An organisation such as the Bors tal Association could organise throughout the Dominion and ensure that every girl discharged from the Borstal Institute would be allotted to the care of some person who would exercise kindly and tactful oversight.