GLUECK, SHELDON, and ELEANOR GLUECK. Unraveling Juvenile Deliquency. Pp. xv, 399. New York: The Commonwealth Fund, 1950. $5.00
| Author | Douglas H. Macneil |
| Published date | 01 March 1951 |
| Date | 01 March 1951 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000271625127400178 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
246
gathered from
educational,
sociological
and
social
work
sources.
Formerly
these
had
been
given
scant
attention.
The
Journal
starts
on
an
appropriate
scholastic
and
scientific
level.
It
intends
to
give
preference
to
papers
on
research
but
will
cover
each
of
three
conventional
fields
of
study-causes,
treatment,
and
pre-
vention.
Although
recent
changes
have
been
made
in
the
English
prison
system,
much
is
left
to
do,
and
the
Institute
hopes
to
be
instrumental
in
securing
further
improve-
ments.
The
present
number
consists
primarily
of
several
surveys
and
a
psychoanalytical
case
study.
The
paper
on
executions
in
the
United
States
presents
in
detail
facts
cover-
ing
eighteen
years-1930-1947.
The
large
number
of
executions
of
Negroes
in
the
South
is
brought
out-a
fact
not
so
well
known
in
England
as
in
this
country.
In
a
pessimistic
conclusion
the
author
main-
tains
that
we
are
making
no
progress
in
the
elimination
of
this
archaic
form
of
punish-
ment.
Wakefield
prison
in
England
was
studied
and
the
demographic
and
social
conditions
of
its
prisoners
analyzed.
Comparisons
were
also
made
with
the
Dartmoor
prison-
ers.
One
interesting
observation
was
the
statement
that
&dquo;undue
indulgence
is
a
much
more
sinister
factor
than
undue
severity.&dquo;
Other
conclusions
confirm
findings
both
in
England
and
the
United
States
in
respect
to
the
deleterious
effect
of
faulty
homes,
unfavorable
early
environment,
and
low
in-
telligence.
The
claim
that
criminality
and
neurosis
spring
from
the
same
source
but
operate
differently
is,
however,
a
more
novel
conclusion
and
should
await
further
study.
Short
sentences
of
less
than
four
years
are
suggested
as
best
for
both
treat-
ment
and
training
purposes.
&dquo;Dorothy-the
Psychoanalysis
of
a
Case
of
Stealing&dquo;
comprises
approximately
one-
third
of
the
volume.
This
girl
had
more
than
150
analytic
sessions.
The
reviewer
questions
the
desirability
of
an
unabridged
study
of
this
type
being
given
in
full
in
a
journal
that
should
circulate
in
many
fields
of
knowledge.
A
shorter
abstract
would
have
been
more
practicable
and less
open
to
criticism.
However,
in
spite
of
this
lengthy
discussion
of
the
case,
there
were
significant
omissions:
for
example,
the
con-
sideration
of
the
social
factors
that
cannot
escape
the
life
of
any
young
person
was
largely
neglected.
A
brief
study
of
press
clippings
as
cri-
teria
of
opinions
relating
to
causes
and
treatment
of
juvenile
delinquency
revealed
the
lamentable
ignorance
of
writers
and
editors,
many
of
whom
were
cocksure
that
they
knew
the
remedies
even
though
they
had
no
scientific
knowledge
and, were
ob-
livious
of
the
need
for
scientific
study.
Therefore
the
miseducation
imposed by
newspapers
becomes
a
serious
social
handi-
cap.
The
Journal
closes
with
a
series
of
book
reviews
and
of
abstracts
of
pertinent
ar-
ticles
and
social
studies.
The
editors
are
to
be
congratulated
on
the
quality
of
this
first
number.
Their
hopes
for
its
future
success
should
be
fully
realized.
GEORGE
B.
MANGOLD
University
of
Southern
California
GLUECK,
SHELDON,
and
ELEANOR
GLUECK.
Unraveling
Juvenile
Deliquency.
Pp.
xv,
399.
New
York:
The
Commonwealth
Fund,
1950.
$5.00.
For
more
than
ten
years,
Sheldon
and
Eleanor
Glueck
at
Harvard
University
have
been
engaged
on
an
inquiry
into
the
causes
of
crime.
This
book
is
the
first
of
a
series
of
publications
reporting
on
the
findings
of
this
inquiry. -
The
plan
of
the
inquiry
has
involved
a
comparative
analysis
of
the
backgrounds
and
characteristics
of
500
delinquent
boys
and
an
equal
number
of
nondelinquent
boys.
The
work
has
been
carried
on
at
four
&dquo;levels,&dquo;
to
use
the
Gluecks’
term.
The
first
level
is
the
sociocultural.
This
has
involved
a
sociological
evaluation
of
the
status
of
the
families
of
the
delinquent
and
nondelinquent
children,
and
of
the
status
of
the
children
in
their
homes,
at
school,
and
in
the
community.
The
second
level
is
the
somatic.
This
has
been
an
investigation
of
constitutional
types
and
physical
growth
factors
by
specialists
in
physical
anthropology
and
constitutional
medicine.
The
third
and
fourth
levels
are
the
intellectual
and
the
emotional-temper-
amental
which
have
been
oriented
in
terms
of
psychology
and
psychiatry
respectively.
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