498 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—L. 
II. Environmental factors.—Of these the conditions of the child’s own home — 
seem the most significant, the moral and emotional conditions being far more | 
important than the economic—lax discipline (for example) being far more serious 
than mere poverty. 
Ill. Physical factors.—Anything that weakens health, tends also to weaken — 
self-control ; anything that heightens irritability, tends also to increase liability _ 
to anti-social outbreaks. Conditions that lower social efficiency (e.g. poor 
physique) are commoner among delinquent boys; those that affect emotional — 
life (e.g. precocious physical development) are commoner among delinquent 
irls. 
; IV. Psychological factors.—These are the commonest and most powerful 
of all. Emotional conditions are more significant than intellectual; tempera- 
mental instability than mental deficiency. Psycho-analytic mechanisms are 
frequently enccuntered—repressed parental complexes being commoner than 
repressed sexual complexes. 
Dr. Gorpon.—The Disposal of the Delinquent Child.—The great problem 
in dealing with delinquents is what to do with them. Much has been written 
as to causes and nature of delinquency, but little progress made towards prac- 
tical treatment. Necessity of children’s courts presided over by magistrates 
with an appreciation of the child mind. The individuality of the delinquent. 
The necessity of punishment, but also of understanding causes so as to prevent 
occurrence of juvenile crime. Universal potentiality towards delinquency. 
Establishment and breakdown of control. Physical conditions leading to 
destruction of brain tissue. Lack of balance in development of the personality. 
Mental defects. Physical defects. Aberrant types of behaviour. Environ- 
mental conditions. Necessity for advisory institutes. The composition and 
training of the staff. The duties of the assistants. Social work. Mental 
testing and analysis of personality. Disposal of the delinquent. Single care. 
Special schools and training institutions. The type that must be punished. 
Dr. W. A. Porrs.—There are certain primitive instincts which cannot have 
free expression. Their development depends both on Nature and nurture. 
Civilised life demands that the child should learn to control or express them 
along healthy channels. If he fails he is a delinquent. It is so difficult even 
for the best endowed to adjust satisfactorily to modern town life that it may 
be said that a fundamental cause of delinquency is civilisation, remembering 
that the child is hungry for country life, and all the country connotes. 
So the delinquent receives treatment, not punishment. The necessary treat- 
ment can only be determined after thorough examination, physical and psycho- 
logical. The condition of the endocrine glands (thyroid, &c.) must not be 
overlooked, though conduct can seldom be explained in endocrine terms. 
The first step in psychological examination is evaluation of the mental 
capacity, and a decision whether the child comes under the Mental Deficiency 
Act. This simple solution occurs only in 3 to 5 per cent. even of delinquents 
who get into the hands of the police. 
Further examination will decide if the child is psycho-pathic, not over- 
looking delinquency as an epileptiform equivalent. The effect of life on the 
child may produce a mental conflict; this may be primarily in the child, or 
reflected from the parents, so that their attitude to life requires investigation. 
Hygiene and training, education and recreation must be considered. 
Special psychological conflicts of children must be deseribed in detail. To 
clarify the problem certain delinquent acts, such as truancy and stealing, 
must be discussed separately. 
Miss Crosstanp.—Some Social Problems of Delinquency.—(1) Home Office 
Report on the work of its Children’s Branch. (2) Administration of the 
Probation of Offenders Act as applied to children. (3) Probation work in 
London. (4) ‘Juvenile Courts Metropolis Act, 1920.’ (5) Probation officer’s 
duties. (6) Difficulties of probation work. Quotation from Home Office Report. 
(7) Some cases of difficult children. (8) Girls’ cases. (9) Problems arising out 
of overcrowding. (10) Housing question. 
8. Joint Meeting with Section E on Geography as a Basis of a 
General Science Course. 
