The incidence of delinquency amongst institutionalized persons (persons who had spent some time during their childhood in a residential home)

Abstract

"A child becomes a deprived child when deprived of certain essential features of home life. Some degree of what might be called the 'deprived complex' becomes mainfest. Antisocial behaviour will be mainfest at home or in a wider sphere. On account of the antisocial tendency the child may eventually need to be deemed maladjusted, and to receive treatment in a hostel for maladjusted children, or may be brought before the courts as beyond control. The child, now a delinquent, may then become a probationer under a court order, or may be sent to an approved school. If the home ceases to function in an important respect the child may be taken over ...... and be given 'care and protection'. ... Should these measures fail the young adult may be said to have become a psychopath and may be sent by the Courts to prison. There may be an established tendency to repeat crimes for which we use the term recidivism." This was the pattern that led to criminal behaviour, as depicted by D.W. Winnicott in his book "Deprivation and Delinquency". His work is based on his wartime experience with evacuated children who were deprived of their family and had to live in an institutional setup away from home. Here it is intended to take a look at this pattern. In the first chapter, an outline will be presented of what is meant by such terms as institutionalization and delinquency as employed in this dissertation. The link between deprivation and delinquency will be assessed in chapter two, where a look will be given at some studies conducted on the subject. During the course of conducting some research for this essay, two institutions were visited, namely St. Patrick's Salesian School and St. Angela House. The observations made during my visits are found in the third chapter of this study. Statistical data was collated to assess the relationship between delinquency and institutionalization in the local context. The results are included in chapter four. Chapters five and six focus on interviews conducted with six prisoners and probationers, and observations are made on the gathered data. In chapter seven, some recommendations are ventured. It is hoped that said recommendations may at least weaken the pattern outlined by D.W. Winnicott.