Book Review: Are Findings Keepings?
| DOI | 10.1177/026455055300602309 |
| Author | R.J.D. |
| Published date | 01 October 1953 |
| Date | 01 October 1953 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
BOOK
REVII:WS
(Continued)
and
skill, would be obviated by
better
training
of
wardens
in
individual
psychology, as
suggested
by
John
Spencer,
as well as in
group
relationships.
The
probation
officer
and
the
warden
might
then
deal
with
the
cases
under
their
care
without
calling on
the
aid of
the
psychiatric
clinic.
Section two of
the
paper
I find to be
disappointing.
To
the
probation
officer who
has
used
hostels
to
any
extent
there
will- be
nothing
new
to
learn.
The
indications
for
successful
placement
or
contra-indications
are
in
the
main
conclusions
which
every
probation
officer
must
reach.
It
is
quite
obvious in
reading
this
section
that
there
has
been
adeplorable
lack
of
care
in placing cases
in
hostels.
It
would
appear
that
where
clinical
treatment
is necessary
hostel
placement
is
unsound.
From
the
clinical
point
of view
one
would agree
with
Tadeusz
Grygier
that
the
greatest
weakness of
the
hostel
system
is a
strictly
limited
length
of
stay,
as
the
disturbed
adolescent
is
unable
to
achieve
enough
stabll1ty to
navi-
gate
on
his
own.
Bearing
in mind, however,
the
real
function
of
the
probation
hostel,
the
statutory
length
of
stay
should be of sufficient
duration
for
the
normal
case,
and
this
treatment
should
not
be used in
the
case of a
seriously
disturbed
adolescent, or in cases suffering
from
serious
mental
or
emotional
disorders.
This
pamphlet
has
brought. to
light
the
inherent
weak-
ness
in
the
system,
which
has
made
no
adequate
provision
for
the
case of
the
seriously
disturbed
adolescent,
unsult-
able for
hostel
treatment.
H.S.
Are
Findings
Keepings?
by
Claud
Mullins
(Frederick
Muller Ltd., lOs.
6<1'>.
Mr.
Claud
Mullins,
well-known
as a
London
magistrate.
has
become,
byway
of
radio
and
television, a
familiar
and
friendly
exponent
of
the
Law
in
terms
understand-
able by all. He
has
specialised in
putting
over to
children
a
normally
abstruse
subject
in a
way
that
suggests
a
benign
uncle
talking
to
nephews
and
nieces.
This
book is a collection of
his
radio
talks
written
mainly
for
young
people of 12
years
old
and
upwards.
It
covers some of Mr. Mullins' experiences in
the
London
courts, always a
rich
and
inexhaustible
source for
.. crime stories."
The
title
aptly
poses
the
question
which
will be
answered
in
the
affirmative by a
sub-
stantial
cross-section of
our
community.
We
know
too
well
that
the
war
years,
with
the
aftermath
of
restric-
tions
and
shortages,
created
an
attitude
of
scrounging
and
"winning"
which
was
not
regarded
as
immoral
or
anti-social.
Many
childrep
have
grown up in an
atmosphere
where
standards
of
honesty
are
based
on
these
concepts.
Mr. Mullins, in
writing
of
the
legal'
and
moral
results
of .. findings
are
keeplngs
"in
terms
which
should
be
easily
understood
and
assimilated
by
children
and
adults
of
average
intelligence, firmly
points
the
way
to
the
path
of
honesty.
It
is to be
hoped
that
his
book will
reach
children
who
have
misconceptions of
right
and
wrong.
His
radio
talks
doubtless
reach
a
larger
audience.
but
this
book
should
be in every
junior
public library, school
library
and
also in
probation
office libraries.
Mr. Mullins
has
for
long
been
acompelling
advocate
for
the
use of
probation,
as well as a
staunch
friend
and
ally of
probation
officers;
his
faith
in
the
system
and
its
officers is
apparent
from
the
stories
evolving
from
his
experiences.
This
book
readily
fulfils
its
purpose
ot
presenting
the
Law,
and
how
it
should be kept, in a
straightforward,
simple
and
interesting
manner.
It
is
hoped
that
as
many
parents
as
children
will
read
it. R.J.G.
Patterns
of Marriage, by Dr. Eliot
Slater
and
Miss Moya
Woodside (Cassell, 17s. 6d.).
This
book,
although
called ..
Patterns
of Marriage," is
at
its
best
a
study
of two
hundred
married
couples, one
hundred
of
the
husbands
being
admitted
to a
wartime
emergency
hospital
with
neurotic
disorders,
and
the
other
hundred
being
treated
in
the
same
hospital
for
everyday accidents.
The
survey was
done
during
war-
time,
and
it is influenced in
many
ways by
circumstances
which
have
now
altered
or
are
altering
rapidly. All
'the
people who were interviewed were
Ilvlng
separately;
most
of
the
women were living
with
relatives,
and
all
the
home
life
was
interrupted
by bombing. These,
and
many
other
factors, severely affected
the
inquiry.
The
authors
themselves
frequently
admit
to
the
many
deficiencies in
the
survey,
but
this
does
not
make
it
a
more
helpful
book-it
merely
tends
to
make
the
reader
feel
that
it would
have
been
better
to
keep
the
findings
in a report,
and
not
to go to
the
lengths
of publication.
There
are
some
worthwhile
sections in
the
book.
It
is
interesting
to
note
that,
despite all
the
shortcomings
in
the
group
selection,
the
flgures
arrived
at
coincide
with
earlier
surveys,
primarily
with
those
done
in
America.
In
the
chapter
on
the"
Neurotic in Marriage,"
which
is
the
prime
study
of
the
book,
the
authors
say
of
the
neurotic:
"On
every count. social
and
eugenic,
they
should
not
be
encouraged
to
have
children.
There
is no case for
parenthood,
or even for
marriage,
as a
remedy
for
malad-
justment."
Whatever
one's
views on
this
question, a
feeling is
left
when
reading
the
book
that
the
authors
did
not
have
sufficient reliable
data
in
their
findings to
justify
such
a
statement,
even
though
they
personally
may
have
held
that
view.
This
is
not
abook likely to be of
much
value or use to
probation
officers. S.R.
PROBATION
is the organ of the
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PROBATION
OFFICERS
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General Secretary Frank Dawtry
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