Book Reviews : The Court and the Offender Eric Stockdale Gollancz. 32s
| DOI | 10.1177/026455056801400112 |
| Author | Frank Dawtry |
| Published date | 01 March 1968 |
| Date | 01 March 1968 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
25
the
authority
and
the
pros
and
cons
of
the
Enforced
Relationship,
that
she
is
more
obviously
on
our
’wave-length.
This
~is
a
thought-provoking
book,
from
which
students
will
learn
about
casework
in
general
and
probation
in
particular,
and
even
experienced
officers
will
benefi,t
from
reading
it,
with
a
critical,
rather
than
blotting
pamper,
mind.
P.
C.
BIBBY
The
Court
and
the
Offender
Eric
Stockdale
Gollancz.
32s.
At
one
time
it
was
a
fair
comment
that
our
courts
readily
passed
sentences
with-
out
any
attempt
to
understand
the
con-
sequences
of
their
actions,
~but
the
Lord
Chief
Justice
has
recently
instituted
sev-
eral
conferences
involving
judges,
recor-
ders,
magistrates,
prison
and
probation
officials
>to
discuss
sentencing
policies
and
the
methods
of
dealing
with
offen-
ders.
This
is
a
welcome
beginning
but
Eric
Stockdale
points
the
need
for
a
great
deal
more
exchange
of
both
know-
ledge
and
experience
between
the
legal
profession
and
the
practical
services
con-
cerned
with
the
treatment
of
crime.
He
cannot
be
dismissed
as
an
idle
theorist,
for
he
is
a
practising
barrister
who
has
taken
a
deep
interest
in
criminology
and
is
a
member
of
the
Council
of
I.S.T.D.
He
has
made
a
comprehensive
study
of
the
penal
systems
of
Holland,
Denmark
and
Sweden.
His
descriptions
of
these
in
this
,book
are
informative
and
his
discussion
challenging
even
if
a
slight
ai,r
of
patronage
slips
in
now
and
again.
He
avoids
the
all-too-common
mistake
of
visitors
who
think
everything
in
this
field
in
Scandinavia
is
marvellous,
but
nevertheless
he
makes
any
English
rea-
der
feel
aware
of the
shortcoming
of
the
penal
system
here,
and
the
sad
lack
of
collaboration
between
the
legal
and
the
penal
worlds.
He
thinks
there
could
not
only
be
collaboration
but
some
inter-
change
of
responsibilities
- for
instance
tha,t
a
probation
officer
.might
serve
a
period
as
a
prison
governor.
He
would
like
to
see
the
establishment
of
an
In-
stitute
of
Criminology
involving
all
who
are
concerned
with
any
aspect
of
the
-treatment
of
offenders,
with
a
High
Court
Judge
as
director
and
a
research
criminologist
as
deputy,
through
whi=h
the
judiciary
and
the
legal
profession
might
be
brought
closer
to
the
offender
and
the
institutions
which
try
to
cope
with
him.
It
is
a
well
written,
instructive
and
thoughtful
book.
FRANK
DAWTRY
Social
Work
and
Social
Values
Compiled
by
Dame
Eileen
Younghusband
Allen
&
Unwin
35s.
This
is
the
third
collection
of
reprinted
articles
from
both
sides
of
the
Atlantic
compile
by
Dame
Eileen
Younghusband
and
published
in
the
National
Institute
for
Social
Work
Training
Series.
Like
its
predecessors
it
offers
rich
material
for
the
practising
social
worker.
Some
of
the
authors
are
of
such
repute
that
a
short
list
of
names
should
in
itself
be
sufBcient
commendation
to
the
potential
reader.
In
particular
the
inclusion
of
Clare
Winnicot~t’s
classic
&dquo;Casework
and
Agency
Function&dquo;
must
be
welcomed
as
must
Florence
Hollis’s
&dquo;P.rincip’les
and
Assumptions
Underlying
Casework
P.rac-
tice&dquo;.
The
two
articles
with
most
direct
asp-
plication
to
probation
are
&dquo;Treatment
of
Character
Disorders:
A
Dilemma
for
Casework
Culture&dquo;
(Otto
Pollak)
and
&dquo;Ego
Deficiency
in
Delinquents&dquo;
(Hyman
Grossba’fd).
This
reviewer
would
not
commend
the
latter
to
any
but
the
most
critical
of
readers.
Tiresome
descriptions
of
&dquo;the
delinquent&dquo;
follow
lip-service
tao
the
advantages
of
classifying
delinquents
and
lead
on
to
that
substitute
for
diag-
nostic
thinking - a
panacea.
By
contrast
Polla~k’s
article
should
be
’widely
read
and
will
amply
repay
close
study.
He
brings
into
focus
a
difFerential
treatment
approach
which
Tecognises
&dquo;delving
into
the
past&dquo;
to
be
&dquo;contra-indicated
in
the
absence
of
an
adequately
developed
super-ego&dquo;.
For
such
clients
he
urges
long
’terom
nurturing
in
a
relationship
which
will
be
more
giving,
more
denying
wand
more
reaching-out
than
&dquo;conventi-
onal
therapy&dquo;.
Would
you
ag.ree
that
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