Book Reviews : Young Men in Detention Centres Dunlop and McCabe Routledge and Kegan Paul 28s
| Author | David A. Fowler |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455056601200215 |
| Published date | 01 June 1966 |
| Date | 01 June 1966 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
78
this
experiment
to
have gone
unrecorded.
I
am
far
from
saying
they
are
naive
or
wrong:
merely
that
they’re
ahead
of
their
time.
The
writer
pleads
also
for
individual
concern,
and
here
she
might
have
some-
thing.
If
the
experiment
proves
anything
at
all
it
is
the
basic
importance
of
per-
sonal
relationshps
in
beginning
to
over-
come
the
suspicion,
isolation
and
defen-
sive
rejection
of
society
by
the
un-
attached.
The
workers
were
agreeably
modest
and
&dquo;scientific&dquo;
in
assessing
the
help
they
gave
to
the
youths
they
be-
friended.
But
of
course
they
can
never
know
how
much
warmth,
hope
and
confidence
they
managed
to
inspire,
or
where,
how
and
when
it
will
express
itself.
JOAN
MCCARTHY
Young
Men
in
Detention
Centres
Dunlop
and
McCabe
Routledge
and
Kegan
Paul
28s.
This
book
sets
out
to
examine
the
atti-
tudes
of
a
hundred
young
men
sentenced
to
Detention
Centres
in
1960-61.
The
method
used
was
that
of
two
interviews
held
shortly
after
their
arrival,
and
an-
other
towards
the
end
of
their
sentence;
an
assessment
made
by
the
prison
officers
and
finally
a
follow-up
questionnaire
issued
with
stamped
addressed
envelope
to
each
person
before
his
discharge.
As
far
as
the
follow-up
questionnaire
was
concerned
only
37
out
of
the
101
re-
turned
the
form
with
a
result
that
this
was
of
very
limited
value.
Many
probation
officers
may
turn
to
this
book
in
the
hope
of
some
guidance
as
to
the
type
of
person
best
suited
for
this
kind
of
regime
and
for
some
assess-
ment
of
the
effectiveness
of
Detention
Centres.
In
this
I
fear
they
may
be
dis-
appointed.
One
is
left
with
the
feeling
that
the
project
is
incomplete.
The
ab-
sence
of
an
adequate
follow-up
reduces
the
value
of
the
book
to
those
intimately
concerned
with
this
problem.
Nevertheless,
there
is
much
of
value
in
this
book.
The
introduction
and
first
two
chapters
trace
the
origin
and
devel-
opment
of
these
institutions;
the
back-
ground
and
criminal
history
of
those
who
took
part
in
the
project.
These
together
with
the
last
two
chapters
are
the
most
readable
parts
of
the
book
and
provide
an
accurate
description
of
the
Detention
Centre
and
its
development.
The
Detention
Centre
Rules
have
been
usefully
included
as
an
appendix
and
will
be
extremely
helpful
to
those
un-
familiar
with
these
institutions.
The
account
of
the
interviews
and
their
statis-
tics
left
me
somewhat
confused
on
first
reading.
The
repeated
references
to
the
Werrington
and
Aylesbury
sample
is
both
tiresome
and
confusing.
However
an
interesting
and
unexpected
fact
which
emerged
was
the
marked
regional
differ-
ences
found
in
the
types
of
offender
dealt
with
by
the
respective
institutions.
This
might
be
said
to
be
sufficient
justification
for
its
rather
tedious
treatment.
The
attitudes
revealed
by
the
men
may
not
come
as
a
great
surprise
to
many
probation
officers.
However
some
of
their
criticisms
of
probation,
if
accurate,
would
appear
to
be
justified
and
need
to
be
taken
seriously.
The
general
impres-
sion
gained
was
that
whilst
the
offenders
respected
the
probation
officer
they
re-
garded
probation
as
valueless.
These
were
the
opinions
of
many
probation
failures;
nevertheless
they
should
serve
to
remind
us
of
the
continuing
need
to
re-examine
the
kind
of
service
we
aim
to
provide
-
are
we
as
closely
in
touch
with
the
needs
of
contemporary
youth
as
we
would
like
to
believe?
The
attitudes
of
the
young
men
at
the
end
of
their
sentence
emphasise
that
it
is
the
deprivation
of
liberty
rather
than
the
regime
which
is
most
disliked.
The
rigid
system
prevents
the
development
of
relationships
with
the
staff.
On
the
other
hand
the
relationships
between
the
in-
mates
appear
to
have
been
particularly
strong.
In
the
light
of
the
changing
pattern
of
committals
to
Detention
Centres
since
1961
this
might
indicate
a
weakness
in
the
structure.
By
directing
attention
to
this
change
in
the
pattern
of
committals
we
are
reminded
that
this,
together
with
the
earlier
research
projects
of Dr.
Grunhut,
stressed
the
need
for
selectivity.
The
younger
and
less
crimin-
ally
sophisticated
appear
to
derive
value
from
the
present
system.
Two
important
questions
raised
are:
Will
the
changes
To continue reading
Request your trial