Psychology and the Offender
| Author | William Brown |
| Published date | 01 January 1934 |
| Date | 01 January 1934 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/026455053400101802 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
275
PSYCHOLOGY
AND
THE
OFFENDER
By
WILLIAM
BROWN,
D.D.
(Oxon.),
D.Sc.
(Lond.),
F.R.C.P.
(Wilde
Reader
in
Mental
Philosophy
in
the
University
of
Oxford.)
Summary
of
address
to
the
N.A.P.O.
Midland
Branch
Conference
at
Lowdham
Grange,
September,
1933.
PROBATION
officers
are
pioneers
entrusted
with
the
_
difficult
work
of
assisting
in
beating
out
a
track
over
ground
that
has
still
to
be
charted.
Their
work
is
a
work
of
love
in
the
interests
of
individuals,
but
to
enable
it
to
fit
in
with
the
demands
of
justice
for
the
community
it
is
essential
that
their
love
shall
be
love
that
is
understanding.
In
their
work
they
must
learn
to
be
bold,
always,
to
the
cause,
and
nothing
gives
such
steady
courage
as
knowledge.
It
is
proper
that
the
psychologist
should
be
brought
into
the
probation
officers’
deliberations,
for
he
is
engaged
very
closely
in
the
same
problems
which
they
are
trying
to
solve,
and
what
he
has
learned
of
these
problems
he
invites
others
to
share.
The
psychologists
do
not
profess
that
they
have
leamt
all
there
is
to
be
discovered
about
human
behaviour,
but
they
have
already
learned
enough
to
satisfy
some
of
us
that
psychology
in
the
future
will
be
the
most
important
science
of
all
the
sciences.
Already
there
is
one
truth
about
which
they
are
all
in
agreement ;
it
is
that
if
we
would
deal
adequately
with
the
criminal
we
must
understand
him,
and
this
we
shall
never
do
until
we
learn
to
deal
with
each
individual
offender
as
a
separate
problem.
The
psychologists
are
steadily
gaining
a
considerable
practical
experience
of
individual
offenders
for in
the
ordinary
course
of
their
work
an
increasing
number
of
delinquents
are
being
brought,
or
are
coming
volun-
tarily,
to
them
for
treatment.
Real
v.
Apparent
Causes.
In
our
approach
to
the
individual
offender
we
must
never
come
to
him
with
preconceived
ideas
or
jump
to
conclusions
of
what
made
him
commit
his
offence,
for
nearly
always
the
real
causes
are
found
to
differ
from
what
on
the
surface
has
appeared
as
the
apparent
cause.
It
takes
approximately
20
hours
of
study
to
arrive
at
any
reasonable
conclusion
about
real
causes,
but
in
our
treatment
of
offenders
it is
very
seldom
that
the
Court
will
give
so
much
time
to
seek
out
the
real
underlying
facts.
We
are
prone
to
leap
at
some
pecu-
liarity
or
symptom,
perhaps
observed
through
slight
superficial
knowledge
of
a
psychological
fact,
and
take
the
rest
for
granted.
For
instance,
there
is
no
psychological
condition
so
freely
discussed
and
so
misunderstood
as
the &dquo;inferiority
complex.&dquo;
The
inferiority
complex
is
not
shown
by
excessive
shyness
and
nervousness,
but
quite
the
reverse,
and
what
is
erroneously
described
as
inferiority
complex
is ,usually
a
superiority
complex.
_
It
should
be
remembered
that
the
so-called &dquo;inferiority
complex &dquo;
is
different
from
inferiority
feeling.
The
neurotic
who
becomes
ill,
or
the
criminal
who
commits
crime,
because
of
inferiority
complexes,
do
not
con-
sciously
feel
inferior.
By
their
abnormal
conduct
they
are
hiding
their
inferiority
from
themselves,
as
well
as
from
other
people-or
are
attempting
to
do
so.
On
such
careless
diagnosis
we
have
been
prone
to
deal
out
our
treatment
of
offenders
often
quite
harm-
fully.
Treatment
by
corporal
punishment
is
a
case
in
point.
We
still
cling
to
the
old
tag
about
sparing
the
rod
and
spoiling
the
child,
but
corporal
punishment,
in
addition
to
being
a
punishment,
is
an
insult
which
may
leave
very
harmful
results,
for
it
is
related
to
sadism.
At
once
we
become
deeply
involved.
The
Nature
of
Crime.
Crime,
the
tendency
to
do
wrong,
is
closely
related
to
both
mental
and
physical
illness.
We
cannot
say
that
crime
is
merely
an
anti-social
activity.
It
is
something
more
far-reaching.
When
we
go
deep
into
its
various
cases
we
find
all
sorts
and
degrees
of
lack
of
control
in
connection
with
fundamental
human
instincts-sex,
self-assertion,
the
instinct of
&dquo;escape,&dquo;
even
the
herd
instinct.
A
sufficiently
careful
enquiry
invariably
shows
that
one
of
these
instincts
has
been
thwarted,
or
has
undergone
distortion
of
development,
and
that
there
has
been
resulting
disharmony.
The
discovery
of
the
real
causes
of
delinquency,
and
the
treatment
that
is
to
follow,
involve
digging
down
deep
below
the
surface
of
the
mind,
consequently,
one
interview
is
quite
inadequate ;
the
past
history
should
be
talked
out,
and
the
patient
encouraged
to
say
all
that
comes
into
his
mind.
Many
hours
will
be
required
to
do
this
effectively,
and
during
the
necessary
interviews
it is
important
that
one
should
not
be
pre-
mature
in
jumping
to
conclusions.
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