CR1MINQ)LQGICA NEWSLETTER OF THE

AMERICAN SOCIHY OF CRIMINOLOGY Vol. I, No. 2 August, 1963

Project On Mental Illness and The Criminal Law

The American Bar Foundation now has field studies under way on the relationships between mend illness and the administration of criminal law. Several research associates will spend one year in the field studying the actual practices in this area. They will be interviewing and observing the practices of police officers, magis- tmtec, m'minal cnurt iudges, private and .court psychia- trists, prosecution and defense attorneys, mental hospital and prison personnel, and countless other individuals in- volved in various ways with the mentally ill persons who come to the attention of the criminal law. The data gathered in this manner will provide the necessary basis for a searching reevaluation of those areas where aimi- nal law and mental illness intersect and overlap.

The current field studies on mental illness and the Crrimina law complement the 'recent Foundation studies on civil procedures governing admissions to and dis- charges from mental hospitals, the final report of which is now in prepantion. The first step in the overall pro- gram of the American Bar Foundation in this area was an analysis of the laws of all the states to determine the legal consequences of mental disability, culminating in the book The Mentally Disabled and the Law (Univer- sity of Chicago Press, 1961). During the preparation of this earlier manuscript the lack of available information on the practical application of the laws became apparent. It was then decided that recommendations for improving the laws, and practices under the law, could be valid only if based on actual observations of the procedures as they are carried out from day to day in various local- ities across the nation. The practical problem of haw per- sons get in and out of mental hospitals was chosen as a significant area for field research, and from this the em- pirical study of civil hospitalization procedures was developed. Similar research methods are now being em- ployed to study the practical aspects of the administra- tion of criminal law in regard to mental illness.

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Purdue Withdraws Public Safety Program

On July 1,1963, Purdie University withdrew from Public Safety Training services. The ciicularized an- nouncement gave no reason for the action. Professor Shelby W. Gallien, former Director of the Purdue Insti- tute has announced the formation of a private Public Safety Institute to be located at 1324 Northwestern Ave- nue, West Lafayette, Indiana

Fifth International Congress of Criminology

(Montreal, Canada, August 29-September 3, 1965)

The International Society of Criminology was found- ed before the Second World War and the first congress sponsored by the Society was held in Rome in 1938. After the war, a second congress was organized in Paris in 1950, followed by congresses in London, in 1955, and in The Hague in 1960. The fifth in the series will be held in Montreal, Canada, beginning ten days after the United Nations third World Congress on the Fkeven- tion of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, in Stock- holm, has completed its sessions.

' The program of the Montreal congress will be focussed largely on the general theme of the treatment of the offender, which will be considered from differ- ent points of view in three of the four sections. Section 1 .will discuss three problems: (a ) The treatment of Ju- venile pre-delinquency, (b) the treatment of adult pre- delinquency, and (c) punishment and the problem of general prevention ( deterrence). Section 2 will discuss some new treatment methods: (a ) medical; (b) surgi- cal: (c) psychological, and ( d ) social. Section 3 will devote itself to scientific research evaluating the effects of treatment. Its first question will be the present status of research that statistically evaluates the results of dif- ferent forms of treatment on similar groups of offenders. Its second question will center on clinical evaluation of the effects of different forms of treatment and on the reactions of offenders to such treatments. Two separate aspects of this question will be dealt with: research u-g psychdogid and psychiatric testing techniques, and research %y the study of personal reactions that dif- ferent methods of treatment provoke in the offender treated.*

Members of the International Society of Criminology are invited to prepare papers pertaining to any of the ten questions listed above. These papers will not be read at the congress. All papers on a given question will be referred to a general rapporteur, designated by the Scientific Committee of the Society. He will integate and summarize them in a report that will be printed and distributed in advance of the congress. There will consequently be ten such general reports. At the con- gress, in the appropriate section, the general rapporteur on a question will briefly introduce the subject; the rest of the time assigned to that question will be spent in a general discussion of the subject by those attending the

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*

August., 1963 CRIMINOLWIC A Page 3

Book Review THE SOCIOLOGY OF CRIME AND DELINQUENCY, Marvin E. Wolfgang, Leonard Savitz and Norman Johns- ton, Editors: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1962. Paper $4.45; Cloth $6.75.

RECTION, Norman Johnston, Leonard Savitz and Mar- vin E. \Volfgang, Editors: John W e y & Sons, Inc., New York, 1962. Paper $1.25; Cloth $8.50.

The publication of these two companion volumes certainly fills a long-felt need of students, teachers and prac!tioners in the field of criminology and carrections. In these adlections of readings the editors have succeed- ed in bringing together some of the most cogent and meaningful literature of the last several decades, draw- ing not only from journal articles and papers but ex- cerpting from larger works, several not directly focussed iipon crime or delinquency per sc. The result is a high- ly unified work comprising the "meat" of cxmtemporary knowledge, both theoretical and empirical, in the field of c~minology, delinquency and corrections.

The material presented in both volumes is basically sociological in thought und focus which, though tending to limit the overall view of the field, nonetheless, helps to maintain a conceptual consistency in terms of un- derstanding and explaining crime and carrections. The editors suggest that these volumes were planned for use in general undergraduate courses. In this reviewer's opinion they woiild be meaningful only to the graduate criminology student or the more serious undergraduate who has already cnmpleted the introductory course in criminology or corrections. For the professional in the field they represent an up-to-date accaunting of how far we have come and where we are going with our attempts to understand and deal with crime and delin- quency. Neither volume is provided with an index which makes ready reference somewhat difficult. On the whole, both of these volumes should prove to be welcome ad- ditions to the shelves of anyone either actively involved or only mildly interested in the field.

THE SOCIOLOGY OF PUNISHMENT AND COR-

Jerome M. T a s h h k ' Youth Dovelopmcnt Center of Philadelphia

Em pioyment Investigation Proposed

Social pressures, along with the status symbols created by all of us, must be traced through from cause to result if we are to objectively examine employee dis- honesty. Jack E. Rytten, a private investigator in Balti- more, pointed out at a recent address before the nation's C.P.A.'s that a stop must 6e put to the prevailing prac- tice of hiring first and enquiring later.

Mr. Rytten proposes a pre-employment investigation progtm be installed throughout business, and become a prrt of all personnel activity. He says that the program would not be intended to establish guilt, but to solidly secure against employee theft and dishonesty.

A.S.C., N.C.C.D. Exchange A t the request of Miss Armine Dikijian, N.C.C.D.

Librarian, A.S.C. publications will be exchanged with the National Council on Crime and Delinquency in re- turn for N.C.C.D. NEWS. Several items of interest to criminologists are reprinted in the current issue from the recent N.C.C.D. NEWS.

United Nations Issues Report A 76-page report titled "Capital Punishment" has

been issued by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations (Dmiment ST/SOA/- SD/9). This thorough study, based on replies by many governments, experts and private agencies, gives an extensive factual report on the practice of capital punish- ment throughout the world. It is divided into three major sections: legal problems, problems of prac~cal ilpplicn- tion, and sociological and criminological problems. The report was prepared by Mr. Marc Ancel, a French jurist. It can be secured for So# from United Nations Pnhlica- tions, U.N. Plaza, N.Y.C.

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS. . . meetings of the section. All sections will hc. meeting simultaneously.

Section 4 will have no specific theme. It exists to permit members of thc Society to submit research papers on anrj topic not specifically fitting into the program of t!ie other sections.

Because the mngress will assemble many persons who would like thc opportitnity to meet together in smaller round-tablc discussion of some problem, provi- sion will be made for such study groups. They will meet at times not interfering with the meetings of the sections. Ten groups are planned; they will be "attached" to the sections. Section 1, will be composed of groups in- terested in ( a ) iirbanization and delinquency, and ( b ) motor vehicle tllieft. Section 5: (a ) tha importance for criminology of new ideas on brain neuro-physiology; (b ) progress of electroencephalography in c~iminology; and ( c ) the different forms of group therapy. 1'0 Section 3. group on (a) recent developments in the &aching of criminology in the world, and (b ) problems in the train- ing of specialized personnel. To Section 4, groups on ( a ) the significance of schizophrenia and its relationship to habitual criminality and homicide; ( b ) victimology; and (c) fraud.

A local organization committee has been formed in Canada. Its executive secretary is Mr W. T. McGrath, Canadian Corrections Association, 55, l'arkdale Avenue, Ottawa 3, Ontario, Canada.

Information about the International Society of Criminology, membership, etc., may he secured froin Mr. Jean Pinatel, General Secretary, 28, ave. de Fried- land, Pans 8, France.

Thorsten Sellin Dept. of Sociology University of Pennsylvania