The I n t ern a t ion a I L i -b r a ry of Soc i 0 logy

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
IN AN ENGLISH MIDDLETOWN

Founded by KARL MANNHEIM

 The International Librarv ofSociologv

THE SOCIOLOGY OF LAW AND CRIMINOLOGY

In 15 Volumes

Comparative Criminology (Part One) Mannheim

II Comparative Criminology (Part Two) Mannheim
III Crime: An Analytical Appraisal Lope=-Rey
IV The Criminal Area Morris
V Criminal Justice and Social Reconstruction Mannheim
VI The Education of Borstal Boys Stratta
VII The English Prison and Borstal Systems Fox
VIII The Explanation of Criminality Trasler
IX Group Problems in Crime and Punishment Mannheim
X The Institutions of Private Law Renner
XI Juvenile Delinquency in an English Middletown Mannheim
XII Legal Aid Egerton
XIII Pentonville Morris and Morris
XIV Social Defence Ancel
XV Young Men in Detention Centres Dunlop and McCabe
 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
IN AN ENGLISH MIDDLETOWN

by
HERMANN MANNHEIM
 First published in 1948
by Routledge, Trench, Trubner and Co., Ltd

Reprinted in 1998, 2002

by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

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is available from the British Library

Juvenile Delinquency in an English Middletown

ISBN 0-415-17742-1
The Sociology of Law and Criminology: 15 Volumes
ISBN 0-415-17832-0
The International Library of Sociology: 274 Volumes
ISBN 0-415-17838-X

Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint
but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent
 CONTENTS
PAGE
AUTHOR'S PREFACE lX

INTRODUCTION:

Some Reflections on recent Researches on Juvenile Delinquency

in Great Britain and on the Need for Local Studies. 1

Survey of recent Local Studies in Great Britain 6

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IN AN ENGLISH

MIDDLETOWN (CAMBRIDGE)

CHAPTER 1. THE GENERAL SETTING:

Cambridge, not a typical "Middletown." Population.

Industries. War-time Changes 9
Recent Trends in Local Juvenile Delinquency Figures as
compared with other Towns and the Country as a whole. 12

CHAPTER II. ANALYSIS OF A SAMPLE OF PRE-WAR AND WAR-TIME

PROBATION AND SUPERVISION CASES: 17

Age Distribution of Cases 19

Parents 20

Brothers and Sisters 25

Size of Families 25
Illegitimacy 26
Religion 27
Economic Position of Families 28
Housing Conditions 30
New Housing Estates 31
Local Distribution of Delinquents 32
Work and Wages . 37
Gangs 39
Temperamental Traits 40
VI CONTENTS

CHAPTER II-(continued)
PAGE
Nature of Charges 04-1
Objects Stolen. 42
fu~~T~ ~
Previous Offences 44-
Schools 45
Truancy 46
Clubs 48
Physical Health 50
Mental Disorder and Mental Deficiency 51
Psychological and Psychiatric Examinations 55
Sexual Offences 56
Child Guidance Clinic 57
Care and Protection and Beyond Control Cases 57
Evacuees 59

CHAPTER III. METHODS OF TREATMENt USED BY THE JUVENILE

~H: ~
General Observations 68
Probation . 71
Probation Homes and Hostels 74
Foster Homes 77
Approved Schools 78
Remand Homes 79

CHAPTER IV. SOME SPECIAL PROBLEMS: 81

1. Recidivism and its Relation to the Background of the
Offenders 81
11. Delinquent Girls and the Work of the "Cambridge
Associations for the Care of Girls" 93

CHAPTER V. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AND

RECOMMENDATIO:/ilS 100
Card 121
BIBLIOGRAPHY • 123
INDEX OF PERSONS 127
INDEX OF SUBJECTS 128
MAP OF CAMBRIDGE, SHOWING THE LOCAL DISTRIBUTION OF
DELINQUENCY CASES 60-61
 LIST OF TABLES

TABLE PAGE
I. Children and Young Persons Found Guilty in Courts of
Summary Jurisdiction, 1939-45 (England and Wales) 13
2. Trends in the Incidence of Juvenile Delinquency and in
Methods of Treatment (Cambridge) . 14
3. Indictable and Non-indictable Offences (figures of juveniles
found guilty) . 15
4. Age Distribution of Boys 19
5. Attitude of Parents 22
6. Size of Families 25
7. Religious Denomination of Boys 27
8. Occupation of Fathers 28
9. Earnings of Fathers 29
Ie. Number of Rooms 30
II. Weekly Rent . 31
12. Local Distribution of Juvenile Delinquents 33
13. Population Density of Cambridge Wards 34
14. Number of Jobs 37
15· Nature of Jobs 37
16. Weekly Wages 38
17. Offences Committed in " Gangs" 39
18. Nature of Charges 41
19. Value of Stolen Objects 41
20. Objects Stolen 42
21. Place of Theft or Person from whom stolen 43
22. Previous Offences 44
23. School Attainment 46
24. School Conduct 46
25. Club Membership, Sunday School, etc. 48
26. Physical Health. 51
27. Care and Protection and Beyond Control Cases 58
28. Methods of Treatment applied by Juvenile Courts. 69
29. Number of Probation and Supervision Cases. 72
30. Juveniles Placed on Probation in each Period. 73
3 I. Length of Probation Orders 73
32. Conditions of Probation 74
33. Success of Probation Homes and Hostels 75
34. Percentage of Boys found guilty again during or after
Probation or Supervision 81
35. Number of Unsatisfactory Cases . 83
36. Number of " Bad Points" 86
37. Work of "Cambridge Associations for the Care of Girls" 96
vii
 PREFACE

THE local enquiry which forms the backbone of the present book
may be regarded as a sequel to two other investigations: to the Home
Office Enquiry into Juvenile Delinquency, undertaken at the London
School of Economics, the results of which were published in 1942
under the title Young Offenders, by A. M. Carr-Saunders, H. Mann-
heim, and E. C. Rhodes, on the one hand, and to the Cambridge
Evacuation Survey, published in 1941 under the editorship of Susan
Isaacs with the co-operation of Sibyl Clement Brown and Robert H.
Thouless, on the other. It was thought that the continued wartime
residence of the School at Cambridge should be used as an oppor-
tunity for surveying the local position with regard to juvenile
delinquency in a town of medium size, a category not included among
the provincial cities from which material for Young Offenders had
been drawn. After consultation with magistrates of the Cambridge
Juvenile Court, it was arranged by the Director of the School, early
in 1942, that the work should be undertaken jointly by Miss
S. Clement Brown, M.A., then Tutor to the Mental Health Course
of the School, and the present author. The magistrates very kindly
consented to give access to their material and to further the enquiry
10 every way.
Unfortunately, from the point of view of this investigation, the
Mental Health Course was soon afterwards able to return to London,
which made it impossible henceforth for Miss Clement Brown to
co-operate to the extent originally envisaged. She has, never-
theless, been kind enough to assist the author by frequently discussing
with him the progress of the work, by collecting information
concerning evacuee children who had returned to London, and by
reading the manuscript of the original report and making many
valuable suggestions. For all this, the sincere thanks of the author
are due to her. It should be made clear, however, that she bears no
responsibility whatsoever for the statements of fact or expressions
of opinion contained in this book.
I t would go too far to mention by name all those who have made
this study possible by granting access to their material or by giving
valuable information. Special acknowledgments are due in
A* ix
x PREFACE
particular to the following authorities and officials or private bodies
and their staffs:
The Juvenile Court Magistrates, and especially Mrs. C. D.
Rackham, J.P., M.A., Borough Councillor and County Alderman.
Mr. C. A. G. Harding, Clerk to the Justices.
The Borough Probation Officers, and especially Mr. M. J. Vine,
Miss Norah E. Shearsmith, and Miss K. M. Ibbotson.
The former and the present Borough Chief Constables, and
Superintendent W. Ainsworth.
The Borough Education Department, and especially Mr. T. F.
Foreman, M.A., Education Officer, and the Headmasters and
Headmistresses consulted.
The Borough Housing Department, and especially Dr. Alex. Wood.
The Cambridge Child Guidance Clinic, and especially Dr. H.
Banister, Ph.D., Director, and Miss D. M. Hutchinson, M.A.,
psychiatric social worker.
The County Public Assistance Officer.
The County Youth Organizer and the Club Leaders consulted.
The Cambridge Associations for the Care of Girls.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children,
and especially Superintendent-Inspector Mander.
Without their help, generously given, in spite of shortage of
staff and many other wartime difficulties, the material required could
not have been collected.
I am further indebted to the Magistrates and to the Cambridge
Associations for the Care of Girls, for permission to publish infor-
mation extracted from their respective records.
The Social Research Division of the London School of Economics,
of which I am a member, had very early in the course of the enquiry
expressed its approval of the scheme, and it has, throughout,
interested itself in the progress of the work and given valuable advice
and technical assistance, wherever required. For this, I wish to
express my thanks to the Division and especially to its former
Chairmen, Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders and Professor Morris
Ginsberg, and to the present Chairman, Professor T. H. Marshall.
It is hardly necessary to add that the Division is in no way responsible
for the contents of this book.
Finally, I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to my wife, who
has not only done much of the statistical and clerical work, but has
also greatly assisted me by extracting material from records and
other documents. I am also grateful for valuable assist~ce to
 PREFACE Xl

Miss E. A. Tudor and Miss A. Bohm, Ph.D., of the administrative

staff of the School, and to Mr. D. G. C. Judd, of the Geography
Department, for drawing the map of Cambridge.
When, after completion of the local enquiry, it was found
desirable to publish the results, it was decided to broaden the scope
of the original mport by including comparisons with similar local
studies and in many other directions. This and the Bibliography
will, it is hoped, increase the value of the book to the student of
juvenile delinquency in general.

HERMANN MANNHEIM.

The London School of Economics and Political Science

(University of London).
January, 1947.
 INTRODUCTION*
I. WHEN, in r942, the results were published of an enquiry into
juvenile delinquency, instituted by the Home Office and carried out
at the London School of Economics, the authors were anxious to
draw attention to the preliminary and incomplete character of their
workl. In addition to certain other limitations to be mentioned
below, it was emphasized, first, that "occasional statistical investiga-
tions, made at long and irregular intervals by differer t methods and
using different classifications, cannot tell us much about new and
adverse influences. . .. A statistical enquiry can only be expected
to yield results if it is one in a series of similar enquiries". Secondly,
it was pointed out that fluctuations in delinquency might be due not
so much to the effect of certain specific factors as to changes in the
general atmosphere-to "broad sociological changes"-which cannot
well be studied by purely statistical methods. And thirdly, the
absence of a corresponding psychological investigation was deplored,
which had originally been planned but could not be carried out
because of the outbreak of the war.
2. Criticism of Young Offenders has, on the whole, been con-
fined to the following aspects:
(a) It has been pointed out that with the material available some
further correlationships might with advantage have been worked
out. Moreover, the way in which the control group was selected has
been criticized 2.
(b) Secondly, and this criticism has come from medico-psycho-
logical quarters, doubts have been expressed as to the value of large-
scale and therefore less intensive statistical investigations, unless
they are closely combined with the study of individual cases. "The
time is in sight when statistical enquiry will have done all it can do
in the elucidation of the problems of delinquency . . . it is difficult
* The Introduction and Chapters One to Four have been subdivided into
paragraphs to facilitate references.
1 Young Offenders, by A. M. Carr-Saunders, Hermann Mannheim, E. C. Rhodes.
(Cambridge University Press, 1942.), pp. ISS et seq.
I See, e.g., Prof. C. W. Valentine, Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol.
XIII, Part II, June 1943, pp. 64 and lOS; Burt, The Young Delinquent, 4th ed.,
pp. 636 et seq.