|
Abstract
|
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
This study by Fiddes utilized a survey to explore possible adolescent candidates for some form of Youth Treatment Centre or Secure Psychiatric Unit in Scotland.
METHODOLOGY:
This survey was an epidemiological study and was undertaken as a pilot study within a wider ranging study of the most violent and seriously disturbed adolescents in Scotland. The study covered all murderers between the ages of twelve and eighteen who were convicted in Scotland. The analysis occurred during the six years after the implementation of the Social Work Act in April, 1971. Contributing factors surrounding the crime and the differentiating factors which point to social or psychiatric morbidity in the population was utilized to describe the cohort of thirty-seven males. The conflict between the requirements of the penal system and the needs of the adolescents who were confined to restrictive and abnormal environments was examined.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
This study only included adolescents who had been found guilty of murder. Half of all the young murderers were seventeen-year-olds and another quarter were aged sixteen. Twenty-four of the Thirty-seven convicted adolescents resided in poorer urban areas. Nearly two-thirds of all murders committed by adolescents occurred as part of a peer group experience. Previous convictions were recorded in twenty-nine out of thirty-seven cases. Social work reports confirmed that there was a presence of high delinquency levels in the areas where half of the boys resided.
The vast majority of the murders committed appeared to be without motive. In general, neither sex nor financial gain seemed to be motivating factors in the murders. However, alcohol was found to have been a contributing factor in about half of the adolescent murders.
Of the thirty-seven convicted murderers, six were seen personally as the subject of intensive psychiatric and psychological investigation but only two were considered to display symptoms of serious personality disorder.
AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS:
The author suggested introducing a Youth Treatment Centre and/or Secure Psychiatric Unit for the care and control of children and young people of Scotland. The centre would incorporate sufficient security, which would offer control and external authority. However, the centre would offer a more flexible approach to incarceration, admitting a wide range of staff who would emphasize personal growth and rehabilitation.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
Language: en |