The juvenile delinquent under the age of twelve : a study of fifty-seven male juvenile delinquents known to the Halifax District Office of the Department of Public Welfare as of March 31, 1960

Abstract

This thesis is one of sixteen based on a group study of one hundred and seventy-six delinquents known to the Halifax District Office of the Department of Public Welfare and the Nova Scotia School for Boys at Shelburne. In the group study, primary data were obtained from the case records of these juvenile delinquents. Secondary data were obtained from interviews with professional persons in the community and literature in the fields of social work, psychiatry and psychology was used as background material. The subject of this thesis is delinquent boys who were under the age of twelve at the time of the opening of the case. The researcher made a detailed study of the family background, the emotional and mental status and the school experience of these fifty-seven boys. Many of the children studied were victims of broken and unstable homes resulting in emotional deprivation of the child. School achievement of a number of these children was below average. In some but not all cases this could be attributed to low intelligence. The writer concluded that there was a pressing community need for improved services for helping children with special needs, especially the emotionally disturbed and the mentally retarded.