The Treatment of Deviant Children: A Twenty-Five Year Follow-Up Study

Abstract

Former inmates of two different types of reform schools were studied over a twenty-five-year period. One school, which emphasized psychological treatment, appeared to be strikingly more successful in lowering crime rates up to age 24. The other school, which stressed harsh punishment, did not affect recidivism rates until after the age of 24. Original information on the 340 subjects, adult records, and responses from interviews conducted with the subjects as adults are examined. Rates of mental hospitalization and alcoholism did not differ between the former inmates of the two schools as they grew older. Ethnicity had a powerful effect on recidivism. It is suggested that psychological treatment of deviant children lowers their recidivism rate in early adolescence but that its results are dissipated as the individuals mature. Comparisons with pohcies of "deinstitutionalization"or harsh punishment support the conclusion that "milieu therapy" works in adolescence, but has no discernible effect after age 24.