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A dynamic era of court psychiatry, 1914–1944.Branch 50: The Psychiatric Institute.

A dynamic era of court psychiatry, 1914–1944.: Branch 50: The Psychiatric Institute. Were we interested solely in the punishment of those brought before us there would be no need for any Psychiatric Institute or Social Service Department in our court system. Perhaps it was because originally the principal reason behind the enforcement of our penal laws was the punishment of those who had committed anti-social acts, which the law labeled 'crimes,' that we had no need for these modern facilities, or at least that we felt no need for them. For centuries past society went on punishing people in the hope that others might learn to behave themselves by reason of penalties imposed on transgressors but, somehow or other, despite the lessons which we had hoped to teach, people went on committing crimes just the same, learning little or nothing from the experiences of others or from the satisfactions and retributions which society exacted from those others. It might have been from a realization of the futility of this method of the past that along about the turn of the century there were many who simultaneously began to think that perhaps the solution to the problem of Crime (if there be an ultimate solution) lay in another and altogether different direction. "If the punishment of offenders does not deter others," they argued, "then why not seek an answer to the problem in some other way, especially since, in many cases, the punishment does not even serve to correct or deter the persons punished?" They argued that a partial solution to the problem might be found if the offender were considered as an individual, if he were studied to determine the why and wherefor of his aberration, and then treated medically, psychiatrically, psychologically, socially, economically, and by physical detention, if necessary, depending upon what that study of him revealed might be necessary in his case. As a result of this type of thinking there developed, as an adjunct to our court system, the Psychiatric Laboratory and the Social Service Department. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A dynamic era of court psychiatry, 1914–1944.Branch 50: The Psychiatric Institute.

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Publisher
Psychiatric Institute of the Municipal Court of Chicago
Copyright
Copyright © 1944 American Psychological Association
Pages
42 –47
DOI
10.1037/13564-007
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

Were we interested solely in the punishment of those brought before us there would be no need for any Psychiatric Institute or Social Service Department in our court system. Perhaps it was because originally the principal reason behind the enforcement of our penal laws was the punishment of those who had committed anti-social acts, which the law labeled 'crimes,' that we had no need for these modern facilities, or at least that we felt no need for them. For centuries past society went on punishing people in the hope that others might learn to behave themselves by reason of penalties imposed on transgressors but, somehow or other, despite the lessons which we had hoped to teach, people went on committing crimes just the same, learning little or nothing from the experiences of others or from the satisfactions and retributions which society exacted from those others. It might have been from a realization of the futility of this method of the past that along about the turn of the century there were many who simultaneously began to think that perhaps the solution to the problem of Crime (if there be an ultimate solution) lay in another and altogether different direction. "If the punishment of offenders does not deter others," they argued, "then why not seek an answer to the problem in some other way, especially since, in many cases, the punishment does not even serve to correct or deter the persons punished?" They argued that a partial solution to the problem might be found if the offender were considered as an individual, if he were studied to determine the why and wherefor of his aberration, and then treated medically, psychiatrically, psychologically, socially, economically, and by physical detention, if necessary, depending upon what that study of him revealed might be necessary in his case. As a result of this type of thinking there developed, as an adjunct to our court system, the Psychiatric Laboratory and the Social Service Department. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Published: Nov 7, 2011

Keywords: Psychiatric Institute; Psychiatric Laboratory; Social Service Department; court system; crime

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