The Case of the Feeble Minded: Idiocy and Crime: The question of the care and control of the feeble minded was discussed in an able speech by Mrs. Pinsent at the meeting held under the auspices of the Northampton Charity Organization Society, on Thursday afternoon in the Free Library. Mrs. Pinsent is the chairman of the Special Schools Committee of the Birmingham Education Committee and was a member of the Royal Commission which sat upon this subject. At the outset, she pointed out the difference which the law made in the treatment of acquired insanity or dementia and the feeble-minded or amentia. The Lunacy Commission had absolute power over the demented, but the treatment of the feeble-minded was not efficient either from an economic or human point of view. Mrs. Pinsent briefly reviewed the present law and pointed out how it failed. Under existing circumstances, it was impossible to exercise control over the feeble-minded after they had reached the age 16. Up to that time the Elementary (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act gave Education Authorities the power to establish special schools; but they were able in these schools only to keep the children until they were sixteen. Further, this Act is permissive, and owing to its cost, many authorities have not established these schools. The curriculum was often not suited to a large number of the children, for only half are able to learn enough the three R’s to be of the slightest use. The speaker paid tribute to the work of the school in Northampton. “I was struck,” she said, “with the good work which is being carried on here.” WHAT IS TO BE DONE? After her criticism of the existing law, Mrs. Pinsent explained the recommendations of the Commission. The central authority was to be the present Lunacy Commission, enlarged and re-named the Board of Control. Its name would be altered to get away from the term which to so many people would be painful. The Asylums Committee appointed by the County Council would be the local authority, also with a changed name. To this committee, would fall the control of the feeble-minded in the county. What methods were they to use? If a child could suitably be cared for in its own home, it remains there. If there was a little doubt about the suitability of the home, a visitor would be appointed, who would keep an eye on them and give advice as to the proper manner of treatment. Thirdly, such children might be sent to school, or if the home and school were not suitable, to a residential institution. Adult persons not receiving adequate care might be sent to suitable colonies, or places in a specially adapted poor law institution under the inspection of the central authority. Lastly, under special regulations, some might be found homes in the villages as had been done in Scotland with such tremendous success. MENTAL DEFECT AND CRIME. The next part of Mrs. Pinsent’s address was an examination of the relation of mental defect to crime, to inebriety, and to pauperism, and she pointed out how, owing to the want of legislation, the feeble-minded joined one or other of those three classes of people who are such a drag on the rates. The point which Mrs. Pinsent emphasized was the powerlessness of the State to touch feebleminded people after they reached the age of 16. The result was they not only became criminals and drunkards, but also reproduced their kind. She showed the history of several families where a feeble-minded parent or parents had children who were themselves feeble-minded and potential or real members of the criminal or drunken classes. A feeble-minded young criminal is always likely to commit more serious crimes as he got older. Punishment by imprisonment for short or long terms is of no use whatsoever. But could these people be permanently detained when young, they would not be anything like the burden on the State they are under present conditions. Of 2,000 persons in our smaller prisons, for the lesser crimes, who were examined, ten per cent, were feeble-minded. These will probably commit graver crimes. In the penal establishments the percentage is, of course, not quite so high: AND DRUNKENNESS. What is true of crime is true of inebriety and pauperism. The life history of several individuals belonging to these classes was shown in a diagram form by Mrs. Pinsent. One man had spent 37 out of 46 years in prison. He was feebleminded but was not a lunatic, the authorities could only treat him as a person in full control of his faculties and punish him as a sane man. On the treatment of the feeble-minded in the Workhouse, Mrs. Pinsent spoke scathingly. Often there was no special ward, and they were classed with the sick. In one instance, she saw a rowdy imbecile in the next bed to a patient suffering from pneumonia who needed sleep above everything. In another all the feeble-minded were herded together, and the children imitated the most objectionable habits of the adults. At present what control there was exercised four bodies: The Board of Education, who dealt with children to be turned on the world at 16; the Local Government Board, through the Guardians, who had no sufficient means of caring for them; the Home Office, which deals with them when they fall into crime or enter inebriate reformatories; and the Lunacy Commission which deals with certified lunatics, amongst whom many feeble-minded persons are to found. The last-named body should be the central authority, and the County Councils, through a committee of control, the local body. THE RESOLUTIONST: The chair was taken by Mr. J. H. C. Crockett. A resolution, that this meeting urges the need of immediate legislation the lines recommended in the report of the Royal Commission, was proposed by Mr. Montague Browne: – Mrs. Calverley, in seconding, pointed out that the money now spent in dealing with the feeble-minded was wasted. — The resolution was carried unanimously. A vote of thanks to Mrs. Pinsent was passed on the motion the Rev. W. B. Sleight, seconded Mr. G. E. Abbott.
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Referenced
GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949