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The blind, deaf and crippled cases were notified to the After Care Association
for blind, deaf and crippled children, who have hitherto furnished information
in regard thereto. The Association were approached with a view to obtaining data
for this report, and the information will be forwarded to the Board in due course.
Dr. F. C. Shrubsall, senior medical officer, who visited America during the
Summer recess, took an opportunity of investigating the question of the mental
examination of delinquent children in the Canadian Provinces and in the Northern
States of the United States. He was everywhere received with great kindness
and courtesy and all with whom he came in contact did their best to forward his
inquiries. The chief items of his report are set out below :—
, Dr. Shrub-
Ball's report
on mental
examinations
in places of
detention.
"The functions ana powers of the Children's courts, both in canada and the
United States, vary from Province to Province and State to State. They have to
deal with children on the ground that they are either delinquent, dependent, out-ofcontrol,
or neglected, but the term "neglected" seems to have a somewhat wider
meaning than has been given to it in the Children Act of this country. In some
places, for example, a child may be treated as neglected who has not been properly
educated, or who is subject to such blindness, deafness, feeblemindedness, or physical
disability as is likely to make him a charge upon the public. The problems with
which the Courts have to deal are also rendered more complex in those cities in
which the upper limit of the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Courts has been raised
to 18 or even to 21 years of age. Some Juvenile Courts deal with adults of impaired
mentality, for example, in Manitoba, an individual of adult age who is certified
as feebleminded or as having a mental age of under 14 years, may be transferred
from the ordinary court to the jurisdiction of the Judge in the Juvenile Court,
and be treated in all matters of probation and the like as if he were a child or a
young person.
In several places these Courts deal with adults who have been concerned either
in offences against children, or have neglected their responsibilities towards them.
As a consequence of all these differences and other factors, the volume of work is
greater than that to be found in the London Courts.
Almost all the Juvenile Courts do a great deal of unofficial work of the most
varied character, and although the law provides that cases may be brought to the
attention of the Court by any citizen, complainants are encouraged to state their
difficulty in an informal manner, which gives the Court an opportunity to make
preliminary investigations, so that formal complaint is only filed if the conditions
found seem to warrant Court action. The general aim is to render the work of the
Juvenile Courts preventive rather than punitive, and revised legislation contemplates