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58
therein until the sitting of the court and if it is not he shall be transferred to a prison
or place of detention according to his age to await the sitting of the court.
The general result of the changes has little or no effect on the certification of
children for special schools, but involves the special consideration of every child
at 15 + with a view to deciding if he is a defective under the Mental Deficiency Act,
and so suitable to notify for supervision or institutional care.
Cases dealt
with by the
Council.
On the 31st December, 1928, there were being dealt with at the expense of the
Council 5,115 cases. Of these, 2,957 were in institutions ; 57 under guardianship ;
2,071 under supervision ; and 30 in places of safety waiting other action. During
the year 768 cases were examined with the following results :—
Type.
Idiot.
Imbecile.
Feebleminded.
Moral
defective.
Not defective.
Males 6 119 236 2 21
Females 15 107 218 2 42
Totals 21 226 454 4 63
Details with regard to certain children who were examined between the ages
of 7 and 16 will be found on page 147 referring to the work of the School Medical
Officer.
Occupation
Centres
Mentality
and antecedents
of
cases dealt
with at police
courts.
The London Association for Mental Welfare has organised 8 occupation centres
and accommodation is provided for 147 children under 16 years of age and 41 young
persons over that age. Arrangements were made for the medical inspection of the
children under 16 and 136 of them were examined. In 59 instances a detailed examination
was made and in 55 of these the parents, who were invited to attend, were
present—a larger percentage than is found in any age group in elementary schools.
Of the 136 examined, 45 (33 per cent.) were noted as requiring dental treatment;
10 had defective vision or squint; 4 external eye disease and 9 with other ailments.
54 children, or nearly 40 per cent., were thus found to require treatment, a proportion
approximate to the percentage in elementary schools for children of the same age.
The figures appear to show that parental care is exercised and that the children are
as well looked after as normal children.
Provision has been made for the treatment of children of school age under the
scheme of medical treatment in connection with the elementary schools and children
found to be verminous are dealt with under the Council's general scheme for the
cleansing of verminous children. The Council has also made provision for the
employment of guides where necessary in order to convey the children to and from
the Centres.
Dr. Carleton Williams has analysed the mentality and antecedents of 92 cases
dealt with at police courts. These cases had been reported as certifiable under
the Mental Deficiency Act by the medical officers of prisons; although sometimes
the report was qualified by the remark that the case approached the border line and
should be further investigated by the London County Council Medical Officer. Out
of the 92 cases 11 were deemed by the medical officers of the London County Council
to be not feeble minded, most of them being insane. Four others were deemed
feeble minded, but were found not to be residents of London in a legal sense. Two
were found to be defective, but of such violent and dangerous tendencies as to be
fit only for the State Institution at Hampton. Ninety-three cases in all were dealt
with, but one is omitted since the prison doctor had not, in fact, suggested mental
deficiency.
The number of these prison cases shows an increase, in part due to the fact that
all young men under 21 are subjected to a mental examination at Wandsworth Boys'
Prison, and in part to the fact that the Mental Deficiency Act, 1927, modified the
Clauses of the 1913 Act which limited action to persons deficient from birth or an early
age. The new definition includes all cases where the condition existed before the age of