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Theft amongst girls.—24 cases are on record and of these 19 were over school
age. Their occupations were : 10 domestic servants, 5 out of work, 2 factory hands,
1 shop assistant, 1 clerk and 5 school children. The age incidence is noteworthy,
17 of them being over 15 years old. The articles stolen were : money (10 cases),
wearing apparel and jewellery (13 cases). The remaining case was that of a
9-year-old girl who stole an Easter egg. The mentality of these girls is also
noteworthy: 1 was feeble-minded, 8 were on the borderline of defect (no doubt, some
of these will come to certification later), 4 were definitely backward, 9 of average
intellect and 2 intelligent. They were for the most part not Londoners.
The sequence of events would appear to be that these backward, and possibly
unemployable, girls leave their homes in the provinces for these reasons, seeking
employment. There is a market for them in domestic service (just as backward
boys tend to become perpetual errand boys) in London where they readily fall into
mischief through lack of intelligence, lack of guidance and abundant temptation
acting upon individuals with little moral training. It is an interesting fact that in
every case these thefts were single-handed (compare with the boys below).
Amongst the boy thieves there is a much wider range of age, the average age
being slightly less than 13 years. In 269 instances the article stolen was ascertained:
money, 76 cases; bicycles, 34 cases ; articles of food, 26 ; thefts from
motors, 18; raids on small shops, 16; gas meters, 9; automatic machines, 9 ;
watches, 9 ; raids on pavilions, sheds and closed schools, 9 ; lead and old metal, 11 ;
cigarettes, 8; raids on Messrs. Woolworths, 6; torches, pistols, penknives and
fountain pens, 6; growing trees, 4; showcases, 3; and empty bottles, 3. Lastly,
in one case each, the article stolen was a motor-car, a motor-bicycle, a pony, two
love birds in a cage and 35 pigeons.
The article stolen often gives the only clue necessary to discover the whole
reason for the theft. Every boy ardently desires to possess a torch and a fountain
pen. Lead and empty bottles, growing trees, etc., are easily turned into cash
for sweets or "the pictures" and receivers are many. Bicycle thefts are surprisingly
common, the usual practice being to take the machine to pieces, reassemble it with
various parts of other machines, re-paint it and sell it. There are easily available
markets for such property and one suspects parental connivance, if not actual help
in some of these cases.
The culpability of these children is not in the province of the medical investigator,
but one may be permitted to compare the following cases, all labelled " theft,"
as showing the range and degree of seriousness: (1) 3 boys, making up the equipment
for their camp, climbed a garden fence and stole a kettle; (2) paper boy stole a
bottle of milk from a doorstep and took it home to his mother; (3) boy, alone, in
position of trust, stole £140 in a series of thefts lasting over a year.
In 128 cases, the theft was single-handed; in 70 cases two boys were concerned,
in 35 cases three boys, in 12 cases four boys, and in 12 cases five or more boys. In
this respect compare the thefts by the 24 girls—all single-handed. In the case of
gang theft amongst boys, there is ample evidence that premeditation is not the