ABSTRACT
This chapter examines claims that, in addition to anti-social behaviour which results from mental illness, a substantial amount of delinquency should be attributed to faulty development of personality which is the effect of mistakes of upbringing. Theories of the kind can be referred to as 'theories of maladjustment', since they all make use of this concept, though sometimes under different names. The psychological theories which have been discussing have at least one feature in common – assumption that unless the individual suffers from some abnormality of constitution or upbringing he will abide by the rules of conduct of his community. As coined by Koch in the nineteenth century it probably meant 'psychological casualty' — someone whose psyche had suffered damage. Hence Freud's Psychopathology of Everyday Life is about minor abnormalities of speech or behaviour. In the Scottish Mental Health Act, such conduct is also recognised as grounds for compulsory admission, but is not called 'psychopathy'.
