ABSTRACT
Ingenieros had developed an institute of criminology in Argentina, which followed an explicitly stated policy of clinical criminology. Other important national developments took place in the United States. In 1909, William Healy inaugurated the activities of a juvenile psychopathic clinic, later renamed the Institute for Juvenile Research in Cook County and still active, in which concentration was mostly on psychological and psychiatric examinations.< 55> In I 913 an American Association of Clinical Criminology was founded, but the subsequent developments of the sociological school of criminology came to dominate the organization. <56> Several European countries, at the beginning of the present century, institutionalized clinical criminological activities in different levels of the judicial and correctional systems, as these activities could be adapted to the local settings. We can only refer in this context to brief examples without any pretense of completeness.<57> In Belgium, the work of Verwaeck in 1914 initiated the practice of detailed case studies in the correctional system, soon followed in Austria and Germany by the Graz Institute with a strong criminalistic approach, and by the Society for the Study of Criminal Biology in Bavaria. In Scandinavia, the dedicated work of Olof Kinberg and others represented a concentrated effort unparalleled in other countries.<58> Kinberg's textbook,<59> recently republished, still constitutes profitable reading for any serious student in criminology. To him we also owe one of the best definitions of clinical criminology. In his view, all criminology is a clinical science, concerned with individual cases in order to give a causal explanation of the crime, conceived as a reaction of individual personality to a certain situation, in order to find a rational treatment in order to eliminate the causes of the criminal symptoms. The strong organismic bent which characterized Kinberg's work, and which was founded on the personality theory propounded by Sj0bring, <60> somewhat limits the popularity of this Scandinavian approach in a psychiatric world mainly dominated by Freudian psychoanalytic formulations. It remains, however, as one of the more consistent and better integrated systems in clinical criminology. The strong medical tradition prevailing in the Scandinavian countries is still very viable and finds its expression in the existence of well-articulated and encompassing medical criminological services. It has also sponsored some of the most daring applications of medical and surgical advances in the field of criminology. The work of Rylander in the application of psychosurgery in criminal cases and the use of castration represent examples of such a trend. In Denmark, clinical criminology found its best application in the work of the Institution for Criminal Psychopaths at
Herstedvester, under the direction of Georg Stiirup.<61> In Holland, a well-known example of clinical criminological work can be found in the Psychiatric Observation Clinic connected with Utrecht University. There is also in that country an interesting and new existential approach to criminology, exemplified by the writings of Bianchi and the Utrecht group.<62> In France, the Centre Nationale d'Orientation at Fresnes exemplifies one of the few attempts at mass application of clinical criminological principles to the classification and diagnostic intake of criminals. Recent French legislation has extended the requirement of personality examination to most of the correctional population. <63> A number of international meetings have been focused on what appears to be the most immediate practical application of the techniques of clinical criminology, i.e. the personality examination of the offender. <64> Inevitably, the largest area of application of the tools proposed for diagnosis and treatment by clinical criminology, because of the legal problems connected with their implementation, has been in the field of juvenile delinquency. No major juvenile system in any Western country today lacks diagnostic facilities, and several have extensive treatment facilities. A good example in the juvenile field is the British borstal system. In the United States there are several well-equipped diagnostic centers, such as the Medical Facility of Vacaville, California, and the New Jersey Diagnostic Center in Menlo Park, among the better known. There are, of course, psychiatric clinics functioning as part of judicial systems in various parts of the country. A good example is the Bellevue Clinic attached to the Court of General Sessions, whose work has recently been summarized by Messinger and Apfelberg.<65> Moreover, the earlier work of Bernard Glueck,<66> Winfred Overholser,<67> Wilson and Pescor,<68> and others was instrumental in the development and use of psychiatry in court and correctional settings. Although modest, occasional expressions of interest in the clinical approach have been present in the American literature;<69> some of these 'pioneer' writings come from what was called 'clinical sociology'.<70> Manfred Guttmacher's work at the relatively recent Patuxent Institution established under the defective delinquent statute of Maryland is an interesting and new experiment in clinical work with seriously disturbed criminal psychopaths.
