ABSTRACT
The general theories of criminality, both the different unitary explanations of Lombroso, Tarde, and Bonger, and the pluralistic interpretation of Ferri proved to be of little or no value in the control of behavior. The Study of the Delinquent as an Individual: Healy substituted for the methods of general observation, speculation, and statistics the all-round study of the individual delinquent. Trained in psychiatry and psychology, he emphasized physical examinations and mental tests without ignoring social factors. However, he relied upon the experience of the social worker instead of calling into service the technique of the sociologist. The Person as the Individual with Status: The study of individual behavior falls in the fields of psychiatry and psychology. The study of the person, as the product of social interaction, lies, primarily, in sociology. In the explanation and control of delinquency, it is significant to determine the nature of the participation of the person in the social organization, as in the insecurity or degradation of status, the type of personal behavior pattern, the degree of mobility, the change of the social environment and the collapse of the social world of the person. In the study of delinquency, the psychiatric, psychological, and sociological methods of investigation are not in conflict with each other, but rather complementary and interdependent.
