ABSTRACT
A long legal experience of criminal trials is no sufficient qualification for that most difficult task of the Bench, the sentencing of delinquents. It, like impartiality, is an essential virtue in those who deal in any way with delinquents; it is shown by both professional and lay Benches. But it will be folly to dismiss the idea of some form of treatment tribunals, if no attention is given to the defects of existing methods and to the need for training those who have to sentence delinquents. Similarly the judge and magistrate need to understand that they, like the delinquents before them, are moved by unconscious situations. It seems obvious, therefore, that co-operation between the Bench and psychotherapists is something more than the receiving and giving of assistance about delinquents; the Bench needs psychological assistance in the handling of itself. It is well that psychologists are giving attention to the psychology of the Bench.
