ABSTRACT
Although prison psychologists usually devote a substantial part of their time to the examination of accused persons whose psychiatric condition is in doubt, they were not originally appointed for this purpose. Two kinds of duties were envisaged. It was intended that they should lend their skills to the making of recommendations upon the suitability of particular offenders for borstal or corrective training-a task which was placed upon the shoulders of the Prison Commissioners by the Criminal Justice Act of 1948.1 The Commissioners' report is in practice written by the governor of the local prison, or by one of his assistants. The criteria which are to be used in arriving at this recommendation have never been explicitly formulated. Some prison governors have had varied experience of these several kinds of penal regime, and may base their judgments upon this; others have not. A detailed account of the offences which have led to conviction is rarely available; in its absence both the governor and the psychologist must rely heavily upon their intuitive understanding of the origins of the offender's criminality in estimating the effect which training would have upon him. In this connexion, therefore, the psychologist is employed as an adviser who is presumed to possess special skill in making subjective judgments about people, rather than as a scientist or technician.
