BORSTAL BOYS AFTER 25 YEARS

Abstract

IN 1963 we published the results of a study of 200 borstal boys interviewed on conviction in 1953 and 1955 (Gibbens, Marriage and Walker). The cohorts chosen consisted of every other boy sentenced to borstal training in the Metropolitan Police Area in 1953 and 1955 until 100 of each had been seen. In 1954 and 1956 the boys were interviewed and tested again in their training institutions, and their progress was discussed with their house-masters. Later their "blue books", with interesting records of after-care supervision and voluminous correspondence between governors, probation officers, and after-care authority, were made available. Their subsequent convictions, if any, were traced for 10 years and various observations made upon clinical prognosis and the Mannheim-Wilkins prediction (Gibbens and Prince, 1965). Their subsequent convictions have now been followed for 25 years, until early 1978, and the present paper reports the results. These are particularly interesting to the author, since many of the boys are remembered clearly; but whether others have reason to be interested is less certain. They relate to a past generation which had many unique features. The boys were born between 1932 and 1938, and in many cases suffered the disruption of evacuation in war-time. This was very varied. Evacuation occurred at different ages and for different periods; it did not necessarily affect those in the outer suburbs or boys later convicted in London who spent their childhood elsewhere. Nevertheless, half (50-5 per cent.) of the boys had lost contact with one or both parents or permanent substitutes for the whole of the first five years. Secondly, conscription was still in operation, a powerful but two-edged influence. Many of the eligible boys went straight into the army after borstal, usually joined the Royal Army Service Corps where they were taught to drive and repair vehicles, or to cook in the Army Catering Corps. They were discharged with a trade, and service provided an excellent way to bury their past and to come home with pride

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