Mental Defectives and Sexual Offenders / Report of the Committee of Inquiry Appointed by the Hon. Sir Maui Pomare, K.B.E., C.M.G., Minister of Health - New Zealand. Committee of Inquiry into Mental Defectives and Sexual Offenders

	At 24th June, 1924.
	Feeble-minded.		Epileptic.
Age.	Male.	Female.	Male.	Female.
Under sixteen years	524	285	41	43
Over sixteen years	305	203	35	31
	829	488	76	74

Recapitulation.
Males	905
Females	562
	1,467

Table showing Ages of Pupils in the several Classes of the Primary Schools.

Ages.	Class P.		Standard I.		Standard II.		Standard III.		Standard IV.		Standard V.		Standard VI.		Standard VII.		Totals.
Ages.	Boys.	Girls.	Boys.	Girls.	Boys.	Girls.	Boys.	Girls.	Boys.	Girls.	Boys.	Girls.	Boys.	Girls.	Boys.	Girls.	Boys.	Girls.
5 and under 6	7,923	7,334	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	7,923	7,334
6 " 7	10,776	10,356	73	72	3	2	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	10,852	10,430
7 " 8	10,324	9,291	2,021	2,047	111	141	3	1	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	12,459	11,480
8 " 9	4,970	4,183	5,696	5,413	1,729	1,884	113	135	3	2	..	..	..	..	..	..	12,511	11,617
9 " 10	1,400	1,118	4,443	3,732	5,011	5,152	1,447	1,531	102	66	..	4	1	..	..	..	12,404	11,603
10 " 11	393	277	1,657	1,162	4,210	3,624	4,570	4,749	1,311	1,439	82	108	6	4	..	..	12,229	11,363
11 " 12	112	107	487	383	1,814	1,461	4,202	3,827	4,166	4,214	1,123	1,202	93	95	..	1	11,997	11,290
12 " 13	54	30	146	91	628	425	2,268	1,860	3,890	3,515	3,540	3,664	1,020	1,064	3	3	11,549	10,652
13 " 14	18	13	51	24	201	125	935	669	2,129	1,764	3,766	3,271	3,255	3,277	20	42	10,375	9,185
14 " 15	7	5	10	9	58	42	235	139	790	500	1,848	1,499	3,101	2,883	34	47	6,083	5,124
15 " 16	2	1	2	6	12	6	36	26	148	81	532	349	1,454	1,010	23	37	2,209	1,516
16 " 17	1	..	1	2	..	2	8	6	11	13	61	30	194	114	3	15	279	182
Over 17	..	..	..	1	..	..	1	..	..	3	8	8	25	13	1	3	35	28
Totals (1923)	35,980	32,715	14,587	12,942	13,777	12,864	13,818	12,943	12,550	11,597	10,960	10,135	9,149	8,460	84	148	110,905	101,804

Section 6.—Study of Feeble-minded and Delinquent Children.

Methods employed in other Countries.

In many parts of America and in some European countries the problem of the mentally backward and feeble-minded child receives close attention. The juvenile delinquent is also carefully studied. For children who fail to make good in school, or who are guilty of frequent misdemeanours, a system of intelligence testing and psychological analysis is carried out. A study is also made of family history and environmental influences. Children who are "maladjusted to their environment" are kept under survey with a view to finding what is the difficulty and how it can be overcome. To quote from the "Mental Hygiene Bulletin," published by the National Committee for Mental Hygiene for the United States of America: "Children showing definite problems are selected for more intensive study and treatment. The grossly mentally handicapped child, who is likely to become a social problem if not properly dealt with in childhood; the psychopathic and mentally maladjusted child, who later in life may develop mental disease; the child manifesting conduct disorders which may be the beginning of a delinquent or criminal career; the retarded child; the epileptic; the child with speech-defect or with some physical disability; the child with gross personality difficulties; the exceptionally brilliant child—all present problems that demand attention during the child's school life. Such children are given a thorough physical examination, a careful psychiatric study, and an individual psychological examination, including a variety of psychological tests, not only to determine the child's intelligence rating, but, in so far as possible, his special abilities and disabilities. A social study is made of the child's home, school, and other environments to determine what factors may have unfavourably influenced the development of the child, and what forces may be utilized in securing the child's adjustments. The results of all these studies are given to the school authorities with recommendations relative to the needed adjustments."

In New Zealand there is need of increased facilities for the study of the individual child, and the services of psychological experts should be available in order to group children according to their mental equipment and special requirements. Only those fully qualified to estimate accurately all the evidence available are fitted to decide the destiny of children.

Herein lies the danger of relying exclusively upon the use of mental tests.

Mental tests are of definite value in enabling the observer to arrive at a conclusion regarding the general mental development of the subject, or to investigate some particular psychological function. A too exclusive dependence upon the result of the application of these tests, especially by a layman, would invariably lead to error. A comprehensive survey is necessary, taking into consideration such factors as family history, environment, physical condition, behaviour, temperament, &c. The observation, possibly for a considerable period of time, of an expert psychiatrist or psychologist may be necessary in order to arrive at an accurate estimate of the mental ability of the subject.