Findings

• Diagnosis

  I order to determine what previous experience might have caused te 44 thieves to steal it was necessary to distinguish between different personality types
• 6 main personality types

  normal - children whose characters appear fairly normal and stable

  deprrssed - children who have been unstable and are now in a more or less depressed state of mind

  circular - unstable children who show alternating depression or over-activity
• Hyperthermic - children who tend to e constantly over active

  affectionless - children characterised by a lack of normal

  affection shame or sense of responsibility

  Schizoid - children who showed marked schizoid or schizophrenic symptoms
• Affectionless Character

  Looking at all 44 thieves bowlby classified 14 as affectionless . Out of these 14 , 12 experienced frequent separations from mothers :

  Betty placed in a foster home at 7 months when her parents split up she moved from one home to another. Returned home after spending a year at a convent school before she returned home at age 5
• Affection less character

  Derek B - At age 18 months was hospitalised as he developed diphtheria. Stayed there for 9 months and during that time his parents didn’t visit him
• Other Factors

  Altogether 17 of these thieves experienced early separation . Five of the 27 fathers hated the thieves and expressed this openly . Such early experiences might explain emotional problems but not delinquency