The Little River news., 1920-05-12
PLAN CLINICS TO STUDY
 CRIME OF THE STATES
Peychiatric Research Offers POssibil- fties in the Solving of
 Problems.

New York.-Broad DC abilities for the operation of psychiatric clinics in connection with courts and correction al institutions during the reconstruc- tion period are outlined in an article appearing in Mental Hygiene, written by Dr. Thomas w. Salmon, medical director of the national committee for mental hygiene. The title of the ar- ticle is "Some New Problems for Psy- chiatric Research in Delinquency"
 The work of which Dr. Salmon writes was we'll under way in num- Der of institutions, notably in the vicinity of New York City, when war interrupted it, taking many of the trained psychiatrists into the service and otherwise curtailing the effort to apply the principles of modern psy- chiatry to the handling of persons ac- cused of crime and those already con- victed.
 Sufficient progress had been made with the work, says Dr. Salmon, to assure it of an important place in all future efforts to get at the roots of crime and delinquency and to make it certain that these conditions "can no more be successfully managed with out Investigating the state of the or gan of conduct than disorders of other kinds can be treated without under- standing the processes responsible for them."
 It's Importance in Courts.
 The beginning of the application of psychiatry to crime and delinquency was through clinics in children's courts. Successful here, 1t spread in- to other criminal courts and into in- stitutions where, according to Dr. Salmon, it is destined to play an i'm portant part in determining the best methods for handling prisoners so as to do the best by them and by society as well.
 In connection with the part the psychiatrist is destined to play in modern court procedure, Dr. Salmon believes that the establishment of such clinics, presided over by experts with no connection with either side of the cases tried, will go long way toward bringing about better conditions. Con- corning the so-called "alieniSt" and his "expert testimony" Dr. Salmon says:
 "Why supreme courts and courts of the general sessions content them. selves with the so-called medico-legal testimony of 'alienists' employed by the district attorney and the defense which is neither medical nor legal remains a mystery. The findings of psychiatric clinic, scientifically and impartially conducted with the sole purpose of aiding the judges in dispos- ing of human issues before them, have more practical value than all the ex. pert testimony that either side could purchase with the proceeds of liberty loan."
 Wide Field for Investigation.
 Interesting especially is the sugges. tion by Dr. Salmon of the possibilities of finding out the deep seated causes of anti-social conduct in the individual through psychiatry. He says a com. paratively small element furnishes the crime of community and affords a field for scientific and impartial, un. prejudiced study that is rich and al. most virgin.
 He thinks that this phase of crim- lnology has barely been scratched as yet and believes it should be carried far in an endeavor to trace to their sources the original impulses for crime,l so that eventually remedies may be found.
 Prevention, rather than cure, is the watchwOrd of the modern psychiatrist as it is of the modern physician, al. though neither is inclined to neglect | the person who has fallen i'll. Dr Salmon emphasizes the need of clinics that may reach first offenders before crime has become habit. These, dis covering the sources of criminal i'm pulses and applying the proper remedies, may restore many persons of anti-social tendencies to society as normal citizens, in the opinion of Dr