A psychiatric clinic for youthful offenders (age 16-25) was established in 1958 in the New Haven County Jail by the Connecticut State Department of Mental Health, under a grant from the United States Public Health Service.* The primary function of the clinic was to develop a treatment program which would be effective in such a setting and which could be established in other jails. This paper reports certain findings of research conducted in the clinic in this connection, namely, the relationships between the extent and type of psychiatric problems of young male offenders and their social class, race, and record of recidivism.†
Method
The population studied consisted of all white and Negro male offenders between the ages of 16 and 25 who were confined to the New Haven County Jail for 10 days or more, during the period from Nov. 1, 1958, to June 15, 1959, excluding those