§ 10. Mr. Westasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many mentally-defective juvenile delinquents have been summoned before magistrates courts in the past three years; how many have been placed on probation; and what guidance he has given to magistrates as to the appropriate methods of dealing with such juveniles.
§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeThe only statistical information available in answer to the first part of the Question is the number of cases where a juvenile court was satisfied that an offender was mentally defective and directed action to be taken under Section 8 of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913. The number was 220 during 1952, 1953 and 1954, the last three years for which figures are available.
The information asked for in the second part of the Question is not available, but few such cases have come to my notice. There has been no occasion for me to remind juvenile courts of their longstanding powers under the Mental Deficiency Acts.