Concern for victims of crime is reflected in a wide range of policy initiatives worldwide, but research on the needs of victims and the availability and appropriateness of victim services is largely restricted to a small number of Western industrial societies, and little of it is cross-national. This paper describes a comparative survey of burglary victims in five cities in Poland, Hungary, and England. Although the nature of household burglaries was found to vary in the three countries, victims' reactions to burglary in Poland and Hungary largely conformed to the pattern found in Anglo-American research. However, there were some indications that Polish victims in particular were most severely affected. Service availability is also considered in some detail, with the English experience of Victim Support as a well established agency responding to the needs of victims in general and burglary victims in particular contrasted with less well established developments in Poland and Hungary, where needs far outstrip service provision.

The paper discusses preliminary findings of the study of the victims of burglaries in Warsaw in 1990. The findings are based on data from questionnaires completed by 50 victims of residential burglaries and from interviews with 20 of them interviewed 6 months later. The respondents expressed persistent anxiety, a sense of threat and a sense of helplessness. Penalties suggested by the victim for the offender were rather repressive, but 25 per cent of the victims considered it possible to relinquish punishment should the burglar repent of his act, redress the damage and offer compensation. Most victims find the police polite and willing but at the same time inefficient and dilatory when dealing with their complaint.

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This work presents the findings of studies of offenders, whose offences were time and again revealed, who had been frequently tried and many times been imprisoned. Studies were made of prisoners, convicted at least four times and who found themselves in prison at least for the fourth time, being of the age between 26—35 (the average age being 31). Studies were conducted in 1965—1966 in the Warsaw Central Prison. Selected from among the 440 prisoners there at that time, whose age and recidivism was in accordance with the above mentioned criteria, were those, who had domiciles in Warsaw or the voivodship of Warsaw and who possessed closest family members (as a rule father or mother), who could supply information about them. Making the successsive selection for studies, efforts were nevertheless made to take into account in the studied group those persistent recidivists who were convicted of robbery; this was due to the intention to take into account all the cases of recidivism, involving more serious offences. In connection with this departure from the principle of random samples, this group contained considerably more offenders convicted of robbery than was the case in the remaining group of persistent recidivists which was not subject to thorough investigation. The subject of thorough studies were half of the persistent recidivists, which at the time under discussion, were inmates of the Warsaw Central Prison, namely 220 prisoners. Studies concentrated on: collection of data about the convictions of the offenders, checking at the juvenile court records, whether they had been brought before a court while they were minors, collection of extracts from court records (regarding the most recent as well as prior convictions), efforts to obtain, by means of interviews and questionnaires, information about the work of the studied persons in various enterprises, where they had been employed, the drawing up of extracts from prison records, collection of medical documents of those prisoners who had received treatment in psychiatric outpatient clinics, in anti-alcoholic outpatient clinics or who had been in psychiatric hospitals; interviews conducted with the closest family members of the offenders, psychological examinations conducted with the prisoners of the group selected for studies (psychological interviews, the Wechsler-Bellevue scale, Sachs’s and Levy’s Sentence Completion Test, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the Buss-Durkee inventory). In addition to this 60 recidivists underwent psychiatric examinations. The studies were conducted by a team with the participation of Professor S. Batawia, who also headed the entire research; in the work of the team participated in addition to the author of this article: M. Kiezun- Majewska, S. Szelhaus and D. Wojcik. ; The average number of convictions per recidivist amounted to 6.5; the average number of stays in prison to 6.0. A persistent recidivist committed on an average 10.1 offences for which he was convicted, of these: 6.8 offences against property, 3.0 offences against the health or public authorities and offices as well as 1.3 other offences. One of the striking features of the offences committed by multiple recidivists was the variety of their offences: as many as two-thirds were convicted of offences of various types, only 27% were convicted exclusively of offences against property and a mere 9% were convicted exclusively of offences against the health as well as against the authorities and public offices. What is striking even in the case of those who were convicted exclusively of offences against property, is the heterogeneous nature of their offences and the lack of specialization in this respect. Violent offences (against the health or public authorities and offices) were committed by the overwhelming majority of those studied (71%). Almost all of the offences, and also the majority of the robberies were committed while they were intoxicated. Persistent recidivists are relatively rarely convicted of serious offences. Only 12.5% of those investigated could be considered dangerous because of frequent serious violent offences (including also robbery) and besides this only 12% could be qualified as people causing serious material damage. According to statistics concerning the whole of Poland every twenty-fifth persistent recidivist only was in 1973 convicted of an offence qualified according to the penal code as a felony (statutory minimum of punishment - 3 years).   According to this study, a typical persistent recidivist is a person whose offences have caused not only social damage, but also serious damage to the perpetrators themselves, because the offences committed as a rule did not bring him any greater material advantages, but gave rise to consequences, due to which he spent a considerable part of his life in prison: 69% spent after the age of 17 more time in prison than out of prison. Almost half of them were less than a year at liberty between two successive convictions. These studies aimed at obtaining the possibly most allround information about the persistent recidivists and about their life histories. Special stress was laid on the problem of the early maladjustment of these people and the age when their first offences were committed, their professional work and attitude to their family, on the very essential problem of habital excessive drinking on their part, and also on personality disorders. Information on the family milieu from which the prisoners indicates that the majority of their fathers (77%) worked systematically (mainly as unskilled workers) and a mere convicted. However, fathers drinking to excess were a serious problem in the families of the sampled prisoners. When the prisoners were children approximately 27% of the fathers were heavy drinkers, in addition 25% were alcoholics. It is also interesting that alcoholism was found with almost half of the families of the parents of the investigated prisoners, involving their fathers or brothers. The social behaviour of the mothers of the sampled group was more positive. While half of the fathers were considered socially negative (due to excessive drinking, frequent convictions or unsystematic work), only 16% of the mothers deserved such an opinion. About 10% of the mothers drank systematically to excess, 6% had been convicted and 3% were suspected of being prostitutes. Only 41% of the recidivists lived, while being minors, within a complete family, in the cases of 48% of the families one of the parents had died (most frequently the father); in half of the cases the family was broken up when the studied prisoners were below 15 years. Connected with a disturbed family structure were changes regarding the educational milieu. 40% of the group changed their homes in their childhood, in the case of about one-fourth of them many changes were found: they brought up at least in three different homes. The marital relations of the prisoners’ parents were often (50%) very bad. The frequent breaking up of the family and work of the mothers to earn a living was often combined with the neglect of the children, found in as many as two-thirds of the families of the recidivists. On the basis of statements made by the studied group and their mothers the material conditions during their childhood were in 55% of the families very difficult, preventing the satisfaction of the most basic needs. The sampled recidivists relatively frequently came from families with many children: in 38% of the cases these were families with at least four children, in 21% these were families with three children. The brothers and sisters of the recidivists often, just as the latter themselves, had gaps in their primary school education (in 39% of the families there are found among the brothers and sisters persons who have not finished primary school education) and also had similar shortcomings regarding professional skills (over half the brothers had no vocational training at all). But the recidivists who were studied also had (though only in few cases) brothers and sisters by far outdistancing them as regards education. In as many as two-thirds of the families it was found that there were socially maladjusted brothers; in 44.5% of the families somebody from among the siblings had committed theft, had been brought before a court, while still being a minor, or had been convicted after having reached the age of 17; in as many as one-third of the families brothers were recidivists. The negative educational ditions in the families of the recidivists thus found their reflection in substantial social maladjustment of their brothers and sisters. The intensification of this maladjustment was, however, with the sampled group higher than was the case with their brothers, only one-fifth were families where all the brothers were recidivists.  Studying the extent to which the sampled individuals were socially maladjusted While being juveniles, questions were asked during interviews regarding their early childhood. According to data obtained from mothers, neurotic symptoms could be noticed in many of the sampled recidivists (two-thirds). Though the percentage of those who showed such symptoms during the school period was slightly smaller (58%), there nevertheless were still many with such symptoms as bed-wetting (13%) and stuttering (17%). Half of the studied group of recidivists, who showed neurotic symptoms in school, displayed a number of such symptoms. During the investigation in prison 58% of the respondents admitted some neurotic symptoms, mainly disturbances of sleep and special fears. Striking was the frequent fact of stuttering (16.5%), found during inations in prison (on the basis of observation). A large group of persistent recidivists revealed a striking durability of neurotic symptoms from their childhood on till adulthood. Half of the recidivists of this group were defined by their mothers as ‘’difficult to bring up” during childhood (very disobedient and stubborn), while 44% were much more aggressive than the other children in the family.  The childhood of the recidivists was marked by considerable disturbances at school: 16% of them finished no more than 3 grades of primary school, 25% —4—5 grades and 15% — 6 grades. A total of as many 56% did not finish primary school education. These shortcomings in primary school education were found especially often with those individuals among the group who had a lower IQ (IQ below 91), and those who had been brought up in negative family milieux, as well as those whose school years were during the war period and those who had revealed early social maladjustment.   Two-thirds of this group of recidivists repeated the same class in school, 44% systematically played truant, in many cases (60%) it was found that the teachers had complained about their behaviour in school.  While still being minors 41% of them had run away from home. Two-thirds maintained that during their childhood they spent much time outside their home, running the streets in the company of colleagues, who were stealing and drinking alcohol. Worth special attention is the fact, that close to half of the sampled group (46.8%) began already as minors to drink alcohol to excess, and there is information regarding 22%, indicating that when being barely 13—14 years old, they already were drinking wine or vodka at least once a week. On the basis of interviews and information obtained from juvenile court records, it was found that at least 36.2% of the recidivists from this group faced courts at an age below 17, while 21.3% were sent to approved schools. Taking into account also additional information regarding theft that was not found out, it has appeared that as many as at least 57% of the persistent recidivists were stealing or brought before a court while they were still under age. They belong to the category of former juvenile delinquents who are recidivists and whose offences are of a most persistent nature. Those recidivists whose delinquency started while they were still adolescents, more frequently than the remaining ones, came from negative family milieux. In interviews and tests results more frequently data found among them testifying to personality maladjustment: aggressiveness during school attendence and aggressiveness during the period when these studies were conducted (found on the basis of the opinions of psychologists and questionnaires according to the Buss-Durkee inventory, MMPI profiles with a markedly raised F scale). In addition to those of the group who committed offences while minors, there were still 53 (25%) of them who, though they had, as it was found, not committed offences at that time, nevertheless revealed considerable social maladjustment.  Only in the case of 17% of the recidivists studied, no such symptoms were found. These recidivists were during the period when the studies were conducted in many respects better than the remaining ones: they more often possessed professional skills, had worked more systematically, more rarely been in prison and had longer intervals between the successive convictions. The first convictions of these individuals after the age of 17 started later, more among them had their first trials only after the age of 21. But as regards alcohol drinking they did not differ from the other recidivists. This is a very important fact, since in the genesis of offences committed by recidivists who as minors had not shown symptoms of social maladjustment, drinking of alcohol in excess played a larger role than was the case with the remaining recidivists and the entire character of the offences committed by them later was connected with habitual drinking of alcohol. Recidivists in whom no symptoms of social maladjustment were found while they were adolescents, nevertheless came, just like the remaining recidivists, relatively frequently from negative family milieux and often data were found concerning them, which pointed to early personality disorders; thus they were especially susceptible to unfavourable social conditions. In the life histories of these recidivists can be clearly noticed the significance of unfavourable situations for the genesis of their delinquency; the lasting aspect of this delinquency is later combined with alcoholism and difficulties encountered in the social functioning of individuals, who have already been in prison. Data from the juvenile period of persistent recidivists indicate that they entered adult society already with substantial gaps in their education, without the habit of systematic work and without any vocational training. Only three from among the studied group had finished vocational school, and at the time the study took place 55% had no professional qualifications whatsoever. This lack of vocational skill was especially often typical of those, who in connection with their lower intelligence quotient had objective difficulties at school, were lacking sufficient motivation to learn a trade and those, who had stayed at liberty only for a very short period. The studied group started to work at an early age (41% already below 16), which was connected with their difficult material conditions and the early dropping out from school. When being young adults half of the sampled group had worked relatively systematically (at least during half the period they stayed at liberty and were able to work). Later in their life can be noticed a distinct decline in systematic work. During their last stay at liberty 43% did not work at all; among the remaining individuals, 40% of those who started to work, were longer without work than with work. During the entire period since they reached the age of 17 only one-third of them worked more than half the time they actually could have worked, while the majority worked very little, of these 35% less than 25% of the time they would have worked. Unsystematic work was often combined with certain* personality traits of these individuals, such as agressiveness and inability to submit to discipline combined with a lack of professional qualifications and also with social derailment. In 30% of the recidivists degradation in the performance of their professional work found expression not only in the decrease of systematic work, but also in the shifting from work, requiring certain professional skill, to unskilled labour. This was partly connected with a complete lack of interest in the trade they had learned and above all with degradation due to alcoholism. Not without significance were undoubtedly also difficulties in obtaining a job, connected with prior stays in prison. Those recidivists to whom offences were almost the only source of maintenance, accounted for 17.7%. As many as 19% earned their living partly by committing offences and partly by getting help from their families. Thus, a 'total of over one-third were recidivists who lived above all from offences and work was not their source of income. 29% of the recidivists got the means to cover their expenses through work and by committing offences against property. For 34% of the studied individuals delinquency was most probably not the main source of their income: either they earned their living only through work (16%) or through work and by partly being kept by the family (10%) or they were exclusively maintained by the family (8%). The data gathered indicate that the recidivists studied here were frequently a burden for their families, that many of them had not established a family of their own, those who were married frequently did not perform their duties in regard to their families, and many of the marriages broke up. Their behaviour and relations with the family were characterized by substantial maladjustment to the requirements of family life. The percentage of bachelors among the sampled group was twice as high as is the case with their age group in the whole of Poland’s population of men and amounted to 40%. As many as 20% were divorced and 40% married. But only 20% lived during the period before their last arrest together with their wives; as many as 44% lived with their parents (mainly with their mothers). More than half of the married couples were marked by marital discord. Very bad relations with the wife were often connected with frequent imprisonment of the recidivists, with alcoholism and also the fact that their wives often were women whose personality and mode of life could contribute to the unstability of their married life.  The majority of the recidivists completely neglected their children, one-third carried various objects out of the house and afterwards sold them to buy vodka. 18% were convicted of offences harmful to the family. Almost half of them received material help from their families. After release from prison only one-fourths of the studied group can live with their wives. Over half counted on living with their parents and on material help from them, the remaining 25% could not count on anybody's material help, 17% of them even had nowhere to live after their release. While they were at liberty the recidivists studied here drank alcohol as a rule to excess, much more than the average of men does in the towns of Poland. Almost 88% drank at least a quarter of a litre of vodka three times and more a week. The systematic drinking of alcohol to excess was typical not only of the persistent recidivists, of the studied sample, but also of other populations of recidivists studied in Poland. It was found that among this group of recidivists there were many individuals, who were alcoholics already at an advanced stage. In the case of 117 of them (53%) a syndrome of symptoms was found, typical of alcoholism. With the majority of them the abstinence syndrome could be established, 21% had gone through an alcohol psychosis. The recidivists started to drink alcohol to excess very early, half of them already before they were 17 years old, 20% at the age of 17—18, 10% from 19—20 years and only 15% — at the age of 21 or later. Combined with the early drinking of alcohol to excess, were distinct symptoms of alcoholism appearing at an early age. They could be noticed with the majority of the alcoholics after at least eight years from the time they had started systematically to drink alcohol to excess. However, this period would be shorter, if one took into consideration the periods of imprisonment, which were for the recidivists enforced breaks in their systematic drinking. In 25% of the recidivists, who were alcoholics, distinct symptoms of alcoholism appeared already at an age below 25 years, 36% — it started between 25 and 27. Symptoms testifying to an advanced stage decreased tolerance and abstinence syndrome appeared according to the recidivists around the age of 27. Systematic drinking of alcohol to excess already at a very early age thus led to early appearance of symptoms of alcoholism. The genesis of the progressive process of demoralization and delinquency, as a rule, had its source not in the abuse of alcohol. Drinking of alcohol to excess usually began already when people started to go astray or to commit offences. Those of the recidivists who drank alcohol to excess from the -time they were still under age, were already at such an early period more socially maladjusted than the remaining recidivists and 'drinking alcohol to excess was at that time one of the elements of their mode of life within a group of demoralized adolescents. For those who started to drink alcohol to excess as young adults (as a rule being also socially maladjusted while still under age), the beginning of abuse of alcohol was often combined with work to earn a living and opportunities to drink at work. Though abuse of alcohol did not play an essential role in the genesis of the process of social maladjustment in the case of this group of persistent recidivists and in the genesis of their delinquency, it nevertheless exerted a distinct influence on the intensification and nature of their further offences. This influence can be noticed in the heterogenity of the offences committed by them and also in the fact that there are only few among the persistent recidivists who have committed offences exclusively against property; connected with the abuse of alcohol is the considerable percentage among the recidivists of those who have committed violent offences. Connected with drinking alcohol to excess are also short periods of being at liberty between the successive convictions.  Two categories can be distinguished among the persistent recidivists, where systematic drinking alcohol to excess played a major role regarding their delinquency; this was the group of 41 recidivists, convicted almost exclusively for violent offences in a state of drunkenness and a group of 33 individuals who committed theft while drunk, the motive being as a rule to obtain in this way money to buy alcohol. In the case of the investigated from these two groups, as a rule abuse of alcohol precedes substantially the beginning of delinquency; there are more skilled workers among them, who first used , to work systematically, but later degradation in professional work sets in; among these groups are more recidivists who were first convicted at a later age (above 20 years). Among those who committed petty theft connected with alcoholism, a type of alcoholic already in an advanced stage of alcoholism can be often noticed. He is passive, with a low educational level and a lowered intelligence quotient. Those who commit assaultive offences while drunk,  are especially often characterized by bad tolerance of alcohol; an analysis of the individual cases reveals that the patterns of demoralization of these offenders are most varied. Though 40% of the recidivists who are alcoholics started treatment against alcoholism, while at liberty, they usually gave it up again after a few visits at the outpatient clinics. Only 10% of the alcoholics were treated in psychiatric hospitals in connection with alcoholism; they were sent there because of symptoms of alcoholic psychosis. Dealing with the problem of personality disorders of this group of recidivists the research concentrated on finding answers to the following problems: — whether and in what respect results of the psychological examinations of persistent recidivists differ from the results obtained through studies of the average population and studies of prisoners who are not persistent recidivists. Differences were taken into account in the intelligence level tested with the Wechsler-Bellevue scale and in the personality measured by the MMPI; — what the findings of psychiatric examinations were (examinations to which 59% of the recidivists were subjected); — the setting apart and analysis, on the basis of the entire material, of some of the personality determinants in behavioural deviations of these individuals. The Wechsler-Bellevue scale was administered to 211 of the persistent recidivists. The results obtained testify to the fact that they markedly differ from 'the average population and the level of their intelligence belongs to the lowest as compared with the results of various other studies of prisoners. As many as 44% of -them had a lower IQ (IQ below 91), 27% were dull (IQ 80—90), 11.8% of boderline intelligence (IQ 66—79) and 5.2% were mentally deficient. The percentage of individuals with the above average intelligence was among those studied here small (9.0%). Though the level of education and the acquired professional qualifications were as a rule very low in the group under investigation, they were particularly low in the case of those recidivists, who had a lowered IQ. The lowered level of intelligence thus made it for many of the recidivists difficult to obtain primary education and to learn a trade. The majority of those with a low level of intelligence were individuals who had not even graduated from primary school, who had learned no trade and revealed substantial shortcomings in reading and writing. (As many as 44.5% of those investigated were rather bad in reading and writing).  The results obtained through intelligence tests also make one reach the conclusion, that most probably the deterioration of certain intellectual functions noticed with the recidivists under investigation were connected with their alcoholism. Though it was not established (which is in accordance with the results of a number of studies) that the recidivists who revealed symptoms of alcoholism and a lower IQ than the remaining prisoners, it nevertheless was found in the case of alcoholics that more frequently the verbal scale outdistanced the performance scale; besides, tests of alcoholics revealed more frequently profiles with symptoms, according to Wechsler, typical of alcoholics in an advanced stage of alcoholism. No significant differences in intelligence level were found between recidivists, depending on the 'type of offences committed by them. But it was found, that recidivists, who were for the first time convicted when already older than 20 years, revealed a lower IQ than recidivists, who had prior convictions at an earlier age. Among recidivists with a later start of convictions is a particularly large number in the genesis of whose delinquency alcoholism played a role and their inability independently to perform the basic tasks in life, which may be connected also with their low IQ. MMPI was administered to 148 recidivists serving according to its authors’ intentions to evaluate the most important personality traits, influencing the personal and social adjustment. The results obtained indicated marked personality disorders in the case of persistent recidivists as compared with other groups of people, studied with the same inventory, who did not commit offences and did not reveal mental disorders, and also in comparison with prisoners with a lesser degree of social degradation. Among the profiles obtained from these recidivists very frequently high-ranging profiles could be found (48%), where at least one scale reached 81—100 points.High profiles were rarely found in other Polish research. The average profile of the recidivists studied here shows a predominance of scale 6 (Pa) and 4 (Pd) and high too are scales 8 (Sc) and 2 (D), pointing to considerable hostility on the part of the sampled individuals, their suspicious attitude to and lack of confidence in their environment, irritability, shallowness of emotional reactions, alienation, lack of positive family ties and defiance of moral norms. Typical of this group is also a considerable moodiness, low self-esteem, lack of belief in one’s own possibilities and mental demobilization. The average profile of this group is similar to a psychopatic profile, but (as is the case in certain other Polish studies of prisoners) with a substantial paranoid and schizoid component. The results obtained point to greater personality disorders in recidivists, revealing symptoms of alcoholism than in those, where such symptoms were not found. Alcoholics obtained higher scores than non-alcoholics in all the clinical scales. There were, however, found no differences in the shape of the mean profile, which in both compared groups is similar and characterized by elevation of the same scales. Alcoholics revealed higher scores in all the scales; the differences noticed reached a level of statistical significance in all the scales with the exception of scales 4 (Pd) and 2 (D). This result is interesting, because in various foreign studies on alcoholics it was found that precisely these two scales differentiated in a statistically significant manner in the case of alcoholics and non-alcoholics. But in the population of persistent recidivists, characterized in general by marked psycho-social maladjustment, dating back to childhood, and alcoholism of some of them has its roots in this maladjustment, it was found, that alcoholics failed to differ significantly from non-alcoholics in scale 4 (Pd). The life situation of all the recidivists studied (within prison walls because of convictions) undoubtedly exerted its influence on the scores in scale 2 (D), in the case of alcoholics as well as non-alcoholics. Expert psychiatric opinions (regarding various periods of the life of the persistent recidivists) and/or results of psychiatric examinations conducted during this survey were collected for 60% of the cases. These data show that only in 10% of the examined recidivists neither personality disorders nor any other mental disorders were found. In as many as 70% of the recidivists, subjected to psychiatric expert examination, personality disorders of various etiology were discovered: psychopathy in 48%, encephalopathy in 22%; in 40% alcoholism was found, appearing as such or jointly with other disorders. Data regarding the remaining recidivists, not embraced by psychiatric examinations, indicate, that the majority (as many as 63%) of them were marked by advanced alcoholism, or had suffered from brain damage or psychological examinations revealed mental deficiency. After having studied data related to the remaining 37% of cases not subjected to psychiatric examination, it turned out, that though the above mentioned disorders were not found, nevertheless the majority of them were people, whose behaviour was marked by considerable agressiveness as well as self-aggression and only in 9% of the recidivists, not subjected to psychiatric examinations, no such behaviour patterns were found. The entire information about all the prisoners who were persistent recidivists — those who underwent psychiatric examinations as well as those who did not — indicates that individuals who revealed no distinct psychopathological symptoms are rare among them, amounting according to estimates to around 10% (taking into account the established percentage among those who underwent psychiatric examinations), and to 20%, if one would take into consideration also data about recidivists who underwent no psychiatric examinations, taking into account their mental deficiency, alcoholism and brain damage. The last mentioned percentage (20%) would, however, decrease markedly, if one would take into account data about certain behavioural disturbances of the recidivists, above all about their aggressiveness and self-aggression.   When discussing the entire material special attention should be drawn to the fact that in one-fifth of the group encephalopathy (disturbances connected with brain damage) was diagnosed and in another 9% encephalopathy was suspected, since it was 'to a considerable degree justified by the entire aspect of the data stemming from the interview. In additional 25% it w

The paper presents further fates of socially maladjusted children from Warsaw elementary schools in the period from 1976-1978 (when they were examined for the first time) till 1985 (when they were interviewed again and their criminal records were checked). The children to be included in the study had been indicated by their teachers due to intense and cumulated symptoms of social maladjustment (though nor necessarily offences). The following acts were found to be symptoms of maladjustment: regular truancy, loitering, running away from home; contacts with demoralized peers; thefts; drinking of alcohol; sexual depravation; vandalism; aggressive behaviour. Further fates of those examined persons were compared with the fates of their non-maladjusted classmates whose fathers, socio-professional status was the same as in the basic group.                Four to six years passed from the initial interview till the catamnesis. Criminal records were checked for a period of about seven years. During the first study, boys from both groups were aged 10-16; accordingly, they were aged 16-24 during the follow-up period. The second study included  243 maladjusted boys, with the control group of  139, while 262 and 151 boys respectively had been examined during the first study.                Longitudinal studies of social maladjustment are very important, as they render it possible to appraise the initial symptoms of social maladjustment and to define their prognostic value. Such studies also make a discrimination possible between transitory difficulties which are frequently related to a definite stage of the child’s development, and behavior that requires specialistic treatment . Moreover, basing of such studies, the quality and results of interventions taken towards the socially maladjusted youth can be appraised.                The follow-up study was aimed at answering the following questions:  a) What - if any were the changes of family situation of boys from both groups ? b)What were the further fates of the socially maladjusted boys as compared with member of the control group? In particular, did they finish elementary school, did they continue their education, what secondary school did they choose and did they finish that school? c) Do those out of school work? What profession are they in? Are they satisfied with that profession and the work they perform? d) What are the leisure habits of the examined boys? e) What are the drinking habits, delinquency, and criminal records of the socially maladjusted boys as compared with their peers from the control group ? In both groups, the examined persons family situation underwent various changes during the catamnesis, and so did the relations between them and their parents. The changes consisted mainly in 42.8 per cent of the maladjusted boys staying temporarily away from which frequently resulted from the court's or educational authorities decisions to send them to educational or correctional institutions. Boys from the control group usually spent the entire follow-up period at home.               The two groups differed as regards their family environments, those of the  socially maladjusted boys being much less favourable. These differences grew during the follow-up period as regards many factors (broken home, the fathers irregular employment or lack of permanent job, excessive drinking). Also the school situations clearly differentiated the two-groups both in the first study and during the follow-up period. At the moment of the second examination, only one boy from the control group was still going to elementary school, while there were as many as 40 (16.5 per cent) of such boys among those socially maladjusted. This proportion seems very large the fact considered we deal here with young persons whose intellectual development is normal, and with the educational level necessary for the individual’s future professional activities and participation in the country’s social and cultural life . (The fact should also be stressed here that in the first study, nearly half of the socially maladjusted boys were in standard VII at the very least, and thus not far from finishing school). As shown by our study, the chances for learning and finishing elementary school later in life are extremely poor.                All members of the control group and two-thirds of the socially maladjusted boys learned on after finishing elementary school. It appeared that those from the basic group not only continued education less frequently (this fact being related to their educational backwardness), but also changed and left schools (35.1 per cent) much more frequently than boys from the control group (21.1 per cent).  It seems, however, that changing and leaving school takes place very often in the control group, too. This testifies to learning difficulties of elementary school graduates and to their frequent mistakes in choosing the line and type of education. It is worth mentioning here that, in the light of the  examined persons statements, the institutions assigned to render professional guidance to young persons influenced their decisions to a minimal degree only.                At the moment of follow-up interviews, as many as 162 socially maladjusted boys and only 35 members of the control group were already out of school. Less than a half (46.9 per cent) of  the former finished elementary school, while nearly all (97.6 per cent) of those from the control group who were  not learning anymore managed to reach that educational level. The secondary schools which the socially maladjusted boys who were not learning anymore finished were frequently (in 35.5 per cent of case) shortened courses.                The examined persons often left elementary school defeated and hostile towards it; they had no professional aspirations and acceptable leisure habits. Our findings seem to demonstrate that elementary school and the associated institutions frequently fail confronted with difficult children from negative families. An appraisal of the examined persons, employment is difficult due to their different life situations and ages. Among those employed from the control group there was a greater number of apprentices as compared with the socially maladjusted group (where  apprentices constituted 5-per cent only of those employed). Nearly half of those from the basic group (46.4 per cent) were skilled workers, and 44.3 per cent performed manual work that required no professional qualifications. Thus in nearly half of the cases, when starting on their professional careers, socially maladjusted boys had no chance to train in a profession.                The two groups also differ greatly as regards professional aspirations and their fulfillment.  The socially maladjusted  boys  had no particular professional plans in a greater proportion of cases (27 per cent) than members of  the control group (7 per cent). Asked whether  the professional plans they hand on finishing elementary school ever came true , nearly  half (48 per cent) of the socially maladjusted answered in the negative, and just 20 per cent-in the affirmative. The respective proportions were reversed In the control group: 53 per cent of affirmative and 30.7 per cent of negative answers.               Generally speaking, those employed are not pleased with their earnings. Asked about the wages which which satisfy them, they frequently mentioned sums several times higher than what they were paid. The fact is worthy of notice that those who finished a secondary school are not at all those who earn most. As shown by the analysis of the examined persons, leisure habits, the socially maladjusted are more passive in this respect, their leisure activities being less diversified and restricted to having fun and social contacts only. The leisure habits they follow create frequent opportunities to drink alcohol, and some of their activities (like a game of billiards or cards) make it necessary for them always to have money which they would spend on such games. The following conclusions can be drawn from the analysis of the examined persons drinking habits: during catamnesis, 43.1 per cent of the socially maladjusted and 25.1 per cent of members of the control group drank alcohol (vodka or wine) at least once a week and or drank larger amounts on one occasion (i. e. more than 200 cl. Vodka or 600 cl. wine). the respective proportions of teetotalers (according to their own and their mothers statements) were 15.7 and 19.6 per cent. The boys who had drunk repeatedly in the first study were also found to drink regularly during the follow-up period, while a considerable proportion of those who had abstained from alcohol before drank only seldom and small amounts later on, too. An opinion is thus justified that repeated drinking by children and young persons, if it stars at a young age (and particularly if it accompanied by other symptoms of social maladjustment), is not a transistory phenomenon but develops into a relatively persistent lifestyle and leisure habit with time, those affected following that habit in the company of similarly oriented peers. In the first study, repeated drinking coexisted with other symptoms of social maladjustment, such as truancy, running away from home, stealing etc. As shown by the analysis of such persons further life situation, their attitude towards and extent of drinking does not change with time as a rule, instead, their drinking habits grow more excessive and are related, like before, to disturbed socialization.                Moreover, regular drinking is related to other negative factors as well. Excessive drinkers among those socially maladjusted frequently failed to finish school; is they succeeded after all, it was usually a year or more later than their peers. This fact negatively influenced their chances to learn on and to train in a profession. Among such boys there was also a greater proportion of those who neither learned nor worked during the catamnesis (p<0.05). Stealing was also more frequent among them (p<0.001), and so were contacts with peers who committed thefts (p<0.01) and who drank regularly (p<0.02), as well as drug abuse (p<0.05) and self-mutilations (p<0.02), committed more frequently as compared with the remaining socially maladjusted boys.                Also in the control group, boys who drank during the fallow-up period stole (p<0.01), belonged to regularly drinking peer groups (p<0.001), and stayed out of school and work (p<0.01) more frequently than others from that group.                Therefore, regular drinking renders difficult such examined persons proper start into adult life.                As regards criminal records, the group of socially maladjusted proved to be differentiated. This concerns both the initial stage of our study when one-third of those boys had already had cases at family courts, and the follow-up period when the percentage of those with criminal records went up to 55.8. As many as 30 per cent of the examined persons had cases at criminal courts after the age of 17, and every fourth of those who had cases at courts (both family and common courts) had been convicted at least four times. Despite the differentiation, the data concerning criminal records are rather alarming, the extent of delinquency gradually becoming higher during the seven years of catamnesis.                If we compare socially maladjusted boys who never had any cases at court with those previously convicted, the number of convictions taken into account, these two groups prove to differ not only as regards their respective careers in this regards. It appears that various negative factors found both in the examined persons themselves and in their families and peer groups are more frequent in those previously convicted and repeatedly convicted as compared with those. who have no criminal record. Fathers of the former have their own criminal records more frequently, and the boys themselves more often have stealing and drinking friends. They also reveal a greater number of various symptoms of social maladjustment; during the follow-up period, more of them neither learned nor worked, and more failed to finish elementary school or only finished it behind time.                As follows from our study social maladjustment when going to elementary school does not necessarily determine such young persons' further demoralization. The group of socially maladjusted boys is highly diversified in many respects. At the same time, it also differs greatly from the control group, being much worse: those socially maladjusted reach a lower educational level and wages, are more displeased with their own lives, and more excessive in their drinking habits, and also commit offences and have cases at court more frequently. The extent of maladjustment found in that group seems rather large which manifests among others the small range and poor effectiveness of preventive actions taken towards the examined persons by the competent educational institutions.