Socioanalysis; a new approach to criminology.

The effectiveness of any attempt to rehabilitate penal inmates is largely dependent upon the capacity of penal workers to achieve a relationship with them which will not evoke defensive conduct. Workers tend to direct interviews in such a way that past and present difficulties appear to emphasize the inmate's personal deficiencies. This hinders insight and accentuates his differences from the noncriminal world. A technique of interviewing which will lead the inmate to see his past and present life in terms of social setting is described.