Introduction

Conduct disorder is by many centuries the oldest of the diagnostic categories used in contemporary child psychiatry. Long before psychiatry and psychology were born, people agonized over what to do with out-of-control children. We are still agonizing. Furthermore, we are still agonizing about the same questions.

The questions that have troubled people over the centuries about out-of-control children fall into three overlapping groups:

Questions of the relationship between family and state in the control of children

Can the state control how parents treat children?

Can the state hold parents responsible for children's behaviour?

What are the state's responsibilities in the raising of children, including children whose families cannot control them?

Questions of the development of personal responsibility

What makes an action reprehensible? Is it the act itself, or the intention behind the act?

At what age or developmental stage should individuals be held accountable for their reprehensible actions? Is responsibility an all-or-nothing phenomenon, or is it graduated? Does personal responsibility vary with the nature of the act?

Is the same set of behaviours sanctionable at all ages, or are there ‘status offences’ that should only be punishable if committed by children?

Questions about the appropriate regulatory agencies for out-of-control children

In what circumstances are out-of-control children the responsibility of the family, the legal system, the religious system, the educational system, the social services system or the medical system?

What should be the relative roles of prevention, restitution, deterrence, and reform in the response of these agencies to out-of-control children?