Original New York Police Department partly-printed arrest disposition card for Lee Oswald, one page, 6 x 4, April 16, 1953. Oswald, age 13 of 825 East 179 St. and student at "P.S. 44," is arrested for "Juv. Del." with a specific offense of "Warrant, Habitual Truant." The arrest was made at the request of James Brennan, an attendance officer with the Board of Education. In very good condition, with overall creases and a punch hole to the lower left. Originally obtained by a longtime NYPD officer in charge of disposing of old records after they were committed to microfilm.
In interviews with the police, Oswald said that he had better things to do than go to school, and disliked his teachers and classmates. Because his mother was ineffective in ensuring that Oswald went to school, he was remanded to Youth House for psychiatric observation. Here, a doctor determined that Oswald's difficulties resulted from 'emotional isolation and deprivation, lack of affection, absence of family life, and rejection by a self involved and conflicted mother,' and recommended that he go to therapy with a male psychiatrist to help substitute for the lack of a father figure.
Accompanied by transcripts of Warren Commission testimony regarding Oswald's early life and upbringing by Dr. Renatus Hartogs and Evelyn Siegel, referencing Oswald's truancy and his commitment to the Youth House of New York City.
