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THE MODERN CRIMINAL SCIENCE SERIES 

PiMiihtd wndtr Ou AtitpiMt of 
THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OP CRIMINAL LAW AND CRIMINOLOGY 



• Crime • 
And Its Repression 



By GUSTAV ASCHAFFENBURG 

/Vo/Mor o/Ptyeluatry m Ott Coloffn* Aoadtmy ofPraetieal M«dieiil4 

emd Editor o/tkt "Jmtriud o/OrimiMal Ptychologg ami 

Crmnnal Laa Rtfonn" 

TnnsUted hj 

ADALBERT ALBRECHT 

AuoeiaU Editor of tilt Jo^mud of Orimi»ai La» and Onmmniiogg 

Wrh AM EimoBui. Pbvacb wt 
MAURICE PABMEI£E 

AuooiaUpTo/utarefSoeiotogi/iath* UaiBtriUf of Mutovri 

An> lUi InTKOsvcnov w 
ARTHUR C. TRAIN 

FormtrJMittimlDitMttAltorMy/orlfMt ¥oTkO<Mmty 



BOSTON 
UTTLE. BROWN, AND COMPANY (;,y^jo|c 
1918 - ■ ^ 






Comuavi, ISlSi 
Bt Ltmxt Bbowv, amd CoioAa 

Aa rifUt nMTWd 



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GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE 
MODERN CRIMINAL SCIENCE SERIES. 

At the National Cimference of Crinmial Law and Crim- 
inok^y, held in Chica^, at Northwestern Universi^, in 
June, 1900, the American Institute of Criminal Law and 
Criminology was organized; and, as a part of its work, the 
following restriution was passed: 

" Whereas, it is exceedingly desirable that important 
treatises on criminology in foreign languages be made readily 
accessible in the English language, Resolved, that the presi- 
dent iq^KNnt a committee of five with power to select such 
treatises as in Hasst judgment should be translated, and to 
arrange for their publication." 

The Committee appointed under this Resolution has made 
careful investigation of the literature of the subject, and has 
otHuulted by hequent correspondence. It has selected 
eeveial works from among the mass of material. It has 
arranged with publisher, with authors, and with transla- 
tors, for the immediate undertaking and rapid progress of 
the task. It realizes the neces^ty of educating the piofes- 
nons and the public by the wide diffusion of information on 
this Butqect. It deares here to explain the conuderations 
which have moved it in seeking to select the treatises best 
adi4>ted to the purpose. 

For the oommunit7 at tai^^ it is important to recognize 
that criminal sdence is a larger thing than criminal law. 
The l^al profession in particular has a duly to familiarize 
hadf with the principles of that sci^ice, as the sole means 
for intdligent and ^stematic improvement of the criminid 



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Ti GENERAL INTRODUCTION 

Two centuries ago, wlule modem medkal sdence was stiD 
yoang, medical practitioners proceeded upoo two general 
assumptiona: one as to tlie cause of diaeaae, the other as to 
its treatment. As to the cause of disease, — disease was sent 
by the inscrutable will of God. No man could fathom that 
will, nor its arbitrary operation. As to the treatmmt of 
disease, there were believed to be a few remedial agents of 
universal efficacy. Calomel and blood-letting, for example, 
were two of the principal ones. A larger or amaller dose of 
calomel, a greater or less quantity of bloodlettit^, — this 
blindly indiscriminate mode of treatment was regarded as 
orthodox for aU common varieties of ailmenL And so his 
calomel pill and his bloodletting lancet were carried every- 
where with him by the doctor. 

Nowadays, all this is past, in medical science. As to the 
causes of disease, we know that they are facts of nature, 
— various, but distinguishable by diagnosis and research, 
and more or less capable of prevention or control or counter- 
action. As to the treatment, we now know that there are 
various speciBc modes of treatment for specific causes or 
symptoms, and that the treatment must be adapted to the 
cause. In short, the individualization of disease, in cause and 
in treatment, Is the dominant truth of modem medical science, 

He same truth is now known about crime; but the under- 
standing and the application of it are just opening upon us. 
The old and still dominant thought is, as to cause, that a 
Clime is caused by the inscrutable moral free wiU of the human 
b^ng, doing or not doing the crim^ just as it pleases; abso- 
lutely (tee in advance, at any moment of time, to choose or 
not to choose the criminal act, and therefore in itself the 
acAe and ultimate cause of crime. As to treatment, there 
Btill are just two traditional measures, used in varying doses 
for all kinds of crime and all kinds iA persons, — jail, or a 
fine (for death is now onployed in rare cases only). But 
modan sdence, here as in medicin^ Tefiognizes that crime 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION vii 

also (like disease) has natural causes. It need not be asserted 
for one moment that crime is a disease. But it does liave 
natural causes, — that is, circumstances which work to pro- 
duce it in a given case. And as to treatment, modem science 
Rcognizes that penal or remedial treatment cannot posdbl^ 
be indiscriminate and machine-like, but must be adapted 
to the causes:, and to the man as affected by those causes. 
Common sense and l(^c alike require, inevitably, that the 
moment we predicate a spedfic cause for an undesirable 
^ect, the remedial treatment must be qiedfically adapted 
to that cause. 

Thus the great truth of the present and the future, for 
ffnminal science, b the individualization of penal treatment, 
— for that man, and for the cause of that man's crime. 

Now tliis trutli opens up a vast field for re-examination. 
It means tliat we must study all the possible data that can 
be causes of crime, — the man's heredity, the man's phy«- 
cal and moral make-up, his emotional temperament, the 
surroundings of his youth, his present home, and other 
conditions, — all the influencing circumstances. And it 
means that the effect of different methods of treatment, old 
or new, for different kinds of men and of causes, must be 
studied, experimented, and compared. Only in this way 
can accurate knowledge be reached, and new efficient meas- 
ures be adopted. 

All this has been going on in Europe for forty years past, 
and in limited fields in this countiy. All the branches <^ 
sdence that can help have been working, — anthropology, 
medicine, psychology, economics, sociology, philanthropy, 
penology. The law alone has abstained. The science of 
law is the one to be served by all this. But the public in g^i- 
era! and the legal profession in particular have remuned 
either ignorant of tlie entire subject or indifferent to the 
entire sdentific movement. And this ignorance or indlffei^ 
ence has blocked the way to progress in administration. 



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viii GENERAL INTRODUCTION 

The Institute therefore takes upon itself, as one (rf its ums, 
to inculcate the study of modem crimmal sdenoe, as a press- 
ing duty for the 1^^ profession and for the thou^tful 
oommuni^ at large. One of its principal modes of stimulat- 
ing and aiding this study is to make available in the K ngliah 
language the most useful treatises now extant in the Con- 
tinental languages. Our country has started late. Th»e 
is much to catch up -with, in the results reached elsewhere. 
We shall, to be sure, profit by the long period of argument 
and theorizing and experimentation which EuTcq>eaii thinkos 
and workers have passed throuf^ But to reap that profit, 
the results of their experience must be made accesable in 
the English language. 

The effort, in selecting this series d translations, has been 
to (^oose those works which best represent the various schools 
of thought in criminal science the general results reached, 
the points of contact or of controvert, and the contrasts of 
method — having always in view that class oi worics which 
have a more than local value and could best be sesriceable 
to criminal science in our country. As the science has vari- 
ous aspects and emphases — the antluopological, p^chologi- 
csl, sociological, le^, statistical, economic, pathological — 
due regard was paid, in the selection, to a representation of 
all these aspects. And as the several Continental countries 
have contributed in different ways to these various aspects, — 
France, Germany, Italy, most abundantly, but the others 
eadi its share, — the effort was made also to recognize the 
different ctmtributioas as far as feasible. 

The selection made by the Conmitttee, then, rqucsents 
its judgment of the works that are most useful and most 
instructive for the purpose of translation. It is its oonvictiao 
that this Series, niien conqileted, will fumi^ the American 
student of criminal aaeaice a qrstematic and sufficient ac- 
quaintance with the controlling doctrines and methods 
that now hold the stage at thought in Continoital Europe. 

, ,..,...Cooylc 



GENEEAL INTRODUCTION ix 

Wbkb ot the various prindples and methods will prove 
best adapted to help our problems can only be told after 
our studwts and workers have tested thcan in our own ex- 
perience. But it is certun that we must first acquunt ou> 
»dves with these results of a generation of European thought. 
In clo^ng, the Committee thinks it desirable to nder the 
members of the Institute, for purposes of further investiga- 
tion of the literature, to the " Frelimioaiy BibliogrBphy of 
Modem Criminal Law and Criminology " (Bulletin No. 1 
«l the Gary Library of Law of Northwestern University), 
already issued to members of the Conference. The Com- 
mittee believes that some of the Ai^o-American works 
listed therein will be found useful. 

COIOUTTBB ON TRANSLATIONS. 

Ckaiman, John H. Wigmorb, 

Dean of NorAwMt«m UntPtrnlg School qf Laa, Chicago. 
Ebnbt Freund, 

PmfuKir of Law in Iht Vnivfrtitjf cf Chieato. 

EowAKo LmnsET, 

AmoeiaU Editor of the Journal of the Am^rkan Jmtitute 
(^Criminal hate arid Criminology, Warren, Penn. 

IhLimucE Pabmblee, 

Aeiociaie Profeieor ef Sociology in Ihe Univereity of 

Mittomi, ColunUna, Mittouri. 
BOHCOE PODND, 

PttifeMOT of Law in Sartard Law School, Cambridge, 

Mm. 

William W. Shithbbs, 

Secretary of the Comparatiee Lam Bureau qf the Am -' ■ 
can Bar Aitociaiion, PkiladelpJiia, Pcnn. 



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EDITORIAL PREFACE TO THIS VOLUME 

Br HAUBICE PABMELEE> 

The author of this work, Gttbtat Aschafpenbcbg, stands 
in the front rank of leaders of thought in modem criminal 
science in Germany. His work bears witness to the valuable 
aid which medical and p'sycltiatric studies must always 
render to criminal law. In its thoroughly realistic applica- 
tion of social statistics to the theories of criminal law, it occu- 
pies a place of almost unique importance in the literature of 
criminal science. Finally, it presents an original treatment 
of the entire subject — the Repression of Crime — which 
may well serve some day as a model tor a work based on 
American statistics, — if reliable ones shall ever become 
avulable. 

Do. AsCHAFFENBDBO was bom May S3, 1866, at Zwei> 
brUcken, in the Palatinate. Between 1885 and 1890 he 
pursued bis studies at the Universities of Heidelberg, WUrz* 
burg, Freiburg, Berlin, and Strassbu:^; taking his degree in 
medicine at Strassburg in 1890, with a thesis on "The Symp- 
tomatology of Delirium Tremens." Studying afterwards in 
Vieoiia (with Meinert and Krafft-Ebing) and in Paris, he 
then became Assistant in Professor Kraepelin's psychiatric 
clinic at Heidelberg. (To American students the names of 
ICraepelin and Krafft-Ebing are well known as among the 

* Ajsod&te Fiofeaaor irf Sociology b Uk Univenitj of Minouri; an- 
t3bor of " Principles of Anthropology and Sociology m their RetBtkas to 
Criminal nnoedure," etc. 

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ZU PBEFACE 

most famous psychiatrists of Europe.) At Heidelberg he 
became successively Lecturer (1895) and Assistant-Professor 
(1000). 

In 1901 he went to Halle (an der Saate) as Medical Director 
of the Department for Insane Criminals. Since 1004 he has 
been at Cologne, as Professor of Psychiatry in the Academy 
of Practical Medi<nne and Medical Director of the Psychiatric 
Clinic. 

Db. Aschaffgnbubo's numerous published works cover 
varied aspects of crime and mental disease.^ In 1905 he 
founded the Monthly JounuJ of Criminal Psychology and 
Criminal Law Reform, of which he has since been editor-in- 
chief; bis associate editors are von Liszt, professor of criminal 
taw in Berlin, von Lilienthal, professor of criminal law in 
Heiddberg, and Kloss, judiciary counsellor in Hanmi. In 
191S he b^an (with Professor Kri^smann of Kiel) a aeries 
entitled "Library of Criminalistics," of which one volume 
has thus far appeared. 

The present work, under the title "Das Verbret^en und 
seine Bek£mpfung," was first published in 1903, and went into 
a second edition in 1906; the author has further revised it for 
the present translation. It is one of Germany's most notable 
contributions, among works having a general scope and an 
importance transcending national boimdaries. In the three 
principal continental countries, a special trend of mastership 
has always be^i noticeable, — Italy emphasizing the anthro- 
pological side of crime (and secondarily the social), France 

■ " Experimental Studiea in Aaaadatka " (1805-1002); " Criminal Law " 
in HocA'* " Handbock of Legal pB;cluatiy " (IBOl, I0OS); " Penal Treat- 
ment of Bectdivirta, and Hatutoal, and FrofeMkn&l Offeftdera" (1907); 
"Prisoaor Aayhim?" (lOOS); " F^ycbastbenic Conditiona " in the " Band- 
hoA tl Nervosa 'nier^>eutiGa " (1900); " Treatment of Dangennu Luna- 
tteaand TTr>liitii»l DnmkBida"in the " Conqsmtive Survey of Gennanaod 
Foietga Crimioal Law" (1000); " Piotectiou of Sodet]' agahut Daitgeroua 
Luiatki" (1012): " Handbook of IVrdiiatir" (in ccdUboiatiao; Iflll +). 



PREFACE xm 

the soda! side (and secondarily the anthropological), and 
Gomany the psychological side. And in each country a vast 
munber of useful contributions have only a local applicatioD. 
A book which takes account of all factors and has more than 
local value is a rarity, and even then its author is not always a 
master speaking from mature experience. The present work 
has made its place as one of those books which will live for 
many years to come and bear a message in all countries. 

The first two parts of this book are devoted to a statistical 
study of the causes of ctime, based in the mun upon data 
from Germany. The conclusions reached by the author with 
regard to season, race, religion, urban and rural life, and occu- 
pation as causes of crime are much the same as those of similar 
studies of crime. He r^ards alcoholism as one of the most i 
important causes of crime. While recent investigations by 
Professor ICarl Pearson and his co-workers at the Galton 
Eugenics Laboratory in London have led to an opinion not 
so extrane as the author's as to the physical effects of alco- 
holism upon the offspring, nevertheless it remains true that 
indirectly in its effect upon the training and bringing up of 
offspring, as well as directly, alcoholism is a powerful force 
for crime. 

In view of the present more or less widespread movement 
in this country to ezterminate proetitntion, it is worth while 
to note the opinion (^ the author, very emphatically expressed, 
that it is impossible to ^fterminate this social evil, and that 
it is wiser for governments to regulate it and keep it under 
strict surveillance than to make futile attempts to ext«munate 
it which may cause more harm than good. At the same time 
he advocates severe repressive measures against procuration. 
His discussion of economic conditions, such as fluctuating 
wages and prices, strikes, etc., as causes of crime, though 
necessarily brief, is interesting and suggestive. 

L ,l,z<»i.vG00gIf 



XIV PREFACE 

In discusnng tlie individual causes of crime, tiie author, 
like most Gennan oimiuologists, takes a very unfavwable 
attitude towards the theory of Lombroso and certain other 
criminologists that certain inborn abnormal physical char- 
acteristics ar« frequent caoaes of crime. At the same time 
the authcM- believes that abnormal mental characteristics are 
prevalent among criminals, many of whom are ather feeble- 
minded or insane in varying degrees. His low estimate of 
the importance of these abnormal personal characteristics 
is revealed by his clasmfication <A criminals, in which there is 
scant recognition of the part played by these characteristics 
in the causation of crime. These personal characteristica 
cannot be studied by the quantitative methods of statistics 
as well as the social causes of crime, because there are qualita- 
tive differences involved which cannot be accurately meas- 
ured. So that a statistical study of these characteristics is 
not usually as fraitfal as a similar study of the sodal causes. 

In the third part, devoted to the measures to be used against 
crime, the author discusses several measures, such as the in- 
determinate sentence and probation, which are well knowa 
in this country, since they have been used here m<»e than 
an y w h ere dse. His Imef statement of the fundamental 
principles up<m vdiich these and all other penal measures 
should be baaed is excellent. He is very cerUun that penal 
responsibility should be determined entirely according to a 
biological and social criterion and not at all according to a 
metaphysical or theological theory of a free will. Unfor- 
tunately many of the American criminologists, perhaps the 
majority of them, have not as yet seemed willing to take this 
position. 

Throughout this work Db. Aschatpenbubo displ^rs great 
caution in the use of statistics, and a most judicial attitude in 
e^reasiog his oinnions. It is an excellent thing that a book 

, ...... C.ooQk- 



PREFACE XV 

of this nature has been included in the Modem Criminal 
Science Series; for it is a good example of the kind of study of 
irtiidi there is great need in this country. The statistical 
method is the only exact metliod of learning many things 
about the causatioD of crime and the effectiveness of the dif- 
ferent kinds of penal treatment. In this countiy we still lack 
adequate means of gathering the necessary data, while not 
enough aiialysis is made of such data as we have. It is to be 
hoped that this book will serve as a stimulus to increase the 
statistical study of crime in this country. 

Umivxbsitt or HiBSOtm, 
17. 1S18. 



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INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH 
VERSION 

Bt ABTHUR C. TRAIN' 

pRAcncAL works, especially int^esting and readable works, 
OD criminology and penology are rare, and the subjects them- 
sdves are generally r^arded as depressing and distasteful. 
We in America are interested in the picturesque nde of the 
criminal and in his capture by astute officers of the law, and 
detective stories have an ainamTig sale. But once the crook 
is safdy locked up we turn to something else. Criminals 
and prisons are associated in our minds with rough manners, 
coarse food and bad smells. Statistics bore us. It is easier 
and pleasanter to be interested in hospitals or organized 
chari^. But of course there are in fact few subjects of 
greater importance than these two, involving as th^ do the 
moral health of the body p<ditic, the protection of property, 
and our own personal security. 

In Europe, and especially in Germany, minor piA>lic offi- 
dals receive a particular education and truning for thdr 
duties. There is a numerous and efficient civil service. 
With us most public officers hold thdr places by the grace 
of some "boss," and get th^ "jobs" as a return for 
political services rendered. Some of our court clerks were 
originally bar keepers, and many of our prison officers have 
had little better preparation for their tasks. Those em- 

' Former AMuUnt District Attomey tor New York Coimtr, anthit-aS 
"The PriaoDcT at the Bar " (Id ed. 1008), "True Stories of Crime" 
(IMS), "CoorU. CrinunaU, and the Camona" (IBlS), etc. 



xvm INTHODUCnON TO THE ENGLISH VEBSION 

ployed in the minor functiona of the administration of 
criminal justice, and particularly in and about prisons and 
penitentiaries, are apt to be persons who are unable to secure 
other and more attractive work. Thus there is a lack of intel- 
ligent observation as to the working of our institutions, and 
consequently a dearth of reliable data upon which to base 
sdentific conclusions. Our progress is apt to be less a steady 
growth than an accidental jerk in the right direction. Some- 
times it turns out to be the wrong direction. Not knowing 
very much about the subject, and bdng in a position to find 
out less, our legislatures seize new ideas (supposed to be in 
the nature of reform) and adopt them on the merest sugeestioa 
of sentimental women and political agitators. These ideas 
may be good ones, — stolen, or rather borrowed, from older 
countries, who have evolved tiiesn by years of study and ob- 
serratioii. Sometimes, however, these ideas are schemes to 
put money in the pockets of contract(»8 or defunct politicians 
on the public pay roO. 

There are practical^ no penal or criminal statistics in tbe 
United States that have any real value, although this wiD not 
long be so. At the present time few reliable conclusions can 
be reached in r^ard to the spread and causes of crime or the 
various means of repressing it. Until economic ctmditions 
change fundamentally and politics is elevated to a moral 
science we shall probably never be in so favorable a positiim 
to study these things as our more serious-minded, more 
eccmomically contented, and vastly more painstaking con- 
tinental neighbors. What books we have on these important 
subjects are apt to be either superfidal and sentimental, 
or dse so dry and prosy that aU interest is killed at tbe end of 
three paragraphs. 

For this reason a work like the present, which could only 
have been written by a German about Germany, and which. 



INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGUSH VERSION xix 

based largely on the author's experience, combines iritb it 
the fruits of years of study and general obserration, is en- 
ligbtening and invaluable. Such a book could not have been 
produced in America. The author's concluding paragraph 
wdl describes the attitude vith which this scholarly and 
bioad-minded undertaking has been performed: 

"Only dispassionate consideration that vievs impartially 
the phenom^ia which we call crime, which observes first and 
then condudes, — in a word, only the natural scienlific 
method, — can smooth the way that leads to a knowledge of 
crime and criminals." 

It ifl in the nmtter of observation that the author performs 
his most important service. He is far from being a propa- 
gandist, but on the other hand, he is not slow to demolish 
what he regards as unsubstantiated theories, based on inade- 
quate or equivocal data. His analysis of statistics and his 
ocmunent upon tbdr probative value — could be pondered 
with profit by most other writers upon this and ramilar subjects 
of sociologic interest. With the premise that at thdr best 
all criminal statistics are apt to be highly TnJHlwtding and of 
doubtful significance, — he w^ghs the vast mass at his dis- 
posal and considers their limitations. He wisely points out 
that what acts are regarded as crimes differ widely in different 
places; that many misdemeanors are merely infractions of 
arbttraiy i^ulations; that temporary causes (such as grmu 
famine) can be of startling consequence; that police activity 
or laxneas can multiply or divide the total of ^parent crim- 
inality; that arrests are no positive mdication of crime, and 
that convictions to be so must be baaed on an effective ad- « 
ministration of criminal justice. Moreover, he shows tlie 
inadequacy of the data obtmnable in different countries. Most 
vital of all, he points out the danger of making sweeping 
dedoctions from extremdy limited facts. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



XX INTRODDCnON TO THE ENGLISH VEBSION 

Hie eduuistive tables compiled for this interesting and 
instnictive treatise are highly illuminating, showing as they 
do the incontrovertible connection between crimes against 
pr(q>ert7 and econcHnic conditions, sexual crimes and the sea- 
son of the year, etc. There is hardly any subject ocmnected 
with the causation of crime that does not come in for dis- 
cussion and analysis, accompanied by a light-ahedding anay 
of figures drawn &om local German sources. 

His conclusions with respect to the ^ect of alcoholic 
stimulants oa criminality are mgnificant in a country where 
heavy drinkii^ is regarded with leniouy; and his obearvations 
(HI the small amount of criminality among prostitutes indicates 
that this class of unfortunates among w<Hnen corresponds 
to that class among men which steab simply because it is 
"the easiest wa^" to live. Poverty and aktdiol aie, he 
bdieves, the two proximate cuises of the great body of csimes. 

It is with some posonal satisfaction that the writer finds 
his own observations as to the lack of common phyucal char- 
acteristics among criminals corroborated by siv^ an eminent 
observer, who conmients on the temptation on the part of 
criminologists to seek for external signs of an inward lack of 
spiritual graoe, and the fwlme of Lavater, Gall, %»urzheim, 
and Lombroso to demonstrate their existence and significance. 
The problem r^nuns unsolved and a disposititm to generalise 
about the physiology and p^diology of a "criminal bom" 
dass is less observable than heretofore. Our author's di»- 
criminative ability in this respect contrasts favorably with 
Lombroso's surpri^i^ lack of critical faculty and his willing- 
ness to find far-reaching significance in masses of immaterial, 
trivial, and otherwise explainaUe detuls. 

On the whole, our autbcv's attitude is hopeful rath^ than 
optimistic, whidi may perhaps be attributed to his proximity 
to his subject and his unwillinguess to acc^ evesy proposed 



INTRODTTCnON TO THE ENGLISH VERSION XH 

remedy as a panacea. He is cot handicapped by the feeling 
that to question the arrival of an immediate millennium 
is unpatriotic. He weighs the possibilities and finds to hia 
r^ret that "brutality, recklessness, and licentiousness are 
^treading more and more in the growing generation," that 
"iriioever has once got deep into the mire of criminal life b 
acarcdy able to get onto firm ground agiun" (the recidivist), 
and that administratively "we have reached a point where 
the ^parently firm foundations of criminal law appear to 

The remedies he believes for these things are to be found 
in those generally adapted to the increase of economic pros- 
perity and the reduction of poverty, in education (particulai^ 
as to the effects of alcohol), in the establishment of coffee 
and recreation rooms, in the devdopment of regard for law, 
in the care of selected children and of released convicts, etc. 
And he makes a strong a^^ument based on observation and 
statistics, Ln favor of the "conditional sentence" (correspond- 
ing to our "suspended sentence"), the parole, and the aboli- 
tion of fixed terms of imprisonment. . 

It b characteristic that the author does not advance these 
pn^KMitJons as necessarily of established de^rability, although 
it seems that tb^ have been so regarded in this country for 
some time. He bases hb ai^uments and advocates their 
adoption not on theory but on collected data, while we usu- 
ally proceed on the plan of trying anything that looks good 
to us, and then discarding it if we are disappointed in the 
Ksohs. Not all of hb proposab are such as to commend them- 
selves to a people among whom respect for law and effective- 
ness of procedure are so far below those <^ the author's own 
oonntrymen. Hb suggestion that the State might re-imburse 
ev&y citizen for the damage sustained by him from the crimi- 
nal act of another b not likely to be adopted in a land wbere 



XXU INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH VERSION 

sach a doctrine would undoubtedly immediately result in a 
dduge of criminal prosecutions instigated solcjy by a desire 
for fingnt^ftl profit on tbe part of the complunants. 

The most important lesson to be learned from this admira- 
ble book is that which obviously the author has most at heart, 
namdy, that as Krohne says, "even if you have the best law, 
the best judge, the best sentence, and the prison offidal is 
not efficient, you might as wdl throw the statute into the waste 
basket and bum the sentence." We in America (indeed it 
is not confined to us) are prone to find in the mere declaration 
of our principles known as law the final solution of all problems 
and the end of our labors. 

We cheerfully pass Sunday closing ordinances and buy 
drinks at the "blind tiger," or, if we are not so hypocritical 
as to do this, innocently trust to the honesty of our fellow 
dtizens not to do so ^ther. But laws are only printed words 
on ptq)^'. Theories of government and of the administration 
of justice are of no value so long as they remun only theories. 
You can have the best system on earth and unless yon have 
the right men to cany it on you will have corruption and 
chaos. You mi^ have a prison so ardiitecturally beautiful 
and so sanitary in its arrangements that it will ddi^t every 
committeeman who goes to inspect it, but if the wrong man 
is in charge it will be a den of vice and a heU on earth. 

Tlie author uiges that the training of judges should include 
some (voluntary) temporary service in penal institutitms. 
We may doubt whether the uncert^nties of political life 
would lead many candidates for judicial office here to qualify 
themselTes in such fashion. Such a proposition is feasible 
in Germany, however, if not in America. The idea back of 
the suggestion is a fundamental one. Ours may be a govern- 
ment of laws and not of men, but the fact remains that aU 
laws and all institutions must be administered by men, and 



INTBODncnON TO THE ENGLBH VERSION XXIU 

Uut 90 far as society b concerned tbe effect of his period of 
imprisonment upon the convicted criminal may be of more 
&r-reaching importance than his original offense. We have 
overiooked the fact that the imporiUon of sentence is not the 
end of the application of criminal sci^ice but rather the 
beginning. 

There are few theories connected with the causes and the 
means of repressing crime which are not discussed and tested 
by the data at the author's command. As a comprehensive 
review of the subject no student of criminology can afford 
to neglect so thorough, well-balanced, liberal-minded, and 
authoritative a book as this, and while its scope is necessarily 
Knitted to German institutions it b safe to say that its lessons 
are equally applicable to our own. 

Abthttb C. Tkain. 

Jjom 1. UlS. 



3,a,l,zt!dbvG00t{'lf 



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CONTENTS 

Gbmkb&i. ImBonumoH to thb Modern CbdoKjIL Soxncii Smma v 

Edttobiu PatatACK, bt Maurice Paruelke xi 

iNTBODOcnoN TO isB Ekoubb Vbbsiom, bt Abthub C. Tsaik . . svii 
Lm or AsBSEVUTioNa of CiTATtoNS to Sbriai^ and Pxbiooicau nvii 

INTEODUCnON 

S 1. THks and Methoda 1 

PAHT I 

The Social Cadsm <» Ctcaa 

" 5 «- CUadfimtJon H 

i $. Crime and SeaacA 16 

i 4. Baoe and Rdigion 80 

S S. Oty and Country; OocupKtioD 01 

§ S. National Ciutonu. Akolxd 00 

i 7. Other Fomu of Indnlgeoce fft 

{ 8. Piortitution M 

I S. GambUng and Supcralition 100 

§10. Eoonomic and Social Condition 1D2_ 

PAKT n 
The IxnivnroAi. Cauan or Cena 

511. InG«neral IsT' ^^J 

i IS. Fwentage and Truning 124 ^ . 

f IS. EducatiMi 136 *) iS 

J14. Age 139 

1 14. S« 158 

I ML Domertic SUtoa IW . 

I IT. Tht Phyncal duiacteristics of the Criminal 168 

i 18. Hk Mental Chancteristics ot the Criminal ITS 

1 10. Menial DiMasM amoog Criminala 186 

i SO. Tltt Claaaificslioo of Criminals 108 



- - Coogic 



2Xvi 



PABT m 

Tbb Stbuooix AGAnrar Caon 

i«l. Tbe CrimiiMl PliTBOgiKiiiir of the PKa«nt . . . 
-4SK. 
S«s. 

S U. like Pnipoae of Ponuhmait 8M 

E 8S. lite Umdi of Pmuahmcat tU 

{ M. T"^VT"'* iBT^atOTn, Sufpended Sentenoea ADd PtobatioiiAl RHrMP , S85 

{C7. Hw AbolitioD of fl»d T«nRa o( PimUiiiMst M7 

SSS. The Tnatment ei JnraiilM Bod Fkitiidlr BcvoDnble FCMoiu . S10 

|S9. Condowm SIT 

hfomx. 3KS 



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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS OF CITATIONS 
TO SERIALS AND PERIODICALS 

AbhsndJuiiff^i dcs Irr i min^liBtiwIipn Scnun&rs. *■ AbhA&dluntfm des 
krimiiudisUsdieD Seminars an der UnivenriUt Berlin. Ed. von 
liasL Berlin 1888 + • Irregulftrly ; new ser., voL v., 1908. 

AUg. statist. Archiv. — AUgemeines statistisches Ardiiv.. Tubingen. 
Irregularly. 

Allg. Zeitachrift f. Psych. - Allgemeine Zeitschrift fUr Fsychiatrie 
und psycbisch-gerichtlicfae Medicin. £d. Damerow, Fletn- 
ming. Roller and Laehr. Berlin, 1844 + . 

Allgemeine YfUaier meditinische Zeitung. Vienna. 

Annales dliygifaie publique et de mfidecine legale. Paris, 182S + . 

Asnalea mMico-psycholog. ~ Annales m^co-psychcdogiques. Paris, 
1&4S + . 

Ardi. di psi^ e d'uitrop<J. — Archivio di psichiatria, scienze penali 
ed antropologia criminale (formeriy entitled^ ArcMvio di psichia- 
tria, neuropat4>l(^ia, antropologia criminale e medidua legale). 
Turin, 1880+. 

ArduT fUr Dermat. — Ardiiv fUr Dermatologie und Syphilis, 
^eona, 1869+ . 

Aich. Erim. Anthr. •■ Archiv fUr Kriminal-Antliropcdogie und 
Kriminalistik. Ed. H. Gross. Gniz, Leipeig, 1899 + . 

ArdiiT fUr Rassen- und GeadlsdiaftabicJogie — Archiv flir Bassen- 
und GeaeUachafts-Biologie einschliesslich Baasen- und Gesell- 
■dufts-Hygiene. Berlin, 1904 + . 

Aidiiv fUr Strafrecht - Archiv fUr Strafrecht (originally A. fUr 
preusnsches Strafredit, then A. fUr gemeinea, deutaches, und 
preussisdies Strafrecht). Ed. Gdtdammer (dted often as 
Gdtdammer's Archiv) ; afterward ed. Mager and Halm ; now 
ed.Kdiler.J. Berlin, ISfiS + . 

Biologis ch ea ZentralBlatt - Biolc^tadtes CentadbUtt. Leipzig. 
Semi-.m. 

BUtter fUr Geftngniskunde - BUtter fUr GeOngniskunde ; Oigan 
des Verdns der deutschen Strafanstaltsbeamten. Ed. Ekert, 
G. and Wirth, O. Heidelberg, Kasset, 188A-f . 



. ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



xxviii LIST OF ABBEEVIATIONS OF CFTATIONS 

Bulletin de I'iiutitut internatiooale de Statistique. Rome. Irreg- 

ulari}'. 
BuUetio de IITiiioii inteniatioiiale de Drat pinal. See Mitthd- 

hingeo der I. K. V. 
MitteiL der L K. V. — Mltteflungen der mteniati<uiAleii krimma- 

listJscheD Vereiiugiing (same as Bulletin de llJuion inter' 

natitmale de droit p^nal). Berlin, Beme, 1889 + . 
BtSchTErimFB^ch. ■• Mcmatsachrift fUr KriminRlpaychcJogie und 

Strofrechtsreform. £d. AachaSenburg, Kloss, von Dlienthal 

and vcm Liszt. Hnddberg, 1904+. 
Statistik des Deutschen Beichea ; Neue Fdge. &iminalstatirtik. 

Berlin, 1888 + . 
Titrteljahrsschrift f. gericht. Medizin ^ Vierteljahissclirift fUr 

gerichtliclie Medizin mid B&entlicliee SanitAtsweseu. Beriin, 

1853 +. 
ZStW. - Zeitschrift fUr die gesunmte Stmfrechtawissenschaft. Ed. 

Dochow, TOO Liszt, von lalienthal and Hertz. Beriin, 1881+. 
yeitaclirift fttr Sozialwissenscbsft. Berlin. 



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CRIME AND ITS REPRESSION 



INTBODUCTION 
g 1. ItiJci and Mtttliodi 

To the criminal judge the essential condition of punislunent 
is the commission of an act that the law has branded aa a 
crime' and threatened with ponishment. "Nullum crimen 
sine lege." This view, "the comer-stone (rf criminal law," * 
conforms to § 9 of the Penal Code: "An act can be punished 
only if the punishment was legally fixed before the act was^ 
begun." In other words, an act that is a crime under the 
listing law ceases to be one if the statute in question is re- 
pealed. This is the case, for instance, with § 175, for the 
r^>eal (rf which mai^ grounds have been advanced both by 
jurists and by pfaysidans. If the demand for its abolition 
should be granted, sexual intercourse between persons of the 
male sex would no longer be a ciime. 

On the oth^ hand, § 2 withdraws from the judge's sphere 
of power all those acts the codification of which has been 
(Knitted, either purposely or by inadvertence, or the culpa- 
bility of which ia lackii^ owing to the wording of the stat- 
utes. There is no lack of examines: the sexual intercoiu-se of 
women with one another, indecent acts committed by a father 
on his daughter,* the being an accessory to a crime the prin- 
dpal perpetrator of which is acqiutted on the ground of irre- 

' Ihavetiaed theword"cruiie"mthefoIlowiiigUzt,«veo whei),aceording 
to the three divtaioiis ui our crinuiud code, 1 un ip*flVirg only of ftn offence 



* Gaufp, "Zv Rilom der |f ITS, 17« I 
HI). 



".OOglf 



.■2 : : -.:.-. -.- INTHODCCTION [§ 1 

sponsibilily, — all these cannot be punished. Id <ffder better to 
get hold erf procurers and panders, and to make the thief of 
electric power accountable, special statutes had to be enacted. 

Geyer ' wonders at the view, which is a matter (A course to 
the Don-jurist, that, when an offender f wis in his attempt to 
commit a crime because he does not make proper use ^ the 
means that he has diosot, he shall stiQ be punishable, and 
as an example he m^itions a cook who put a few grains of 
powder in a dish under the bed c( her rival and set them off 
with a match. Because her plan fuled, and was bound to 
fail, owing to her inability to use ptopaAy the means she had 
chosen, the woman should be acquitted! Zuc^er* ^ves the 
following exanqtle of an unpunishable attempt that failed be- 
cause the object was unsuitable: "In our opinitHi the crime of 
attempted incest does not eadst when a man cohabits with a 
woman, bdieving hn to be his sister whereas in reality she 
proves to be the foster <^d of his parents." > It may be im- 
possible criminally to prosecute such a man; but, psychologi- 
cally, the subsequent proof that there is no blood-rdationslup 
between the persons does not make the act one whit the less 
abominable. On the other hand, under some dircumstances 
a grave crime may be a laudable act, as, for inatnTwy, the mur— 
der of Marat hy Chariotte Cord^, or the act of a mother who 
steals, or prostitutes herself, in order to save her sick child. 

The *hiTilring judge, with whom the judgment of the indi- 
vidual case rests, and who is not content merely to establish 
the purely external tacts and the ^plicabili^ of a certiun sec- 
tion and a certain penally to the act, cannot take much satis- 
faction in his pnrfesaon. "A most unhealthy fmnalism in 

' Geytr, "Ober die Mgawiuiten nntan^idiai Vcna(ii«vcriiaiidlnL|[ea'' 
(ZStW. I. 35). 

* ZveW, "Nodi tin Wort nr Lebic vom ontan^dMO Veiradie" (Aiduv 
fSr Sbafaccht. XXXVI, 370). 



...Coo'^lc 



§ 1] TASKS AND METHODS 3 

ibB qoestioii of punishableness, and s most f ar-re&chiiig judicial 
diacrrtion in the extent of the penalty, stand in contradiction 
to e«ch other." ' The writtoi law hdds the judge within 
rigid limits, that leave but little room for the consideration of 
pggt ^lopcal motive s. That the circums tanc es under which 
a crime is committed should be taken into account, is shown 
by the provisions rc^anUng needy condition, ext^iuating dr- 
I, irresponsibility of insane persons. Full and partial 
T from punishment, as well as by the fact that the 
f is increased if an offense is often repeated. And yet 
these are only a few pconts, and are far from enabling us to 
do justice to the psydioli^cal judgment of sudi a compli- 
cated phenomenon as crime. 

For that purpose more study is necessary than that of the 
ocHnmaifauies oa the eriminal code. "I see the deepest reason 
for many of the defects of our present conditions in the purdy 
juristic education <^ our theoretical and practical criminalists. 
I do not for a moment demand that the criminal judge and 
lawyer should make anttmqiolc^cal or statistical investiga- 
txHia; but I do demand of him that he should be as Familiar 
irith the results at criminal biology and criminal sociol<^y as 
with the provisions ot the criminal code and the decisions oF 
the national courts." So soys von IJszt,' who thus values 
the study of crime as a sodal phenomenon and of the nature . 
cl the criminal as highly as be does the knowledge of the 
Iawb — and ri^tly so. Our administration oF criminal law is 
no dbstract science, but an applied policy towards criminals. 

He necessity of establishing its foundations more firmly 
CMUOot be overiooked, except by him who will not or cannot 
aee wbiA criminality means to the State. The criminal sta- 

* W«A."ZnknattdtaStiatitcbU." Rede Behalteii b DOMddorf aut der 
g der BbeiaiMb-Wcstfilluchen Gefliugiiu-Geadlfd»ft. 



* «m HiMt. "ErimiiwIpoatiM^ Aufgftbeii" (^tW. IX. 4H). 



4 INTEODDCnON [§ 1 

tistica for the year 1909 show 536,603 pefsons ctmvicted of 
629,271 acta. — 1192 convicts per 100.000 persona of pun* 
ialiable age. And it most be borne in mind that the statistics 
deal solely with dimes and offenses agtunst national laws, 
not with those against individual State laws, and thus not 
with the numberless minor offenses, which can safely be esti- 
mated at 2,000,000, at least. Whoever knows this (and every 
jurist should know it) is curiously affected by the conmion at- 
tempt to weaken the ^ect of these figures by calling attention 
to the many cases of oe^ected vaccination and such mincH: 
matters. The seriousness (^ the state of affairs which raaJces 
such trivial remarks entirely inappropriate most certunly 
demands a dear and unobstructed view. 

In 1909 the German courts pronounced 3S death, sentences 
and condemned & persons to prison for life; the sum tA the 
penitentiary ("Zudithaus") sentences would amoimt to at 
least 22,000 years; (A the prison sentences, to 52,000 years. 
Von Krohne estimates the cost of criminal prosecutions and 
the carrying out of sentences in Prussia at 120 million marks. 
Is it necessary to add a word of explanation, as to why the 
judge should leave the courtroom and the study and go out 
into life, among the people, so that he may leam to know crim- 
inals, and then, in a different way and better equipped, take 
up again the strug^e against crime? 

Whoever sees in the science of criminal law merdy a train- 
ing tor logical thou^t, and is glad when he has found the dead 
formula that 6t3 the living deed, will find nothing significant 
in the figures quoted. But he who is not satisfied to judge ac- 
cording to the letter of the law will not care to proceed without 
contact with the daily life of the people, and, above all, he 
will not be content to lack the knowledge <A criminal sociology 
which is offered him in the statistics of criminals or of morality. 

They show under what external circumstances a crime 

, ...... C.ooqIc 



§ 1] TASKS AND METHODS 5 

omnes to be committed, how tbe world in which we live exer- 
cises its influence and directly and indirectly gives the in- 
centive to criminal actfi. But th^ also permit us to perceive 
that, besides the social processes that operate on the individual, 
there are also in him physical and mental causes. Thus we 
gain a deepened insight into the psychogenesis of crime. A 
wealth of new aspects confronts us, — new questions to which 
answers camiot always be giv^i. For there can be no doubt 
oa this point, that the p^didogy <4 crime and of the crim- 
inal is no finished sdence — it is too young tot that. But it 
uncovers one after another the causes that produce crime; 
it illuminates the depths that are hidden from the judge with 
his ever-ready decision; it shakes the foundations of the crim- 
iniU law. Not, however, that we are to watch in despair the 
c<dlapee of so fq>paTently firmly built structure. Criminal 
pgydtology seeks to probe the causes of crime and to measure 
the efficacy of punishments; on the new foundation it hopes 
to build up a new criminal law, which will protect sodety 
better than the present one and secure the individual from 
the attacks of the criminal. That is its goal. 

But wiiich is the path that leads to itP 

"Criminals must not be regarded as the refuse of sodety, 
they are rather a part of it, — as a wound a a part of the 
body." This remark of Corr6 ^ is as striking as it b true; the 
criminal worid is an inseparable component part of human 
society, with which it is most closely united in growth and 
from which it continues to draw fresh nourishment. Only 
within and in relation to society can crime come into bdng. 
But if it is naify the sore spot on the social body, we are 
-tempted to extend the comparison, and to proceed with the 
stody ol criminali^ in the same way that clinical research u 
usually undertaken. 

* CarrI, "Emu mr la GrimnwIiU^" p. TC 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



6 INTBODnCITON [§ 1 

The first question to be considered in ntedkane is the cuue 
and ori^n of a disease, — the etiology; then the symptoms; 
from these we form the diagnosis, the distinction from other 
diseases; and finally we come to ther^y. Proceeding in this 
way, we should first have to investigate the causes of crim- 
inality; then the different forms mider which ciime t^pesrs. 
The diagnosis corresponds to the question of the classification 
of criminab, to the question of the existence of Lombroso's 
"bom criminal." When we are at last in possession of cer- 
tain knowledge in this direction, when we can survey, as far aa 
possible, the nature <rf crime and its causes, then we come to 
consider the most important practical question: How shall 
we treat this sore on the body ot socie^F We shall have to 
consider and to judge the gristing measures, and — if pre- 
vious methods of treatment should prove to be inadequate — 
to find out what can be done, — a task as important as it is 
absorbing. 

The compariacm with natural scimtific subjects shows ns^ 
not only the direction we should follow, but also the method 
we should use, — that of objective observaticm. Wh^i we- 
have seen under what external drcomstanoes a crime is com- 
mitted, we shafi have to try to find the relation betweot the 
crimes committed and the phenomena of life that are familiar" 
to us. 

Ton Ijszt ' has come forward in a lecture as an exponent 
of the view that the roots of criminality, in so far as it b not 
a social ^mptom of disease, must be looked for in normal 
social life. I am entirely of his opinion; and I have, therefore, 
endeavored not to base my explanations on individual cases, 
which merely show how life and its irritants affect one person, 
but on the phenomena of masses, the most frequent crimes. 

> "Die geMlbduftlidMn Faktorai der Krimiiulitllt" (ZStW. XXHL 
808). 

DiailizodbvGoOgle 



§ 11 TASKS AND METOODS 7 

With the bidividual case, absorbing as it m^ be psycholo^- 
cally, the pecuUari^ of the individual obscures our view of 
the universaUy valid causes, and chances cannot be separated 
from the regular phenomena. We shall, therefore, without 
denying the importance of observing individual cases in de- 
bul, keep in the main to the large numbers that the criminal 
statistics ' offer us. 

But here we meet at once with two great difficulties. One 
lies in the collection of statistical material,* the other in the 
malnng use of it. It is not feasible to use absolute numbers 
as a measure for comparison. We shall see, for instance, that 
in F-"glft"H, during the periods from 1861 to 1863 and from 
1879 to 1881, crimes against the person were as 100:102, 
crimes against property, as 100:110, yet this does not show 
that these crimes have increased. As a matter of fact, 'the 
population has increased by more than 30% in the same 
period so that it would be a gross error to assume that thefts 
and cases of assault and battery have increased. It Is not 
evea entirely correct to establish an exact parallel between 
the increase in crime and the increase in the population. The 
increase in the p(q>u]ation is felt chiefly in the swdling of the 
number of minors, and the p«%entage of crime among these 
is greater than among adults. With tius restriction — the de- 
fect cannot be removed by calculation — the method used 
in the criminal statistics of the Gemias Empire (that is, of 
relating the crimes committed to the niunber of inhabitants 
over twelve yeus of age) may be regarded as the fairest. 

' G«nnan crimiiul (Utiftici appear annually, eicdlently reviaed and «r- 
langed in one Tolumei publialied by the Impeiia] Statiatical Bureau. Putt- 
WnirmT und MoUbrecht, Beriin. 

* Compare aa regards tiw whole quMtJon: •»» Oettinirm, "Monbtatiatik," 
Sd ed., p. 440; ton Sehed. "Zur EinfUhning in die EiinunalataUftSc, imbe- 
aMidere diejoiige dea DeuUchen Reichea" (Allg. statiat AichJT., I. 185); 
■m Uogr. "Ke Nntibannachung der Erimmabtatistik" (MSclirKtiinPlTdi. 
1.48). 

_,.. . Cooglf 



8 INTRODUCTION [| 1 

But even the rdstive numbers cannot be used as they stand. 
Above all, it must be considered at what stage of the I^al 
proceedings the census must be taken. Should the crimes, the 
accused persons, or the convicts be counted? In the crimes 
we find the act, but not its producer, — the consideration <rf 
whom is the most important point tor us. In many crimes 
several persons are involved. Of the punidiable acts which 
were followed by convictions in 1903 in Germany, 45,437 
(=7.5%) were committed by several persons. These cannot 
be disregarded, especially as th^ mvolve at least 100,000 
criminal persons. 

Among the accused, again, there are many innocent per- 
sons, as well as others whose guilt cannot be proved. The 
number of persons acquitted amounted in 1900 to not less 
than 148,211, more than a fifth of all those accused. All 
these are without significance to us, though not in evory re- 
spect. Acquittals, indeed, are subject in the hq^est degne 
to the effect of the genera) feeling for law, to current pc^Hdar 
views. This is shown by a comparison of the administration 
of justice in different countries; I need only mention the fre- 
quent acquittals in Latin countries of men driven to crime 
by the unfaithfulness of their wives. But even with us similar 
phenomena are not lacking. Every attorney who ia defend- 
ing a penon charged with arson objects, in his dient's interest, 
to having farmers on the jury, because experience has shown 
that in doubtful cases they are more likely to find the accused 
guilty than are men who live in cities; and, on the contrary, 
when a man is charged with violation of oath, his attorney 
will prefer peasants as jurors. Even the judge is mote influ- 
enced by popular views than he realizes, and pays tribute to 
them. This is no teproadi; to assume that the judge is not 
also a child of tus age and environment would be to deny 
the foundations of our whole thought. Looked at fnnn this 



§ 1] TASKS AND METHODS 9 

point of view, acquittals are of the greatest interest; \hey 
afford us an insigfat into the opinious of certain times and co^ 
tain peoples. 

Another objection to in^lHng use of the number of chaiges 
brought is their dependence on the skill of the police; it is 
Iai^;el7 a matter of the cleverness and activity of the police 
whether a criminal prosecution is possible. And, finally, 
the "criminal irritability" * makes itself felt, which causes 
the public to daim the aid of the criminal judge in ever 
inaeanng degree. 

Thus we oome to the use <^ the number of convicted persons. 
In this way we are of course obliged to leave out of account 
all the numerous cases in which the criminal is unknown. 
Bat, on the other hand, in considering the convicts, we are 
able to ascertain most of the factors that come uadet con- 
sideration in seeking out the origin of the crime. Hence it is 
the number of convicts that seems best adiq>ted for our use. 
The trivial errors that sUll cling to these statistics can scarcdy 
be avoided; the advantage of absolute accuracy, which their 
correction would give, would be far too slight to justify the 
vast amount of labor that would be necessary. 

As has been mentioned, the minor offenses are lacking in 
our Imperial statistics; thus, they leave unnoticed the whole 
great army of bc^ars. tramps, and prostitutes. As regards 
these, we must seek other sources. Some crimes are r^re- 
sented in the statistics by figures that ate far below the reality. 
Ihis is true, for instance, of offenses under § 175, and es- 
pecially of criminal abortion, of which Lewin * rightly says ; 
"Such an open, universally known, and universally disre- 

' Btt^trt, "Die Bew^ung im StnJtedit« wlUii«nd der letsten dreudg 
Ma^" Onwlcn, von Zahn & Jkiuch. 1901. p. 64. 

' Lnein umd Brmmnf, "Die Frucbtabtmbung durch Gifte uud andoe 
Woo." Beriin. 18W, Aug. Hinchimld. p. 7. 

.ooylc 



10 INTRODUCTION ($ 1 

garded, mockery <rf the law aa exists should not be permitted 
to continue." If, as regards this offense, statistica leave us 
in the lurcbt we must look tor aid elsewhere; that this is pos- 
sible, and how it is so, Lewin's book has shown. In respect 
to the principal crimes, however, especially theft and assault 
and battery, the statistics are an inexhaustible resource, giving 
us new and valuable results on every fresh examination. 

A further difficulty, to which von Liszt * particularly calls 
attention, is ttus, that the criminal statistics deal with the 
technictU juristic conceptions of crimes used in the criminal 
code, which do not coincide with the psychologicaUy effective 
motives of the act. The Penal Code formulates its ccmceptions 
of crimes according to the interests injured or menaced by 
the act, and from this point of view divides the crimes into 
groups. In mminal statistics which are intended to show 
the causes of crime, another method of grouping is necessary. 
A few examples will show this more dearly. During the years 
1892-1805 there was a considerable decrease in the number of 
thefts, simple thefts (not repeated) diminishing from 107,904 
to 86,656, more serious cases from 12,228 to 10,235; thus the 
decrease amounted to 17% and 20%. Another crime which, 
with thdt, is reckoned among the crimes and offenses against 
property, increased by 15%, namely, malicious mischi^. 
Now, if we look further for crimes which show a similar 
increase, we come across the convictions for insult and 
assault and battery. These "crimes agwist the person" 
increased in the same period by 18% and 91%. This differ- 
ence between the course of theft and the course <A malicious 
mischief, which is noticeaUe at all times, is so strildng 
that certain reasons must exist for it. Th^ t^pear at tmce 
when we compare the psychological processes invtJved in 
both crimes. Theft is usually carried out with deliberation 
> ton LuH, be. ciL p. 474. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§1] TASKS AND METHODS 11 

tnd piemeditatioii, as quietly and secretly as possible, moat 
often at night; malicious mischief is seldom done deceitfully; ~ 
as a rule it is inflicted in a rough, brutal way, loudly, openly, 
frequently as the result of alcoholic excesses. This explains 
the similarity betwem it and the figures for assault and bat- 
tery and insults, which usually spring from the same cause. 
Thns, peycholo^cally, malicious mischief should be grouped 
with assault and battery, not with thefts. 

A further example is found among the sexual crimes, which 
include inducing women to prostitution, as well as rq>e. 
Now the former is always based on the lowest kind of avarice. 
It is an act always carried out with deUberation, more often 
by women than men, and in many cases by persons who are 
long past the age of sexual attraction. Rape, however, arises - 
bom the brutal and uncontrolled sexual excitement of the 
moment; it can, of course, only be committed by mm. Many 
cases of insult ("Bel^digung," § 185) would have to be char- 
acterized pqrchologically as sexual crimes.* 

Crimes that differ so widdy psychologically should not be 
classified in one group, if criminal psychological knowledge is 
not to be always in danger of being led astray. The Imperial 
criminal statistics distinguish between four groups : crimes and 
misdemeanors, 1, against the State, public order, and religion; 
2, against the person; 3, against ptaperiy; 4, crimes and 
misdemeanors in office ("imAmte"). Seuffert' is right in 
emphasizing that only the last group is of value for the com- 
prdiension of criminality. 

It cannot fail to be recognized that statistics still leave much 
to be deared; for improvement in which we cannot hope till 
the needs of a practical criminal psychology shall have been 
more exactly determined. But the foregoing makes dear our 

> Atdu^atbura, "Zm Paydiologie der Sittlidtketts*«t««dMr" (HSduw 
KrimPiTcb. n, «00). ■ St^irl, loe. mt p. SS. 



12 INTRODUCnON [§ 1 

second difficulty, that of xisang the (acts established by crimi- 
nal statistics. We see in the figures crimes espressed only in 
the terms of the criminal law. Hence, we must be cautious 
about drawing far-reaching condusiooa from them. Ad old and 
proven principle of medical science teaches us to beware, in all 
examinations, of confUGOUg the " post hoc " with the " propter 
hoc." Only, for instance, if we see the same symptoms appear 
. repeatedly after the application (rf a remedy are we justified 
' in bringing the medi<nne mto causal connection with the result. 
Hence, the same principle applied to criminal statistica also 
demands that we should infer an inner connection, ooiy if 
we repeatedly find the same relations between external cir- 
cumstances and an act that we are inclined to believe is cauaed 
by these circumstances. Whether these causes are snffiaent 
to exphiin the occurrence of the crime, should be made the 
subject of the most mature consideration. Repeated exam- 
ination and careful criticism will prevent our accepting false 
causes, will guard us from simple errcvs; from advancing false 
assertions in which the wish is father to the thought — and 
these are not so very rare — our scientific honesty most pro- 
tect us. 

Only the most careful lestraint can prev^it our confusing 
^parent with true causes'. If, for instance, we find that the 
love of pleasure has an unfavorable influence on criminality. 
it would be incorrect to make love of pleasure responsible for 
an increase in crimes, espedally those against the perscm. 
It is only the ^parent, outward canae; the true one is the 
alcohol consumed at places of amusement and on festive 
occasions. The difficulty of interpretation makea <»Iy sktir 
and cautious progress possible. We must never forget that 
the criminal statistics give only the naked figures; that Qxy 
talce no account c^ minor cffeaaes, and can, therefore, ffm no 
exhaustive picture of the criminal worid. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 1] TASKS AND METHODS 13 

Nereitbelcss, it is worth while to try to aummarize what 
theae figures can teach us, to try to breathe life into the dry 
ntimbeis. Thou^ some paths m^ be trodden in vain, and 
some Toa^ prove to be blind, yet the trouble taken is rewarded 
by the new points of view obtuned, from whidi another may 
see the goal more clearly and seek to leadi it with p^iaps 
greater niccesa. 



^lailizodbvGoOgk' 



^laiiizodbvGoogle 



Pabt I 

THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME 

g 2. Clauiflofttion 

In view of the prevailing uncertainty as to whether we ate 
justified in bringing a criminal act into causal connection with 
the accompanying conditions, the outcome of any attempt to 
poup the causes is dubious from the beginning. Nevertheless, 
I have divided them into two large groups: soci^^^uaes, and 
in diviijua l-causes. This division, however, is not intended 
to aotidpate the discussion of the causes, nor to assign to 
tboae dealt with their ultimate place, but merely to arrange 
them in a scheme for discussion. We shall soon see that the 
first group concerns only external conditions the general 
fluctuations of which influence the commission of a crime; the 
second group will always lead us, in the examination of the 
individual's personal inclination to crime, back to the soil 
from which the individual springs, and thus direct us back 
aioag the way to the social causes. For the soil in which 
crime generates von Mayr has coined the term "external 
impressioDal influences," for the individual disposition, 
"personal impulsional influences." The latter term in 
particular contiuns a certain judgment of the individual 
factor which seems to me to go too far. For we shall see 
that in most criminals there is no inner impetus towards 
crime, but merely the inability to withstand the pressure 
of external driving forces. Hence it seems to me that the 
fM terms correspond best to the real conditions. To what 
extent the two groups of causes cover each other, and liow 
IS 

L ,;™:,G00glc 



16 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 3 

often a careful examituttioo makes it oecessaiy to change the 
grouping, will appear later. 

§3. Crinu and BeaMO 
Some crimes show a striking dependence on the season. 
Differmces in tiiar frequency in summer and in winter are 
noticeable in all countries; hence, it is not surprising that 
this phenomenon has long been the subject of special atten- 
tion. Yeti in spite of this lively interest, we are still rather 

TABLE I 

&IZUAI. Csnm cf Bjcllvov to &um>k vt VmxvK. ISKT-ISW 

(After Fern, perMoUge* reckiHied by the antbor.) 





Srou 


CmmD 


FlAHCB. 1M7-1M* 
















Din OF' 


«»<w 












»-i8n 


Hoais 


OmAkcw. 


OmChbj 


n- 








sss 


% 


Nu»^ 


% 


nSSS 


% 


J-ni-17 


584 


7.09 


1.100 


&jn 


2,008 


7.84 












«3 


'9S* 


1,0*1 


5.24 


2.661 


Silt 


M»dl . 










MS 


7.8a 


1,366 


fl38 


2,906 


7.8B 


April. . 










008 


7.39 


1,700 


8.M 


2.887 


8.e« 


M-y . . 










904 


10.98 


2,174 


10.95 


&OflO 


flJl 


June . . 










1,043 


12.87 


%BSS 


18.03 


3.018 


0.0B 


July . . 










860 


I0.4S' 


2.469, 


12.42 


2.911 


8.76 


Angort . 










7H 


9.64 


2.208 


11.13 


2.742 


8.25 


Septanbtt 










853 


7.93 


I.77S 


8.93 


<310 


8.46 


Oetober . 










BSS 


OM 


1,447 


7.2S 


2.625 


7.91 


Noranber 










SI* 


6.24 


983 


4.BS 


2.620 


1» 


December 










534 


«.49 


939 


5.05 


2,665 


8.02 


Unknown 










1,421 




16.160 









at a loss as r^ards the deepest causes of these fluctuations 
and are scarcely able to get beyond surmises. This, however, 
does not detract from the importance of the facts themselves. 

Table I, after Ferri,* shows how sexual crimes in France were 

' Inotead of tbe irrderant dayi of t»rUi. 

* Ferri, "Dai Verbrechen in seiner AUtinp^eit voo d(sn ^ihriidtea 
Tonpemtarwedi^" (ZStW. D. 88). 



. ,l,z<,i:,.,G00^lf 



§31 CBIUE AND SEASON 17 

distributed over tbe different months during the yeara 1827- 
1860. The commisaion of these offenses becomes more tre- 
[ quent from March on. The increase is rapid until-the maxi- 
mum is reached in June, after which it decreases just as 
n^dly, and from October to Februaiy remains at approxi- - 

TABLE n 
Toe CBiMiHAUTr or Gebiunt a 



("SUtiatics of the Gennui Empiie," N. F. LXXXIU, II, p. 52.) 
It there ue 100 offenaea per day in the jetx, there are per dsy in the month : 



mately the same low point. These differences between the 
months ore much more clearly marked where the objects 
of the crimes are children, the month of June exceeding the . 
winter months by more than 130%. 
The statistical card-records of convicted criminals in Get- 



THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME 



[53 



PIATE I 

Cnu AMD SUTCN iH Gmbhant (lass-lSM) 
r^Utittka of the Germui Emjnit," N. F. T.Tnmn , n, pp. ff^ SS.) 
■ ■' — Sextul crimes. 
■B-^ ObwxneacU 
•^-^ Sinqik UBanlt and bttttxy. 
o Oil- Aggnvmted aMMilt and batteiy. 
— ■u» Insult 



ISOX 


























Mmt 












t^ 


^ 












I3IK 










I 


' 














CZOX 










jl 




//^ 












110% 








i 




^ 


S^ 




V 


V 






nra 








J 


r 










1^ 






nx 








(^ 












^^ 


i 




aoK 


y 


/^ 




' 












\ 


\ 


s 


m 


i> 


■y 


















V 

^ 


^ 


ax 


/ 


^ 




















"N 


so% 


























40% 


























30% 


























20% 


























»% 


























..0% 


J»<. 


Fdi. 


Mnl 


VII 


Ihy 


Jiaia 


Ljriy 


«^ 


Sq.t 


Oct 


Nik 


»«■. 



CRIME AND SEASON 



19 



531 

mai^ also contain a column: "Time when the deed was com- 
nutted." The results of these records, which have been kept 
(or years, are presented in the criminal statistics for 1894.' 
The calculatJon is based on the period from 1883 to 1892; its 
value is considerably increased by the fact that the inequali- 
ties in the length of the months have been corrected by exact 
calculatitm. Consequently, the figures given in Table n can 
be compaKd without alteration. 



TABLE m 

Bl CoNCKPnONB m THB DiFTEBBre MoMTBB □( GHUUIfT 

(187B-1888) 
(StatirtKal Ymi^Book tor the Gennui Em[nK," ISSS, p. SI.) 
D the ftTOB^ number ol caoca per day m t]ie year ii 100, the auaiba per 
day in tbe diSetent nKmtlls ia; 




The increase in sexual crimes begins in Germany in March, 
just aa it does in France; the maximum is reached in July, 
after which the number quickly decreases; a veiy similar 
curve is shown by "obscene acts," except that in this case the 
nmxitnum is reached in June. The fluctuations are tremen- 
dous. July exceeds the winter months by more than double 
■ "Statiitik 6a DenUcben Reicbca," N. P. LXXXm. 

L ,l,z<,i:,.,G00glf 



20 THE SOCIAL CAI^ES OF CRIME [$ 3 

the number of sexual crimes. Tliis is strikiiif^ shown oo the 
preceding plate (I). 

We come now to the question: What is the significance trf 
this phenomoMMi, which m^ be observed in the same way 
in aU other comitries as well? As long ago as in 1831, Vil- 
lerm6 ' pointed out that the births are by no means equally 
distributed over the different months; that, on the contrary, 
they show perfectly r^ular fluctuations in frequency. . 'The 
births are, of course, a matter of indifference to us, bat of 
greats importance is the psycholojpcal significance of the time 
of concepti<Hi. As Table I, taken from Ferri'swori£.show8, the 
increase of the conceptions in May and June in France is 
unmistakable, although the differences of the single months 
among themselves are not very great.* 

In Gennaiqr the differoices in the months of concep^n are 
quite independent of the marriages; Lent and the harvest 
season cause the latter to be poatpcmed to more oonveni«>t 
times, so that the curve of the marriages shorn two deep 
incisions. The variation in the number of births in the differ- 
ent months is not, at first si^t, very great; the days of con- 
cepticm culminate at two p<unta, one in December (the holiday 
season), the other, the highest, in May. This month exceeds 
the lowest one, September, in ten years, by 1418,000 births; 
this is a proof of faow significant m the course of longcx' p^oda 
the variation in the different months becomes. 

But a matter of spedal interest is the relation of the 
legitimate to the ill^timate births. He number td ilk^ti- 

■ FiBtrmi, "De U diatribubon par moia des conceptiaaa et des niiwana 
de llkoiauDe" (AuMkf dliygitee poUique et de mMectae Itgtie, IBSl, p. U). 

' TTte iwtpondewBce ol the CBnwp ti on* bom April to hme ia mort dtuiy 
•howiiintlMSwiMfUtuticafOT'tbeTeHalSTl-ISea (il«noJii, "SUtiatiMbe 
Untemidiinigai libei die RoUe dea AlkohnU bea ds Bntstdmng dwongmllKa 
Sc&waduiiuiea,'' Intemst. Hooataadir. s. BeklnqiAac dcr Triubitto^ TT^ 



. ,l,z<,i:,.,G00^lf 



§3] CRIME AND SEASON 21 

Dute concepUona rises rapidly from Bifarcb od, readies its 
TnnTimiim in May. as does the number of Intimate concep- 
tions, and then sinks again r^idly. From September on, it 
remains, apart from a slight rise in December, till February, 
below the average. Thus we see that the differences in the days 
<rf oonceptioD among the unmarried are much more marked. 

The comparison of these dates shows the influence of the 
season in the whole sphere of sexual intercourse. It is less 
pronounced in the legitimate conceptions, but remarkable 
enough, because of the size of the numbers under consideratitm. 
This phenomenon is more noticeable in the illegitimate con- 
ceptions, and much more striking in the offenses against chas- 
tity, and is most marked among these agun in those crimes 
that are most atrocious, namely, those the objects of which are 
d^enseless and immature children. F^m these facts we^ 
must draw the conclusion that some connection exists between k 
sexual excitability and the season of the year. The fact that^ 
this influence on sexual life, of which we are usually entirely 
nnconstnous, also appears in the sphere of normal and legiti- 
mate sexual intercourse, and that this dependence on the 
season is the more striking, the more r^rehensible is the. 
manner in which the sexual instinct is gratified, requires an 
explanation. 

Other social fdienomena also show regular fluctuations in 
frequency, above all suicide, the curve indicating which takes 
pretnsely the same course as that of sexual crimes. In the 
winter months, at a time, that is, when economic necessity 
pushes mai^ a man to the verge of despair, relatively few peo- 
1^ die by their own hand; the highest point in the tendency 
to commit suicide occurs in June, in some countries in May.' 

■ Ml MofT, "Der Sdbrtnionl" (AUg. atatutucbca Archiv, 1806. p. TM); 
BofmA, "AbhKu^^ceit der Selbatmorde von der Witterung in Frukmcl) vm 
ISn-tSSO" (AmuOM m«dico-p«rcbolog., 18M P- «!)■ 



. ,i,z<,i:,., Google 



22 



THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBDIE 



[S3 

Moreover, this r^^ularity — a r^d riae of the curve in spring 
and as r^id a sinldiig in nudsununer — is found, not in Ger- 
manj alone, but also, without exception, in all otli^ European 
countries. 

TABLE IV 



(After DuriJtdm: "Le Suicitle," p. W.) 



Ibonm MoMm-i 



Apia 

May 

Jidy 



R.r 


•.S" 


104- 


io.r 


I8B" 


14.0» 


IB-C 


17.9° 


WO" 


MJ* 


i4.r 


au- 


Mil" 


«.«• 


«!.«• 


njf 


HIS- 


17.1° 


10.9" 


12.2° 



8.79" 
10.47° 
I*.05° 

lur 

14.60* 
11.W 
7.79° 
2.9r 
0.W 



Moraelli * seeks the ezplanotioa in the temperature. A 
comparison between the temperature curve and the number 
of suicides does, indeed, show a remarkable parallelism imtO 
June; but, from then on, the suitndes r^idly decrease, whereas 
the heat of summer grows greater. During the heat of August 
there are considerably fewer suicides than in the cool month 
of April. Hence the temperature in itself cannot, or at least, 
cannot done, produce the remarkable phenomaaui. Yet I 
do not agree with Durkh^m,' who excludes the cosmic influ- 

' AH montlu reckoned at baTioe thirty dsyi. 

1 Mor-Bi, "Dw SdbsttMvd." p. 93. 

* DktUmm, "Le nncide." Puia, Fdiz Akan, U07, p. Ot. 



:. Cookie 



§31 CaUME AND SEASON 23 

ence alt<^eth^. After all, it is still posable that the inctease 
in external warmth does at fiist exert an exciting influence on 
man, which is followed, when the heat is long continued or 
increases, by a reaction. 

Another explanation is much more seductive, that is. that 
the number of suiddea is connected with the length of the 
days, with the number of hours of light.' The length of the 
days and the frequency of suicides in the different months do, 
indeed, mtiiely agree with each other. Nevertheless, the 
explanation seems to me untenable, because most suicides 
are not committed in the d^time, but early in the morning 
or at night. In addition, it is difficult to find in light a psycho- 
l<^ical motive for putting an end to life. 

Drowning is not a veiy common mode of suicide; in Prussia, 
for instance, in 1893, of 6409 suicides, only 1145 (= 18%) put 
an end to their lives in this way. Hence the relative infre- 
quency of suicides in winter cannot be dependent on the mere 
mechanical difficulty of this manner of death, as has already 
been suggested. This supposition entirely fails to account 
(or the rapid decrease from the middle of the year, and for 
the fact that there is the same dbttibution of suicides in coun- 
tries where the rivers and lakes do not freeze. 

All explanations of the fr^uency of suicide in summer that 
are based on external influences are unsatisfactoiy. We must 
be content with the fact as such. It is important enough. 
clearly showing, as it does, the existence of periodic fluctua- 
tions of the psychic balance. At a time when the external 
ouuiitioas of life afford comparative security agunst want and 
misery, sudi far-reaching and deeply felt factors affect man 
and weaken his power of resistance that he resorts to suidde. 
In the absence of any other comprehensible cause for this, 

> Chatitrinand, "fitude midicoJigtle nir I» fUtiatique crimlneDe en 
Pnoce," hjtm, 1S81. 



. ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



24 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRDCE [$ 3 

there remaim only the ezplanatioii that our organism is 
subject to acute periodic change s. 

These periodic fluctuations are weU known to us in tbesphere 
of sexual life. The sexual instinct makes itself fdt in animals 
at certain definite times only. The more «ni "!<*!■ have become 
accustomed to men, have been domesticated, the less sharply 
defined is this periodic sexual excitement, which among wild 
animals leads to desperate struggles for the possessioa lA the 
female. 

To superficial obserratioh sexual excitability in man is not 
subject to fluctuation. But Havdock Ellis ' has recently en- 
deavored to show that menstruation in women is analogous 
to the period when animals are in heat, and also that even 
men are not entirdy free from a regular periodidty of sexual 
functions. 

Eatidng as is the hypothesis that the sexual life ot men is 
also subject to periodic fluctuations, it still requires further 
examination and proof. Far more justifiable is the assumption 
that menstruation is an abortive expres^on of sexual excite- 
ment and that it still proves today to how great an extent in 
the realm of sexual functions periodicity is preserved. This 
is also shown by experience with some insane persons; during 
menstruation, also often at the time when it is ^rpected but 
does not occur, irritability in general, and sexual excitability 
in particular, increase. 

The establishment of physiological wave-movements in the 
life of women * surely permits us to assume a similar cause for 
the proved fluctuations in psychic balance whidi we found in 

> Batthek EUu. "GocUec^titri^ and SdumgefUiL" Sd ed.. WOo- 
bo^ R. Stnben Veriafr IBOl. 

* Aagtul Htgar, "Zat Ftage da aogauimtai Matatrua&KiapBydioaat" 
(A!lg.Zeitiduiftf. PiTdu LVm, SST); and A.IFoOMi&arv,*'IMe(oKnaK^ 
paTcbiBtriKbe Bedentnng des MenatnutiaDrrocguigEB'' (USchrKrimnTck^ 

n.86). 



^oiizodbyGoogle 



§3] CRDfE AND SEASON 25 

the suicides,' and for the increase in sexual excitement shown 
by the multiplied conceptions and offenses against chastity 
that occur in the spring. Accordingly, we may express the 
surmise that the decrease and increase of the sexual instinct, 
which embrace all the modes of sexual gratification, from con- 
jugal sexual intercourse to brutal attacks on children, corre- 
spond, though in a muck weaker and altered form, to *'heat" 
in animals. 

For the commission of sexual crimes this view is of so much 
more importance, because all other explanations are inade- 
quate. The simplest explanation of the phenomenon, and 
the -one that first suggests itself, is, that the season multiplies 
the opportunity. For this reason Gross * fiatly rejects my 
view. "In summer people spend much more time outdoors, 
individuals are found alone much oftener than in winter, 
when in their houses; work in the fields, walks and other out- 
door activities, offer numerous occasions for two persons to 
be alone, and interruptions are much less to be feared. Cries 
for help (rape) are much less effectual outdoors than in the 
bouse." It must be admitted that this b true. But even 
taking into consideration the excessive drinking that goes on 
in summer and the increased external warmth, all these co- 
effective and favorable causes still leave the question unan- 
swered, why the number of crimes decreases so rapidly in 
August and September although at that time the external 
(xoiditions would rather facilitate the conmiisston of offenses. 
Gross adds further, in refutation: "Any expert could confirm 
the statement that an incomparably greater number of sexual 
oimes are committed outdoors than in the house." In 1903, 
ol 10,226 punishable acts against §§ 176-179 (rape and as- 
saults on children), 88£6 (> 87%) were agunst § 176. Thus 
we see that this crime determinea in the main the annual 
■ Bmu Orott, "Aich. Krim. Antlu.." XII, S70. 

..OOglf 



26 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CHIME [§ 3 

curve. Of 106 persons who were convicted in accordance with 
§ 176/ 6i had nutde their attacks on children in the house, 
85 outdoors, and both indoors and out. There were 173 
separate acts committed indoors, as agunst 54 outdoors. 
Seatx we see that the multiplication of opportunity does not 
weigh as heavily as one would suppose at the first ^ance. 
There remains scarcely another siq>po8ition than the one 
discussed. 

The psychological appUcatitHt of the fact itself is of course 
independent of the attempted explanation. Whether the 
latter be right or not — we are all subject to an unusual in- 
crease in sexual excitability in the spring without being con- 
scious of it. With the retdization of this fact, we gain an 
insight into motives which, unlike intelligence or proved 
brutality, and general criminal tendency, are not recognizaUe 
in the individual act. 

Infantidde, the murder of the ill^timate cluld during or 
directly after its birth (S 217, Penal Code), is most fre- 
quent in the months of February and March. There are 127 
cases in each of these months — a number approached only 
in April and May — as against 80 to 96 in the pcnod from 
July to January. Births in February, March, and April cor- 
respond to the conceptions in May, June, and July. Here 
too, then, the increase in sexual excitement is indirectly felt. 
It is interesting to find that the desire to get rid ot the un- 
wished-for child is apparently much more closely ctmnectid 
-with the number ot births in the month than with the thought 
«f how the child is to be provided for. 

A reason advanced in favor of a milder sentence for infanti- 
cide was based on the assumption of a desp«-ate frame of mind, 
a mixture of helplessness, shame, remorse, pain, and worry 

' Aidu^tnburg, "Zur P^rhologie der SttlkhkutsveibTecher" (MSdir- 
KrimPsych.. II, 399). 



§ 3] CRDAE AND SEASON 27 

about the future. The figures of the statistics show that the 
immet^te care, at least, has no great influence; otherwise, 
in the times of need, that is, in the winter months, in which, 
in addition to all else, there is frequently loss of employment, 
there would be a greater proportion of infanticides. Instead 
of this, the number stands in the most direct relation to the 
number <A births, so that cue is almost tempted to say: 
among the same Dumber of mothers of illegitimate children 
there is always approximately the same number who fonnbly 
rid themselves of their chUdren. 

A number of other offenses show a curve similar to that of 
the sexual crimes: simple assault and battery (lS4),aggrayated 
assault and battery (I3S), coercion and threats (132), in- 
sult (122), resisting officers (117), breach of the peace (110). 
All exceed the monthly average of 100, some of them cou- 
siderably, as the figures in parentheses show. The curve 
rises steadily till the highest point is reached, in August, 
then follows a r^id descent, and the miniiniinn ia touched in 
December or January. The months from November lill 
April are, without exception, below the average. The simi- 
larity of all these curves (compare Plate I), which follow the 
course of the carve indicatii^ sexual crimes, though about 
two Tno"**"* later, b so striking that we are compelled to as- 
snne that the same causes underlie them all, though the legal 
daasification of these crimes is quite different, owing to the 
anihitariouBDess of the legal rights that are infringed. The 
manner <d commission, brutal violence and revolt against 
anthori^, is common to them all. 

Tlieir course follows that of the mean temperature. Hence 
it would be daring to exclude altogether the influence of ex- 
tcnud warmth as a cause of the movements of these crimes; 
but I am more inclined to believe in the indirect effect of the 
rin in temperature. In summer it facilitates intercourse 

, ...... C.oo'ilc 



2S THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§3 

iritb the outside world, increases and enlarges the points of 
social contact. The daiiger of conflicts is thus also augm^ited. 
Incomes ve increased, exp^ises reduced, and opportunities 
to spend oumey in summer are notlacIaDg. The presentation 
of a new flog, the opening of a new club-house, the usvdling 
of B monument, the anniversary of a foundation, birthdays 
and family anniversaries, harvest and church festivals, and 
other occasions are celebrated. Each of these means alcoholic 
excesses, a danger that, in any case, the summer heat entails. 
He part that drinking plays precisely in the above-mentioned 
crimes will have to be fully dealt with later. It must suffice 
here to point out the connection between the increase in brutal 
crimes and sununer festivities. 

Offenses agunst property present an entirely diffarent as- 
pect, malicious mischief alone forming an ezceptitm. The . 
latter in its origin is related to assault and battery, and 
its course is consequently similar to the Utter, although the 
differences between summer and winter are stHnewhat less 
pronounced. Theft and fraud, on the ctmtrary, never reach 
the daily avca-age of 100 from March to Sq>tember. But, 
from then on, th^e is a n^id increase in their frequency, 
which continues through the whole winter (Hate Q}. The 
explanation of this phenomenon is much less difficult to find 
than in the case of the sexual crimes. 

With the coming of spring the <^portunity for emjdoymait 
increases, and the expenses of heat, light, and watm dothing 
are reduced, indeed, some of them cease entirely. In fact, 
it IB possible temporarily to dispense with the shdter that is 
abstdutely essential in winter. The pressure of the cold 
months is relieved. Those who do not want to woik, and 
among them are many who in winter would encroach upon 
others' property, can manage to exist as tramps cm the country 
roads and thus disappear, if not from the criminal courts. 



) 3] CRIME AND SEASON 2 

PLATE n 

Cbiuahd Skaboh in Gebmant. 1683-1892. 
("SUtislkB of the German Empbe," N. F. T.YTncTIT . n. pp. 8«, 8S.) 
' " — Larceny {»Ibo when repeated). {{ 248, CM. 



> Grand larceny (also when repeated), jj 243, 244. 
a Fnnd Calw when repeated). H iOS-Mfi. 



m% 


























H0% 


























130% 


























m% 
















































C 




110% 






100% 


■^ 


















/ 






«% 










<■ 


o--» 






^ 


'' 






00% 








^ 


















70% 


























00% 


























»% 


























«% 


























m- 


























n% 


























■•% 


























JUL 


Jan. 


Febi 


ibKli 


A„il 


M., 


June 


Jnl, 


Aoj. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 



^lailizodbvGoOt^lf 



30 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME [$4 

at least from the annals of the govemment criminal 
statistics. 

The menace to property does not begin again until winter. 
The darkness of the nights in the winter season have undoubt-. 
edly a certain significance in this connection, as being advan* 
tageous to bui^aiy. Yet the chief reason for the increase , 
must not be sought in them, as is proved by the fact tltat the 
fluctuation between summer and winter is greater in the case 
(^ small thefts than in that of lai^ ones. With the strode 
for daily bread and the hardships that hunger and cold im- 
pose upon the poor, th^ resistance against the temptation 
to steal is weakened. 

The close cramecUon between social misery and dishonesty 
can only be touched on here. I will not, however, omii to 
point out how statistics might contribute to our knowledge 
of whether, and to what extent, the increase of thefts in winter 
is connected with the economic ^tuation. If the outward 
necessity is actually the cause, those that feel it most, that 
is the women and children, should also show the greatest 
differences during the different seasons. Thus separate sta-i 
tistics should be kept of them, and also of the cases of theft 
of food, which has not hitherto been done. 

On the other hand, certain crimes that are now includect 
might be omitted, Abaodonm^it, murder, manslaughter,* 
illegal imprisonment, robbery, and others, are much too rare 
(Senses; the effect of chance on the times wh^i they are ccun- ' 
nutted may too easily lead to a false conclusion. 

§4. KaM and Beligion 
General opinion would immediately answer in the affiniutv>v 
tive the question whether different peoples show differawea' o' 
in criminal inclination. And yet this is something about which 
we really know very little. It must be admitted that in no 

, ...... C.ooqIc 



§4] RACE AND BEUGION 31 

other field are the difficulties equally great, the most important 
being the incomparability of legislation. A classic example, 
and one that at the same time may serve as an instance of 
the possibiU^ of malHiig statistics support a theoiy, is Le- 
goyt's ' table, dted by von Oettingen. According to this, 
from 1850 to 1860 there was one convict to every 81.9 in- 
habitants in Austria, and one to every 81.8 in Spain; whereas 
in Prussia there was one to every 22.9, and in Hanover one 
to every 12.8. Thus, Prusraa and Hanover, the Protestant 
Germanic states, would make a poor showing compared with 
the Catholic jMuntries; But in Hanover and Prussia the 
numerous cases of infringement of the forest laws were in- 
cluded, which Legoyt wisely fuls to state. 

Such errors are avoidable, but not so those that are owing 
to direct variations in the laws. Semal intercourse between 
men, for instance, is a punishable crime * in the Slavic and 
Germanic countries with the exception of Holland and, since 
recmtly, (rf Norway, while in the Latin countries, on the 
contraiy, it is so only under certain conditions; criminal 
abortion is punished by an extreme penalty in some countries, 
in others it is judged most mildly; some nations regard even 
the attempt as punishable, others only the accomplished 
crime.' 

To this (Ufficut^, which lies in the definitions of the of- 
fenses, are added the differences in the prosecution of crime. 
Bodio * points out that in England 52 of every 100 persons 
accused of homicide are convicted, and 57 in Scotland, as 

< mm Otttitifn, "Die HoimUtstictik in ihrcr Bedeutung tJlt die SotUle- 
Ihik." Sd ed., Erlaii«eli, 1SS3, p. *SS. 

* Wadtenfiid, "HomoMxiMUtU mtd StnlgeMtit" Leipiig, Dieterichti^ 
VobffiNicli, IWl. p. at. 

* Lewin itnd Bmtmiig, lae. eU. p. Bfi. 

* Bodio, "Gli omiddii in klcuoi ststi d'Euiopft" (Bullrtin de llmtitnt 
intcniatioDale de Btatictique. IV, p. fCOS). 



..Coo^^lc 



32 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§4 

against 02 ia Gemiaoy. Ttiia difference b explained by the 
fact that in Great Britain the verdict of manslaughter must 
be unanimous, which is not the case in Germany. In a com- 
parative table Garofalo' shows that Austria has a higher 
criminality io aggravated assault and battery cases than 
Italy, and that, as r^ards theft, Germany exceeds his native 
land by more than iSO%. Assuming the correctness of these 
figures, one is still justified in asking whether the better 
organization of the police and the courts, perhaps also the 
greater reliability of the statistics, m^ not explun this phe- 
nomenon, rather than the assumption of more brutality in 
Austria and less honesty in Germany. 

Lombroso says: * "In our civilized world it ia much easier 
and less uncert^n (than among sava^ peoples) to prove that 
ethnology influences criminality." This b certunly not the 
case. Apart from the fact that, as r^srds the torn "race," 
we have not yet come to conclusive results, and further, that 
we no longer find unmixed races,* the economic conditioiis in 
the different countries vary to such an eitent that it b almost 
impossible to determine what part difference oi race pliqrs 
in crimioali^. 

Thb b not to be understood as meaning that radal 
peculiarities are without psychological agnificance; de^ 
psydiological study b not necessary to the reo^^tion of the 
differences between the easily excited Italians and the de- 
liberate Nortkpm Europeans, between the calm, somewhat 
phlegmatic, inhabitants of Lower Germany and the merry, 
bcHSterous people of the Palatinate. Also in statbtics, thouf^ 
in other q>heres than that of criminology, such differeau:es 

■ Oari^alo, "Im criminolope," hiia, Feliz Almi. lS9fi, p. MO. 

* Loa^mto^ "Die Vnadita uud Betainqrftmg Ata Vofaredicn^" Bofin, 

ipoe. 

* CoiiipMePt<«rnlM*iraceinveitig>tion,"DDteniidiiiiigenU>a&Knmi- 
naliUt ID der Proniu SkdiKii." 1804, p. 00. 



" Coogic 



§41 



RACE AND RELIGION 33 

From this point of view a deviation b not 



are traceable, 
without value. 

A glance at the frequency of illegitimate births in the coun- 
tries of Europe shows quite peculiar differences. 



TABLE V 
IixBoimuTX BntiHS in Eitbopx 

(After Bodto: "Uovimento detla popolaDone," Bulletin de rioiUtnt int 
Datioiul <k st&tistique. Bom., 1807, X, p. 118.) 



Oenmufc ....... 

Gvnnany 

Bd^ont 

SntlMtd 

Italy .'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. 

Finland 

Bounuuus -...-.. 

Smtoeriud 

En^utd 

H<4Imm) 

Irdaod 

BuHiiK (eKdnding Poluid) 
Serrk . >. 



18H 


14.73 


ISH 


10.« 


18H 


0.S0 


18H 


0.SJS 


18H 


g.!« 


18M 


a'M 


18M 


S.U 


18M 


7.W 


ISM 


7a7 


18M 


877 


18H 


S.39 


18Se 


6.06 


18M 


4.70 


18tM 


4.31 


18M 


3.W 


1894 


«.7» 


189S 


8.M 


18M 


1.07 



States the statistics of which can scarcely be relied upon, 
like Servia with 1%, and Russia with 2.7%, illegitimate chil- 
dren, may well be omitted from our consideration. Of the 
others, Austria stands at the head with 14.7%, followed closely 
by Germany with 9.3%, while Switzerland has only 4,7%, 
England 4.3%, and Holland 3.1%, illegitimate births. 

Separate provinces in the same country differ from one 
another even more decidedly. In Belgium the number of 

L ,-<,::..C00^^lc 



34 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBIME [§ 4 

illegitimBte births varies between 2.6% in limbnrg and 14.6% 
in Brabant. In Germany the figures have remained about 
the same for many years (1881-1890 9.3%, 1891-1900 9.1%). 
In 1900 Beriin showed the highest figmes, 14.9%; this i» 
partly due to the lying-in ho^itals that exist there, as in all 
the larger cities and university towns. Bavaiiai oa the rif^t 
of the Rhine, with 14.3%, is not far behind the capital; it 
must be admitted that in Bavaria marriage is made somewhat 
difficult by legislation, yet this cannot be the chief cause, as 
the Palatinate has only 6.S% of ill^timate births. The 
minimum number, 2.7%, is found in Westphalia. 

Most striking of all are the differences in Austria. Accord- 
mg to Szarlardi,' in Istria, of 100 children, 2.06% are of ille- 
gitimate origin, but in Karinthia 44.16%! Moreover, in the 
territories in which the number of illegitiniate births is al- 
ready low, it seems to be growing lower stJU, whereas the hi^ 
percentage in Karinthia, Styria, Lower and Upper Austria, 
continues to iDcrease. 

Similar variatioDS among different pe(q>ks and in different 
sections are also found in the statistics of suicide (TaUe VI). 

According to von Mayr,* Monaco (with 301 per million in- 
habitants) stands, for obvious reasons, at the head of those 
countries that are espedally menaced by suicide; then fdlows, 
at no great distance, Denmark with 255 cases, while Italy has 
only 49, Rus«a 32, ^>tun 24, and Bosnia with Herzegovina 
only 6. Morselli's* investigations show that the Gomanie 
race is especially inclined to suicide and, of its sub-divisions, 
particularly the Northern Germans, while the Slavs and the 
Western Latin peoples (Spaniards, Central and Southern 
Italians) show but a slight tendency in that direction. The 

■ 8»daHi, "Der gegoiirilrtigc Stuid des FiaMwt&ea» in Eapr^w," 1890. 
* 0. MM Jfoyr. "I>«r SeUMtmotd" (Allg. •Utirt. Aiduir, 1S97, p. 720). 

■ MondU, loe. cU. 

DiailizodbvGoOgle 



§4 



BACE AND BEUGION 



35 



differences within the same countiy are abo most character- 
istic. From 1896 to 1000, in Cobuig-Gotha 4S0 persons per 
million inhabitants killed themselves, in Prussia 1891 to 
1900, 319 in Schleswig-Holstein, 307 in Saxony, while the 
average for the whole of Germany was only !i09; Wes^halia 
and Posen showed the lowest figures, 105 and 91. 



TABLE VI 
SuicnntB a thb CausraaK ov Eubopb 
n Ihyr: "Der Selbrtmcml" ASg. cUttist AtcIut. IBM, p. Ttt.) 
Number of Miiddea per 1,000,000 inbalHUiita. 



c™™ 


IBSWS« 






Demort 

Pmk* 


en 
«0» 

W7- - 










Hungary, eid. Cpoatk ud SIbvodu 

Bn^and >nd Walea 

Norwmy 

ScoUwid 


9S 

77 
OS 

65 






Italy 












Serria 


SS 








as 

M 


Irebnd 


es 
< 



Not for a moment would I seek to explun these peculiar 
Vftriatiaos in the illegitimate births and suiddes by racial 
differences alone. Bellgioua and economic reasons are also 

L ,;™:..,G00gIe 



36 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME [% 4 

of equal importance with l^slative ones, as Swedes proves. 
But, without forcing the facts, we cannot exdude the iiifiaenoe 
of radal characteristics altt^ether. This is not the place to 
trace it out in detul, as it would merely serve to show that eth- 
nological differences are of p^chological importance. At first 
^ht the Catholic countries seem to make a better showing 
' than the I^testant ones, but, although the priest's advice 
may aid many a Catht^c in suppressing his thoughts of sukade, 
religion is nevertheless not determinative, still less is it a 
"measure of the culture and moral strength of a people"; 
for, as Gaiq>p ' rightly emphasizes, the high suknde figures of 
France, compared with the low ones of England, show that 
the causes aie far more complicated. 

I must forego the enticing task of comparing in a similar 
way the criminality of the different countries, owing to uie 
technical difficulties of which I have spoken. At present the 
necessary statistical basis is lacking to such an extent that it 
is scarcely possible to get beycmd surmises, llie attempt 
may, however, be made to contrast the different sections td the 
same country. Here too, however, we find certun limitations. 
In order to find the radal peculiarities, we should be obliged 
to inquire the birthplace of the perpetrator ot every crime, 
and even that knowledge would not prove to what race he 
belonged. Statistics as a rule take into oon^deration only the 
place where the crime is committed, and, as I bdieve, rightly. 
^rst, because, as the criminal statistics of the German Em- 
pire have proved: * "the place where the crime b committed 
and the place of residence are the same, except in an insig- 
nificant fraction of the crimes committed"; and then, because 
the socijd causes are more important than the individual oojes. 

The importance of considering separately the place where 

> Ottujrp, "tJha den SeltMtmwd," Houch, 1910. 
' N. F. CXXL n. p. M. 



. ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§4] RACE AND BEUGION 37 

the crime waa committed and the birthplace of the criminal 
most, however, certunly not be undervalued; in some cases 
soch a separation may serve to ezplun certain striking phe- 
nomena. After niAUng such an investigation, J0I7 ^ found 
no change in the twenty departments that were criminally 
best and the twenty that were criminally worst in France; 
the order of rank remained the same, whether he made the 
birthplace or the place where the crime was committed 
the basis of his classificatioa. Corsica, however, showed the 
highest number within the country, whereas the Corsicans 
living away from the island occupied only the sixty-fifth 
phtoe. Frcoa this, Joly concluded that the social milieu of 
Corsica, and not the racial characteristics of the Corsicans 
themselves, was the cause of the. greater inclination towards 
crime on the island. 

With this view I cannot agree. While proper^ is seldom 
endangered in Corsica, and then generally by fordgners, the 
principal crime of the Corsicans is murder, above all from mo- 
tivea of revenge. For every murder committed in France 
(calculated according to the present population) there are 11 
in Corsica. In q>ite of all the efforts of the French govern- 
ment, the blood feud has not quite died out in Corsica, and 
at the time of Joly's investigations it was in a flourishing state. 
The Corsican who is living away from his home and from 
family quarrels lacks this powerful iucentive to murder. 
But in the country itself the effect of the vendetta is still that 
of a folk-custom. And such customs, especially when they 
af^tear in so peculiar a way and are so deeply rooted, have for 
their deepest source racial characteristics. 

This view is borne out by the varying distribution of the 

vendetta in Corsica itself. In 8(»ne of the districts where it 

centres the necessity of defending oneself against attack, or 

> Jti^ "Im Fnoce crinuiieUe," FhU, Cert. 188fc 



38 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRDIX [§4 

<^ bdng able to escape into the woods, has actually deter- 
mined the type of house architecture there. S(HDe ai the 
houses in Sartena. particularly in Bonifado, mem bfe little 
forts, as I have had occasion to see myself. On the other 
hand, the east coast of the island, where the fopnlatioo is 
mixed with Italian immigrants, and Calvi cm the vert cout, 
which was populated by the Greeks, have ranaioed bm frou 
the custom of blood feuds. 

A vety instructive work is that erf Niceforo * on the crim- 
inality of Sardinia. It mi^ also serve as a modd for further 
investigations, for the author made a special territoiy (ia 
which the population remved little increase from outside) 
the subject of his research, and examined on the spot the ele- 
ments which composed the people, and studied their life and 
customs. Sardinia has a population that is extremely dis- 
posed to crime. Murder and manslaughter, for instance, are 
fourteen times more frequent there than in the best province 
cA Italy, Lombardy. More important still, however, are the 
characteristic differences of the separate smaUer districts on 
the island. In two adjoining districts the number of cases of 
robbeiy and extortion is absolutely diffa«nt; in Nuoro there 
are 67.45 such crimes per miUion inhabitants; in Sassari, 11.92; 
whereas in Venice there are only S.IS. Niceforo pontivdy 
establishes the existence of a "zona delinqnente" on the 
island. The peculation of this criminal territory is descended 
from the Mediterranean race of Sergi, which at the same time 
has its home in Asia Minor, Northern Africa, Spain, and 
Southern Italy, while in the rest of SanUnia the Celtic race 
predominates. Assuming the statements to be conect — and 
I must emphasize that the work impresses me as reliable — 
we should have here a dear proof of the importance of 
descent. 

* Nie^tn, "L* ddinqaaun in SHd^na," Fdcnmv 1807. 

I ,-™:.,GoogIc 



1 4^ BACE AND RELIGION 39 

Bearie ' has collected and classified some interesting figures 
frooa tbe Austrian criminal statistics. In ten districts of the 
circait court, Bmz with 94%, three of them with from 82-91%, 
Gchnan population, there were 475 cases of theft per hundred 
thoamad inhabitants; in the district of Laun, with 97% 
CatdiB, there were 1030. In the Budweis circuit there are 
■t districts where from 87 to 99% of the inhabitants are 
Gennaiis, in the other districts not more than Si%, in some 
ItM than 10%, are Germans. In the German districts there 
were 584 cases of theft, as agunst 951 in the others. The 
same thing is shown in Table VII. 



TABLE VU 



'SSSs~ 


All. 

Cmmb 


TtoT 




Oma 


ISM 


Birmr 


(o) In diatricti 
cbieOr Gonnan . 


2H 


lU 


19 


71 


SIS 


2ig 


(»)Iiiatlierdktrirta 


224 


120 


M 


81 


6«9 


MS 



Flea^ng as is tbe showing of the German population 
compared with the Slavic, it would yet be a mistake to draw 
far-reaching conclusions from it. Herz,* too, found, in the 
different states of Austria, fewer cases of theft in the Gierman 
parts than in those where Germans are in the minority; and 
tbe same phenomenon appears in the figures that Kurella * 
has cited, according to which the Baltic ftovinces are favor- 
ably distinguished from the Russian ones. Some of the figures 
used, however, embrace too short a period of time; moreover, 

' B«ttrtt, "Einige ErgebiuBae der OsterTeidiisdKn ErimiiwUUtutik" 
(ZStW. Vra. 325). 

■ Stn, "Die KriminaliUlt in dea tMencicbiaclien KronlHndeni" (MSchr. 
Kriml^di. L Ml). 

' Xrurcfia,"NBtnTge*dud)t«d«V«Tforecheiu,"Stutt8ut,FeKliiiHMlEiik^ 
1893, p. 157. 



. ,;™:..,G00gIf 



40 THE SOCIAI, CAUSES OF CBDIE f§4 

edu^tion^__tuid__ecoiioinic influences must be conadeiied 
wEu^, perh^>8, would sooner le«3^ to an understanding c^ fhe 
phenomenon than does knowledge ot the difference in raoq. 

Our interest centres, ci course, mainly on Germany ittalt. 
The rdiability of the statistical proofs, on the one hand, and 
our accurate knowledge ot the people's mode of Ufe and.of the 
economic and socdal situation, on the other, give us the right 
to examine our home conditions with a view to ascertaining 
whether, in our country, racial descent is of any significance. 
It is to be regretted that only in the case ot a few crimes has 
the statistical department ascert^ned the place of the deed, 
and then brought the figures into relation with the population 
living in that particular district This material, thou^ lim- 
ited, is valuable for comparison, the more so as it embraces 
fuUy fifteoi years. A period of this length excludes the danger 
of chance and temporary influences on criminality. Such a 
temporary increase in the number of convictions in a district 
took place, for instance, during the construction of the North- 
east Canal, owing to the la^e number of laborers that were 
brought into a small and usually quiet section. Such enors 
can be avoided only by collecting statistics covmng longer 
periods of time. 

The results of the calculations mentioned are ffvesi in 
volume 126 of the "Statistik des Deutschen Reiches," inlarge 
tables and five nuq>8. From the tables I r^roduce in Table 
Vni the figures for the provinces and government districts, 
or circuits only, omitting the small jurisdictions. This in- 
volves the loss of many important details, but it was essential 
first to establish the main facts.' 

' Becently sevaal mooognph* hare t^ppmred dMling with the oiminkl- 
ity of noAll distikta : TTndnnimiu " Die UiMiiien der KriminaUtllt iin Hcnog- 
tmn Saidisen-Maiuiigai "; filov, "ErimiiulstAtiHtiadie Untcsmcbiing der 
Kreise Muimwcrder imd Tbfoa"; Pelerritie, "Untcnudumgen Qber die 
KtimiiwliUlt in der Pravinx SAchaeo." Of thew m^s, the Iwt mcatioDed In* 



§4] 



BACE AND RELIGION 



41 



TABLE 
tiMX or THE Cbimsb CoHMtrrKD 
Aiemge number during 18S8-190S; p« 



vm 

It Gmbmamt rou I88S to 1002 
' 100,000 ctviUuis of punuhaUe age 



Puca 


Cum 


Haun- 


cm 


Tn«T 


FUUD 




G«. Dirt. KODw-bus 

- - Dmii . 

C»7<ilBalii> , . . 
Go. Dirt. PoUikm . 

- " Fnakfort 

- - SUttJo . 
" - Ktt^. . 

- - Slnlnad 

- - Pon . . 

: : KSr. 

- - Litoit. . 

: : a., 

- - Hwbms 

- - Erfurt. . 

- - £kU<..{( 

- - Buem. 

- - HBdnbda 

: :sr-. 

- " OMbrikk 

- " Aurieb . 

- - IClMtB . 

- - ITmda . 

: : Sir"; 

- - Wiat»dn 

- " OAAaa . 

- " DUM-Uad 

- - Otogm, . 

- - Trio . . 

- - A-^u . 

- - Sipuri-cen 
Prwk 




11*9 

i«oe 

UT 

itu 

MS 
B«T 
\*t* 
IBM 
Ul« 

IMO 
IISO 
lOM 
ftU 
TM 
IDM 
■T« 
MT 
MS 
MS 

mi 

tTl 
101 
•M 

«M 

lOM 
811 
TIB 


At 
U 

« 

ss 

w 

u 

H 

M 

M 

81 

M 
It 

It 
18 

88 

83 

M 
« 
80 

n 

100 


8« 

U8 

0.88 

t.lt 

ax 

0^ 

i.n 

O.TS 

1.10 
L7S 

Ll« 

ilsa 

(.St 
IM 


8«8 

SM 
(40 

tot 

183 
100 

170 
334 
404 

t*a 

SIT 
188 
MB 

18T 

138 

nt 

1*0 

88 
7f 
ISB 
148 

00 

ISO 

08 
88 
810 


88 

48 

38 

at 

SO 

so 

84 
38 
K 

to 

40 
48 

43 

47 
88 

00 

«t 

M 

88 

84 
If 

to 

88 

so 

(8 

t« 

88 


848 
848 

107 

sot 

187 
«13 

too 

ISO 

ns 

888 

SO 
888 

14t 

110 

184 
188 

ito 
ut 

147 
08 
088 

188 

188 

tH 
148 

IBS 


Gm'.I>M.nppBB*Tm 

- - Lo-«r ■■ 

- - 11l«Pd.llB 

- - Low " 

- - Snbi> . 
Banm 


•■ii 


lies 

1U4 

lUB 
IIM 
ISM 
1104 
1118 
1880 


so 

St 

M 

so 

3T 

«s 

S8 


».1I 
S.«t 

t.as 
t.ts 


tSE 

18T 

ISO 
Ml 

184 
188 

too 


OS 

81 


801 

340 


CndtDnikD . . 

- Uipdl . . . 
' Zwkkiu . . 

- BhIh . . 

S«»W 




OM 


88 
•« 

80 
88 


OJ 
0.88 

0.88 


tot 


88 
88 


88 

78 
108 
01 
88 



.OOglf 



42 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBDfE [§ 4 

TABLE Vm — CmUaaiad 



fLtiem 


Nauoiiu. 


IUhh. 

Etc 


nLOm- 


Tnn 


ruoD 


AOOUTA. 

no A» 


StAu amh 

Si^CimH 

DuutMCimil .... 

Wbtkubot 


MS 
801 
«M 

MS 


H 


1.01 


lOS 

ut 

ITS 


SS 

n 

»0 


ISS 


;; Ft^m, .... 

- uuoiidoi : 

B-k. 


tat 

tra 


u 

9S 


IJS 

IJO 
IJS 


14S 
ISO 


so 

00 


isa 

tso 
»o 


~ UpihH<»> . . . 
H«i 


»i 

Ttt 

ion 


If 


I.4S 

1.01 


IfS 
US 


4S 


tor 

100 

wo 


8«e-W«DK 

MKtkiilnir^tidili . 


sn 

SH 


M 


IM 
I.IT 


lOS 
IM 


81 


14a 
in 


CMxAnx, 


IMS 


M 

fO 

u 


L41 
1.SS 


uo 

140 

144 


48 

or 

C8 
SO 


138 

188 

isa 

lar 


Bnmiwick 

AiJull 

W.U«k 

BnwYouxei Lo^ '. '. 

SL- :::::: : 

Bima 

Din. Lo»< Aku. . . 

- DppctAlua , . 

" Lormne ... 
A]i»L«t>ne. . . . 


low 

S10 

IW 

IMf 

Ml 
1018 

MS 

Ml 

lU* 
MM 

7n 

810 


*» 

38 

*T 
SS 

c» 

SI 

44 
88 
IS 
U 
SS 

«• 

a 

n 

M 
M 


IJS 

oje 

I'jS 

»M 

IJM 
OJO 
0.4S 
■ OM 

0.M 

SJl 

0.00 

1.U 


180 

1*0 
SIT 

>4S 

SH 

in 

TO 

I» 
«M 
«T 
MS 

194 

los 


48 
S3 
44 

SS 

OS 

tf 

X 

n 

«8 
OS 

SS 


l»8 
1S1 

itf 
iss 

IS* 

M 
01 

00 

«s 

w 

IM 
«8S 


G^m^Eotbt . . . 


110* 


41 


IM 


SOI 


« 


IM 



Ftom the "SUtisUk dca Deutschea Bodies," Vol. IBS. UL 



§41 BACE AND RELIGION 43 

A glance at the maps, which I did not think it necessary to 
reproduce, shows, first of all, that the whole east of Germany, 
as well as Upper and Lower Bavaria and the Palatinate, has 
a laige number of convictions. While in the whole of Ger- 
many there were 1104 convicted persons to every 100,000 
persons of punishable age, the number of such convicts in the 
government districts was: Oppeln 1800, Bromberg 1842, 
Gumbinnen 1746, Bremen 1732, the Palatinate 1657, Danzig 
1541, Upper Bavaria 1528, Ksnigsberg 15S6, Marienwerder 
15S2, Lower Bavaria 1484, Posen 1424, and Mannheim 1211. 
On the other hand, Schaumburg-Iippe had only 410, and 
Waldeck 480 convictions. Waldeck offers an excellent op- 
portunity for comparison with a section containing iqiproxi- 
mately the same number of inhabitants. In 1800 Waldeck 
had a population of 38,986. Pirmasens 38,327. In Waldeck 
there were annually 172 convictions, while in IMrmasens there 
were 885! 

A de^>er insight into the causes of these differences than 
can be obtained from a consideration of the criminality as a 
whole is afforded by an examination of the separate crimes. 
Of these, four have been chosen, and their statistics given: 
resistance to officers, aggravated assault and battery, theft, 
and fraud. Two of these crimes, theft and aggravated assault 
and batteiy, are characteristic of the general criminal physi- 
ognomy of a district, simply because they are much commoner 
than any others. Nearly half of all convicUons ^re for these 
two offenses. 

During fifteen years of observation, among 100,000 pun- 
ishable persons, aggravated assault and battery led to con- 

bcrt OTfscxnne tlw diCGcnilliea of tl» niethodolog; spoken of by AicAow " Cber 
KriouiulaUtiatiaclie EinxeluiitenuchuDgen" (MSrbrKri mPaych. I, 043). 
Yet we cannot expect really valuable Tcauita until a tew more siniilar inveati- 
IptioDt aball make it pouible to compare the practicability of tlie method 
and the validly of the cottdtinon*. 



44 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBIUE [§ 4 

N 
victicHi 196 times. In oomparing this crime with the whole 

criminality, we are at once struck by the equality with which 
it is distributed, though, indeed, Bavaria and the Palatinate 
^pear to be somewhat more heavily burdened in this respect. 
Its centre is the Palatinate with 517 convictions, then follows 
Lower Bavaria with 441, Bromberg with SA8, Miinh^iin with 
316. Thedistrictof Dresden, on the other hand, ahows only 66, 
and Scluuimburg-Lippe 68. Here, too, Waldeck stands in 
strong contrast to Pirmsaens, which is at the very top of the list. 

Thaa we see that aggravated assault and battery is concen- 
trated at three points: in Brombe^, in the Palatinate, and in 
Southeastern Bavaria. Round these three centres are grouped 
the neighboring districts, scarcely bdiind tfaem in this respect. 
The explanation of this geographical distribution immediatdy 
suggests itself; the three centres of this brutal crimtf are also 
the three centres of alcoholic indulgence in its various fonnst 
in the east, spirits, in Bavaria, beer, and in the Palatinate, 
wine. This is undoubtedly the explanation erf the ge<^raphi- 
cal distribution. 

Hie connection betwe^i aggravated assault and battery 
and alcoholic indulgence is important Plough to demand de- 
tuled treatmoit. Let me s^ at the outset that the danger- 
ousness of the different alcdiolic drinks does not correspond 
to the generally accepted opinion. If we might determine the 
degree of seriousness from the number (A the crimes, the se- 
quence would be: wine, beer, spirits. Wlassak,' however, in 
his investigation of the question in Moravion-Ostrau, found 
another order: beer, wine, spirits; which more nearly corre- 
sponds to the quantity of alcohol contained in the different 
beverages. In any case, we can certainly agree with Fsldes* 

' )FIafMt."I>eTAlkobolumVBimGebieteTOiiMiliriadi-OrtmD." Bcridit 
anf dem Vlil. Intdnatioiialeii Eongreaa gegen den Alkdudinnuv. 

■ FBUm, "Enuge EtgdHUMe det uenerai KrimiiwIthHiftik" (ZStW. XI, 

sasf. 

, ...... C.ooqIc 



§4] K&CE AND RELIGION 

m thinlring that the kind of beverage is unim 
pared with the e£Bcacy of the alcohol it co 
occasioD of a lecture that I gave in this conoi 

meDts were met with the argument that ju „.„_„ „. 

aggravated assault and batteiy, Pirmaaeos, refuted my view, 
little wine being consumed there owing to the poverty of the 
inhabitants. On making inquiries, I found this to be the 
case, but learned at the same time that the consumption of 
(pints in IMmiasen is excessive. In the districts of Mann- 
hdm and Heidelberg, with which I am much more familiar, 
I can assert with assurance that alcohol in all its forms plays 
the principal, if not the only, part in the extremely numer- 
ous cases of aggravated assault and batteiy that occur there. 

It b true that the inhabitants of the Palatinate have the 
leputation of being livdy and irritable people, "screechers" 
("£reischer "}. as they are popularly termed. Unfortunately, 
this excitability shows itself less in words than in deeds; in 
the number of msults...they do not stand much above the 
average. Moreova-, it is vety possible that their boisterous 
demeanor is a result of the regular use of alcohol, like the 
"fitting lust" of the Upper Bavarians, which, under the 
influeaice of Sunday and holiday drinking bouts, has become 
a recognised folk-custom. 

It is well known that, in spite of aU the efforts that are 
made, we have not thoroughly succeeded in ascertaining ac- 
curately the amount of local alcohol consumption. It is quite 
conceiTable that local conditions occasionally, and as an ex- 
ception, weaken the usual effect of drinking <ki criminality, 
as, for instance, when a scattered population is less exposed 
to the danger of friction. In general, however, in our own 
country, we may safely assume a direct connection between 
the geographical distribution of aggravated assault and bat- . 
tery and the custom of indulgence in alcohol. 

L ,-™:..C00^'^lc 



46 THE SOCIAL CAI^ES OF CRIME [§ 4 

Such a coimection also exists in the case of assauhmg and 
resisting an ofiScer, which, for the most part, takes place when 
a policeman arrests a drunkard. But, besides this, other causal 
factors must be taken into consideration. Boundary sections 
where the inhabitants speak different languages, induatria] 
distr icts where there is keen, weU-founded, or groundless dis- 
satisfaction among the workmen, lockouts and strikes, large 
<nties with their rowdies; all these have a permanent influence 
on the frequency of assaults and attacks on the representatives 
c^ government authority. This is especially true of all large 
portSf^in which the recuse of all the countries of the worid 
comes tc^ether. On shore the seamen, especially those of 
subordinate rank, such as stokers and trinmiers, seek to make 
up to themselves for the harsh and implacable discipline they 
experience on board. In a few days, often in a few hours, 
the entire earnings of a voyage are transferred, and find thm- 
way into the hands of saloon-keepers and prostitutes, and 
intoxicatioD among these rough crowds leads most ea^ly to 
noisy street scenes. For this reason it is not surprising that in 
Altona, Hamburg's great amusement resort, the number of 
convictions, 19 per 10,000 inhabitants, so greatly exceeds the 
average for aU Germany, 4. . 

Many a striking phenomenon, as, for instance, the frequmcy 
ot this offense in the district of Potsdam (8.6) aa against Berlin 
(4.9), is probably easier (or the inhabitants of the place to 
explun than (or those who have no knowledge of the local 
conditions. I believe that offenses against officers in particu- 
lar are exclusively, or neaify exclusively, owing to external 
causes, among which I include the composition ot the pt^mla- 
tion that is due to occupation, not to descent. 

In the distribution of petit and giaud larceny, the east 
again strongly predominates. All the government districts 
on the RusEoan frtnitier exceed the average of the ii4k^ 
, ,.,,. ..C.oo'ilc 



S4] RACE AND RELIGION 47 

of Gennaii7 (26.9 p«rlO,000 persoiu of punishable age), in 
§oine caaes by a latge number. At the head of the govemment 
districts stand Brocaberg with 62.4, Gumbinnen with 56.4, 
Marienwerder with 61.6, followed, between SO and 40, by 
Danzig, Posen, and Oppetn; outside of the Prussian domains, 
j^ifte than forty thefts occur in Bremen (41.6), Schwarzburg- 
Sondetshausen (46), and Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (45.4) only. 
In smaller administrative districts even greater variation is 
noticeable; the district of Heinsberg (Rhine Province) with 
4 stands contrasted to Johannisburg (East Prussia) with 
10S.8. Except for scattered interspersions, the west is rela- 
tively free from theft; the figures for whole provinces, as, for 
instance, ScUeswig, Hanover, Westphalia, Hesse-Nassau, 
Rheinland, the part of Hesse that Ues on the tigiit of the 
Rhine, and Alaace and Lorraine, remain below 20. In the 
smaller districts, greater nimibers always appear where in- 
dustries are strongly developed. It may be that the tempting 
opportunity to take possession of raw material and finished 
products, as well as fuel, is responsible for this. That explana- 
tion, however, b not applicable to those wide sections in the 
east that are mainly agricultural in character. The majority 
of the day-laborers in the east hve on a frightfully simple and 
monotonous diet, in miserable dwellings, and work for in- 
significant wages. In the industrial districts of the east, too, 
wages, even in proportion to the lower cost of food there, are 
much lower than in the west. The economic misery b un- 
doubtedly partly to blame for the numerous cases of theft in 
the east, though of course not entirely. The conscience of a 
rather unintelligent population, hving under the poorest con- 
ditions, easily grows lax as regards the difference between 
mine and thine; and when once the sharp dividing line between 
these two b no longer respected, actual necessity b not needed 
as an incentive to steal. On the other hand, it cannot surprise 

I ,.,,:■.. Cookie 



48 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§4 

us that the pioq>eroiis Westphaliaiu and Rhlnelaoders seldom 
lay bands on othera' proper^ — except in the large cities and 
industrial coitres. This is not intended, however, to be an 
assertion that the influence tA Slavic blood, which our atatia- 
tical department makes partly responsible for the high degree 
of criminality in the east (Vol. CXLVI, II, 5S), is without 
significance. But before such influence can be acc^ted as. a 
fact, it must be proved by detailed investigaticHis, and the 
same is true of von Bohdea's ^ opinion, that the "aftermath 
of serfdom which prevented the development of the moral 
personality " is an important factor. 

A remarkable contrast to this condition is presented by the 
geographical distribution ot fraud. The whole <^ the east, 
which has been so heavily burdened with the crimes just dis- 
cussed, — as well as the north and west. — shows a very small 
numberof convictions for fraud, with theezception id theHansa 
Towns and Beriin. They mount up, on the other hand, id 
Saxony, Tliiiringen, the Palatinate, Baden, Wtlrttemberg, and 
Bavaria. Bremen with 12.S, has more than double the avei^ 
age for aU Germany (5.1), and Mannheim (11.3) and Upper 
Bavaria (11.S) are not far behind it The explanation of this 
phenomenon is veiy difficult, and becomes even more so when 
we go back to the smaU districts. The mn^imnm (S5.4) is 
reached in the city circuit of Traunstdn,* the miniiniim (0.0S) 
in Lubeck (WestphaUa). 

Seuffert * has given a very important explanation in con- 
nection with Trannstein. He shows that, during the years 

I MM Rohd^n, "VoD den aofulen Motivca da Vabrecbetti" (Zeitacbrift 
(fir SoBftlwiiaeiiMlMft, VII, 989). 

* On tbe nuip the <Iutrict of Ulm (Wilrttcmbcrg) is ^v«n as hkring the 
mniinmm 10.9; but on jage H, S7, Tnu]ut«)ii irith 35.4 i* gmn •• fakTing 
the bi^icat Dumbo'. lliii Stattpaacy ia owing to the fact tl»t oa the ntaip 
the ci^ mnd the district are given aa one. 

' loe. etl p. H. 



. ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§4] RACE AND BEIIGION 49 

from 1883 to 1887, it was thus heavily burdeoed (42.1), while 
its average from 1888 to 1892 was only 21.2. He learned that 
from 7000 to 8000 young workmen, especially Austrian^, 
pass through Trauosteio annually. In 1883 the practice of 
Bopplying them with food ("Naturalverpflegung") was 
established, but might only be made use of twice a year. 
In order to receive this aid oftener, many of the youths 
altered the dates on their papers. In most cases the ofFense 
was aimpty leaving a public-house without paying the bill. 
Seuffert assumes that a similar explanation applies to the other 
Upper Bavarian towns, and concludes: "A large percentage 
of the high figures for fraud in Southern Germany should be 
lud at the doors, not of tfae permanent, but of the fluctuating, 
peculation." 

Unfortunately I cannot agree with him in this effort to 
save the honor of the countty. First, because the "falsification 
fA journeymen's books and identification papers" is not 
punishable as fraud, but as an offense against § 36S of the 
Penal Code, and hence does not appear in the statistics. 
Secondly, because further observation has shown that the 
temporary improvement has not been maintained, and now, 
after a period of fifteen years, the number (35.4) still exceeds 
sevenfold the average of the Emivre. Further, because the 
vidnity of Traunstein (district T), where the falsification of 
papers in order to obtain provisions from the town would be 
usdess, still exceeds by ten the average of the whole country 
in convictions for fraud. In any case, a glance at the map 
shows us that the great predominance of fraud all over the 
south of Germany cannot be attributed to the fluctuating 
population. 

Fraud, too, is influenced by economic conditions, as the 
heavy increase during the winter months proves. But the 
connecticHi betwera the two is not as close as it is in the case 



50 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBIME [§4 

of Uroeaiy. Beurle succeeded in establishing the (act thai, 
in gcDeral, 89% of all criininab are without any meanS what- 
ever, of the thieves even &4%, while only 0.1% mi^t be called 
prosperous. Fraud, however, is committed by 1.4% of wdl- 
to-do persons and by only 79% of persons without means. 

I believe that two factors are at the root of the geogr aphi- 
cal distribjitioQ, the first being occupation. In the country, . 
fraud is more difficult than m thci^^, and the temptation ^ 
rarer than in business life. The second factor lig in the greater 
intelligence that the perpetration of a fraud requifts: — As'a 
ruTe'it needs much more intelligence, above all, more ddibera- 
tion, to swindle a man than to steal his property. Berz ^ 
also holds this view, and believes that one of the causes of tlie 
preponderance of fraud cases in the German jurisdictions 
over those in the Slavic jurisdictions (4.7 : 25 to 10,000 inhabit- 
ants) is the higher degree of intelligence and education among 
the Germans. 

Yet neither the crowding t^^ether of peoj^ in the city, 
and city occupations, nor greater intelligmce alone, affords 
an adequate explanation of the frequency of fraud in the 
south and in Saxony and ThUiingen. Otherwise the Rhine 
Provinces and Westphalia would show a greater number ot 
convictions. Hence, eveiything compels us to see in this 
phenomenon a character trait of the peculation in those 
sections in which the crime predominates. This throws a 
peculiar light on the proverbial honesty of the Swabians. 
But. just in order to refute the correctness of this rq>roadi, 
which of course applies to an even greater extent to Bremen, 
Upper Bavaria, and Mannheim, it would be desirable to extend 
the statistical examination during a number of years, so that 
it would also include the fact whether, in the case of fraud, 
the birthplace oi the criminal, and the place where the crime 

' Loc. cU. p. 5S7. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§4] RACE AND RELIGION 51 

is committed, differ more frequently than in the cose of other 
crimes. Further, consideration should be given to the doubt 
that Hans Gross ' has expressed, as to whether fraud is to be 
T^arded as a psych<Jogically uniform c^ense at all. 

The results of a geogr^hical consideration are meagCT as 
far as differences of race are concerned. Only in the contrast 
between the frequency of theft and fraud in the east and south 
is it perhaps possible to see a taga of such differences; I pur^ 
posely say "perhaps," for no absolutely co-tain proof is to be 
found in the material at hand. One thing, however, we may 
definitely assert, that the possibly existing ra<:fi differences 
«ert an insignificant influence, as compared with the powerful " 
social &u;tQEa^ prosperi^. and folk-customs. From the fact 
that the east is strongly represented in the whole criminality 
d the oountty, we should not conclude that the state of mo- 
raUty there is low, but rather that the economic conditions 
are bad. 

The negative result of the race investigation is highly pleas- 
ing to the criminologist. Bace transformation goes on slowly 
for centuries and can scarcely be influenced from outside by 
artificiat means; whereas we possess weapons enou^ against 
evil economic conditions and the abuse of alcohol. 

Here we m^ well go on to the influence of religious doiom- 
ination. Religion, as such, does indeed appear to be entirely 
without significance in the criminal statistics, for we merely 
ascertain to which of the existing denominations an individual 
belongs, but not whether his membership is more than a 
purely nominal one, not the degree of his reli^ous belief, not 
the influence of religious teachings on his thou^t and actions. 
It might almost be aflirmed that the commission of any seri- 
ous crime is a proof that the perpetrator has lost his touch 
with his religioa. 

' toe. eU. p. 371. 

D,.,l,z<»i.vG00gIf 



52 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CHDIE [§ 4 

But, if we ezamine the statistics, we are ctMifronted by dif- 
ferences of such magnitude that we are Dot justified in passing 
them over in silence. Especially is this true because, in the 
quarrels among the denominations, the kind and Dumber of 
convictions are quoted to show the inferiority of the opposing 
sect.' 

During the years 1892-1901, the average number of persODS 
convicted per 100,000 civilians of the saow futh was: 

TABLE IX 

IISS Enngelkal Chintisiia 
IMl Catbdic Chriitiuu 
lOW Jew* 

f The criminality of the Jews, with the ezceptioD of Group I 
in the statistics (crimes and offenses against the State, pi^lic 
order, and religion), is far below that of the Christians. 
Th^ predominance in Group I is mainly due to the large 
Dumber of convictions among them for transgressing against 
the Lord's Day law. 

If we regard the offenses sqiarately, we find that, for ev«y 
100 cases of usury in which Christians are the offenders, there 
are ISOO such (Senses coounitted by Jews in proportion to the 
number of members of every denomination. In considering 
this fact, two things must not be forgotten: first, that ccm- 
victions for nsuiy are very rare. During the period covered by 
the report, the average wnmml number of Jews convicted c^ 
this offense was 5. Such small figures easily lead our judgment 

I AnanonymouapMnphlet ("DkkontewiiopellelMniiiiiilwtatiatikniWllrt- 
tember^" H*ll<v Bogcn Strien, ISSfl, with the motto, "By tlinr faniU ye 
■hall know them") ooptuna the foUawing Kntcnce (p. SS): "b oomtnst to 
the compluiiU dl tbe hoteri«nta ol decreue in clituch «tt«3wlwice, indiffcc- 
aiat, and lukewannneM, re kc m tbe CatbcJic diurdii in the laat forty ye«ta 
an unequalled growth cf cfanich life and — unfavoiable moial reaulta." 



S 4] RACE AND RELIGION S3 

astn^. It ia true that the small number is so constant that 
we cannot deny it eveiy significance. Secondly, we must 
take into account the fact that usury is a specific offense of 
trade. From 1885 to 1889 60% of tJl the persons convicted of 
nsuiy were engaged in trade and commercial pursuits. Accord- 
ing to the last statistics of occupation, of the year 1895, among 
100 Jews engaged in gainful occupations, 54.56 were engaged 
in commercial pursuits, as against S.64 of the entire population ; 
that is, nearly six times as many as tiie proportion of Jews in 
the population would lead us to expect. Hence, we should 
compare not the number of Jews and Christians that are con- 
victed of usury, but the number of conunercially occupied 
Jews and Christians. This results in a considerable decrease 
in the predominance of the former, thou{^ the Jews still 
remain in the majority. It would be a mistake to draw ai^ 
far-reaching conclusion from these facts, if for no other reason 
than merely because most of the cases of usury do not come 
before the courts at all, so that the small number of convic- 
tions is entirely misleading. 

The same considerations apply to all those crimes the nature 
of which makes their accomplishment almost impossible ex- 
cept by those engaged in commercial occupations in the widest 
smse, such as simple and fraudulent bankruptcy, and offenses 
agunst § 147 of the trade regulations. How necessary it ia 
to take the occupation into account, is shown by a considera- 
tion of the kingdom of Saxony. In 1891, 14.9% of all thefraud- 
nlent bankruptcies, and 23% of all the convictions for usury, 
occurred in that realm, whereas the percentage corresponding 
to the number of inhabitants would have been 7,07, The 
explanation of tUs lies in the occupations predominating in 
Ssxooy; of 1000 gainfully employed persons in 1895, 122 were 
engaged in trade. It may be said in passing that the percent- 
age of Jews in Saxony is only 0.27. * 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 4 

TABLE £1 



lOO.COO CiTiuua a 



I. AD crime* and oSoiaecafatiictiuitkwi 
E. Crime* aad ottaaa ajMnst tbe SUte. 

public rader. Mid idigiad 

S. Crimea sod cffeB*e*>g^ii*t the pcnoa . 

4. Crime* and offcweaasmtnctpn^erly . 

5. Reristmg an officer, etc 

S. beadi ot the peace 

7. VkJating the Lonl'i Day ngnlation* . 

8. Perjury 

B. Bape 

10. Inndt 

11. Aggravated a«*ault and battery . . . 

12. Petit larceny, alio when npeated . . 
18. Gfand larceny, aln when repeated . . 

14. T^iiihi ■■Ifmrnt - - . 

15. BeceiTtng ttolen goodi 

16. Fraud 

17. Fraudulent bankraptcy 

18. Snqile bankniptcy 

19- MaBciotti miaduef ----..-.. 



4t» 

3:i 



140.4 
IBSJ[ 
n8.6 






lM.ft 

7M 
80.0 



The mimber of Jewa convicted of duding is strildiig — 
three snd a half times greater than it should be. According 
to Cron,* 5.4% of the students at the universities in Baden, 
from 1889 to 1893, were Jews, while the? constitute only 
1.6% of the population. Hence, the number trf them that are 
convicted of dueling b explained by the lat^ percentage in the 
student body, and perhaps also b; the greater frequency of 
serious conflicts to which their faith exposes them. All duds 
in which officers of the reserve an cfHicemed are not included, 
as they are dealt with by court-martial. This also brings 

> "Statirtik del DeutKhen Bcidie*," N. F. LXIV, 11, p. Sfi, and 
CXLVI. n, p. 80. 

■ £udimpCn>ii,"DerZogangdaBadaM>sadcBb«£acA«aDgiTeniUUes 
1660-1808," J. D. Bdddberft 1887. 

L ,l,z<»i.vG00gIf 



§4] RACE AND KEUGION 55 

aboat an artifidal increase in the percentage of Jews as com- 
pared with that of Christians. 

Occupation does not, however, ^>Uin the high number of 
aentences jor insul t, which is still more rema^ble when we 
consider how little the Jews are inclined to intemperance, 
one of the commonest causes of this offense. How often the 
insult is only the reaction from former irritations cannot be 
determined, but, whereas, in regard to the other offenses 
mentioned, I believe that the influence of a race peculiarity 
is inadequately proved, in this instance it seems to me possible 
that a connection exists between the offense and racial descent. 
The vivacity that expresses itself in gesticulation, talkative- 
ness, loud speech, and excitability is, as we know, much greater 
in the south than in the north; perh^>s the large number of 
insults may be explained by the relationship with aouthem 
peoples, but of course this supposition, too, can hardly be 
I»OTed. 

The same view of the importance of occupation appears in 
our government criminal statistics: "The high number of 
convictions of Jews for a series of punishable offenses is closely 
related to their preference for commercial occupations.* 
But even if we take their occupation fully into consideration, 
in certain crimes, above all in simple and fraudulent bank- 
ruptcy, the number of convictions of Jews considerably exceeds 
that of Christians (1802-1901 : 26.3 : 1.6 and S2 : 0.36 per 
100,000 persons of the same fmth). The unfavorable light 
thus thrown on the business conduct of many Jews is improved 
by the fact that the number of convicted Jews is constantly 
decisasing. 

This is not true, however, in respect to a few other crimes 

and offenses, chief among which are fraud, suppression and 

forgery of public documents, adutteration of food. Here, 

> "SUtisUk dca DeuUdien Buchu," N. F. CXLVI. O, p. W. 



56 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBIME [§4 

too, occupation may have a decisive influence, but, in any 
case, one thing cannot fail of recogaition, that the offenses of 
which a lai^er number of Jews are ccnvicted than thdr pro- 
portion to the total population would lead one to expect, 
belong to those ciimes that are committed for personal, 
usually material, gain, and that the ^planation is foimd 
partly, if not entirely, in the occupation oi these people. 

The Jews, as has been mentionedi arejoot to any extent 
habitual frequenters of public-houses, nor do they drink to 
excess. Whether this restraint is due to their descent or to the 
^ect of the voluntary and involuntary sodal seclusion that 
they have undergone, may remun undecided. Certun it is 
that this factor has the most favorable influence possible in the 
prevention of crime. The number of Jews concerned in cases 
of aggravated assault and battery is only one-third <^ wiiat 
might be expected, and, as this crime is almost exclusivdy 
the consequence of aloohoUc excesses, the favorable result 
is but natural. 

In general, members of small r^i^ous communities or of a 
scattered race that is surroimded by other races are less in- 
dined to deviate from the straight wi^. This is, in part, 
the effect of the greater attention that is pud to the whole 
conduct of life. Every crime committed by an individual in a 
singularly exposed cirde or community is more striking and 
immediately leads to generalization. We aU know, for in- 
stance, how the immoral offenses of a Catholic priest, fraud 
committed by a nobleman, the brutality of an army officer. 
are seized on by all opposing parties, stripped of thdr cfaai^ 
acter as being independent (A occupation and descent, and are 
represented as typical. 

This sharp criticism has its great advantages. In Prusna, 
for instance, between 186S and 1864, 8.69% of the births 
among the Jews were illegitimate, among certun sects (Men- 

, ,.,,. ..C.oo'ilc 



§4] KACE AND RELIGION 57 

nooites, etc.) S.99%, as against 10% among tlte rest of the 
population. In Austria, according to Koriisi, 9,i% illegiti- 
mate Jewish cluldren were born, as agiunst 37.89% Catholic 
children; in Vienna from 1874 to 1878 there were 11.8% 
Jewish, 23.1% Protestant, and M.«% Catholic, illegitimate 
births. The figures in Riissia were similarly divided: 3.06% 
in the Greek Church, 0.2%% among the Jews, 0.16% among 
the Mohammedans. 

This somewhat artificial raising of the moral plane is partly 
due to favorable external conditions; the closeness of imion in 
such communities naturally leads to a much better developed 
qrstem of mutual aid in poverty. This, together with the 
greater average pros perity of the Jewa. '^xp^'"" the low 
percentage of thefts among them; in cases of petit larceny 
they are more than three-fourths, in cases of grand larceny 
about two-thirds, behind the Christians, and the same rela- 
tive position m|iy be observed in some other offenses against 
property. 

Respect for the family and for the sacredness of marriage 
has a direct and noticeably favorable effect on criminality, 
as is shown by the fact that convictions for bigamy, for the 
abuse of a relationship of trust to commit an offense against 
chastity ("Unzucht unter Missbrauch eines Vertrauensver- 
bfiltnisses "), infanticide, abandonment, never occur among 
these people, and that convictions for incest are extremely 
raie. In all the remaining crimes, low criminality, or its 
aboence altogether, may be regarded as due to the advanta- 
geous economic condition that has already been discussed. 

The same reasons, but probably strengthened by the fa- 
natical religiousness which is generally so highly developed 
among sectarians, are responsible for the rarity of convic- 
tions in the group classified as "other Christians," in which 
the government statistics, oddly enough, have included, be- 

I _,..■ .. Google 



58 THE SOCIAL CAtJSES OF CBIME [§ 4 

sides the Meimomtes, Baptists, etc., also the "Disseoters" 
("Dissidenten"). In the latest compQatioD no special infor- 
mation about this group is given. 

It is very difficult to explain the great predominance of the 
Catholics over the Protestants in crime (Table X). An 
average for ten years shows thor relation to be 1361 : 11S2; 
in the main groups the Protestants predominate only in 
Group I (169 : 164) ; among the more important of the sub- 
divisions they are in the majori^ in embezzlement, 53.2 : £1.5, 
and in bankruptcy. In con^ering these wide variations, a 
connection between them and the geogn^hical distributioti 
immediately suggests itself. Von Scheel considers the ques- 
tion of religion superfluous, and explains the variations by the 
fact that in Northwestern and Central Germany, where the 
Protestant faith predominates, the inhabitants are of more 
phlegmatic temperament and, to some extent, more prosper- 
ous, while the Catholic sections embrace the uncul tivate d 
districts of Eastern Germany. In the most recently puUished 
government statistics ' relating to religion, it b stated: "The 
Tact that criminality among Catholics is greater is largely due 
to the preponderance of Cathohdsm in those districts <4 the 
Empire lying on its eastern border, which are partly inhabited 
by a Slavic population and are cultural^ not so highly 
developed, and where the greatest number of convictioDs 
occurs." 

But this is not entir^ correct. In the eastern provinces 
(Eastern Prussia, Posen, and Silesia), where the criminality 
is so high, there are about one and a half million CathtJics, 
whereas in the cultivated provinces of the Rhine and West- 
phalia there are nearly two millions. In Eastern Prussia, in 
fact, only 13.5% of the inhabitants are Catholics. It would 
also be a mistake, without further research, to hcAd the Slavs 
1 "Statutac dea Deutachen Reiches," CLXIV, 11, p. M. 



§4] RACE AND RELIGION 59 

in the east responsible, th^ indination towards crime being 
as yet hardly established. 

Those districts in which the religious denominations are 
mixed should afford us a better insight. The government 
criminal statistics * give us a comparison of 25 sections in 
which at least oneM]uarter of the population was either Evan- 
gelical or Catholic. Among these the criminality of the Evan- 
gelicals exceeded that (rf the Catholics, per 100,000 inhabitants 
of the same faith, by 5 in the Danube Circuit, 6 in Minden, 10 
in Heidelbei^, 30 in OsnobrUck, S6 in Offenburg, and 86 in 
Karlsruhe, — six districts altogether, in which there were, 
on an average, 28 more convictions, with a total average for 
the whole of Germany of lOSl. 

On the other hand, in the following nineteen circuits with 
mixed populations the Catholics committed, on an average, 
150 more crimes than their drape: Schwarzwald Circuit (49), 
Mosbach (27), Amsberg (30), Coblenz (37), Rheinhessen (59), 
Diissddorf (88), Danzig (89), Marienwerder (100), the Pa- 
latinate (120), Jagst Circuit (122), Starkenburg (143), Lower 
Alsace (166), Bresl&u (184), Wiesbaden (184), Oberfranken 
(212), Mannheim (230). Liirrach (232), Bromberg (361), 
Posen (423). 

The variation being as great as this, we cannot omit to search 
for the cause. Auricular confession is frequently held respon- 
sible, but it is a question whether there is any justification for 
this opinion. Persons of inferior mentality and confused 
minds may, indeed, consider that the performance of a pen- 
ance imposed by the Church lessens their responsibili^ to the 
State. This view undoubtedly does exist, but it would scarcely 
be possible to calculate its frequency and significance. It 
need not be said that such a mbunderstanding tA an institu- 
tion that is of so great importance in the Catholic Church is 
' N. F. LXIV. n. M. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00'ilc 



60 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 4 

not to be laid at its ^han. I know several cases in whidi 
confession led to crimes being made good, either b; the restora- 
tion of stolen propert7 or by the criminal's giving himself up 
to justice. The frequency of such occurrences cannot be given 
in figures, but <rf one thing we may be certain, that ocMifes8i<Hi 
in itsdf is much more calculated to repress than to furtho' 
criminal tendenciea. 

Another fact, however, decided^ deserves consideration, 
that the material <nrcumstances of Catholics in general are 
less prosperous than thoseof Protestants. I have no knowledge 
of any accurate investigation that proves this fact throu^out 
Germany, but in a small portion of the Empire, in Baden, 
the whole question has been most car^uUy studied. Martin 
Offenbacher ' has been able to prove that, with few ezoep- 
tions, the Ihtitestants in Baden 611 the more remunerative 
positions in all occupations. In agriculture, for instance, in 
which more Catholics than Protestants are engaged, the 
lucrative branch of supplying good markets with milk, vege- 
tables, and fruit is largely in the hands of the ]&ttet. In 
industrial pursuits, the majority of the more independent woA- 
mea are Protestants; for instance, the art-craftsmen, composi- 
tors, printers, and photographers. In 1895 the income tax per 
1000 Catholics amounted to 589.800, per 1000 Protestants to 
, 954.900, marks. 

To generalize from the conditions in Baden for the idiole 
of Genual^ is permissible to a certain extent, for it is known y 
that the student bodies in Bavaria. Wtirttemberg, and Prussia ^"^^ 
show the same phenomencm that is seen in Baden. Eveiy- 
where a relatively snudl number of Catholics is found in the 
"Realschulen" and "Bealgymnasien," a somewhat larger J^ 
nimiber in the "Gymnasien" (students of theidogy), but ^ 

' Jfnrfm Qf«tAaeh«r, "Koafemon und aoiiak Sduchhing," J. C. B. Mohr, 
TUlnngen ond Leipzig, 1900. 



§5] CITY AND COUNTRY; OCCUPATION 61 

always a smaUer proportion of Catholics than we should 
expect. 

This fact, an enquiry into the cause of which does not lie 
witimi the limits of this work, assigns to the Catholics a lower 
place in the social and therefore, aJso, usually in the economic 
scale. With the close connection that exists between ecfmomlc 
position and crime, this proportion brings with it the danger 
of coming into conflict with the law. Leas importance should 
be attached, in my opinion, to the lack of higher education, 
for too littJe is known as yet of its influence on criminality. 

I must be content to point to the possibility of a connection 
between the greater criminal inclination of the Catholics and 
their social condition; in view of the importance of the fact 
itself, further investigation of its causes is essential. It is 
cotainly fitting, however, to empha^ze that, the cause still 
being doubtful, we are not justified in using the higher or lower 
ciiminality of members of any faith as a weapon agunst them, 
or, worse still, like the anonymous writer mentioned on page 
&i, to assume that "crinunal statistics show the intrin- 
sic moral value of the various faiths in a really remarkable 
manuer." 

The govenunent statistical report is right in closing its 
consideration of the connection between religion and crime 
with the following words:* "We cannot issue too strong a 
warning agunst the use of the data tor or agmnst this or 
that faith, to show that its effect on criminality is proved." 

§ 5. City and Covatry; Ooonpation 

According to von Oettingen,' the relation of the urban to 

the rural population in Italy was Si : 68, but in criminality 

tiney ^^roach each other, and the relation is 4S : 57. Condi- 

' "SUUfUk de* Deutehcn R(»cbe^" LXDC. D. 37. 

* Km OeOingai, lot. eil. p. 409. 



. ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBIME 



[§5 



tions are similar in France, where the urban and rural inhab- 
itants weie responsible for appioziinately the sune number 
of crimes; but the uriian inhabitants constitute only about 
S0% of the vhole population. In Germany, in the cities and 
districts with more than 20,000 inhabitants there are ISiJt 
delinquents per 100,000 adults; in the rural districts only 
96.6. But it would be erroneous to conclude from this that 
morality and virtue are deeper rooted among the peasants 
than among the dwellers in cities. For good reasons the large 
city strongly attracts criminab and loafers, who find there a 
better field for tbeir labors, companionship with congenial 
spirits, and more opportuni^ to keep themselves and th^ 
booty out of sight. The pleasures of the city are also entkang, 
and it is just these pleasures that offer themselves duly in all 
possible forms, chief among which are prostitution and alco- 
hol, that are fraught with danger to the man of weak character. 
He succumbs much more easily in the complicated lITe oT tbe 
<uty than under simple rural conditions, to the tenqitation to 
steal. If, in addition, he becomes intimate with reckless 
companions, or, worse, falls into the hands of old prison veter- 
ans, the first step in a care^ of crime is soon taken. 

A summary of the years 1883-1893 in Germany * gives the 
following differences per 10,000 urban and rural inhabitants: 



TABI£ 


XI 










Puoa 


All 
Cmoi 


Om- 


Amu. 


Ttarr 


FUOD 


AggRgate of S3 dtiea >nd distaricti with 
tive dirtricta 


134J 
06.0 


7.4 
3.2 


12.S 
1«.7 


87.8 


&1 



"SUtiatik da DeutKben Btat^tta," 



N. P. Lxxvn. n, m. 



§ 6] CITY AND COUNTRY; OCCUPATION 63 

Offetyes against 4>ropert;;j especially fraud, predominate in 
the city; the numbers of procurers, and t^ workmen without 
steady employment, whom I shall tiy to characterize more 
fully later, in short, the whole tribe that constantly lives with 
one foot on the threshold of the penitentiaiy, clearly appears 
in the frequency of resistance to the authority of the State. 
In the country, on the other hand, the drinking that goes on 
on Sunday ends in a brawl, in which knives play their part; 
henoe the larger number of cases of aggravated assault and 
battery. But there b also great variation in this respect. 
In the part (^ Bavaria that lies on the right of the Rhine 
there are more cases of such assault and battery in the country 
districts, while in Rhineland the majority of such cases occur 
in the towns.* 

In trying to find the reasons for these variations between 
the city and the country, we must proceed with great caution. 
Yvemes,* for instance, established the fact that 75% of all 
infanticides were committed in the country, and 60% of all 
criminal abortions in the city. But these are not criminal 
p^cholo^cal differences that might be used in characterizing 
the population. They are merely differences in technique, if 
I may so express it. Unmarried pregnant girls in the city 
easily find an experienced friend or unscrupulous midwife to 
help them; the newspapers teem with advertisements offer- 
ing "advice in confidential cases." The peasant girl resorts 
to the use tA internal, and, generally, ineffective, doses, to 
procure abortion, but so seldom with success that such cases 
rarely reach the ears of the authorities. But if she makes 
away with the infant after it is bom, she seldom escapes prose- 
cution and conviction; in the city it is more convenient and 
leas risky to let the " baby farmer" attend to the ghastly task. 

> Priiwt, "Soikle Faktoteu der KrimiiuliUt" (ZStW. XXII, UO). 

> CHed by F9ld*t (ZStW. XI, SS8). 



. ,-<,::. CoO^lf 



64 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 5 

The connection is not always so transpaient. The variations 
found in different localities often cannot be explained lill the 
occupation is taken into account. Theie is no doubt that the 
latter has considerable influence on the kind of c^enae com- 
mitted. Apart trran superfi<3al connections between the two, 
a close relation is brought about by the fact that an individual's 
inclination and talents influence his choice of a profession. It 
requiies a robuster constitution to be a butcher than to be a 
tailor or waiter; the individual of inferior intelligence will 
never rise above the grade of the unskilled laborer. Still 
greater interest is claimed by the well-known fact that, anwxig 
imposonators of women on the stage, amtmg waiters and 
ladies' tailors, there are mai^ men with perverted sexual in- 
stincts, who have doubtless been influenced in their choice of 
occupation by the abnormal suggestions connected with these 
Idnds of employment. It is to be regretted that so far not 
much study has been devoted to the psychology of occupation. 
For this reason the goTemment statistics do not eata a 
laborious, and at present vun, consideration <^ the different 
professions, but deal only with the large groups of occupaticms. 

In Table Xn the number of adults in each <d these groups 
is ffvea, and the share that each group has in criminality as 
a whole, as well as in certain of the more important crimes. 
The group that includes agriculture, forestry, hunting, and 
fishing is stronf^ represented in the crimes of arson, perjuiy, 
and a^ravated assault and battery. The suspidon that in 
most cases of arson the motive is the desire to obtain the in- 
surance is refuted by the statistics. Occasionally, it is true, 
a peasant whose drcumstances have deteriorated resorts to 
this method of getting a fresh start, but, in comparison with 
other occupations, such cases are rare. Most cases of in- 
cendiarism are due to revenge on the part of employees, that 
is through farm laborers, dairy maids, etc. Anger at being 



§ 51 CITY AND COUNTEY; OCCUPATION 65 

scolded gives Uw impulse, and the tempting quantities of hay, 
straw, and grain afford the favorable opportuni^. 

Only aa regards perjury does the number of indepeodent 
fanners who are convicted exceed that of the employees; all 
the other offenses are committed chiefly by the laborers and 

■ The commonest crime of the industrial population is the 
offeringof resistance to an officer. Nearly half of all the convic- 
tions for this offense fall to the share of workmen in factories, 
mines, and the building trades, who constitute approsimatdy 
one-sixth of the total population. The reason probably lies 
in the lai^ number of youthful factory workers employed. 
The ^ect on these immature youths of independence and of 
the liberty to dispose of their weekly wages as they wish, is 
most unfavorable. In th«r self-conceit they look upon them- 
selves, when they resist the subordinate representatives of 
the government, as heroes. 

The immaturity of the workmen is also to blame for the fact 
that the industrial group is so largdy represented in offenses 
against chastity; the saloon is responsible for the many cases 
ol aggravated assault and battery. 

The specific crime of the commercial class, which includes 
also hotel-keepers, is usury. To 100 adults of the total popula- 
tion there were t.S independent landlords, who were responsi- 
ble for 59.8% of all the cases of usury. The prosperous con- 
dition of many tradesmen makes it easier for them to lend 
money than for men in other occupations; the figures would 
also perhaps justify the conclusion, that many a usurer merely 
uses trade as a blind in order to cover his dubious business. 

The criminahty of the fourth group is much below its pro- 
portion of the whole population; it includes, besides pubhc 
cRnployees and those in the service of the courts, the so-called 
independent professional men (physicians, teachers, lawyers, 

Coogic 



THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRDfE [$5 






linl 



ll 






ji. 



iltj 



$ I :^||g|g :| 



2 SS5S33 



^ ^8665 = 3= :S 



i ViiiiVii-i 



>> (t « . ij >i •> 



i s»g383sa°a 
3 S32S:S3:33 



I.I 



1 



illiliiiliij 



11, 

ill 



^laiiizodbvGoogle 



§5] CITY AND COUNTRY; OCCUPATION 67 

etc.)' Their soda) position and economic condition, descent, 
and education, form a powerful protection against the temp- 
tation to crime — but, unfortunately, not an adequate one. 
The figures for usury and fraud equal, those of sexual crimes 
exceed, the figures showing the proportion of this group to the 
whole population. 

In 1889 a special census was taken of some of the indep^id- 
ent professions; the result showed that, per 10,000 higher 
court officers, there were 3.5 convictions; to the same number 
of lawyers, 56; of physidans, 70; <^ teachers, 29.5. The total 
number of convictions was rather small; in all only three higher 
officers of justice wen convicted. Nearly half of the convic- 
tions among the lawyers, and more than half among the phy- 
ffldans. were for insult; among the teachers one-tturd of the 
convictions were tot the same offense, one-sixth for assault and 
battery coemiitted in (^ce ("KSrperverletzungenimAmte"), 
one-eighth for sexUal crimes. Of the 5fi convicted ecdesiastics, 
9S were sentenced for insult, 11 for defamation. All in all, 
the short period of one year during which these observations 
were made does not permit us to attach any particular sig- 
nificance to the figures, The data concerning the criminality 
of students are more valuable and will be dealt with later. 

The number of convictions among servants is very small, 
Rykere's assertion to the contrary. Their commonest crime 
is theft, but even of this offense they do not commit more 
thaJi titeir share. The large number of thefts is partly due 
to the temptatifm that daily confronts these people, who tor 
the most part are still quite young. As, notwithstanding, the 
status of crime among servants is so favorable, we shall prob- 
ably not err in attributing this to their being so well provided 
fc^ They have suffitnent food, comfortable shelter, suitable 
clothing, and so are not exposed to absolute need. 

The group, "without occupation, and with no occupation 



68 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 5 

given" is composed of many elem^its. To it bel(Hig the in- 
mates of various institutions, who usually have little or no 
opportunity to commit crimes, students, persons living on 
their incomes, and those who are supported by others; also 
those who. thou^ employed in some way, faUed to give thdr 
occupation. We shall not go far astray in assuming that some 
professiona] criminals are numbered among the latto-; this 
view is supported by the high percentage of uaurera. 

Finally, a seventh group is made up of "workmen who have 
not given the nature of their employment," constituting 1% 
of the population, but responuble for 10% of the crimes com* 
mitted. The figures showing the percentage of convictions 
for receiving stolen goods (14.4), larceny (l5.), embezzlement 
(12.7), resisting an officer (15.8), offenses against chastity 
(8.9), peijuiy (7.9), are sufficient to indicate what dangotius 
characters are hidden b^ieath this af^Mrently harmless desig- 
nation. The supposition that we m^itioned in connection 
with the group, "persons without occupation," b evwi more 
justified in respect to this group. Those workmen are prob- 
ably also included who,owing to physical or mental defect5,are 
unable to find permanent empl<^ment dther in industrial or 
agricultural Ufe; but most of the group undoi^tedly do not 
deserve the honest name of "workm^L" Indeed, in 190S, of 
S836 convictions for inducing women to prostitution, 590 fell 
to the share of these "workmen," who make up 1% <d the 
population! In the criminal statistics it is v«y property 
stated * that many persons who are not working are induded 
in the census as "workmen," a misnomer that is not to the 
advantage of the real workmen and b most unfitting. 

As has abeady been mentioned, special statistics of the 
md^>endent professions have been compiled. It was recog- 
nized at the beginning that no great result could be expected, 
> N. F. XCV. n, 85. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§6] NATIONAL CtlSTOMS. ALCOHOL 69 

as the economic and social conditions of men in these profes- 
sions prevent their being much exposed to crime. The diffi- 
culty of obtaining such special statistics of other, less sharply 
defined, occupations is veiy great, but, when once collected, 
they are more valuable. Statistics of crime in certain trades 
re qaira ig absolutely di fferent minds and temperaments, such 
as but ters a nd hairdr^sgra, would be veiy desirable; also 
those of hotel-keepers, waiters, men-servants, midwives, and 
of engravers and locksmiths, whose technical skill, as Un- 
denau * in particular iias pointed out, determines the manner, 
and perhaps also the frequency, of their criminal acts. Finally, 
it seems to me essential that the share that prostitutes have in 
crime should be ascertained. 

§ 6. Hstional Ciutonu. Aloohol 

The baleful mfluence of alcohol is one of the best known aud 
most transparent causes of crime. It is true that the effect lA 
alcohol can^|>e fairly calculated only when the crime is the 
direct consequence of alcoholic indulgence. And yet it is just 
the indirect effect of alcoholism that is of so much greater 
Importance and is so much more distressing, because those 
who are affected are by no means alw^s drunkards. 

The descendanta of inebriates tire seldom of normal health 
and intelligence. During a period of twelve years, Demme * 
was able to observe the children in two groups of ten families, 
each group living under the same economic conditions. One 
group, in which no intemperance could be traced, had 50 
ncHmal childrat that lived; 5 children died, 2 were afflicted 
with St. Vitus's dance, 9 were mentally deficient, and 2 had 
congenital malformaUoiis. In the ten families of drunkards, 

> Ztndnum. "Beruf und VerfaraclieD" (ZStW. XXIV, S81). 

* D « M» M L ''0lMTdi!nKmfliiirijlMAlfcnlwilj»irfi<iBinrBMiirmi^[f4t*« yi l Kp 't.'' 



_ ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



70 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRDfE [§ 6 

there were only 10 normal chOdien; £5 children died, the 9St 
others were mentally deficient, cripples, at epileptics. Le- 
gnun ^ found very similar conditions. Of 761 children ai 
drunkards, 79.6% were degenerate, that is, meaitally defiant, 
epilectic, or insane. Of 54 children, in 50 families, who lived 
to grow up and whose fathers and mothers woe drunkards. 
83% were themselves iotemperate; some ot these drunkards, 
and the rest of the descendants, in all 44.4%, were mentally 
diseased. Boumeville * ascertained that, among 1000 feeble- 
minded, epQeptic, and imbecile children who were admitted 
to Bic£tre between 1880 and 1890, there were 620 cases in 
which the father or the mother or both had been intemperate; 
information was unobtunable in 171 cases. 

This is the sorry birthright of the children ot drunkards. 
Physical and mental cripples, how can they be equal to the 
strug^e for existence? They are the bom candidates tor tixe 
■ insane asylum and the prison. Among the tramps that he 
examined, BonhOffer* found 57% that were handicapped in 
this way; most ot them were themsdves drunkards. This 
direct inheritance of the inclination to drink is very clearly 
illustrated in the accompanying genealogical table taken 
from my own observation. 

But it is not alone this sad heritage that menaces the 
children. It is not necessary to dwell upon what life means 
in the family of a drunkard. Sunk in filth and wretchedness, 
iniued to the horrible sight of intoxication, accustomed to 
the brutal selfishness of the father, to low quarrels and rough 
hftTlJ^ling, how can a child form any moral conceptions? 
The street, with all its dangna, bectones the second home of 
such unfortunates. It is solely due to a lucky chance it they 

' Ltfrain, "D^^n^rocence et akohoBame," hria, IS95. 

* Haiti HeUttiia, "Die Alkobolfnge," Jens, 1003, p. U6. 

■ BotJUiffm; "Ober giUMUldtiachei Bettd- imd VagUMBdcBtom" (Z9tW. 
XXI, 80). 



. ,i,z<»i:,., Google 



NATIONAL CUSTOMS. 




Google 



72 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§6 

tbemsetvea do not learn to drink in their earliest youth. 
The dread of prison, too, early disappears. Most drunkards 
come into conflict with the law from time to time, and the 
diild who often knows his father to be in jail aoon loses his 
tear of the criminal judge. 

This is only one phase c^ the danger to which the duldren 
of drunkards are exposed. It is increased by the poor econo- 
mic condition of drunkards' families. liquor is a large it«n 
in the temperate workman's expense account; how mudi 
larger must it be in that of the drunkard? Whether he is 
woiking or b on strike, whether he takes a holiday on black 
Monday or is out of emplcQ'iQCiit owing to his habits, the 
quantity of alcohol he consumes remains the same; it is his 
wife and children that go without the necessaries oS life. 
The poverty and wretchedness thus engraidered among the 
women and children not seldom leads to their first criminal 
steps, the first theft, the first sentence. 

I shall content myself with these few references to the in- 
direct influence of alcohcJtsm on the criminal worid; it is 
much easier to prove the results for which the occasioDal 
drunkard and the inebriate are directly responsible. 

Baer' bos coUected the moat comprehensive statistics 
relating to the connection between crime and alcoholic indul- 
gence. Be obtained his facts from 49 Prussian penitentiaries 
and 3S prisons for men, 18 penitentiaries and prisons for 
women, and 21 houses of correction and reformatories for 
both sexes. Of S0,041 male prisoners, 49.9%, of 2796 female 
prisoners, 18.1% were drunkards. 

The number of drunkards, as the following table shows, is 
approximately the same among all male convicts. 

That we do not find intoxication noted among the tramps 

1 Baer, "Dcr AlkolioUtmiu, Kiiie Terbmtinig nod wine Wiikniig Mrf den 
individudlen imd -*"■'" OrgKuamiu," Beriio, 1S78, p. SU. 



.OOglf 



161 



NATIONAL CUSTOMS. ALCOHOL 



73 



in the workhouse is only natural. A crime committed in a 
state of intoxication leads to prison and the penitentiary, 
not to the workhouse. But nearly half of the vagabonds are 
habitual drinkers. Snell * and BonhiJffer ^ found even higher 
figures than Baer. BonhQffer ascertained that, among 113 
tramps who had become criminals before their twenty-fifth 
year but at the time of examination were above that age, 
there were on^ twelve who did not drink spirits regularly 
eveiy day. The average quantity was three-quarters of a 
litre. In the house of correction in Wunstorf (Hanover) 
Snell found, among 100 inmates, 87 who for years had been in 
the habit of drinking 1 J^ litres of spirits a day. 67% naturally 
showed signs of chronic alcoholism. 



,— "™ 






Daman 


Amma thb Dunan 


"IS 


IM 


% 


Ocu- 


% 


Hi- 


% 


Ooc- 


% 


Hi- 


% 


Prim . . . 

ComcUcB 


'S;SJ 


8817 


«J 


MM 


ts.e 


us 


10> 


MU 


70.* 


«11 
US 


'3- 



More drunkards are found in the penitentiaries than in the 
prisons; but, on the other hand, crimes committed during 
intoxication lead oftener to prison than to the penitentiary. 
In order to explain this phenomenon, the crimes for which the 
sentences were imposed would have to be examined, but I 
do not believe the statistics to be such that this can safely 
be done. They do not distinguish sharply enough between 
occaGdonal drunkards, habitual drunkards, and sober persons. 

1 Siuitildtedb]'ffi>pp^"DieTataachniUber<IeuAlkolu>I," 2ded. Beriin, 
S. Calvkjy, 1901. p. 216. 

* Loe. eU. p. IS. 



3,a,l,zt!dbvG00gIf 



74 THE SOCIAL CAl^ES OF CRIME [§6 

Generally speaking, the occaaonal drunkard is one who 
drinks to excess only on special occasions, whereas the habit- 
ual drunkard is one who does not need s holiday or some 
festival as an excuse for excessive indulg^ice. Bat, as there - 
are only too many festive occasions for the man who is seeking 
them, the distinction between the two groups becomes blurred. 
In addition, many a man is a steady drinker who seldom or 
never gets drunk, and, on the other hand, a man may become 
intoxicated on rare occasions without being a drunkard. 
These considerations show how subjective judgment must be 
in such cases; 120 directors ol penal institutions, probably 
aided by subordinate officials, have had a hand in the statistics 
mentioned. Hence the weak points in subjective opinions 
<^ alcoholism and intoxication confront us 120 times and 
prevmt a uniform consideration of the results. 

More useful are Baer's * figures relative to the inmates <^ 
the penal institution, FlStzensee, near Berlin, for in this 
case be alone was the judge. Of S227 prisoners, 1174 
(- SOJi%) drank; 999 ( = 84.2%) of these were occasional, 
the other 175 habitual, drlhkera. • 

In the figures given in Table XIV the number of crimes 
committed by the habitual drunkards faUs consid^«bly below 
that committed by occasional drunkards; their offoises m^ 
be divided into two groups. The first consists of assault 
and battery, resistance to State authorities, breach of 
the peace, nulidoua mischief and sexual crimes; in other 
words, it consists of crimes that are committed with violence 
and brutal force. The second group is made up of thefts 
and embezzlem^it. Even a slight decree of intoxicatioti 
makes the execution of these latter crimes more difficult, 
whOe it facilitates the conmiission of the crimes in the first 
groiqi. 

> Loe. di. p. sac 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§61 



NATIONAL CUSTOMS. ALCX>EOL 



76 



Gteill ' toOf in an examination of first offenders in Copen- 
hagen, found a considerable variation in the different crimes; 
<^ the thieves, 14.61%, without being habitual drinkers, were 
drunk at the time the offense was committed, while, among 
the delinquents who had committed crimes of violence, the 
percentage rose to 64.81. 

TABLE XIV 



Anault and batttfy 

RensUnce to State uitlioritjr 

Breach of the pe«ce 

Maliooiu misdiicl 

SeziuldimeB 

■n^ft 



The same difference wpears in the scanty statistics com- 
piled in the Grand Duchy of Badeh ' covering the period from 
October I to December SI, 1895. While, in the 148 cases of 
reristaDce to authority 64%, of assaults and battery 46%, of 
the offenders were inttaicated, this was true of only 7% of 
the offenders in 61S cases of theft. 

Though this relation between crime and intoxication may 
seem quite comprehensible, it is nevertheless unfortunate that 
the criminal's own statements about his condition cannot be 
relied upon. According to the circumstances, he will endeavor 
to exaggerate or conceal the degree of intoxication; nor can 



> fbiB, "Alkohol nod Verfanchcn in DliiemBA"(DerAIkobcJianiiu, 1904, 
p. 818). 

* "DcrW^mndigriitigerGetAiikeimGraMhenagtam Baden." Karia- 
robe, 1898, p. SI. 



^laiiizodbvGoogle 



76 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§6 

the testimony td witnesses and the, frequently subjective, 
views (rf the judge do awsy with the objection. 

An inteiesting attempt to determine the coonection between 
intoucation and crime, and one that is wholly free from the 
reproach of subjective judgment, has beoi made by the exam- 
ining judge. Otto Lang,' in Zurich. His work is based <m the 
cdBdat records of the district court in Zurich for the year 1891. 
In this year 141 persons were convicted of assault and battery, 
or of participation on brawls in which assault and battery 
took place. Lang has ascertained the d^rs of the week on 
which these criminal acts occurred. 

TABLE XV 



A Satunby 

A Simdaj 

A Monday 

Some otber 1I&7, but &t ni^t, or in a puUkJxniM . 

Ute other toui dayi ct the week, but in the daytiiiie 

Total 



Thus we see that on the 208 days in the year on idiich less 
alcohol is consumed, only 41 of the 141 convicted pers(»i8 
committed the <^caae, the remaining 100 persons having 
transgressed on the 157 days on which we may safely assume 
that there is more alcoholic indulgence. 

The explanation is perfectly obvious. On Saturday, p^- 
day, a portion of the weekly wage is always spent for drink; 
on Sunday the worianan, whose home is rardy attractive 
enough to keep him there, has no other refuge, espedally 
in wet or cold weather, than the public-house, and on Monday 

I 0(lo Lang, "Alkobolscnuaa imd Veri>iecbai," Baad, Fliedrid Beinhudt. 

_,.. C.oo;;lc 



§ 6] NATIOXAL CUSTOMS. ALCOHOL 77 

he often stays at home to recover from tlw effects of bis ex- 
cessive alcoholic indulgence the day before. 

We see that the cases of assault and battery coincide, as 
regards time, with pay-days and holidays, and there is only 
one argument against our regarding alcoholic indulgence as 
the cause. The danger of quarrels is naturally greater on 
Sundays, when music and dancing, public festivab and 
excursions, crowd large numbers of idle people into limited 
spaces, whereas on week-days they are kept busy in factories 
and workshops. j^Rt this argument is not a sufficient ex- 
planation of^lhe facts, because the large share of the crimes 
that are committed on Saturdays and MondiQ^ points to 
the same cause that leads to the excess of crimes on 
Sunday. Schrbter' has ascraiained what proportion of 
the cases of assault and battery that occur on Mondi^ 
are due to persons who have remuned away from work 
on that day. He found that, among 2178 such cases, 
815 occurred on Monday, and of these, 112 (= 53%) 
were committed by men who did not go to work on that 
day. 

A nmnber of further investigations which are given in 
Table XVI showed the same results with slight variations. 
I am indebted for my own material to Mr. Fertig, Medicinal 
Councillor in Worms, who, at my request, was kind enough 
to collect, during four years, from November 8, 1896, to 
November 7, 1900, all the notifications that he received asking 
him, in lus capacity as circuit physician of the sanitary board 
of Worms, to oiake an official examination of persons who had 
suffered injury. From these notifications, in which the day 
on which the iiquries were inflicted was given, it was easy to 

> Cited b7 KMiiuki, " AUcoboliamus lud Verbrechen." Bericht Oba den 
intenuttioDklen KongreM eut BekJUnpfiingdM MiMbmucbcs geutigcrGettiiike 
in Bawl, 1895; Schriftstelle dea Alkohol-Gcgnerbnnda, p. IM. 



-Google 



78 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME |§ 6 

ascertain on wliat we^-days the assaults that made <^Kcial 

action necessaiy were committed. 







3;:"" 


Ktm 


c^i^SS, 


OmMotmL 


cSi. 


^r 


ttnma 




Bitnn 


bTianu 


bKoB- 


Smd^n . . . 
M«iub7> - . ■ 

WednMdaj* . 

FHd*7> - ■ . 

XJnkn)>wn. . . 
BoUdayi . . . 


1«S 
08 
<8 
80 
«0 
17 
«S 


ISl 
St 

> 
ft 
a 

4 
U 


ISS 

e» 

M 
«S 

48 
103 


SOS 

IM 
M 
67 
M 
SI 
«4 

as 
Its 


SS» 

m 

itt 

100 
M 
110 

lis 
ss 


ISO 
31 
30 
W 
SO 
S4 
N 

ii 


ToUl . . 


sso 


«u 


7M 


im 


1004 


9S7 



The most comprehensive material has be^i collected in the 
govemmoit criminal statistics (Vol. CLV. II, p. S4). In 1909, 
of the 97,376 persons convicted of aggravated assault and 
battery, S4fi5i had committed thor offenses on Sundays 
or holidays, 60,543 on working days. In S181 cases the day 
was unknown. On Sundays and holidays (60 days in the year) 
there were 57S offenses each; on week-days 198. This is not 
including local holidays and festivals. (3.4 : 1.) 

The same picture confronts us whether the investigation b 
made in Worms, in Rhineland, or in Vioma.* KUtc has ex- 
tended his investigations to the place of the deed.* 

Nothing could show more clearly what gives the immediate 
impulse to assault and battery than the fact that two-thirds 
of all fights take place in, or in front of, a public-house. 

' L^ghr. "Alkobol and VofarecJMD'' (ZStW. XXIII. SS8). A oompre- 
beaKvc ■nmmarr ot tbe lite»tui« u found in BtUitiiu, loe. eA. 

■ KOn, "Znr prophrkxe der RohdUddikte" (llSdirEiim^ck. II. S7). 



56] NATIONAL CUSTOMS. ALCOHOL 



(TonuBu 






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iwnM 






















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'"-^ 














9^^^^ 


£ § 


3 


g 


5 


2 


S 


§ 


s 8 a ° 



ITOIUTS 



gSSSSSSSSSJ) 



-—IB H 





'" 


_.. 










^■~' 


&^HB 


iT<no|i 












Si 




S^^^ 






^^ 




ifOttinB 
















S^^H 


"oi»i 
















a^^ 


*™*^ 
















n^H 


3 S 


3 


3 


3 


i 


3 


1 


3 


§ 8 



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80 



THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBIME 



[§6 



The few figurea that I have given speak vcJumes. They 
reflect sadly on what is called "Sunday rest." As long as it 
13 impossible for the workman, the young merchant, the day 
laborer, to spend his Sunday in a suitable way, — in the dis- 
cussion of the prophylaxis of crime it will be explained what 
is meant by this, — as long as the public house is the only at- 
tractive ^>ot opo) to him, the unfortunate conditions will con- 
tinue that moved the chaplain of a penal institution. Pastor 
Heim,' to excUim : '"^^".LcTJ'fi Ttnj lar '" 'tf r^-ynt ff>"" 
is a very doubtful benefit." * 



TABLE Xm 



1.0c™ 


im 


IBM 


.M. 


UM 


Totu. 


% 


PubBc-boine 


1*5 


«0 


174 


1«S 


7« 


08J 




S 


ss 


M 


18 


80 


7.7 


Sbert 





2S 


SS 


29 


(8 


as 


Atwoik .... 


ss 


<s 


90 


ST 


ST 


7.8 


Cnknown . . . 


M 


10 


<1 


10« 


IOC 


0.2 


TotAl 


«60 


890 


tat 


<79 


1119 


100 



That it is not the workman alone who is imperilled by drinlc, 
is proved by the criminahty of students, which has twice, 
in ISdS ' and in 1889 * heoi made the subject of special 
investigation in the govemmoit statistics. There is scarcely 
any class of men that is so advantageously situated as our 
student body. Coming out of educated families, as most of 
these students do, brought up under the infiuenoe of and fully 
comprehending ethical conc^tions, removed for the most 
part from all material cares — where are conditions found 

> Bttfo Beim, "Die iUngatat imd Klteateii VerbKcbcr," Beriin, TVi^aiidt 
nod Gikben, ISBT, p. 00. 

* Also Kriaui (" Der Ksmpf gegea die Verbrechensanacheii," Paderbom. 
IMS, p. 85), in bU dLpadt; as « Catbolk priest, agrees with this view. 

' "Stalistik dcs Deutschoi Rdcbes," N. F. LXXVII, U, p. 7. 

' "Ststistik dea Deatschen Etdches," N. F. CXXXU, II, p. «8. 



Cooglf 



$61 



NATIONAL CUSTOBK. ALCOHOL 



81 



better calculated to prevent conflicts with the penal law? 
Hence, it is so much the more strikiDg when we find that in 
1893, of 42,000 students, S50. in 1899, of 54.000, 435, weie 
convicted. 

TABLE XVm 





Pb 10.000 


uu Aaa 






len 


ISM 


IBM 


IBM-ISU 


AD Crimea Mid offenaM 


SS.8 


80.6 


123.6 


SM.7 




15.0 
UJ[ 
0.8 
S.5 
4.1 
0.7 
0.4 


17.9 
9.4 
1S.» 
10.A 
4.6 
S.6 
1.S 
8.0 


14.8 

Mj; ■ 

4.4 

4.0 
0.0 

s.a 
ii.o 

6.S 




Ag8»v»ted«aMuhmdUtt«y. . . . 


' WI.S 






Snqile UMMk Mid batbnj' 


24.4 


Theft. ^ when Kpe.t«d 

FVuid. also when icpeftted 


BlJl 

16.4 



Compared with the criminality of all classes of society, 
that of the s tudents appears veiy grave, especially taking 
into conaideratioa how few of their crimes are offenses agwnst 
property, which constitute 46% of all the crimes and offenses 
against the laws of the land.* We may therefore certainly 
take into account the fact that the students are just at the 
age at which, as experience has taught us, the inclination to 
transgress against the law is especially pronounced. I have, 
therefore, also given the relative figures for the age between 
21 and 26 years. To this age belonged 245 of the convicted 
students,' and undoubtedly also the majority of all students. 

The differences, in contrast to the general criminal inclina- 

1 "StatutiKdM Jahrbncli fUr du DeatKhe Bekh." XVI, Pkte V. 
* Itia atrikmg that Hnoag the coovicted atudmtal? wttt imt 90 jma 
of age- 

D,.,i,z<»i.vGoogIe 



82 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 6 

Uon of the population, are the more remarkable, espedallf 
in the last two kinds of offenses, when we see how they aie 
balanced in all the crimes and offenses in which "the highsptrits 
of youth," as the govenmient statistics courteonAly express 
it, cross the le^ boundaiy. Not m^ we overlook the fact 
that cases of insult among the students themselves sddom 
oome before the courts; moreover, breach of the peace 
C'Haustriedaisbruch"), insult, and ^mple assault and battny, 
being offenses prosecuted only at the request of the injured 
party, are frequently settled out of court. The frequency of 
cases of redstance to executive officers is especially deplor- 
able; doubly so when committed by future judges, teatdiers, 
and physicians. The necessity c^ turning to the age most 
inclined to crime in order to find equally high figures, and 
the fact that, as regards nuJidous mischief and insult, 
the students as a class cannot bear comparison with the 
total population, do not permit us to view this matter with 
con4>lacenc7.* 

Insult, breach of the peace, malidons nuschief, resisting 
an officer, assault and battery, — all these off^ises bear the 
same character, that of insubordination and violence. As 
neither lack of home training nor acquired brutality can be 
the cause of these acts, no explanation remains but that (J 
excessive alcoholic indulgence. The kind of off^ise does not 
vary in the least from the rough acts that are committed by 
the less cultivated working population. It may wdl be said 
that, without alccdiol, convictions of students, as we have the 
right to expect, would be exceeding rare. Student life shows 
us a sort of artificial criminality that is due solely to the 
customary use, or rather abuse, of alcohol. 

■ On the whole, tlie year ISIK aeenu to abow in^HoroDait orer the year 
ISM. tltou^ Dot, imfortoiMteljr, u i«gftrda tbeft sod fnnd. The aevtaity 
of the wataceii too, tdU the Mine ttarj (m 18l» 1^ in ISW only 2, were 
•enteneed to paaoa tor aggnnted aawilt wid bkttety). 



§6] NATIONAL CUSTOMS. ALCOHOL 83 

In discusnng the geographical distribution of crime, I have 
already pointed out that the distribution of a ggravated assa ult 
and b attery ctHOodes exactly with the va rying amoun t (rf 
alc ohol conaum pUon. In a study of criminahty in WUrttem- 
bei^, Bettich ' ^>eaks of the statistics of assault and battery 
as indicating the character of the resident population. It is 
not the hungry apprentice traveling in search of employment, 
the journeyman, or the habitual thief, that commits such 
crimes. "But the resident young factory workman, when he 
has received lus wages, is, indeed, often in a quarrelsome frame 
of mind, and the majori^ of the 6ghts that fdlow, judging 
by experience, take place Saturday or Sunday evening." 

In my opinion, cases ot aggravated assault and battery do 
not indicate the character of the population, but th^r un- 
doubtedly do characterize local and national customs. Bet- 
tich, however, is, I think, right in saying that the danger lies 
not in the depravify (rf the habitual criminal, but in intoxi- 
cation. Drunkards undoubtedly commit their share ot these 
crimes, but it is not the larger one: with 60.4% of the persons 
who were convicted of aggravated assault and battery in 1889 
it was their first offense! In 1900 the percentage was 51.8; in 
1901, 59.S; in 1«M, 68A: 1903, 57.5; 1904, 57.S; thus exactiy 
three-fifths of those convicted are persons of unblemished 
reputations who pay heavily for their intoxication on Sund^. 
Our view is wcU borne out by the surprising sameness of the 
figures for several years, with approximately 100,000 convic- 
tions in a year. The characteristic manner ot the crimes, 
which are all stamped as impulsive, shows that it b not the 
depravity of the drunkard, who lives as a parasite at the ex- 
pense of society, that is so dangerous, as the occasional excess 
of the workman, the craftsman, the student. 

> RtOiek, "Die wtlrttember^Mbe KriniiiMlitat" (WUittembergisclie J^u- 
badwr Illr Statiatik und Undeakiuide, Jalirgang I8H). I. p. W9). 

V.'.OOglf 



84 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBIME [§6 

In the anny and navy quite different, but paychologicatly 
rdated, crimes appear : from 1894 to 1899 in 88 (2%) of the cases 
of mititai7 insubordination, in 75.4 of the caaea ot fatal as- 
sault, intoxication was ofiKcnally determined. The concluave- 
ness of all the subjective experience ot judges, of all statistical 
data, still leaves a gap, in failing to show in what way the 
connection between excessive alcoholic indulgmce and assault 
and battery can be ^^luned. We must turn first to the ques- 
tion of the psychic effect of alcohol. Not until within the 
last decade have exhaustive investigations been made, by 
Eraepdin * and tus pupils, <d the effect of larger and smalla 
quantities of alcohol on inteUectual attainments. 

Even quantities that aie entirely insufficient to produce 
intoxication, and that would correspcHid to the amount coa- 
tuned in from a half to a wh<^ litre of beer, bring about a 
disUnct slackening ot intellectual power, evidence of which 
appears in difficulty in remembering, and in retardation tA 
simple psychic processes; as, for instance, in the addition of 
simple figures, or, in experiments with compositors, in a de- 
crease in the amount of work performed. The sequence erf 
ideas, aiao, is disturbed, the conceptual relation of words to 
oneuiother is loosened. AH these afFections do more towards 
expluningtEe depravity and obtuseness of the ditinkard than 
the ^^loaions due to intoxication. Rather, the proven 
terioration in the perception of external impressions mi^tl 
help us to an understanding of criminal actions; it gives rise 
to a misunderstanding of gestures and words. But, in my 



de-i 



■ Kraepeiin, " BeeinflusKung emfmdiet psychiscber VorgLage (hiidi aaige 
Aizneimittd." Fischer, Jena, 1892; Ani^fffenburg/'PaychoiopgcbeAibeitea." 
I, poUiabed by E. Kraepeiin, Leipli^ Rnytlmannj KSrt und Kraejalai, Ibid^ 
m, p. 417; iforfin Meger, Ibid., m, p. SS5; OMntdotBtlcg imd friMprfn, 
Ibid., m, p. S8T; Enut ROditi, Ihnd„ IV. p. 1; 5ii>^ "Die AlkohoUnge." 
Tttbingen, Onuider, 1895; Farm, "Boidit UberiknintcnutioaBlenKoiigRH 
■ur Bcfatmpfnng du AlkohcJmi^niiclu." Baid. 189^ p. SO*. 



56] NATIONAL CUSTOMS. ALCOHOL 85 

opinion, no ^ftensive iDfluence can be attributed even to 
this effect. 

On the otb^ hand, ve know of anoth^ effect of alcohol 
that is of the greatest interest. In experimoital psychology a 
cratain movement that responds to a certain irritation is 
called the reaction; by movements, not only those of the 
hands being understood, of course, but also those of the tongue 
and vocal muscles. Between the irritation and the beginning 
of the responsive movement a period of time, that is measur- 
able by delicate instruments to within one one-thousandth of 
a second, elapses. This is the time occupied by the psychic 
process. It is, of course, veiy short when the work that the 
mind has to do is very simple, as, for instance, in experiments 
where the reaction consists of a formerly agreed-on, easy 
movement of the finger responding to a sound. Under the 
influence of even very small doses of alcohol this period b 
shortened still more; but this acceleration is not to be regarded 
as an improvemoit in the performance, for, as experiments 
have shown, it takes place at the cost of reliability. The psy- ' 
chic process induced by the irritation is either superficial or 
is omitted altogether; the reaction r^resents nothing but an . 
iovoluntaiy movement as a response to an irritation, or to 
an anticipated irritation. The instant when the irritation 
takes place, which can be fairly accurately foreseen, is antici- 
pated; the responsive movement occurs at the moment when 
the irritation is expected, not after it has been actually carried 
out; somewhat in the same way as a soldier in his first at- 
tempts at target practice, or under special stress, can no longer 
control his eagerness and pulls the trigger before he has done 
tf ylpng aim. 

This kind of response to an irritation is called a "premature 
reaction"; if the mind had to choose between two or more 
movements, the premature reaction becomes a "false reao- 



. ,;™:..,GoogIe 



86 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBIME [§6 

tiofl." The occurrence of these premature and false reactions, 
after indulgence in alcohol, are obviously due to a condition 
of increased ezatability precisely in executing movements. 
The psychic process of delibostion is slighted, owing to the 
increased motorial tension. Whether the actual irritation 
was the one expected, and whether the response corresponded 
to it and was purposeful, does not usually become clear to 
the criticism that follows, until the error has been made and 
cannot be recalled. 

This effect oi ^cohol on the activity of p^chic functions is 
fqtplicable to the events of evnyday life. And it enables us 
to see the connection between intoxication and crime in the 
proper tight. In the public>house, and afterwards in the 
street, the same qualities of alcohol are effective. The irrita- 
tion consists of an utterance, an abusive w(»d, a threatening 
gesture, an aondental knock; the reaction is an insult, a Mow 
with the fist, with a stick, with a beer glass, a stab with a 
knife. 

If the normal course of the reaction were not affected by 
the alcohol consumed, the afterthought might exeatase its 
authority, and the most practical form of defense be fouod 
against the attack, which is so often only an ima^nary one. 
But, just as in the experiments performed in the laboratory, 
the psychic process is hindered or prevented by ib^ liquor 
that has been drunk; the response to the irritation follows 
prematurely; by the time the mind has done its work, the 
increased motorial excitability has delivered the blow. The 
judgmoit of the reason comes limping along after the hasty 
action.' "The increased facility of motorial reaction is the 

' It DW7 be pmntcd ovt here how 707 importuit tlie reanlu of tbeae cx- 
pnimcnta are for the problem ol''freedeten]uaBtkairfiril).'' The rcactioti k 
B onqJe act ol the will. AtsnuUaquMitityofaloiAiJaalOgt^coirespaQctBig 
^iproziDwtdy to only about } of hi ounce <rf brandf , a tenth of a liti« of wincv 
or a qiiaTt<r of a litre (d beer, alten the leaction. Iliu, erea audi mall doaeaw 



§6] NATIONAL CDSTOIKB. ALCOHOL 87 

source of all those unpremeditated and purposeless, because 
impulsive and violent, actions, which have made alcohol so 
notorious, not only in the history of the foolish and audacious, 
but especially in the annals of crimes of pas^on." 

The knowledge of the p^chological effect of alcohol gives 
OS a full understanding of the crimes that are conmiitted 
under its influence. We might calculate what kind of offenses 
they would be, even without the aid of constant observation 
and statistics. In its very first stages, motorial ^citability 
shows itself in loud talkaliveness, screaming, singing — dis- 
turbing the peace; then the impulse to make purposeless mo- 
tions finds occupation in handling inanimate objects, the color 
and shape, often the mere existence, of which, act as an irri- 
tation — damaging property; there follow altercations with 
persons, which lead, in rapid sequence, to insult, to breach 
of the peace, to resistance to officers, to assault and battery, 
both simple and aggravated. 

They are always the same acts, taking their course accord- 
ing to the scheme <d premature, unpremeditated, eza^erated 
reactions responding to an external irritation. Thus, too, it 
becomes comprehensible that the crimes are not the result of 
habitual drinking, but of occasional intoxication. Of course, 
the chronic ioebnate, too, will sometimes succumb to the 
acute effect at alcohol, and, when intoxicated, will commit an 
assault, perhaps sooner than the usually sober workman. But 
in this case, too, it is the alcoholic excess ot the evening that is 



eatirelf innifficiait to produce iDtoiicktion, diiturb the adion of the wiU. 
llua gndaaUy iucnasM up to the point where the utioa of the will cesaes 
altogether, the state of intancation recognued in { 51 of the petuJ code. 
It tMowt: 1, tlwt the ladi ol an intermediate itep between the freedom of 
dednoQ and complete ceuation of the will's action ia baaed on inni£Scient 
paydkologkal preliminary knowledge; £, that responsibility tor an act pw- 
foriDed usdei the Jnflnence of liquor must be made exclusively dependent oo 
tlie degree ot intozicstMO. 



,.,,:-C00gIf 



88 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 7 

the immediate cauae. To how much greater an extoit does 
this apply to the numerous workmen, young clerks, and stu- 
dents who, while intoxicated, commit some crime, and p^ 
for the exceaa of a moment with imprisonment, disgrace, and 
the ruin of their whole career. 

We cannot overestimate the significance of these facts for 
the prophylaxis of crime, espedally in view (^ the extent to 
which the crimes of alcohol, aggravated assault and batteiy in 
particular, predominate. The certun knowledge of this im- 
portant cause of a large group of crimes, opening up to us the 
possibility of adopting really effective measures in regard to 
it, is our only consolation in considering the misery produ ced 
in our countiy by the custom of drinking. 

§ 7. Other Fomu of Indalgenoe 

With us in Germany the abuse of other luxuries is a very 
small factor in criminality. Lombroso's ' assertion that the 
habit of taking snuff among prostitutes and crinunals, and oi 
smoking among recidivists, proves the exist^ice of an " etio- 
logical tie between tobacco and crime," is without ai^ solid 
foundation. When we consider the kind of p^ditJogical 
^ect that tobacco has, it is di£Scult to understand how m 
crime could be produced by its use. ' The same applies to tea 
and coffee. Thdr effect on the processes of the mind is so 
entirely different from that of alcohol, that it cannot surprise 
us if no crime can be attributed even to their misuse. 

In recent years, however, alcohol has had to compete in 
the east of Germany with a dangerous rival, ether. After an 
intoxicating effect of very short duration, ether produces a 
condition of numbness and paralysis, so that it is not so Hkely 
to lead to crime as alcohol. We do not as yet know what de- 
generative effects it may have on the children of those viho 
> Lmnbnuo, loe. at. p. 90. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§7] OTHER FORMS OP INDULGEXCE 89 

indulge in it, bat it is certain that its habitual use, by destroy- 
ing family life and undenmnii^ the economic balance, creates 
conditions that are favorable to the growth of crime. It 
behooves us, therefore, to keep an eye on this sodal menace, 
and to take steps to prevent the misuse of ether before it be- 
comes a rooted custom. 

The opium habit is t^ no importance in Germany, or any- 
where in Europe, and need only be mentioned because of its 
prevalence in Asia, especially in China, and the same is true 
of the hasheesh habit, which is found to such an ^Ltent in 
NorthemAfrica and Egypt. The effect of both is so paralyzing 
on the motorial centres especially, that it is next to impossible 
for the users of the drug to move about in pubUc while under 
its influence, so that no danger to people in the streets can 
fdlow. 

Morphine has an effect ^nular to that of opium. It can 
never become a national poison in the true sense, owing, for- 
tonatety, to its high price. It is used mainly by educated 
people, especially by those belonging to the professions in 
which it is easily procurable. According to Rodet,* among 
650 men addicted to its use, 287 were physicians and 21 



It has this disadvantage in comparison with alcohol, that 
those who are accustomed to it find it more difficult to do 
without it. and very seldom succeed in breaking themselves 
of the habit. The first signs of degeneration due to morphine 
soon appear, — ne^ect of appearance, of family, of duty. 
The desire for the drug becomes more and more irresistible, 
and when the legal wi^ of procuring it, by a physician's 
prescripUon, or the ill^al but easy method of purchasing it 
from a druggist, tails, the victim frequently resorts to the for- 
gay of a prescription, to fraud and theft, and, if it be a woman, 
> AnM, "AUsemeine Wiener medmnucbe Zeituiig," 1897. No. 87. 



90 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBIUE [§ 8 

to prostitution, in order to obtain it. When, as quite oftm 
happens, the same person Is addicted to the uae of both mor> 
phine and alcohol, the case is, indeed, grave. 

The uae c^ cocaine is a rarer cause of crime than is the use 
of morphine. When, however, cocune is responsible, it has 
always led to an acute psychosis, accompanied by the haUuo- 
nations that are usually produced, generally in a few nuNiths, 
by indulgence in this drug for even a rdativdy sfiort time. 
Such crimes must therefore — I personally have known a case 
of uxoridde by a physidan — be regarded as the acts of insane 



§ 8. Pnwtitntion 

Proatitntion, that is, self-surrender for payment, ori^nally 
instituted by priests for the honor of the divinity and the 
boiefit of the temple, and later put into practical form by 
statesmen like Solon, has existed in all ages and will always 
continue to exist. The most ancient historical documents ' 
speak of it; but they also tell us — a fact that is important 
for legislation — that all concavable means of repres^ng it 
had already been tried. In vain! ^th the weapons of re- 
gion and Christian love Louis XI of France, for instance, 
attempted to abolish it altogether and founded places of refuge 
for fallen women. On his return from Palestine he ordered it 
to be completely exterminated. The concealed prostitution 
that immediately began to flourish everywhere, however, 
compelled him, before a year had elapsed, to repeal the ordef 
and to assign certain streets to the use of prostitutes. 

The harshest measures (flogging, the pillory, and capital 
punishment) proved of no avul in repressing the evil, whidi 
continued to spread and thrive only in a more secret and dan- 
gerous form, and they were always given up after a time. 

1 EugtH MXer, "Die Proititiitioii." J. F. 1-Am.iiii, Manieh, ISSS. 

, ...... C.ooqIc 



§ 8] PBOSnTUnON 91 

Thus, in all countriea, legislation has oscillated between ex- 
tremes, turning from the method of herding prostitutes to- 
gether in barracks to alloiring them unlimited freedom, from 
occasional superintendence to the strict supervision of every 
individual. The tendency to respect the rights of the individ- 
ual and to place them above those of sodety, on the one hand, 
and, on the other, the moral fear of sanctioning the evil by 
legally allowing it, have always led to the repeal of regulative 
measures. This has been followed by such a spread of prosti- 
tution in its most dangerous, clandestine form, that it later 
became necessary to recognize and regulate it again. 

We may r^ret, but we must not ignore, the fact, that the 
tendency to immorality cannot be exterminated by laws. 
The man who had the most extensive knowledge of prosti- 
tution. Parent du Chatelet,' said that, wherever people con- 
greeted, it was as unavoidable as sewers or ceas-poola. But, 
because it seems to be impossible to abolish this evil, it does not 
follow that it should be allowed to grow and spread in all 
directions. Its repression should be strivai for as far as pos- 
sible, and for that, it is essential, above all, that its daoger- 
ousoess should be thoroughly understood. 

We may leave the danger to health undiscussed; I will 
merely mention that the annual number of cases of venereal 
diseases in the German army, which is better off than that of 
France or Austria in this respect, equab a third of the niunber 
of men who were wounded during the Franco-Fnissiati war,' 
and that in the German hospitals,* from 1889 to 1891, 4.4% 
of all the patients were suffering from such diseases; that b, 
almost as many as those suffering from the scourge tubercu- 

■ ParnU Jm ChaieUl, "De U piortitutioD dsiu la ville de Puis," ISST. 

' Tdply, "I^ TOMrischai Eiknuikutisai in den AimMn" (Ardiiv fUr 
DenMbdc«i<v 1S9D). 

* "MecUciniadie aUtutiBche Mittdlungen «iis <km k^beriiclum Geaund- 
hcHwDit," in, p. 46. 



DiailizodbvGoOgle 



92 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OP CRIME [|8 

Io6is (4^%). In omsidenng tbese figures, we must not over- 
look the fact that only a rdatively small number of po^ons 
suffering from sexual diseases (sccorduig to GattsUift. pei^ 
haps S%) go U^ hospitals. Important as the prevalence of 
such diseases is to the physician and the sociologist, it would 
take us too far afield to discuss this phase of the problem of 
prostitution. But the extent to which prostitution exists and 
its effect on criminality must be dealt with at length. 

The number of prostitutes can scarcely be given in figures. 
Those that are roistered by the police as "Eartenmlidchen," 
"Kontrdldimen," etc., represent but a small percentage, 
especially in large cities. In Berlin, for instance, thtt« are 
about SOOO under police supervision, but the whole number td 
such women in that <nty is placed at from 40,000 to 50,000.' 
Conditions are not very different elsewhere; whole armies 
of girls live entirely or largely on the mtmcy they earn by 
prostitution. , 

Where do all these women coote from, and what presses 
them into this calling? There are two views as to this, and 
th^ are rather harshly and directly opposed to eadi other. 
According to the one, prostitutes are the victims. jsdt our 
social conditions, which make it so di£Scult for a wtunan to 
get on honestly; Bebel' and Hitsch' may be mentKMied 
as its typical exponents. Lombroso and Feireio,* Tamow- 
skfqa * and StrShmberg,* however, think that necessi^ pl^ra 
but a small part in forcing women into prostitution. Th^ 

' Nmuba 173 "der trntlichen Dnidmdieii des Rodutagca," p. V3I. 

* Avtud fi«M, "Die Fmu und der Soulitmiu," Stutt^rt, 1807, 27tli hL, 
p. 1T«. 

* HirtdL, "Vofarediai imd ^ostitntioi) «b mmle KnokbataetscftcinBii- 
gai," Beriin. 1897, Th. docke. 

* lominwo tmi Femro, "Da* Weib kla VabKcberin imd PioftitiAvtc." 

* Taramedaffo, P^ "Etude aotlmpomitriqiie >iit lea prosthuAa et le*. 
vokaaat," Pui^ 1S89; tranbated b? Kvnila, HMnbm^ ISM. 

■ Strekntbtrf. "Die Prortitutiaii." Stnttgart. 1896^ Fetd. takt. 



§ 8] PROSTITCTION 93 

look upon the prostitute aa a degenerate, and r^ard prosti- 
tution aa the equivalent of the male world of crime, the form 
of criminality peculiar to women. 

We cannot fail to recognize that prostitution does absorb 
a considerable percentage of criminally inclined women. 
Ereiy prostitute Uves without working, at the expense of 
society; die corresponds in a measure to the male b^gar 
and the vagabond. In a period of three years Baumgarten > 
found only Si, 30, and 41 convictions among S400 prosti- 
tutes, and altogether only 21 cases of theft. He accounts 
for this by the prostitute's absolute lack of energy. Those 
few prostitutes who make a practice of robbing, he believes- 
to be, first of all, thieves who have turned to prostitution 
because it affords easy opportunities of stealing from men: 
Strtdunberg contrasts the prostitutes of the passive, indolent 
typvvnth another group that consists of those who have some- 
secondary occupation as well. But only in very rare cases- 
is it honest work; generally it is thieving. Of the 46S pros- 
titutes that StrOhmberg examined, 175 were thieves, of which 
SS came from notorious families of thieves. His figures, which, 
though dealing with small groups, are, nevertheless, note- 
worthy because they are so reliable, show that prostitution is 
neither a contrast nor an equivalent to crime, but rather that 
the two are often united. It must, however, be admitted that 
a large percentage of prostitutes, in spite of their passiveness, 
would turn to crime if the possibility of living by prostitution 
did not exist. 

On the other hand, it cannot be denied that the oeces^ty 
that sometimes makes a man a thief may as easily drive a 
woman to prostitution. The low pay received by certain 
classes of working women, especially waitresses, second-rate 

> Baimgartai, "Die Boddumg der ProatibttkHi nun Tetbtcdten" (Aieh. 
KrimAntlir. XI, 10}. 

DiailizodbvGoOgle 



91 THE SOCIAL CAI^ES OF CRIME [§8 

' actresses, and dressmakers' assistants, makes it neceasai7 
for manr a girl to supplement ber wages in some w^. But 
ve must not forget that a large number are led to adopt tb«ae 
dangerous occupations, instead of becoming domestic aerr- 
anta, for instance, by their strong aezual impulses and tbdr 
love of dress and an apparentljr comfortable life. 

Just the figures that Bebd, Blaschko, and others give in 
support of the view that it is poverty that drives women to 
prostitution seem to me to prove the contrary. It is true that 
working women, saleswomen, dressmakers, and, above all, 
former domestic servants, predtHuinate, but th^ also torn 
an unusually large part of the populaticm; Behrend's pcooSs 
that 5.3% of all prostitutes live with their parents must make 
us suspicious. These better situated women bdong to the 
not inconsiderable numbo' who have not offidally turned to 
prostitution, but they diff^ from the girls who are under 
police supervision only in the manner in which thqr cany on 
thm occupation. StrOhmbei^ found pover^ given as the 
cause of prostitution only in one case, and in that particular 
instance he ascertuned that it was absolutely untrue. 

I would not, however, deny the significance of economic 
wretchedness. Girls that come from the vety lowest proleta- 
rian classes, the daughters of drunkards and prostitutes for 
instance, never, of course, learn to look upon prostitution as 
anything d^rading.' Still graver in its consequences is the 
present custom that prevents prostitutes from being restricted 
to certain locaUties. They now live, as a rule, in workingmen's 
families. From their eariiest childhood onward the children 
in the house see the practice of this occupation, and it is the 
outward brilliance that often impresses them, rather than the 
undertying misery; daily they see work, hunger, and scanty 

> BtOmoHii. "Die Sntliche tltvowadttuig der Proctitmettoi." Jena. IMM^ 

p.iffr. 



^laiiizodbvGoogle 



S 8] PROSTITUTION 95 

dothing in their own families in crass contrast to the life of 
idleness, theatres, concerts, balls, and luxury in dress that 
the prostitutes enjoy. These impressions remain and facili- 
tate the first step towards vice. If, later, necessity or temp- 
tation, love of adv^iture, and envy of a friend's smarter 
clothes, confront a young girl, the force of habit, and knowl- 
edge of the life, have dulled her sen^biUties in that direction 
to such an extent that resistance is possible only to an un- 
usually strong character. 

This, it seems to me, is the course of development in most 
cases, and on it my opinion is founded. Undoubtedly our 
social conditions — miserable economic circumstances and the 
fact that prostitutes are not restricted to certain localities — 
are the cause of prostitution, but these factors are effective 
only when descent and training, and, above aU, natural dis- 
position, prepare the ground for them. And natural disposi- 
tion or temperament is, indeed, of the most importance; 
not so much, pronounced sexual instincts, for just among 
prostitutes they are often lacking, but general inferiority of 
the mind. "In many cases prostitution is to be regarded 
solely as a ^rmptom of a defective psychic condition," says 
Bonhifffer,' who, among 180 prostitutes, found that only one- 
third were without psychic anomalies. Just as the weak are 
tbe first victims of great epidemics, so, too, in the struf^le for 
existence, it is the many defective natures that first sink into 
tbe morass of prostitution. 

There are next to no statistics regarding the share that 
prostitutes have in crinunality. Offenses against police ordi- 
nances are not included in our criminal statistics. Th^ are 
the torment of our lower courts. It is not rare for the 
same prostitute to be sentenced 50 times and more, accord- 

> BankUfftr, "Frortituierte" (ZStW. XXm, 119). 

V.'.OOgIf 



96 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBIME [§8 

ing to the strictness of the supervision and bar own skill 
in evading it. An accumulation of c^enses from time to 
time results in her being turned over to the hi^^ur court. 
This means a sojourn in the workhouse for a poiod that is 
increased by three or sii months at every subsequent convic- 
tion by this court, but, on reguning her liberty, she immedi* 
ately returns to her former life. 

Two factors that are inseparable from prostitution are 
larg^ instrumental in causing her relapse — the traffic 
in prostitutes and the activity of the men who live 
on the MrningH of prostitutcs, conunonly known as pan- 
derers or cadets. Section 180 of our Penal Code b prob- 
ably quite unique. The renting of rooms to prostitutes is 
dassed as traffic in prostitutes; none the less, all prostitutes 
must have dwellings somewhere, or, if th^ carry on thdr 
occupation away from home, they must have at least a lodg- 
ing. As has been mentioned, about 3000 prostitutes are offi- 
cially known to the police in Beriin. who also know where 
and in whose houses they live. This fact must somehow be 
reconciled to another, that for some years past in Germany 
the number of convictions for traffic in prostitutes has never 
exceeded 4000 annually, in the whole country! In all the larger 
dties, and often, too, in smaller towns, — I need name cmly 
Hambuig, Altona, Kiel, Colc^ne, Miunz, Strassburg, Heidd- 
be^, Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Freibuig, Nuremberg, Municb, 
Leipzig, Diesd^i, Halle, and Magdeburg, — there exist 
official brothels known to the police as such, — often, in fact, 
whole streets of brothels. The fine distinction that bestows 
the name of brothel in the "technical police sense" only oo 
those houses that are licensed to sell liquor, that have a com- 
mon entertainment room, and in which the proprietor wrings 
lai^ profits from the prostitutes, has no existence in reali^. 
With or without a license, the keepers of such bouses sdl 

, .■.,...Cooglc 



§ 81 PROSTITDTION 97 

wine and spirits, and, with or without a concession, th^ 
treat the girls like slaves. 

The actual meaning of "Euppelei" is tersely contuned in 
the simple definition, "affording the opportimity tor prosU- 
tution"; do the authorities then know nothing of the way in 
which the prostitutes are looted and robbed by the extor- 
tionate methods of their landladies? Whether they live in 
txHumon dwellings or alone, it is only the owner of the house 
that profits by their occupation, and, as a rule, the prostitute 
leaves the brothel poorer than when she Altered it. But this 
does not pronounce the death sentence of the brothel, for the 
prostitute who lives alone suffers even worse treatment, 
as she b robbed by both the landlady and her "cadet." 

It can safely be asserted that there is no more abominable 
form of crime than that practised by these men who act as 
go-betweens for prostitutes. It is inseparable from clandes- 
tine prostitution, and, at the same time, b very difficult for 
criminal justice to get hold of. Every judge will confirm the 
fact that many obstacles intervene to prevent conviction for 
thb offense; partly because of her affection, partly because 
ot her loyalty, but mainly because of her fear, it is not easily 
possible to induce a prostitute to testify against such a man, 
and it b not rare for her to commit perjury in order to get 
him out of hb difficulty. In many cases, especially at the 
h^inning of their career, prostitutes might turn to some other 
mode of life, were it not for their unfortunate dependence on 
theseso-called "protectors." The extent of their other crimes, 
robbing the mm who visit tJieir prostitutes, and assaults with 
and without dangerous weapons, b beyond exact knowledge, 
for we are seldom able to recognize officially such a ponderer 
in the man who b arrested for some other offense. 

All these dangers to society thrive the more rankly, the 
stricter the police b in its repression of all houses resembling 



98 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OP CBIME [§ 8 

brothds, — for the proatitates are thus driven into the hidden 
conma.of the d^, into the low public-houses, and the public 
parks, — and the more the fear td arrest causes them to draw 
the v^ of night over their dark doings, lliere is only <x>e 
evil that it is di£ScuIt to separate from the brothel system, 
and that is the traffic in prostitutes. And yet the best remedy, 
even for this, is an ^cient system of segregation. If , as in 
Bremen, it is made imposmble for keepers of brothels, and 
lodgings for prostitutes, to ovocharge and rob these wtHoen. 
the traffic in prostitutes becomes unprofitable, and thus the 
chief motive is removed. 

There is also less temptstioo (or pros titut es in brothds to 
rob the men who visit tbem. In many cases no complaint is 
made if a theft is committed by a prostitute, as the victini 
would rather suffer his loss than allow the matter to become 
public. The same is tnie <4 the not infrequent attempts 
to blackmail, of threats to sue for maintenance, or of de- 
Dundation for attempting to procure abortion, and also 
of the carefully planned scenes in whtdi tbe pretended 
husband discovers the pair and has to be pacified with 
mon^. But where there are well-supervised brotheb, the 
danger of such crimes is greatly diminished. The improve- 
ment of the sorry conditions under which, owing to the treat- 
ment they receive, prostitutes now live will also contribute 
to greater legal security. 

It is well known that there is a movem^it on foot to abtJish 
brothels, and, indeed, to put an end to all state supo^ision. 
The reasons for this so-called "abolitionist movement" 
are entirely tA a sentimental nature; greatly as we admire 
its ideal tendency, we must none the less deplore th& com- 
plete lack of understanding of the matter that its advocates 
manifest. 

The abcdition of prostitution, as history dows, cannot be 



I _ 



§ 8] PROSTITUTION 99 

accomplished. Its dangers, especially for pabUc health and 
the morality of the people, are so great that the State is bound 
to keep, within eertun limits, the evil that it cannot extermi- 
nate. Measures adopted to this end have as little to do with 
the approval or support of prostitution as the legal steps taken 
to repress crime have to do with its recognition as a pro- 
fession. But, even if this were not so, we might point to such 
examples as Solon, Louis the Saint, the Tapes ^ Benedict IX, 
Paid n, Sixtus IV, Julius 11, Leo X, and St. Augustin. If it 
were posdble to put an end to prostitution, its sufferance 
and r^tdation by the State would certainly undermine ^e 
morals of the people. Now, however, the State does not 
countenance prostitution (§ 180), though it does recognize 
it through the penal law and police ordinances (g 361, 6). 
It provides a penal^ for an offense that it can and will prose- 
cute only in veiy rare cases. This undoubtedly works greater 
hann to the people's sense of right and justice than would a 
statute, any offense against which would be energetically 
followed up and punished. 

Advantages to be guned by the institution of brothels, 
or, better, the barrack system now used in Bremen, are the 
protection of the pubUc health, the removal of the prostitutes 
from the streets and public places, and the diminution of public 
scandal that would thus be attained. Above all, if certain 
houses and streets are set apart for prostitutes and made 
subject to State supervision, especially if the paragraphs 
relating to traffic in prostitutes are made severer, thus pre- 
venting the plundering and overcharging of prostitutes, the 
business of the procurer will be practically done away with, 
and that is a braefit to which public l^al security is certainly 
entitled. 

' Krautt, loe. «d. p. <TT. 

DiailizodbvGoOgle 



100 THE SOCIAL CAI^ES OF CRIME [§9 

^ § 9. OmDUing and Bnpentituii 

Gambling is of comparatively slight criminal significance 
with us in German;. The numba of those who ruin themselves 
by games of chance is not lai^ in proportion to the total 
criminality. It is mudi greater in countries like Austria and 
Italy, where even the poorest persons take part in the so-called 
"little lotteiy." Though it is difficult to determine accu- 
rately the number of thefts and embezzlements that are ^- 
directly due to the passion for gambling, and the losses it 
entuls, yet it can scarcely be doubted that there is a connec- 
tion between the two. The hope of escaping from all finatwial 
care by one lucky stroke, which feeds the passion for gambling 
of many an educated man and many an officer, and which' 
eventually brings about their downfall^ must of conise become 
the more enticing the lower the dassea of the pc^ulaticm are 
that engage in gambling. The feverish excitement with which 
in Italy evei7one wiuts for the numbers to be drawn each week, 
is a very grave dgn in the eyes of the sociologist, and. if he 
observes the figures of those who venture their last few oMna 
on this hazard, he will not undoestimate the temptation to 
dishonesty. In addition, superstition has no stnmger sii[^KHt 
than the passion for gambling. Not a few persons in Italy 
live by prophesying the outcome <^ the lotteiy and giving 
advice in regard to it. 

For a numb^ of years the tendency to gamble, and the 
deceptive hope of winning great g^ns easily, have been in- - 
creasing to an undesirable extent. It is just as impossible to 
ascertain the large sums that are gambled awi^ at the races 
as it is to determine the number of thefts and frauds that 
are committed to provide money with which to bet on the 
horses. It has been attempted to prevent aD these doings 
by cloring the betting-rooms, but with doubtful success. In 



S 9] GAMBLING AND SUPEBSTITION 101 

spite of all ^orts, it has not been posaible, up to now, to pre- 
vent the activity of the bookmakers, and the Dumeiy of the 
poor and the youthful will continue to find its way to them. 
I cannot help fearing that this opens up a new and plenteoua 
source of crime, with which we shall have to reckon in future. 

Superstition ceases to play a part in the commission of 
Crimea as soon as the average education of a people has reached 
a certun height, though it may still occasionally happen that 
a shrewd fellow takes advantage of a simple-minded person's 
superstition, espeinally in the sphere of religion. I do not 
fail to recognize what Hans Gross in particular has done for 
our knowledge in tracing certun crimes to a superstitious 
source. It certainly sometimes ^ves us the key to otherwise 
incomprehensible crimes, and oftener enables us to interpret 
some of their attendant phenomena. But, fortunately, such 
cases are rare. I do not think that we shall often meet, hence- 
forward, in cultured countries with crimes that are based on 
superstition, except, of course, those committed by insane 
persons. In Kussia, however, judging by LSwenstinyn's * in- 
vestigations, the number of offanses that are due to the belief 
in witches is greater. He mentions the sacrifice of human 
b^ngs in times of famine and pestilence, the murderof magi- 
cians and witches, and of children with physical defomuties 
(changelings), the opening of graves for the purpose of ob- 
taining talismen and to prevent the return of vampires, the 
r^>e of innocent girls, and sodomy commi(led in order to cure 
goncrrliaea. 

In Italy, too. especially in the southern provinces, super- 
stition prevails even in the very highest classes. Bulls' horns, 
amulets, mystic signs, such as the extension of the index and 
little fingers ("gettatura"), used to ward off the evil eye 

> L avauH mm, " Abw^ube uod Strafrecht." Beriin. 1887. JoliMinM Ittde; 
lAw«u(MHi, "Der nuwtimiai i3a Quelle der VerbiedMn." Beriin, IBVft. 



. Cooglf 



102 THE SOCIAL CADSES OF CBIHE [§ 10 

("mal* ocdiio**)>* ^^t indeed, harmless evidences trf supenti- 
tioD, but they prove how IHUe enlightened the aoutbem Ital- 
ians in general are. 

Many a puzzling penal offense is probably rooted in 9I^)er- 
stitious ideas. Gradually, aa the people become more enli^t- 
ened, this danger will grow less. Yet we reaUy have no reason 
to look down too haughtily on Russia and Italy. The r^ret- 
table tact that even so-called educated pec^le allowed them- 
sdves to be decaved in the most brazen manner by the 
spiritistic Sower medium, Mrs. Bothe, the ignorant wife of a 
tinker, shows how de^ty rooted the inclination to superstitjon 
is. We should also be preso-ved from over-estimation of oar- 
selves when we recall the hundreds of Uiousands of lives that 
were sacrificed in the persecutions d witches, the last ot iriiich 
was not longer ago, in Germany, than the end tA the ITOCte; 
whQe, in Mexico, such persecuticais continued vp to the end 
oS the ISOOs. 

g 10. lecoKimie and SoeUl Oonditioit 

The man who stands on a hei^t to view a landscape can 
discern the character of the countiy. the portions of the 
mountains and valleys, more clearly than one who, standing 
in the valley, finds the distant view shut off. So, too, a ^ance 
backwards over many years discloses the heights and depths 
of social life, and penetrates to their causes more easQy and 
distinctly than can the constderatjon of a sin^e year. 

The last twenty years of German criminality are espedally 
suitable for such an analysis, because no transfiguring up- 
heavats have taken place; the years having been marked by 
a great economic and cultural advance. Yet, notwithstand- 

' It ia told opoilf ID Borne tliat piom It&Gaiuw while th«7 were being birred 
by Pope Kua IX, who wm ntppowd to have the "«v3 ty*," naed to DMb the 
■gn «( the "gettatuia" behind tbdr badul 



_.,i,zt!dbvGoogIe 



§10] 



ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITION 



i'i 


: 


c iSjssSaE-' 


§ 


m 


's sisssssi-' 


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i 


= » 1 !! S 6 S S S li S - 


1 


1 


as g38S$£sS§* 


i 


i 


S» JSSSSgSt'^- 


i 


! 


! B 5 » 5 S S 58 i = = 


1 


1 


= e gsjasiKl-** 


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1 


= S g 1 S S S I s S = = 


3 


i 


as jSjssssS^' 


1 


i 


as sasssss*-'' 


i 


i 


'.. iii = ,i^-i'-' 


i 


1 


5 8 B J S S J 8 S 3 = = 


1 


i 


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3 


i 


"» cssssjss-' 


S 


1 


3a a. a as; a>^: 


1 


1 


= a J a a . t s a a = ' 


1 


1 


Sj gaaaaaas^*' 


i 


1 


- a a a g a a a a 3 - - 


i 


1 


Sa asaasaaa-"^ 


1 


i 


Sj 1 a a a a 1 6 a = 5 


1 


1 


■^J aaasajaa^' 


1 


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Ss S = 81S|8S-' 


1 


I 


1 
8 ; 

1 

1 


iMuiiiill 


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t!^-- 



104 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBIME [§ 10 

ing, ihe number of convicted persona has beat steadHy increaa- 
ing every year, even allowing for the growth (A the populatitNi. 
New legislation ia but very sli^tly responsible for this. The 
chief changes are found just in those crimes that, by tiuar 
frequency, determine the whole aspect (A the subject. 

In looking over the most important crimes, the principa] 
statistics rdating to which are given in part in TaUe ^Tlf, 
we notice four types of frequcauy. Some Crimes occur almost 
equal^ often. Such are, for instance: false accusation, im^st, 
sodomy, crioiinal n^fligence resulting in manslaughter^ rob- 
bery and extortion, ill^^ imprisonment. Others, like usory, 
perjuiy, murder, and infanticide, evading military servioe. 
crimes and offenses in office decrease; they shed ra^ of hght, 
especially when contrasted with the gloomy picture that the 
third group presents. It consists, apart from a few offenses 
which have for their object the procuring of certain ad- 
vantages in connection with proper^ (fraud and forgery), of 
crimes of violence, aiding prisoners to escape, relating an 
officer, breach of the peace, indecent offenses, simple and 
aggravated assault and battery, r^>e, insult, and malicious 
mischief. All these crimes are increa^ng from year to year, 
some of them at a positively alarniJTig rate. 

Finally, in the fourth group of c^enses I indude tlioae that 
show the greatest variation in frequency. The causes of this 
are multifarious. Thus, for instance, the numerous misdeeds 
of "procurers" called forth such an outcry agunst these 
wretched fellows that the cotuis found it expedient to proceed 
against them with somewhat greater severi^; unfortoQ^ely 
this energy seems to be ev^mraling already. ^"^ 

Tense political conditions increase temporarily the umnber 
of convictions for "Use-majesty," the "year erf attacks," 1878, 
in which the number of i»osecutions for this offense increased 
thirteenfold, b particularly well r^nembered. "nteM [»ose- 

, ,.,,. ..C.oo'ilc 



§ 10] ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITION 105 

cutiona took place, not, of course, because the desire to insult 
the aovereigii grew 90 marvelousty, but because the " criminal 
irritability of the public," as Seuffert ' calls this supersensi- 
tiveness, and, we might add, of the courts, in such a period 
of political excitement, saw some danger to the State lurking 
behind every reckless remark. 

The extent to which external circumstances sometimes in- 
fluence criminality ha^ been shown by Seuffert in the statia* 
tics of causing fires by negligence. During the years 1892- 
1899 from 1.5 to 2.1 persons per 100,000 adults were convicted 
of this offense. The only exceptions were the yeai^ 1892 with 
8.3 and 1893 with S.2 convictions. From the publications 
of the Royal Prussian Meteorological Institute, Seuffert was 
able to ascertain that these two years were particularly dry 
nearly everywhere. This would, of course, increase the danger 
of starting fires by carelessness. 

More important than all these relatively rare crimes are the 
convictions for theft. Their fluctuations weigh the more 
heavily because the frequency of this offense is rivaled only 
by that of a^ravated assault and battery. How important 
the variation in the different years is, appears in the (act that 
the number of convictions for this crime and for embezzle- 
ment m 1892 exceeded that of 1888 by 28,409. It is impossible 
that in four years about 80,000 persons can have so deteri- 
orated moraUy that without weighty external reasons they 
turn to crime. The sudden return to honesty is almost more 
striking, for, in the following year, the number of persons 
convicted of theft decreased-by 14,7$7. What causes these 
fluctuations? 

Theft is the appropriation of others' property, that for some 
reason rouses the desire for possession in the person who com* 
mits the offense. If a man's material circumstances allow him 

' Seuffert, toe. cif. p. 31. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



106 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBIME [$ 10 

to gntify all bis wishes, he wiD scarcdy yidd to the tempt»- 
tioD to take what bdongs to anotho'. But this is not the case 
with the poor man, vho. in times of need and hi^ier cost <d 
living, suffers from a lade of eveiything. 

Tie mode of life <^ our working classes is by no meuu i»a(v 
tical and economical. The money that is spent in the puUic- 
boiue would be far better laid out for food, for largei and airier 
dwellings, or put by tor times of emergency. But we most 
reckon with this, just as with the fact that illness and mis- 
fortune may reduce even the most industrious wcwkman to ' 
beggary. Moreover, it is true that a laige part of the p<qNila- 
tion never earns more than mough tor the necessaries of life, , 
even in times of prospmty. Eveiy increase in the cost oi 
living must therefore make the conditions of life more di£Scalt, 
and this is felt the more keenly, the doser the family lives 
to the Tpinimum cost of existence; hunger and misery lomiung 
ahead wiD unsettle even the firmest principles. 

Attempts to prove Ihia by statistics are not laddng. 111118, 
von Mayr,^ afto* comparing the fluctuation in the offenses 
agunst prcq)erty and in the price of grun, came to the fol- 
lowing condusion: "In the penod from 18S5 to 1861, in the 
Bavarian territory this side (A the Bhine, about evny half 
groschen added to the price of grun called forth one theft 
more per 100,000 inhabitants, while every half grosdien that 
grain dedined in price prevented one theft." 

This comparison is based on the assumption that the eco- 
nomic conditions that prevail in a given year are indicated hy 
the price of grain. This baa always been assumed, until, re- 
cently, Heinrich MliUa*,* under the guidance of Conrad, has 

■ fOK Jf^r, "Die Gcwtimllari^eit im GeaeUtdufUlebM,'' Hmuch. 1877, 

jogea tlbcr die Bew^img der finmiiMfiUt 
E mit dea wirtacfMfUichen VafaihaiiMa." L^. 



§ 10] ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITION 107 

tried U> ebaw that the economic dgnificance of the piice ot 
grain in the production of crime has disappeared. Instead, he 
contends, the genend industrial situation is becoming of more 
and more importance in its effect on the status ot criminality. 
It may readily be admitted that, in times of industrial pros- 
perity, wages rise, and the workman has more to spend for 
food; this rise in wages may even balance an increase in the 
price ot bread, just as the latter b more disastrous in its con- 
sequences in times of dullness ^nd lack of employment. 

Hence the attempt of Fomasari di Verce ^ to consider the 
status of industry, and the fluctuations in the cost of food, in 
rdation to each otho*, is worthy of special note. He calculates 
bow many hours of labor in each year, at an average wage, 
are necessary to buy a certain amount of grain (100 kg.). 
The comparison of these figures with the number of simple 
and aggravated thefts for the years 1875 to 1885 showed a 
distinct parallel between the two. Eurdla' found the same 
result for the years 1880 to 1888. 

It is, unfortunately, not alw^s possible to make these 
comparisons; I have tried in vain to obtain the necessary 
figures for Germany, The "Zentralblatt fflr das Deutsche 
Seich" publishes wage-tables, but th^ cover too short a 
period of time and, in addition, show tremendous local differ* 
ences. Consequently it is impossible to use them for this 
purpose, unless the comparison be made only for very smaU 
districts, when the smallness of the figures would greatly 
detract from the usefulness of the result. 

Ilie objections that Mtlller has raised to the adoption of 
food prices as a measure of prosperity might make further 
consideration of the relation between the two seem saper- 

' Fonatari di Vane, "Ia criminaliti e le vioende economidM d'lta&a." 
■ KitnUa, "Der neue ZoUtmrif nnd die Lebenihaltung de* Arbeitcf^" 
Bcriin, lOOS, Jolitu Springer, p. S7. 



.OO^lf 



108 



THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBDIE 



[§10 



fluous. If the ration between tlte economic aituation and 
theft were indistinct, we might, indeed, dispense with a further 
discusdon <d this question. But we shall see that this is not 



TABLE XX 



EomoMto SnvATioK j 
(After L«b^ne: "Ke i 



a Cbuhuutt di Fraxcx 
u Zrit" IBM; pp. M. ai.) 



,„ 


s 

nil 


SS 


Fura 


_ 


2s; 


-SSJTJ- 










IWo. 














Pu«> 










Amu* 


Cmilmw> 


IBM 


VTM 


1S;5S1 


1*14 


1186 


1628 


157 


884 


ISll 


OtM 


17.877 


IC97 


1177 


1765 


181 


881 


18U 


BSM 


18,383 


U70 


1282 


1669 


1«1 


306 


18M 


BSM 


1^900 


1999 


1869 


1771 


180 


338 


ISM 


W.H 


«,010 


1804 


1899 


1618 


IW 


392 


I8« 


»JS 


«0,63S 


1407 


1316 


1668 


196 


874 


ISM 


m.M 


24.753 


148S 


1544 


1696 


145 


3T9 


1S4T 


M.5S 


81.586 


1883 


1698 


1688 


141 


374 


ists 


41.M, 


20,120 


1894 


1360 


161S 


164 


868 


1S4B 


MJI 


22.070 


1375 


1450 


8015 


288 


4ff7 


ISM 


43.54 


23,121 


1475 


1651 


81M 


254 


584 


ISSl 


43.47 


84.516 


1652 


1658 


2161 


248 


616 


isn 


52.15 


28,090 


1980 


1997 


2018 


228 


611 


186S 


67.12 


83.940 


8284 


2204 


1921 


218 


573 


1S54 


87.86 


89.4S4 


26£» 


2420 


1681 


174 


581 


ISU 


M.B4 


57,883 


2738 


2471 


1618 


160 


588 


ISM 


91.16 


36,848 


8510 


8669 


1708 


181 


650 


1857 


67.02 


85,737 


8703 


8690 


1657 


188 


617 


186S 


48.10 


28,374 


2780 


2501 


1947 


838 


784 


IBM 


M.91 


87,792 


8666 


2542 


1851 


826 


718 


1860 


5I>.«0 


30,331 


S12S 


8680 


1607 


180 


650 


1861 


75.42 


82,729 


8524 


es50 


1896 


817 


698 


186i 


65.es 


82.181 


8842 


2029 


1762 


813 


788 


1863 


59.81 


89.155 


8431 


2655 


1673 


171 


750 



the case. Mcweover, special emphasis must be given to the 
fact that at present the price of bread turns the scales, as 
regards the workman's expenses. 



J.,r,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 10] ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITION 109 

llie oonsmnptioD of bread is iinusua% la^e in the irorkiiig 
classes. According to Max May's ^ workm^i's housekeeping 
plans the total annual expenditure for this necessaiy article 

TABLE "SS.— Continued 
EcoHOHic SmjATiON AMD CanfiHiuxT ik Fsancs 
(After Labiguei "Die neue Zeit," 1890. pp. tO, 21.) 





|1 










Irdkeht 


A»DI.TI 


Tiui 


Snou 

TlVT 


PutJD 


SSt 


SSS 


AnlUrior 




lilJ 








P^am 




























Ihu>ai 










Ann™ 


C«uu> 


18M 


61.43 


SS.S40 


8341 


2782 


1703 


179 


764 


1805 


49.60 


88,078 


e4S2 


esis 


1750 


178 


880 


1S08 


eo.sa 


M.62S 


e4ee 


2790 


1777 


160 


889 


1887 


80.92 


83.097 


esoe 


3143 


1704 


124 


805 


1868 


8i.ee 


86.036 


2900 


8188 


1697 


161 


726 


ISM 


88.10 


81,618 


e760 


8292 


1668 


146 


710 


1870 


SS.S1 


M,S31 


lees 


1563 


1297 


54 


568 


I8T1 


8B.JB 


e7.66e 


1684 


19ie 


1661 


112 


526 


187S 


7e.M 


84.061 


2705 


SllO 


1869 


184 


682 


18T3 


7«.9e 


ss.a8» 


2913 


3390 


1708 


97 


783 


1874 


71.10 


84,170 


3008 


3079 


1731 


139 


825 


187* 


67.08 


80,080 


2880 


8182 


1763 


140 


813 


1876 


61.81 


81.781 


2710 


3196 


1849 


140 


875 


1»77 


68.78 


33,361 


2968 


3300 


1663 


108 


804 


1878 


67.82 


81.802 


2846 


3888 


1614 


84 


788 


1879 


«8.76 


8fc»48 


2997 


3408 


1677 


180 


812 


ISSO 


65.00 


37.020 


8445 


8621 


1618 


80 


676 


1B81 


65.B4 


86,757 


8674 


3747 


1608 


90 


718 


1882 


68.87 


86,880 


S4S4 


3679 


1660 


95 


752 


1B88 


59.S6 


36,950 


3449 


3796 


1582 


108 


675 


1884 


61.11 


86,845 


3281 


3646 


1029 


88 


705 


1885 


4S.4S 


S4.2SS 


8678 


3679 


1518 


65 


022 


1886 


M.M 


34,457 


3506 


3824 


1607 


78 


634 



is more than a sixth of the workman's whole income. The 
price ot bread, however, does not depend on the excellence 

I Max Man. "Wic der Arbdter lebt." Berlin. 1897. 



110 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CKOIE [§ 10 

of the grain crop, but on the bourse, u Hirschberg > has 
shown. Consequently, every increase in tlie price of grain 
must affect sev^ely just that part of the populatum that 
stands lowest in the economic scale. 

As a staudaid by which to measure the price of food. La- 
fargue' adopted the price of a sack of flour weighing 150 kg., 
which was fixed by the municipal authorities, in this case in 
Paris, and was entered in the ftumiAl records of the baking*^ 
trade. A comparison of the figures shows that everj^ rise .in 
the price of bread was followed by an increase in the number a r 
of thefts, embezzlements, and frauds, while a decline in tj^ 
price lessened the number of crimes (Table XX). 

German statistics also show the close rdation between the 
fluctuations in the cost of grain and the number of thefts 
CTable XXI). It is true, however, that both in France and 
Germaiqr it is not the absolute height of the prices that is 
decisive, but their rise and fall, llie year 1882, for instance, 
shows the highest percentage of thefts in the last 17 years, 
viiile the price of lye, in the same year, was moderate. It 
was very high, however, during 1880 and I8SI, and the ^ect 
was still felt, or rather fiist felt, in 1882. The same OMidi- 
tions are noticeable in the following years. The hi^^iest and 
lowest points touched by the price of grain do not occur simul- 
taneously with the highest and lowest number of thefts; the 
^ect of the former is not felt till a year later (Hate IV}.* 

This is partly due to an ^:temal cause, idiich Albert Mey^* 

> C. BinMitrg. "Cmndi Jmlubacher 18M," m Folg^ XVI^ p. CSS. 
CoaipMc abo the Gguiea in 1U>le XXL 

< PatJ£<^arpia, "DkEimdnaUutbFnnkreiclL Dntenadniiigai aber 
ilue Entwii^iing uod ihre Unachen. IHe neue Zeit," 1890^ p. 90. 

■ Bongtr givci • very iimilar table tor the Netheriuuk b "CrimiiMliU et 
oonditkiia tewaimquei" (Amsteidaiii, 1006, p. BS3), > wc«k tint alio coo- 
Uiu iDMiy valuable statiitict relatisg to the nine inoblem. 

* ABmi Uegtr, "Die V«ibrech«i ii " ~ 

f>4inftlw4ini imrt nnrinlm VrrliMUiiiwi ii im If-B fcnn 7Mrin\"'l -Tt 
Giwtev nadier. p. 91. 



5 101 ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITION 

TABLE XXI 
Grain Pbicbb amd Cbdiikaijtt in Gebiunt 





I 


I 


« 


* 


B 




aVmum 


DiBwu> 




Pn lOO.OM Cmuun o» 
rwnom CmmoTD or 


h 

KB 


Yb*m 


Hi 


s 




II; 




Hun 


Huu 


Muu 


|b. 












Jju 


III 


l§'l 


18M 


187.9 














1881 


196.2 














less 


158.8 






887 


38 


27 


884 


IB8S 


144.7 






879 


33 


25 


871 


1884 


143.8 






869 


S3 


24 


875 


188S 


140.0 






249 


37 


23 


256 


1880 


iso.e 


eo.B 


1S1.8 


844 




21 


259 


1887 


ieo.9 


20.68 


164.4 


231 


28 


21 


868 


1888 


lS4Ji 


81.22 


172.2 


825 


27 


21 


255 


ISSfl 


1SS.5 


24.69 


187.7 


844 


31 


28 


881 


ISM 


170.0 


27.18 


195.4 


«S7 


S8 


28 


806 


I8>1 


211.2 


81.66 


224.2 


249 


S8 


28 


806 


1888 


176J 


«9.52 


176.4 


272 


38 


26 


883 


IBM 


1S3.7 


21.B9 


151.5 


836 


34 


28 


876 


18M 


117.8 


80.43 


136.1 


281 


S5 


22 


889 


IBM 


119.8 


80.68 


148.5 


824 


32 


21 


878 


1896 


118.8 


80.93 


156.2 


816 


88 


20 


871 


1897 


1S0.1 


22.30 


178.7 


no 


SI 


19 


8S7 


1886 


146.8 


BS.lfi 


185.6 


824 


S3 


20 


893 


1899 


146.0 


24.81 


16B.3 


810 


81 


19 


879 


1900 


142.6 


32.96 


151.8 


818 


80 


19 


890 


1901 


170.7 


24.83 


16S.6 


883 


83 


IB 


284 


1902 


144.2 


24.21 


169.1 


228 


86 


80 




1909 


132.3 


28.88 


161,1 


214 


84 


19 




1904 


1SS.1 


2S.S0 


174.4 


887 


S2 


18 




190S 


151.9 


24.90 


174,8 


205 


82 


18 




1900 


ieo.e 


27.06 


179,6 


210 


is 


19 




1907 


198.2 


S0.S2 


206.3 


809 


85 


19 




1908 


186Jf 


SI.78 


211.8 


8X8 


44 


80 




1909 


176JJ 


80.81 


2SS.9 


814 


4S 


80 





Price <A rye: "Stat- Jalubnch Dentadiea Bekh," 1900, p. 268; IbU, 
190s; p. IBS. 

Etc bread: "Etrtcr: Sondenbdrnck atu dem WSrteibncfa der Volk*- 
wirtKhBft,"]etw.igiO. 

Youthful offendert: "Stat, dci Deutschen R. B.," 8S7, 11, 8. 

Tlieft, KCMTing sbAea goods: Ibid., U, 6. 



,.,,:-C00gIf 



THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBDIE IS 10 

PLATE IV 
Taan and Gruh Ptaam bdkx I88f 

- Price of 1000 kg. lye in Beitin. 

- ftioe of l-]dk) loaf of rye hickd in Beriin. 

- fiinylethefl of youthful ogmden to lOOiOOO of the totol pn j i q ktin a. 

- Simple theft, kbo when repealed, lo 100.000 inhabUuiti of poniafa- 

ableac*- 



3,a,l,zt!dbvG00gIf 



§ 10] ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITION 113 

has already pointed out. A lai^ proporUon of the thefts 
committed in the early winter months do not come before 
the comts until the following year, and our statistics generally 
record crimes, not according to the year in which they were 
committed, but according to the date when the cases were 
disposed of. Of still greater importance, it seems to me, is 
the e^lanstion, first given, I believe, by von Mayr ' and also 
accepted by Hermann Berg,' that the retail prioe is not imme- 
diately affected by the wholesale price; even when the price 
falls, the pressure in the economic situation is not at once 
relieved, any more than a calamity ia instantly brought about 
by a rise in the price. 

MliUer has entirely overiooked the tact that the effect is 
thus delayed. This is the only explanation of his considering 
the increase in the number of convictions in 1892, in spite of 
the fall in the price of grun, "a distinct proof that no connec- 
tion exists between criminality and the price of grun." The 
connection is not such a mechanical, automatically regulated 
one as von M^r's remarks (p. 106) mi^t, probably unin- 
tentionally, make it appear. The range of price alone is not 
determinative. Indeed, without affecting the importance of 
what has already been said, we can admit that in future the 
price of bread, in comparison with all the other economic 
factorSi will lose something of its significance. Nothing could 
show more clearly that Muller's doubt of the value of tlie 
price of grain as a measure of the economic situation is un- 
necessary, than the fact that for a period of twenty years 
theft and the price of bread have aaiy twice, and then but 



I Km May, "SUtisUk der gerichtlicheii Poluei iio Kfioigitieh Bayem mid 
amgta anderen iJlodcni," Mnnicfa, 1S6T, p. 100. 

* Heraumn Berg, "Getreid^reiBe und KrinunallUt in D«utacUaiid wit 
H." AbhAodlimgca dea IrriminwliititrhfTi Senunwa Beriin, N. P. I., ted 
A. Beriiii. 190S. J. Guttentog. 



^iailizodbyGoOgle 



114 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OP CRDfE [§ 10 

sli^tly, deviated fioin the regular paralldism of rise and 

But tlie establishment ot this fact is not enou^ to answer 
our inquiiy into the deepest cause <4 this social phenomenoD. 
The conduaiim that every theft is an act of deq>CTatioB 
brou^t about b; starvation and cold vould be cntiieij 
wrong. The thefts committed b^ mm. and they are four- 
fifths of the total number, are sddom of articles that would 
serve to ^pease hunger or provide protection agunst the 
cdd. More inqnrtant than absolute need, is the iDabilit7 
to ad£4>t oneself to changed conditions. Whoever is accus- 
tomed to spend a good deal on amosanent cannot easily 
^ve up doing so when times are hard. The more a man 
earns, the greater aie his demands in respect to his dwdling. 
clothing, and food, and the more he spends for amusements 
of all kinds, in clubs, and for alcoholic drinks. In fact, ex- 
perience shows that, unfortunately, the sum spoit on neces* 
saries is less influenced by prosperity than that spent on 
superfluous pleasures. If wages suddenly decrease, or if, 
in consequence (A a rise in the price of food, a larger prcqmr- 
tion of the inconw is clumed by the necessaries of life, the 
working man, who is the first to suffer under this, does not 
at once give up his membership in the athletic dub, the 
choral society, the amusement and political dobs to iriiich 
he belongs, neither does he reduce the amount that he is 
accustomed to spend on Sunday for beer and other drinks. 

In so far I entirely agree with von Rohden,* when, on the 
ground of his experience as a prison chapliun, he pnAests 

' In order to kvoid any mMundewUnding, I wiih ««pedalty to rmphniar 
tlut MUllcr, too, Bharei tlic general (^Hiiion that the conduct of the pt^rulatiaB, 
eqtedaUy of the woiking dan, aa regardi the lawa, ia regolaled bj Um eoo- 



H RohdM, "Voa den KMoalen Ifothtcn des Veriwedma" ( Zrilnhitt 

L. vn, p. smy 



J.,:,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 10] ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITION 115 

against eveiy tbett's being traced back to poverty as its caose. 
But it means that the situation is altogether misunderstood, 
when poverty and need are completely rejected as causes of 
crime, a course followed by the "Rheinisch-WestfKlische 
GefSngnisgesellschatt" ^ at its seventy-sixth annual meeting. 
If we understand the word "need" in a somewhat wider, 
less literal sense, the connection immediately becomes clear 
and comprehensible. It is not the lack of the most necessary 
things, but the inability to give up habits acquired in times 
of prosperity, that makes the man prone to yield to tempta- 
tion. And this danger of yielding is even greater if those who 
feel the pinch of poverty look on life's pleasures with imma- 
ture eyes. The number of youthful offenders convicted of 
theft teaches us that. In their case, the increase in the number 
<^ thefts that corresponds to the rise in prices is more pro- 
nounced than in the case of the whole population, while the 
decrease is not so great as among the adults. Young people 
have relatively larger incomes than mature workmen, for veiy 
tew of them stint themselves by contributing to the support 
of the family. When wages are reduced, or prices rise, these 
youths of unformed character find they must for^o certain 
pleasures, and are soon assiuled by the temptation to lay hands 
on what does not belong to them. 

Dishonesty is a remarkably sen^tive indicator of the eco- 
nomic situation. This is shown by the geographical distri- 
bution of thefts, and is demonstrated anew every winter by 
the ^ect of the greater difficulty of maintaining life, and, 
above aU, it b proved by the tremendous variation in different 
years, and its dependence on the cost of provisions. People 
of means, it is true, are not affected by economic distress, ' 
at least not in a way that would bring about any considerable 
: in criminality; but it does strike hard at the poor 
< (MSchrKiimFlycb' L 71^-) 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



116 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBIHE [§ 10 

who live from hand to mouth. That the man wHhoat means 

is not at once heroic enou^ to sacrifice to the necessity of the 
time all his pleasures, is veiy regrettable; but it is comprehen- 
sible enough, espedally when all enjoyable free pteasnres 
are lacking. 

Receiving stolen goods is the sister offense tA theft, and 
it, too, follows ctosely the fluctuations in the price oS food. 
But the connection between the two is indirect. For eveiy- 
thing that he steab, unless it be money or something for his 
own immediate use, the thief requires a recaver . 
^_^ Of much greater interest are the convictions for fraud and 
embexzlranent. Older statistical reports showed a c<HUiectioa 
between these crimes and the price of grain, but figures in 
Germany indicate that, wilii slight fluctuations, the frequent^ 
of these crimes has been steadily increasing ^ce 18Kt. As 
has already been pointed out, more convictions for fraud occar • 
in winter, and the nmnber falls again in spring, a proof that* 
decreased receipts are a fruitful s ource of auch tran^r easions. 
The apparent contradiction that lies in the fact that, thou^ 
these crimes are so deeply affected by economic neoessi^, 
they are not influenced by the price of food, is not ineKfJi- 
cable. I believe that Berg's^ explanation is the true <Mie: 
"Fraud thrives in particular in the noise and bustle ot com- 
mensal life, where everyone jostles his neighbor in the struggle 
tor gun. The intricacies of trade and commerce oSa tbe 
best opportunity for deception and falsification, and also the 
best means of avoiding discovery." 

This agrees perfectly with what we learn from a compatisoo 
of occupations and crimes. Only 10.9% of tbe population is 
engaged in conuuercial pursuits, but the percoitage of such 
persons convicted of fraud from 1880 to 1804 was 19, (d 
embezzlement 86.2%. During the same period, persona tmr 

' £oe. at p. lie. 

L ,l,z<»i:,., Google 



§ 101 ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITION 117 

ployed in indnstrial occapations were responsible tor Sl.8% of 
the embezzlements, and 31.6% of tlie frauds conmutted, al- 
thonj^ th^ constituted only 17% of tbe population. Thus, 
we see clearly on what soil these two crimes best flourish. 
Where commerce and industry thrive, the opportunity for 
fraud and embezzlement is most frequraitly found. Hence, 
eras of economic prosperity increase the temptation, and 
though they seal the one source of crime, necessity, they 
allow the number of the dishonest to grow larger. As Hera '■ 
saya: "The atavistic forms of criminality that are generally 
e^ressed in taking advantage of an off^ed opportunity and 
in deeds ci viol^kce, theft, and robbery, are directly depend- 
ent on the price of food. Those offenses that are better 
ad^ted to modem condilions, as corrupt in purpose but 
earned out by more civilized means, falsehood and deceit 
being used instead of violence, have left tliis primitive de- 
pendence on the price of food behind them, and seek their 
opportunity in the complicated life ^ the modem business 
worid." 

If theft is directly dependent on economic conditions, 
and fraud and embezzlement reUtively independent of them, 
owing to the fact that two of the important causes <A these 
latter crimes balance each other, there are still other offenses 
the figures of which seem to be a reflection of those relating 
to thdt. Lafa^ue,* whose work, in spite of its strikingly 
good qualities, is biased, s^s: "Hie material prosperity of 
capitalistic society is marked by a relative decrease in the 
number of bankruptcies, and a falling off of criminality in 
general, on the one hand, and, on the other, by an increase 

> Hugo Hen, "Die Verbrechenibew^uDg in Osterreich in den letcten 
80 Jshreii in ihiem Zuwpunenhange nut wiitschaftliclien VeAUtniMeQ" 
(MSchrKrimPaych. n. US). 

* Loe. eit. p. MS. 



bv Google 



118 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CBIHE [§ 10 

ID Ute munber of caaes of carnal abuse of chOdren, wliich be- 
come rarer again when buaineaa is dulL . . . The rape ot cdiildreii 
is a characteristic sign of the prosperity of the capitalistic 
mode of production." The fact is true, and, ao far as the 
bankruptcies are concerned, also its interpretation. But the 
inference r^arding the crime of rape, which I^argue insin- 
uates and Bebel ' openly asserts belongs to the educated 
dasses, is not so. I do not know where Bebel obtained the 
figures that would justify him in stating that: "The so-called 
'liberal professions' to which many members of the upper 
classes belong, are responsible tot about 5.6% c^ all criminal 
oGFenses, and for about 13% of all the criminal assaults oo 
children." As a matter (^ fact, the share erf the Iib««I jno- 
fessions in all sexual crimes from 1890 to 1899 was only S.3%. 
while, with their families, th^ composed 4% ot the pc^ulaticHi. 
The agricultural laborers, on the other hand, committed 
92.6, instead of 15.6%, of the rapes and indecent assaults, 
workmen in industrial occupations, 43.3. instead oi 17%, 
and this is quite apart from the workmen whose occupation 
was not given, and who were responsible for nine times as 
many sexual crimes as would naturally fall to the proportion 
of the population that they form. Hence, the increase in these 
crimes attendant on prosperity must be lud at the wtu'kmen'a. 
doors, among whom, however, I should not in general indode 
the last-named group. We shall not go far astray in connect- 
ing this increase with the greater in^nlgme^. in ft)cohpl t.bat 
goes on under prosperous conditions. 

The significance of habitual drinking has been dsewhere 
discussed, and reference made to assault and battery com- 
mitted during intoxication. It has always been maintained 
that prosperous years, involving, as they do, a gteator con- 

> AvguM BAd, "Die FVm und der Sosalismn^" SStk «d, Stottprt, 1897, 
p. ML 



\ ^ 



. .iiizodbvCoogle 



§ 101 ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITION 119 

sumption of alcoholic drinks, bring about &Q increase in tlie 
number of cases of assault and battery, and, similarly, that 
good grtq>e harvests in wine-drinking countries, like France, 
are, in the same way, detrimental to morahty in general.' 
This is perfect^ true of earlier periods, as, for instance, 
those discussed by Laf argue (Table XX), but does not apply 
to German criminality since 1882. All the crimes the chief 
cause of which we have found to be alcohol, such as aiding 
prisoners to escape, resisting an officer, breach of the peace 
("Hausfriedensbnich"), simple and aggravated assault and 
battery, mali<nous mischief, grow more frequent from year to 
year. 

This growth corresponds to the steady increase in the con- 
sumption of alcohol, — not of spirits, which seems to have 
reached its manmum, but of the chi^ beverage of the Gei^ 
man people, beer. In 1882, only 84.8 litres per c^ita of the 
populatjon, including women and children, were consumed, 
whereas in 1900 this figure had already risen to 125.0 litres; 
from then on, there is a decrease, so that in 1008 the consump- 
tion had even fallen to 111 litres per c^ita. The consump- 
tion of spirits has fallen somewhat since the last decade of the 
last century, ^hen it was 4.4-4.2 litres. As, however, in 
■1907-1908 it was 3.8 litres, the decrease is but sli^t. 

The dam formed by the higher cost of living is not strong 
enough to stem the tide of alcohol. The sums spent tor drink 
do not affect the workman's expenses so much when wages 
are high and the price <rf food low. But the figures indicating 
the consumption of alcohol teach us that he does not save 
in that direction, even when times are bad, hence the evil 
consequences of excessive drinking appear in prosperous and 
necessitous times alike. 

In the complicated operation of an industrial State victims 
■ Pem,he.ea. 

DiailizodbvGoOgle 



120 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRDCE [§ 10 

ue not laddng who are rained because, owing to lack oi nat- 
ural capacity, or to their tow moral and intellectual standards, 
or to their life-long habita, they are unable to ad^it them- 
sdves to rapid development and wide fluctuations. The 
same thing occurs, in agricultural States, to the farmer who 
cannot weather the crises brou^t about by bad harvests, 
or ^idemics among his stock, and to the agricultural laborer 
who cannot tide over the periods when wages are low. The 
waves meet over the heads ot the socially and morally weaker 
the more easify, the more their firmness has been ^h wtpTi 
by crises and calamities. 

AH these opsettings of the social balance are unavoidable to 
a cotain extent, but we know — unfortunately, better in thetny 
than in practice — how to check thor evil consequences. 

Absolutely different soil, however, nourishes the utificial 
crids, the strike. This means of improving the sodal situar 
tion has be^i used more and more frequmtly in recent years. 
It is not my object to discuss its justification, but the daogeis 
to sodety that strikes involve must be dealt with. 

Where there is strict organization, and careful leaders are 
in control, there will be but few crimes. It is wh«i there is a 
prqionderance of very young and unmarried workmen that 
the strike becomes a grave disastn. While fathers ci families 
often join it unwillingly, the young men, who have no one* 
to consider but themselves, are all fire and flame. But the 
most dangerous element is contributal by those "workmen" 
of whom we have already spoken, men who are masons, 
carpenters, painters, etc., only when strike funds are bang 
distributed. It is they who rage and ui^ the others on; 
they are the leaders in the excesses committed, in attacks 
on the police and on the so-called strike-breakers. This is 
espedally trae at the beginning of the strike, whoi the treas- 
ury is still full, and the meetings — generally held in public- 

, ...... C.ooqIc 



§ 10] ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONBITION 121 

houses — witii the accompanying, unavoidable indulgence in 
alcohol, inBame their excited minds still more.* 

In order to judge aright the excesses that occur during 
strikes, it is essential to recognize that the psychological be- 
havior of a crowd is entirely different from that of the indi- 
viduab that compose it. The psychology of masses has been 
made the subject of a valuable study by Sighele.* It deals 
not only with the reaction of uneducated crowds to 
external irritations, but also with the, frequently in- 
comprehensible, resolutions of legislative bodies, societies 
of aU lands, scientific and poUtical meetings. The 
critical faculty of a larger number of people is not only 
DO greater than that of each one; it, on the contrary, ceases 
to act altogether. 

A phrase, a word, uttered at the right moment, the enthu- 
siastic language of a good orator, a gesture made at the proper 
instant, may turn a perfectly orderly crowd into a rabble at 
criminals ready for any ^cess. Women being more impres- 
sionable than men, the more of them there are in the crowd, 
the greater is the danger, especially when alcohol brings its 
infiuence to bear on the excited people, embittered by care 
and deprivations, by failures and inflanmrntory speeches. 
If the spark from outside flies into this explosive mass, the 
mischief is done, and there follow the senseless excesses of 
which Hauptmann in "Die Weber," and Zola in "Genninal," 

' How dearif tliii hai come to be recogniied is shown by the conduct of 
the gttat Btrike in RhetUBh WertpbsIU, where the leaden warned the woAmen 
■guikst aoy alndiolk escew. Only thus was it possible for such ti big strike 
to be ouTJed out *o qiuetly and peaceably, though some credit for the oider- 
Hness may be given to the excellent party discipline. Hie aame thing was ex- 
perienced in Sweden at the time of the universal strilLe in 1909. Convictions 
for dimes ot vidence suddenly ceased almost entirely, thanks to the leaden' 
«der to the workmen to stop drinking altogether, 

' SifheU, "Piychologie dcs Aufiaufs und der MassenTerbredwD," tians- 
Uted by KvnBa, Dresden and Ldpdg, 1897, Carl Reissner. 

I _,..■ -Google 



122 THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIMES [§ 10 

have ffyea a litenuy account, while Si^i«le has given a 
scientific one. 

Hie man who takea part in mich excesses may in himsdf 
be perfectly respectable and harmless, even timid, but his 
individuality is lost in the mass; calm connderatimi vanishes, 
and, carried sw^ by the leveling influence ot the crowd, 
the deliberate man becomes an excited brute. We may regret 
these sad consequences of the "p^didogy of the mass," 
but we cannotr shut our eyes to the tact that tKe~iubjecUve 
culpability of the individual in strike disorders is often ex- 
ceeding small. The necesnty for rqtressicHi, however, 
leaiains unahered by this recognition. 



^lailizodbvGoOglf 



i 



PART n 



THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OP CRDfB 
§11. Li Gownl 

Som auUion look upon the social conditioB of the popu- 
latkm as the chief cause of all crime, so much so that they 
believe that "putting an end to poverty is the one and only 
means of effectually repressing crime and prostitution." ■ 
Garofalo * looks at the matter from an entitely different 
point of view. He compares criminality to the sea, that, 
whetber the tide be high or low, always contains the same 
amount of water. So, too, criminal inclination remains the 
same, and it is only the manner in which it finds «q>rea8ion 
that differs in summer and winter, in times of prosperi^ and 
in periods of need. 

The truth probably lies somewhere between tbese two ex- 
tremes. Poverty and distress is one of the sources fA crime, 
a source that flows the more freely, the wider the circles of 
the population that are affected by the econontic depres- 
sion. But as soon as a period of prosperity sets in, another 
source gushes out with increased force, alcoholism and its 
consequences. But the criminals who sit in the dock at these 
two times are not the same. Prosperity does not, as a rule at 
least, turn the man of dishonest ways into one who stabs 
and disturbs the peace, nor does the hero of the stieet turn to 
theft if he is in needy drcumstances. 

> Paul Birtdl, "Verbreclien iind PrortitulioD all aoa 
Balm, 1897, H. Glocke. p. 6S. 
Ovxtfalo, "La criminolope," Paris, IS05, Fdii Alcan, p. IBS. 



.OOglf 



124 THE INBIVIDTIAL CAUSES OF CBIUE [§ 12 

At every turn ot the sopajb^ance a nnmber of individiulA 
alq> overboard and ank into tlie deptlu of crime. One thing 
is common to them all, the lack of snffidoit power of resist- 
ance against temptation. It is the soaal causes that ui^ 
towards crime, but, whik a lai^ portioD <rf mankind b aUe 
to retain its bahince, another ptHtion succmnba, soumt or 
later. Hence we must consider what the qualities <A the in- 
dividual are that weaken his power of resistance to such an 
extoit that he becomes a ciimioal. 

The individual causes of crime frequently overi^ the aodal 
causes already discussed. It should, therefore, be deaily 
undo-stood that there is often no sharply defined boundary 
between external and intetna] causes. Many individual quali- 
ties are the result of sodal conditions, and much that has al- * 
ready been dealt with, as, for instance, the floctnatitHis in 
c^enses against chastity, could as wdl be induded in what 
tollowa. 

§ 12. Par«nt«ga awl Traiaing 

Nothing will thrive in stony soil, and the seed need not be 
poor to end in fuluie. It is similar with the devdc^ment 
of the criminal man. This comparison does not exclude the 
influence of natural disposition, but this influeaice cannot be 
separated from the bad effects of training, or rather the lac^ 
of training, and from the results of evil example and aodal * 
distress. 

We cannot doubt that mental disease, intempottnce, 
and ^ilepsy in the parents have a d^enerstive influence on 
their children. As far as intemperance is concerned, I have 
already dealt with the question. The forms of degeneratioa 
are, in general, physical and mental inferiraity, thouf^ ex- 
perience shows that not all the children of drunkards and. 
insane persons have these defects. 

L ,l,z<»i.vG00gIf 



§12] 



PARENTAGE AND TRAINING 



125 



Every attempt to express this in figures is Tendered futile by 
the elasticity of the term " heredity," some scientists legarding 
insanity as inherited only if it has appeared in the parents, 
and others being satisfied if any relative was thus afflicted; 
some considering a slight nervous affection 8u£Scienti others 
only pronounced mental disease. It has, therefore, even 
been proposed to call the tendency to p^chic diseases merely 
"family disposition." 









TABLE 


xxn 














(After EuidlaO 


Dinun Am CRnaNAUTT m thb Pismm of CimiraMa 




CmnmiujTT 


hrnunn 


— 






1 


1 


i 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 










% 








































M 




OiBiiuli coimctod of 


























faxkcatoliiis . . 




n 




fl^ 


l«H 




l.« 












P«im» 


«S 
























SwwDen 


Mil 














IS 




ISJt 


ra 




Tliw™ 


m.9 


fl,7 




t.4 


14 






7.8 






«.i 




Mwdam 



























If it is difficult to establish the influence of heredity in those 
who are mentally diseased, it is mudi more so in criminals, 
who, moreover, often know little of their progenitors, and 
whose fathers, in the case of illegitimate children, are en- 
tirety unknown. The figures in Table XXII are given merely 
to show how uncertain the results of investigations of heredity 
are, and not as a measure of congenital disposition. 

The frequcDcy with which ,the psychic anomalies <A the 
parents appear in the children, and the form they take, show 

1 1714 ajmiiula esdudve tA bomicKk*. 



126 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CBIHE [§ 12 

such variation in the figures oS differmt writers that I will 
not do more than speak of the fact, without drawing co^du- 
sions from it. 

Hartmann * has made a TCzy carrful study ^ the agnificance 
of heredity. For the purpose of comparing hereditary influ- 
ences in insane and normal persons, he was able to use the 
studies of Diem and Koller, which, Uke hb own, were made 
under Bleuler's guidance, and this has added to the value <^ 
his work. Among 199 criminals, Hartnuum found hereditary 
[ defects in 69.8%, whereas Koller discovered, among 1850 
insane persons, TO.3%. and, among 370 healthy persons. 
£9%, with inherited predispositions. But KoUer, like Diem, 
who found, among 1192 healthy persons, 76.4% with hnedi- 
taiy tendencies, included apople^ as a hereditary factor. 
Especially Doteworthy is the difference that 4>pears as socn 
as heredity in the direct line b considered — that is, throng 
the member of the family that is most closely related — aiKl 
the number of hereditary detects. When this is done, we find 
that criminals are nearer to the inaft iw tlm.ii to " o n nf i^ pciscKts 
as r^ards direct heredity and the frequency t^ bereditaiy 
defects. But — and this seems to me of the greatest impw^ 
tance — the predisposition transmitted by the paroits does 
not weigh as heavily as is generally supposed; the number of 
healthy persons who are threatened by hereditary stigm^ 
of degeneration ia too large for that. 

Hartmaim found inherited criminiuity in 32.7% cd the crim- 
inals be examined, considerably more than Fenta and Muro, 
but less than Sichart,* who found, in Wttrttemberg, that, among 
1714 criminals, 43.7% had criminal parents. Is it a question 
of the direct inheritance of the inclination to commit unlawful ' 

I Hartwumm, "Ober die bemtfiUMn Teriddtnine bci Vtrtw th M tt " (HSdn. 
Krim. PsTch. I. 489). 

* Sfctoft "Pber nxBTidBeUe F«kfa»tn A« Vwbrech^" gStW. X, tgj. 



...Coo'^lc 



5 12] FABENTAGE AND TRAINING 127 

acts? Kurella thinks it is, but I cannot agree with him. 
I do not believe that we are justified in attaching too much 
importance to this kind of transmission, just as we should 
not regard as too significant the not infrequent fact that whole 
families, even whole localities, are distinguished by intense 
criminal activity. A cluld that is surrounded by criminals in 
its earliest youth soon learns to think like them, and never has 
the diance to develop other views. Crime loses its character 
as a reprehensible act. and punishment its disgrace; at most, 
the latter is regarded as an unavcndable disadvantage con- 
nected with the occupation. I may surely, therefore, dispense 
with further descriptions of the notorious Juke family.' 
with its widespread army of crimlnak, prostitutes, and de- 
fectives, or of other similar criminal families. 

In Si^ide's ' interesting study of the former ecclenastical 
State. Aitena, Kurella * finds a proof of the inheritability of 
crime. In 1557 Paul IV outlawed all the inhabitants of 
Artena, the refuge of mischievous rogues, and gave anyone 
the right to destroy the place. Yet, as late as between 1875 
and 1887, the relative number of robberies in Artena was SO 
times as great as in the rest of Italy, and the number of mur- 
ders, homicides, and assaults, from six to seven times as great. 
One of the families there, the Montefortinoa, maintained its 
reputation for crime through three centuries. And yet even 
this high degree of criminality, that remuned unchanged for 
centuries, does not prove the hereditary character of crimin- 
ality itself. It may equally as wdl be attributed to the unfortu- 
nate force oS «DUnple, that smothered good impulses before 
they could be developed. 

' Diigdal*, "The Jokea. A Study in crime, ptMpamn, diMue, and hend* 
ily," New Yorit, 1877, Futiuun. 

* Si^uU, "Cn pMoe di ddinqncnn" (Arch, di paicli. e d'uitropoL XI, 
laeoi p. Ml). 

■ KwtBa, "NaturgMcliklite de* Teriuecheni^" 1893^ p. IM. 



-Cooglf 



128 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 12 

We might obtain certain proof by means of one experiment : 
educating the healthy children of criminab in good sunoond- 
ings, in ignorance of thor descent, and then observing whether 
they showed criminal lendendea. This proof cannot be easily 
secured. The occasbnal tales that we hear of the breaking 
out of gypsy instincts after years of repression may wdl be 
banished to the realm of romance; th^ are not to be tal^ 
seriously. 

The principal reason why such experiments would not 

succeed is. ttmf th«^ <-lylr1rpn nt Ai^nm-atf pajpt^tj, thnn^ 

tree pe rhaps fwtm «^ n(»Tii tal cr'" ''"«l t ™d r ii rirni a rr in n ft rn 
DbysJ CTlly and mentally inf^ orr- Very int^esting in this* 
connection is a psychiatrical study made t^ Mfin^nmOllerA 
He examined 200 children in the Home for N^lected Childr«i 
in Lichtenberg, belonging to the ci^ of Beriin, among whom 
there were 134 that were guil^ of some offense. Of the 800 
hoys, not fewer than 68 were feeble-minded; and even the 
others showed sadi inferior mental ability that the institutioa 
was unable to tnaJntain a class that would conespcHid to the 
highest dass in the grammar school. Besides imbedli^. 
he found ^ilep^, hysteria, mental disease; in short, aft^ 
subtracting all those with mental defects, there remained only 
7S, including 10 epileptics, who were reasonably intelligent, 
and 8S normal children. MOnkemSller adds: "And yet, 
as often as I recall my notes on these normal children, I 
cannot help thinldiig that even this number is too high, and 
that, if I could have observed them carefully for a longer 
period, especially if it were a question of pronouncing them 
responsible in the sense that the word is used in § 51 of the 
Penal Code, there would be still more that could not be cUasi- 
fied under this head." 

■ MOnioKMtr, "PBychutriM^Ka aus dcr ZmugienidiiiD^UHtak** (ADg. 
Zatatlirift fttr Pvchutrie. LM, p. 14). 

, ...... C.ooQk- 



§ 12] PAKENTAGE AND TRAINING 129 

Tbe cause of this alarmingly large number of mentally 
d^ective children has little to do with the neglect of their 
training and instruction, for it is clear that those classed as 
imbedles are judged, not by the knowledge they possess, 
but by their ability to learn. We must, therefore, rq^ard this 
deficient or defective mentality as an inheritance from the 
parents. MOokemtiller's figures support this view. In 85 
cases, either the father or the mother, or both, were drunk- 
ards; in £4, insane; in 26, epileptics; and in as many cases, 
afflicted with some other severe nervous disease. 

In all but a few cases, the State education of these children 
had been ordered, because of the criminal tendencies they 
displayed. In view of their mental inferiority, we cannot 
entertain very high hopes of the success that it is possible to 
attain with them. But the majority of adult criminals are 
equally inferior in mind, which accounts for the imbecility 
and mental anomalies that are so conmMn among them. 

This makes it possible to dispense with the hypothesis 
that criminal tendentues, like artistic talents, for instance, 
are transmitted from parents to children. I expressly say that 
we can dispense with it, for it cannot be refuted or proved. 
The one fact that we can establish with certainty is, that the 
inheritance of the children of drunkards, insane persons, and 
epileptics consists of physical and mental inferiority. 

When the children come from degenerate or criminal fam- 
ilies, there is added to this inferiority the danger that lies in 
its further development. 

They lack, first of all, home truning, A not inconsiderable 
number of them are iUegitiniate, though the figures that would * 
indicate just how many vary tremendously. Of the convicts 
that Sichart ^ examined in WUrttemberg, 27%, of those that 

' Sidurt, "Vba individuelle Fdcbnen des Verbncbeai" (ZStW. ^ 
M). 

L ,l,z<,i:,.,G00^lf 



130 



I INDIVIDDAJ. CAUSES OF CRIKE 



(§12 



GuHl&ume ' saw in the petutentiwy in Bern, 14%, wNe <£ 
illegitimate birth. Among 41S male priaoners in Halle whose 
sentences were all for six mtHiths or over, I found that 8.9% 
were iUegitimate. Experiaice proves this to be aboat the 
average number. 

The figures given in the Prussian statistics <rf penal insti- 
tutions * are reproduced in Table XXJll. 



TABLE XXm 





.^.~ j .-..» 


BIUB 


FmuLM 


Uiu 


FmuiM 


Hub 


PmtiiM 


S.S 


lOJT 


8.8 


VL5 


il.« 


14.1 



In 1899, 9% (^ an the births in Germany were Ol^timate. 
In order to understand why a smaller percentage of the cxm- 
victs are of lU^timate birth, we must remember how great 
the mortality b among the children that, owing to their 
illegitimacy, lack proper care. In Pnissia, from 1875 to 1899. 
td 100 illegitimate children, S£.34% died in their first year, 
whereas among Intimate children the percentage was <mly 
18.24. This greatly alters the proportion to the wIk^ pt^a- 
lation of those who are of ille^timate birth. Up to the com- 
pletion of the nineteenth year the percentage of ille^timate 
childrm sank from \6M in flie first year <rf life tojul.* Thus 
we see that the rate of mortality continues to be higher among 

I OaH lan wt * , "Die Tnnniwrii 6a Bcmer Stwifintaltfii tmd Que Jngender- 



k der nan Reaaoit de* EgL pmiH. UiniaUnitmi dea Innem 
gdhttoendoi StnfuaUlten and GcfimgniaK." BeiUn. Dnicfcetei der Stn£i» 



* Elumktr vttd Spam, "Die Bedeutung der BenifavanuiBdKlMit Mr d 
SdniU der imehdidieo Kiiider." DiCMSen. I90S, p. SI. 



-Cooglf 



S12] 



PARENTAGE AND TRAINING 



131 



them throughout childhood. Thia fact should be borne in 
mind in jud^ng the figures given in the table. 

The unfavorable economic situation of unmarried mothers, 
their difficult social position, and the lack of normal family 
Hfe, combine to make the truning that ille^timate children 
receive inadequate in every direction. 



TABLE XXIT 





PalWCcsTKn 


Bd»u«i« 


Hui 


Fmtaa 
























» 

H 

8 

S 


9 

4 


H 




Poor 

UnkiM>wn 


74 
SI 



These figures of Guillaume's show clear^ how greatly the 
development of ill^timate children sufFers, especially in 
comparison with that of legitimate children. At the same time 
they afford us a deep insight into the education of all crim- 
inab, and show what share bad or inadequate training has 
in the genesb of crime. This is made most apparent by the 
rarity of good truning among female delinquents, which seems 
to be almost a condition o^ the adoption of a criminal career. 

The result of the invesUgation of the d^ree of education 
possessed by the inmates of Prussian penal institutions appears 
in the same light. 

The care with which the degree of education is ascertained 
varies greatly in the different institutions, otherwise the com- 
paratively low percentage of tramps, b^gars, and prosti- 
tutes who are imeducsted or deficient in educatioD, directly 
contradicting what other experience teaches us. would be 
quite incomprehensible. Hence, on account of the method 

.oosic 



132 



THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CRIME 



1112 



used in obtaining them, the statistics of the abilities of the 
inmates of PnisdaD special State schoob ("Zwangserae- 
hungsaustalten"). at the time of entraDce, are more valuable. 
1^ disappcunting result obtained by the intelligence test 
("IntelligenzprUfmig"} among inmates of these schools 
shows to sufficiency how low the average knowledge, that 
most external of aU marks of education, is, and how difficult 
the straggle for ezist^ice thus becomes for such children. 



TABLE XXV 
Scboding vaoag the tuutes of: 





r— .— — „ 


CouBnTB iMRnmB 




iwi-isoo 


i§s*-iNa 




Maim 


Pbuu 


Ualm 


P>»i« 


Wrthwrt 

Deficient 

Grammu Sdwcrf 

HigWScbooli 


CD 

east 

30.4 


16.5 
«1J 

si.e 

0.A 


as 


7.« 
11.8 
81.S 



We shall not err in assuming that a part of these youthful 
offenders, even with the most careful education, would never 
be aUe to master the complete grammar sdiool course (" Volks- 
Bchule"), owing to deficient mental ability; p^iaps — at 
least it might be so assumed from MtmkemOUer's experience — 
this is true of the majori^. On the other side, even -wbai the 
mentality is low, careful individual education and training 
often do wonders, as is shown by observation in institutions 
for imbeciles, and, on a somewhat higher plane, schools for 
feeble-minded children. All these possibilities are sddom used 
in the training of those children who form the majority of 
early offenders. 

Indeed, how can th^ be, when the father, and generally 
also the mother, work away from home from eariy tiU late. 



. ,, ..Ct 



§12] 



FABENTAGE AND TRAINING 



133 



and the duldi^i must tliiu be left to their imgovemed im- 
pulaes and the infiuences of the street? It may be considered 
a fortunate case if the parents even attempt, in the hours that 
remain to them, to train the children. But even that is rare. 
An examining judge in Paris, Albanel,' found that, among 



TABLE XXVI 
EmrcfcxtoK or MmoBS o 



Of 100 pnpib over 12 jaaa 












M|i 


ii 


ill 


IL 


dm 


I 


J 


lllll 


III 


ll 


IMS 


47.S 


0.8 


S9.e 


2.4 


10.4 


0.1 


1907 


M.T 


0.4 


40.9 


8.0 


10.8 


0.2 


iwe 


42.S 


0.4 


43.0 


2.6 


11.2 


0.2 


1«M 


41.3 


0.4 


42.S 


8.0 


18.9 


0.2 


IMH 


41.9 


0.4 


43.9 


l.» 


12.1 


0.2 


IMS 


9S.6 


0.S 


43.6 


2.8 


18.8 


0.6 


IMS 


80.9 


0.4 


41.7 


4.2 


18.S 


0.8 


IMl 


86.0 


0.2 


40.8 


«.8 


16.0 


0.2 



600 criminala mider twenty years of age, in SOS cases the 
family life of the parmts was destroyed owing to deafh, . 
divorce, desntion, illicit relations, or to some similar cause. 
What the training trf children is under such conditions can 
be easily imagined. 

Id addition to evil propensity and inadequate education, 
the most dangerous source of the criminal attitude is the 
influence of environment. According to Ferriani,* of 2000 

I AOaiul. "he crime duu la famiUe," 1900, p. 27. 
i, "HinderjlUirige Verbrecher," 1896, p. 76. 



134 THE INDIVIDIIAL CAUSES OF CBIME [$ 12 

convicted minora, 701 came from funilies with bad r^uta- 
tjons, 169 from those of questionable fame, and 53 from homes 
that were described as "utterly depraved." Among my 
priaoners 14.4% had relatives who had been convicted. I am 
convinced that the percentage is reaUy much higher, for many 
of the prisonos questioned, intentionally or from ignorance, 
probably gave wrong information. Among the inmates (rf the 
corrective d^>artment tor youthful offenders in the prison at 
I^yons, Rauz ^ found that 13% had been directly induced hy 
their parraits to conmiit crimes. 

^ccurate statistics, howevCT^^ je sca rcely n^g aary . The 
• amplest consideration of the subject imperatively forces us 
to the conclusion that only an intelligent person of partkni- 
larly 6rm character can withstand for long the influence of a 
vicioua environmrait. 

Investigations of living conditions reveal a pomtivdy hor- 
rible state of wretdiedness, both in cities * and in rural dis- 
tricts.* The living together in close quarters, even sleeiHng 
tc^ether, of adults and children, of parents and lodgers, 
must arouse sexual insUncta at an early age. The mode of 
life becomes so much the more dangerous, the less restrained 
the passions of the adults are, — particularly so, in the case 
of criminals and prostitutes. 

A diild that grows up among thieves and vagabonds, prosti- 
tutes and drunkards, forms his range of ideas after that oi 
those about him, and scarcely requires special instruction in 
order to act first as assistant, then as participant, in the exe- 
cution of the family's criminal plans. 

When necessity is added to all these things, the final hold 

> Jolg, "L'enfaDce ooup«bt«," lOOi, p. 39. 

* MutOM Oiutttdc-Kaitu, "SdunoUen Jadubudi," N. F. XX. tad Heft. 

* H. WHttnberg, "Die geacUechtlicli-dtdidMn VcridHwMe <kr naafafi* 
•dicn Luidbewobner im Deutscben Beiche." 



. ,i,z<,i:.., Google 



§ 12] PABENTAGE AND TRAINING 135 

u lost. Of Ferriani's 2000 minor criminala. 1758 lived in 
miserable poverty. If this lack of means is out of all propor- 
tion to the need of necessary food, it is much more so in regard 
to the uncontrolled dedre for comforts or luxuries. Early 
accustomed to drink, assodating with prostitutes from the 
time that sexual instincts first become active, uninfluenced 
by school-life, and, witli defective mtelligence, unchecked by 
fear of punishment and sober consideration of the advantages 
and disadvantages of a criminal career, — tliat is the picture 
presented by the inner life of those who come from depraved 
families and corrupt environment. 

The attempt to snatch a valuable member of human society 
out of this slough has no prospect of success, unless it is made as 
early as possible, before evil example has had time to exert 
its influence. But we mi^ hope to see our efforts rewarded 
if suitable education and truning is b^un in very early 
youth, and if we can prevent the child's return to the old. 
miserable conditions; this, of course, within the limitations 
that mental and phyucal disporitioD impose. The low grade 
of intelligmce, and the defects, such as deformity, epilepsy, 
hysteria, and sinular things, under which degenerate children, 
particularly the children of drunkards, have to suffer, force 
them down to a lower social plane, into the ranks of the day 
laborers and unsldUed workmen, and thus into circles in which 
alcoholism menaces them anew. 

In spite of this gloomy perspective, everything possible 
must continue to be tried, in order to save at least a part of 
these imperilled children. We shall probably fight in vain 
against what is due to natural bent or disposition, but not 
against what is merely the external consequence of descent. 



^laiiizodbvGoogle 



THE INDIVIDUAL CAIBES OP CBDfE [§ 13 



§13.: 

The low grade of ment^iiy found in the average criminal 
dims the optimistic hopes that were tonneriy entertained <^ 
the good results to be obtained hy increasing edacation among 
the people. It was believed that in this wtty even the lower 
dasses could be given a bettn understanding of the necessity 
for, and the requirements of, a r^ulated l^al State. "To 
instruct is to raise morality." Engel ' sou^t to prove the 
truth of this principle by the fact, that in the Department 
Calvados, in France, public instruction cost 20.S centimes p^ 
person, while justice cost 17.4; in Bonche du Rhone, on the 
contrary, only 16.4 centimes were expended tor instruction, 
and SO for justice. Thus, he asserted, every expenditure in the 
budget of instmction would be abundantly balanced by the 
savings in that of criminal justice. Iievasseur's * statistics , 
confirm this view; from lSi7 to 1877 the number of those who , 
were entirely uneducated fell, among the recruits, from 56 
to 16%; among the criminats, from 62 to 81%. 'nius,it^>- 
pears that the uneducated show a greater inclination towards 
crime than the educated. 

This is quite comprehensible, for his knowledge gives the 
educated man a great advantage over the one who is unedu- 
cated. He is able to find work, to obtain a livelihood, where 
ignorance makes it impossible for the uneducated man to 
do so. The fanner who has known how to take advantage of 
the progress of technical science will be able, under the same 
conditions, to obtain a yield from his property, even in times 
when the old-fashioned farmer stands face to face with ruin. 
The position of the uneducated man is equally unfavorable 
in all fields, and thia increases the danger <A his falling into 



' atedhy 
* Ilnd,, p. 6O0. 



. ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 13] EDUCATION 137 

The disadvantage of slight education lies in this, that the 
man is thus placed in a more difficult social position, ia more 
liable to economic poverty and dependence. Thus we can 
tmderstand why it is that, by simply rusing the standard of 
education, we are by no means able to do away with any 
considerable number of crimes. If the intellectual level of a 
nation is raised, the differences still remain unchanged; the 
man with less education will always fall behind the man with 
more. In Germany, the number of the illiterate, that is, of 
those who can neither read nor write, has fallen extraordi- 
narily. In 1875, among the recruits, there were still 2.37% 
illiterates, in 1890 only 0.5%, and in 1908 the number of those 
who could neither read nor write had sunk to 0.02%. The 
number of persons convicted, however, has increased more 
rapidly than the population, even as regards those crimes the 
l^al judgments of which have not altered in all these years. 
Hence, in spite of increased education, we have no improve- 
ment in I^al security. 

No statistical proof of the influence bf education on crim- 
inality can ever be brought. The simplest elementary 
knowledge is by no means a sign of education, intellectual 
attainment no measure of the developm^it of altruistic id^as. 
But — and this too, unfortunately, needs to be expressly 
mentioned — there can also be no proof to the contrary. 
The umple, childlike view, that the degree of education ob- 
ttuned in the lower schools menaces the harmless, deeply 
moral, mode of thought of the people, this sentimental glori- 
fication of the people in their primitive state, is based on en- 
tirely vague and unfounded prejudices. It is not increa^ng 
education that causes the growth of crime, but the changes 
that have taken place in all external conditions in the course 
<rf the last centuries. 

If instruction has any influence at all on criminality, this 

_ t'.OCWIc 



138 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CBIME [§ 13 

influence probably shows itself in the kind of crime committed. 
It is clear that no illiterate can forge documents, nor commit 
a crime in t^ce ("Verbrechen im Amte"). A complete 
faUure to perceive the cause and the accompanying phenome- 
non must have led Lombroao* to say: "However, if education 
is valuable for the populaticm in general, it neverthden 
ou^t not to be extended to the inmates of prisons, unless it 
is accompaoied by a special training, designed to correct the , 
passions and instincts, rather than to develop the intellect. 
Elementary education is positively harmful as applied to the 
ordinary criminal; it places in his hands an additional we^A>n 
for carrying on his crimes, and makes a recidivist of him. 
The introduction of schools into the prison . . . ezjdains, 
to my mind, the great number of educated recidivists." 
And in another place : * " To instruct the criminal means to 
perfect him in evil" ! Not because of instruction, but in spite 
of it, the rdapse takes place. Without doubt, the technical 
Imowledge that a criminal has obUuned in prisrai may be (tf 
use to him in a burglary or a falsification; but it is then just 
as certain that, without these newly acquired capabilities, 
he would have relapsed. To many others, however, the 
knowledge gained in prison, and the training in some trade. 
have meant the possibility of getting on better in the world 
after their discharge, and in this way, some, at least, have 
been preserved from an otherwise certain rdi^Me into crime. 
Knowledge and capabilities are always a mighty protection 
and a strong weapon in the stni^e for existence, but only Itx 
the individual. The general increase in education, especially 
within the limited sphere of the average grammar achooi 
instruction ("Volksachulunterridit"}, can have no appred- 
able effect on criminality. x/ 

' Lombnuo, "Clime: Its Cmiuea and Henttdact," p. 114; "Hodeni Oini- 
nal Sdence Serio," 1811, Borton, tnuM. ■ Ibid., p. SOI. 



§ 14] AGE 139 

§14. Age 

The actbns of youtli bear the stamp of impuMreuesa, 
which boldly approaches too difficult tasks. With increasing 
age caation and prudence grow, developing io old age into 
deliberation ^d wise resignation. To what extent do these 
psjrchological stages of development appear io criminality? 
Above all, how does the child develop into a personality 
respcmsible to the State? 

Our German Penal Code, like the penal codes of all Euro- 
pean countries except those of France and Belgium, starts 
with the assumption that criminal responsibility develops 
gradually.* From the time when the first distinct signs of 
cfmscious reaction to the provocatioDS of the external world 
become noticeable, the whole activity of the child is purely 
^oistic. It is dominated by the needs and desires of its own 
body, and to fulfill these the child strives with naive incon- 
aideration of others. But soon training b^fins its work at 
home and at scdiool. Diz * calls the home "the most impor- 
tant foundation of the entire social milieu." As far as the 
developmoit of altruistic modes of thought are concerned, 
I am inclined to attach still greater importance to the school 
than to the family. The school must not and cannot take the 
place of the home, but, within the close circle of family life, 
training and education are, after all, only possible to a limited 
extent, because encroachments on others' spheres of interest 
can be but slight in nature. Companionship with others of 
the same age in school, however, oitails innumerable conflicts 
which arouse in the child the indistinct desire to have his 
interests protected against others, and also awaken in him 

* Conpare 1117 diaciunoiia of: Stnfuiuutlndi^eit mid reUtiTe Stnfim- 
mtbidi^cit in Hodu, "Handbueh der gerichtlicben Piychutrie." Berlin, 
1001. Hindkwmld. 

* iNs, "SoBalnioial," Lripng, 1808. Fmind L Wittig, p. IT. 



.OOglf 



140 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OP CRIME [§ 14 

an understanding ot the necessi^ of adapting himself to others, 
to his suTToundinga, we might say, to the State on a small 
scale. 

At first, the child learns to obey without comprehensioii, 
from fear of punishment, from imitation, but soon his undei^ 
standing grova, and gradually he learns to overcome his own 
selfish impulses and pay attention to the interests of others. 
Right and wrong become definite notions, motives; thai 
distinctness and th^ wei{^ finally grow to the degree that 
constitutes respondbililT' to the law. 

Iliis devdfipment naturally takes place but slowly, at^ by 
step, and, just as naturally, is not equally rapid in all children. 
Tliis fact corresponds to the need of gradation, the division in 
our law into persons below the age of punishment, those 
relatively unpunishable, and those punishable. 

Up to the completion of the twelfth year the child is free 
from punishment. Unfortunately, we have no means of know- 
ing the frequenqr with which children commit anti-sotnal 
acts of a criminal nature. They are probably not rare, as 
the period up to twelve years embraces about one-third <A 
the civil population, though, of course, the very small children 
must be deducted from this number. Whether it would be 
easy to meet the demand for criminal statistics of those under 
the age of punishment, the desire for whi*^ is also expressed 
by Appelius,' cannot be said offhand. I cwisider it possible, 
with the co-operation of all the authorities concerned (school, 
police, and courts), to obtain at least an approximate summary 
of the danger to l^al security through children. 

Of the "juveniles," as those between the ages of 18 and 18 
are called in criminal statistics, only those are punished who 
are able to understand the nature and consequences of their 

■ Apptluu. "Dm Behandluiig jogcndlidter Vcrinedicr mtd yanthdoSba 
Kiiukr," Bb&i. ISOS, J. GuttenUg, p. 11. 



. ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 14] AGE 141 

act. In the clioice of this ezpreasion, it was probably over- 
looked that it leaves a wider margin than is desirable to the 
subjective opinion of the judges. This is best seen in the 
frequency with which juveniles are acquitted in conformity 
with § 56 of the Penal Code. Fwfm i897 to 1899 the num- 
ber of such acquittals, among 46^28 juveniles, was 1591, that 
is, 3.4%. 

This percentage was reached and exceeded fey twelve of 
theappellate provincial courts ("Oberlandesgerichtsbesirke"), 
Cologne having 10, and Kolmar 9.8%; a number of the others 
fell quite below the average; thus, Dresden (1.4%), Olden- 
burg (1.3%), ZweibrUcken (1.1%). The two districts, Cologne 
and Dresden, show about the same number of convictions, 
as well as of sexual crimes; Cologne's excess of cases of as- 
sault and battery balances the greater number ot thefts in 
Dresden. In order to explain the difference in the number of 
acquittals based on § 56, we are compelled to assume that 
the judges in Cologne required a higher degree of compre- 
hension than did those in Dresden. 

A comparison of juvenile offenders, between the ages of 
12 and 14, acquitted on the ground of insu£Scient compre- 
hension, gives the same result. For every 100 of these con- 
victed in all Germany from 1894 to 1896, there were 10.8% 
acquittals. Of the six appellate courts that reached or ex- 
ceeded this percentage, Kolmar stands ' at the head with 
«7.1%, followed by Cologne with 32.2%. Acquittals were 
rarest m Brunswick (0.5%), next in Oldenburg (3.1%), and 
Dresden (3.3%). 

It is perfectly justifiable to attribute much of this variation 
to the difference in the crimes, and also in the mental develop- 
ment of the population in the various parts of Germany. 
Enou^ remains, however, to force us to the conclusion that 
there is no uniformity and agreement as regards what is to 

I ,-<,::. Cookie 



142 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CBDfE [§ 14 

be understood uada "the comprehension of tlw criminal 
illegality of an act." 

The overburdening of certain conrts, unfortunatdy, makes 
it necessary to dispose of the individual cases in too short a 
time, and this makes it almost impossible to avoid a certain 
r^pilar system which makes use of purely external criteria, 
like age and physical devel<^ment. But the method of treat- 
ment in En^and and Ireland, as cited by Ernst Schusto',' 
can only be stigmatized as an absolute mockery of the words 
and intention of the law: "criminal responsibili^ begins afto- 
the completion of the sevmtb year; with children from 7 to 
14, according to the theory, proof must be given that ihey are 
suffidentiy mature to be able to distinguish between ri^t and 
wrong. In practice, however, sudi maturity is always assumed 
in diildreo over ten years!" 

If the coiiq>rdienfflon necessary to the perception ctf the 
criminality of an act, the "discemement" of the Fkendi, 
were merely subject to the error of different interpretations, 
that mi^t, perh^is, be overlooked. But the term is subject 
to the greater error of one-sidedness as well. It demands 
only a definite degree of intellectual development. In 
general, the development of moral education runs parallel 
to that of intellectual development, but self-control does 
not grow with the intellect. This is best seen in the 
kind of crimes most frequently committed by juvenile 
(lenders. 

In the first place, the high number of Mouthful offenders 
convicted of crime is striking, as we cannot fail to take into 
consideration that a la^e percentage of them enjoy the pro- 
tection <^ the parental roof for some of the years in question. 
It is the more surprising, then, to find that in certain raimes 

' "IKe Strai^Metigebimg ikr G^enirart in wchta wjJtkhu Kitt Dar- 
atcUung." Berim, ISM. Otto Lidmuuui, I, p. SM. 



§ 14] AGE 143 

the number of convicted children still of school age exceeds 
that of the adults. 

Very rarely in early youth will a child always be able to 
reast the temptaUon to take sweets and such things on the 
sly; it is generally just on such an occasion that the differ- 
ence between mine and thine, forbidden and not forbidden, 
is made clear to him. Criminal statistics show us, however, 

TABLE XXVn' 





Po 100,000 CimuB. iBOM 


CoancnD a INl o*: 


"y;^* 


Y^ 


18 Vmus 
ureOTB 


AU Crimea Mid (rfTeoM* 


4M.i 
230.4 
47.8 
14.7 
9.7 
3.7 
24.9 
30.2 
2.6 
8.8 
2.1 


910.1 

aa»A 

69.0 

».7 
41.8 
25.1 

ie7.8 

S7J 
2».2 

US 


U81.7 


GisDd krcenj' 

Ftaud 

Simple unult and battery . . . 

Halkiau* miKhief 


19.7 
T0.6 

78.1 
87t.S 

48.3 


Indecent UMidt on dtildren, etc. 


ii.6 







that these teachings are obviously much more easily followed 
by adults than by children. The temptation to enrich him- 
self at another's cost b conaiderab^ increased by the fact, 
that the diild has fewer ways and means of procuring money 
honestly than the grown person. 

The increasing love of enjoyment that no longer finds suf- 
ficient food in harmless games craves gratification; if the 
necessary means are not at hand, they become the motive for 
stealing, a motive against the power of which reason often 
fights in vwn. Tlie character lacks the maturity to conquer 
tbe temptation, which often, also, approaches from without in 
■ "SUtistik de* Deutachen BeiclKa." N. P. CXLVI, Q, p. W. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



144 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CBIME [§ 14 

the form of good frienda; the youthful optunism makes li^t 
of the danger of bdog caught; all these things combine, and 
the thief is there. And, with the thief, the receiver of stotto 
property, not, <d course, the professional, at least, not at <»ce. 
At the b^innlng, it is the companion who peihaps first sug- 
gested the theft and in return ahaies in the booty. Fraud, 
wliich requires more iutdligence and deliberation than does 
the theft, that is carried out more b<Jdly than cunningly, is 
rarer. 

Assault and battery and malicious mischief form a sectHid 
group of offenses. Although the number of convictions for the 
formtt is considerably lower than the number of adult con- 
victions, yet it must not be forgotten that, in the etiok^Qr «tf 
this crime, the public-house plays the principal part. Fot- 
tunately its pwtals are not yet customarily opta to mincns. 
It must be admitted, however, that in this respect too re- 
grettable progress is noticeable. While the number of those 
of punishable age convicted of this offense increased from 
1882 to 1901 by 84.S%, the numba of convicted mincas io- 
creased by 130.1%! 

The minor responds relatively eaaly to provocatitm by 
brutal violence; this is best shown by a comparistm <^ the 
number of cases of aggravated assault and battery with 
the convictions for insult, which are very similar in the case 
c^ adults. The young fellow, on the contrary, is apt to 
wreak his anger on inanimate things, sniashtng evoything 
within reach, but at the same time he does not shrink from 
attacking others with a stick or knife. Thus, it is his phyacal 
strength, the awakening of which he notices with pleasure 
and seeks to train in athletic dubs and gymnasiums, that is 
the main in<%ntive to the offense that is second in frequency 
with him. His first drinking escapades, whidi also occur 
during these years, are naturally so much the mwe smooB 



?'3 

§14] AGE ^ 145 

because, imaccuatomed to alcohol as he is. he has not yet 
learnt by experience to be moderate. 

In general, sexual development does not take place with us 
till in the fourteenth or fifteenth year, or even later, so that, 
for physiological reasons, a very large number of minors 
do not come tinder consideration as regards sexual crimes. 
In spite of this fact, the number of convicted children under 
fourteen nearly reaches a third of the adults' share. This 
fact appears in a still graver light when we take into account 
that, generally, more than half <A the children arraigned for 
such offenses are acquitted on the ground of insufficient com- 
prehension. From 1899 to 1901 the number of convictions 
amounted to 988, the number of acquittals, based on \ 56, 
to S55 among children under 14 years. Thus, for eveiy three 
cases of rape among adiUts, th^e are two cases among children, 
of whom only a very small number are sufficiently developed 
sexually to commit the crime. This gives us a measure for 
the strength with which sexual instincts appear from the 
beginning; between the ages of 15 and 18 the^ make criminals 
of nearly double as many persons as among the physically 
and ment^ly mature. 

When it first appears, the sexual instinct finds little to check 
H. The reticence towards children that people cultivate 
in r^ard to sexual subjects results in this, that the child's 
intdlectual development leaves him absolutely tn the lurch 
in r^ard to this very matter. His feelings, neither clear nor 
comprehensible even to himself, yet often extraordinarily 
powerful, do not meet, in their striving for gratification, with 
a dosed phalanx of prohibitions and warnings. But even if 
such existed, the str^igth of the desire for sexual gratification 
is greater than that of the reason. We see this ev«y day, 
even with grown people, who are not hindered by the full 
knowlec^ fA the dangers of intercourse with prostitutes from 

I _,..■ . Cookie 



146 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 14 

exposing themseivea again and agun to the probability of a 
serious injury to their beidth. How much less can reasim 
achieve with dkildren! 

Adults, even those who are unmarried, can more eas3y 
obtain opportunities for sexual intercourse than can minors. 
This also increases the danger and makes it comprdiraiaible 
why children are so largely concerned in sexual crimes. 
The stormy outburst of the sexual impulse breaks throo^ 
and obliterates the boundaries ot the legally permissible. 

lite crime of arson occupies a peculiar position. In the 
country it is frequently committed by servants fnmi motivefl 
of revenge. Commonly the young man or girt is irritated by 
a scolding or a blow, and his or her anger gives rise to the wish 
to be dismissed or to play some trick on the master. A tempt- 
ing means of accompUshing this is the bam, and it is probable 
that the pleasure irfiicb many people experience in watching 
a blase is also not without influence. Whether this process 
can take place in a perfectly normal brain, would certainly 
be worth a more exact investigation, for which my material, 
unfortunate^, is inadequate. Nevertheless, it can scarcely 
be chance that five <^ the six young giils convicted of arson, 
idiom I examined carefully in the course of a year while th^ 
were in prison, were unusually weak minded, only one being (A 
normal intelligence. In every case the court had assumed 
the child to be capable of comprehoiding her act, and in some 
instances had imposed really severe penalties. 

I cannot retrain from referring to still another experience. 
Epilep^, arson, mysticism, crudty, and sexual ^xitement, 
are all interrelated; even though the psychological root of 
this relation is ^itirely unknown to us, yet the frequency of 
this combination points to deeper connection, which probably 
borders on the patholc^cal. I would not be understood as 
saying that every one of these factors is found in evay case at 

Coogic 



§ 14] AGE 147 

anon, but it is, nevertlieless, advisable to consider the possi- 
bility of a pathological origin of the crime; it seems to me 
to be absolutely necessary to investigate this whole question 
with the aid of a careful analysis of numerous cases. 

Apart from cases of arson, we have still three main poups 
of crimes committed by juveniles: crimes against pnq>erty, 
crimes of violence, and crimes against chastity. This combi- 
nation sufficiently proves that legislation is guilty of one- 
sidedness, in that it I^s the emphasis precisely on the devel- 
.opment of the understanding. Those impulses and instincts 
that we have mentioned as being stronger and less disciplined 
among juveniles than among adults, are not all with which 
we have to reckon; to these must be added at least the 
greater ezdtability of the emotions, and the desire to imitate. 

The dangers of the youthful period of development are the 
mote smous for public safety, the greater the extent to which 
the growing generation participates in the struggle for exist- 
ence. If it be true that many crimes have their origin in 
external circumstances, this must show itself the more clearly 
with minors, the earlier and the more numeroudy they leave 
the protecUon of the paternal roof to work in factories. 

Our statistics give information in r^ard to the displacement 
("Verschiebung") of industrial conditions.* It is not so great 
as is g^ierally supposed. It is true that in the last census 
of occupations in 1895, 21.18% of those engaged in gainful 
occupations were under 90, in 1882 only 19.90%. But 
only certain isolated kinds of occupation are concerned in this 
increase, to the greatest extent those that provided board and 
lodging (2«.00 : 14.63%), building trades (21.16:16.47%), 
metal industries (28.90 : 24.51%), and commercial occupations 
(16.87 : 13.64%), while in agriculture and forestry, as well as in 

' "Die beruflkhe und aomle GUcderung <lea deutadien Vdkca" (Statktik 
de* DeutacbcD Reicbea. N. F. Ill, p. 151). 



,-<,::. GoOglf 



14S THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CBIUE [§ 14 

miimig, the pn^rartion of those imda 20 has remained 
exactly the same. Thtis, although the nomber of youthful 
workm^i in the countiy has undei-g(»te no change, the increase 
in tlie number of minors in factories aod in hot^ and public- 
houses is most deariy seen. The foUowing figures nu^ serve 
to show how f requ«itly minors are oigaged in gainful occu- 
pations: in 1895 th«e were 4,000,317 persons under 90, 
1,007,358 under 16, and 146,200 under 14, who were thus 
iadepoidently at work; no account b taken of those who 
worked only occasionally. 

TABLE XXVlli' 
OwTictHU per 100.000: 



Yu> 


W- 


Wbmam 




10O7 

iiao 

USl 
12*8 

1«1 




Between 1887 and IBBl 


«8 















The figures of crinunal statistics do not prove by thansdves 
that the effect of the greater partidpation of minors in indus- 
trial life is injurious. But one thing cannot fail to be recog- 
nized: the number of persons under 18 wbo are convicted 
is increasing more rapidly than the number of convicted grown 
persons. 

The increase among adults (20.4%) is considerably less 
than that among minors (30.5%). Since reacting its dimax 
in the year 1892, however, the number of convicted minors 
diminished somewhat up to 1897. Now, as industrial life 
has made a tremendous advance since that very year, and, 
conseqn^itty, the whole number of workmen em^doyed, and 

1 BedMted from "SUt d. D«iiUcben BeidM*" (N. F. CXLVI. I. 35 and 

D,a,l,zt!dbvG00gIe 



§ 14] AGE 149 

idso the number in proportion to minors, must have grown, 
it mi^t almost appear as if crime was rather prevented than 
furthered by the entrance of young people into industrial life. 

VoD liszt,' contrary to his former opinion, has lately ad- 
vanced this view, and has formed the hypothesis: "Under 
favorable economic conditions, and when the demand for 
workmen is high, a number of youths are employed in factories 
as substitutes for grown workmen. There their situation is 
assured to a certain extent by legislation for the protection ot 
workmen, much more, indeed, than it would be today at 
least, if they were engaged in home industries. When the 
economic situation becomes less favorable, the boys employed 
in the factories are the first to be dismissed and turned into 
the street. They have lost the means of *^rning their hveli- 
hood and are no longer able to satisfy the new tastes and 
habits they have formed, so that social shipwreck is bound 
to occur." 

Unfortunately, this optimism, that sees in the temporary 
diminution of criminality since 1892 a ground for the conclu- 
sion that the industrial activity of minors is beneficial, does 
not seem to me to be entirely justified. Here, too, it is neces- 
sary, in order to see clearly, to separate the whole number of 
crimes into the different offenses. We then see (Table XXIX) 
that it is only the decrease in the thefts that leads us to believe 
in the improvement. Otherwise, we find that in reality an 
alarming increase in the convictions of juveniles has taken 
place, and in particular, precisely in their most characteristic 
offenses, with the exception of theft, which has increased only 
8%. Aggravated assault and battery has increased 123% 
per 100,000 juvenUes, breach of the peace 128.6%, insult 
105%, redsting an officer 50%, malicious misdiief 65%, 

' Fan LU^ "Die ErinunaliUt d«r JngoidUcheii." Lectura detiTered be- 
fore the Bheiniach-WcatflUiMbeD GcfKiigiiUBeaellschaft, 1000. 



leo 



THE INDIVIDIIAL CAUSES OF CBIME 



I§1* 

{raud and embeszlement 40%, offenses against chastity 
19%.' 

In most of these crimes the increase is a perfectly regular 
and uninterrupted one. These figures prove how dubious the 
participatioD of minors in industrial life is; the boy who eariy 



TABLE XXIX 

PnooNB CoNVU-THu rEB 100,000 HiNoaB (» THB Civil PcvdiiIbon 

(SUtiitik dea DeatMJKn Baches, N. F. CXLVI. I, lOi.) 





1M« 


IB8t 


ISM 


IBM 


use 


1SB7 


ISSS 


ists 


isso 


IStl 


1SS« 


MS 


isst 


Riditua to Sute M- 

Ib-tejr 

BR«di<4tbepew . . 
CriHi ud gatwn 

•wdMtclwtitr . . . 

brtlay 

feothitmr 

FMh bionr ^u t- 

fttd 

Gtudlu«r 

Gnwl kfwr .W. ». 

-rS— : : : : 

Prud 

HiUacn mi«h>>( . . . 


* 

H 
■• 

11 

« 

M 
U 

4 
M 
M 
■1 


f 

IS 
U 

w 
m 

IS 

M 

M 


» 

ITS 
IS 

w 

M 
SI 
SI 


* 
. T 

M 

U 

N 
tfS 

11 

■t 

H 

ss 


9 
W 

n 
us 

11 

I* 

4 
« 
«f 

SO 


a 
w 

tn 

II 

at 

s 
ts 

S4 


B 
1( 

M 

11 
«• 

ts 

tt 

s« 


■ 

H 

ra 
tsi 

11 

4« 

ts 


11 

17 

at 

11 

M 

SS 

w 


IB 

78 

i* 

SS 
IS 

ss 


It 
it 

SI 

sti 
ss 

ss 

St 


It 

u 

IS 

ss 

tn 

IS 

ss 
« 


tt 

ss 

ss 
ss 


AD criDM ud offoix* 
■Oiait ulioul Un . 


H8 


sv 


S78 


MO 


MI 


JTS 


MS 


eit 


> 


«n 


TSS 


- 


™ 



in life is able to earn the means of "enjoying his life," pays lor 
this enjoyment by losing his blamdess reputation. 

Only one point contiadicts this, the relative stagnatioa of 
the convictions for theft. In the first year included in the 
statistics, 1882, the industrial situation was unfavorable 
(compare p. 110); this corresponded to the high number ol 
thefts, that was not equaled again until the years 1894>-1892. 

' The Isst figure is no doubt most inflnenced by the eridefit nmaue m 
ftcqmttala on the ground of | M cl the Penal Cod^ the leanlt ol which ac- 
quittals U to give sn outwardly fsvorable aspect to the ciimiiiBlitjr of javaiileB. 



§141 



AGE 



151 



Prom then on, the improvement b noticeable, corresponding 
to the lower prices of gnun and the higher wages that came 
with the industrial high tide. The improvement of minors, 
however, owing to their greater psychic sensibility, remains 
considerably below that of adults. With increased prosperity. 



TABLE XXIX— (CoMtmuwi) 
Pebbonb Cokvictsd pmb 100,000 Minobs or tax Civn, Pofulatiom 
(Sututik dM DcutMlien Beiches, N. F, CXLVI, 1. 10«.) 







ISM 


lew 


>SM 




1300 


1301 


1*M 


1333 


IM4 


1303 


... 


ibority 

BMdi of Uh pow - . 
Criwm *h1 etfXH 

ttbmiauMdir . . . 

I«lt 

Sinvbiii^tiDdbrtUrT 

oSi^ :::: 

Gnad Untar wl»»- 

,rS™»,' ; : ; : 

Fnod 


» 

W 
«78 

IS 
M 

M 


u 

M 

S3 

M 


I* 
i» 

M 
Ml 

n 

S3 
M 


le 

1> 

w 

IB 

IDS 
MS 

37 

SS 


M 
11 

m 

M 

34 

30 

«0 


13 
IIS 

*^ 

33 

3i 
SO 
M 


■0 
■0 

117 

33 
St 


ae 
ti 

IS 

lis 

N 

sa 

(8 

40 


M 
N 
17 

103 

St 
4S 


to 

tl 

100 
ITS 

i 

S3 
43 


13 
« 

to 

103 

tsi 

30 

33 

t7 


13 
•1 
IB 

137 

304 

M 

33 

IS 


■Oinrt uti«il law. . 


TM 


™ 


TM 


» 


na 


™ 


n» 


140 


TtS 


™ 


nt 


« 



their needs grow, and, unfortunately, not their thirst for knowl- 
edge and higher forms (rf amusement only. The pubhc danc- 
ing hall and the salooa grow to be habits of life aU too early; 
the sad consequence appears in the increase of crimes of 
violence. 

But what may happen if hard times again succeed the pres- 
ent prosperous period? It is always dangerous to prophesy, 
but, still, I consider it necessary to prognosticate the coming 
years. If it should come true, it may be considered as a test 
of the correctness of the views I have just advanced. The 

V.OOc^lc 



152 THE INDIVIDITAL CAUSES OF CBIME [§ 14 

industrial crisia will bring about a drop in wages and a greater 
number <i disnussals. These diamisaalB will first affect the 
youthful workmen and those who are physically and meo- 
tally inferior. A part of tbem will seek to obtain by dishonesty 
what their lack of employment prevents th«r obtaining other- 
wise, the necessaries of life; also, however, the gratificatkHi 
of their habits. If, in addition, the price ot grain should 
actually rise, I assume, with Seuffert* and von liszt, that we 
shall have a remarkable increase in the number of thefts. 

I have allowed the above paragraph to stand as I wrote it 
in 1905. In the meantime, statistics have shown that my 
prognostication was right. The figures for theft, and also 
those for the total criminalily, have risen to a hitherto un- 
equaled bdght, and thus, also, a considerable part of our 
dangerous youths have been restruned from exercinDg their 
criminal inclinations by corrective training ("Fflrsorgeer- 
Behung"). That this has its effect, is shown by the decrease 
in the number of convictions for (Senses other than the first. 

The economic crisis will have a favorable effect on the crimes 
of violence, possibly even cause a halt in the uninterruptedly 
rising line, but will scarcely cause it to descend perceptibly. 
The yean 1889-1892, with their high price of bread, also 
raised the number of thdts, but were not able to check the 
rise of the crimes of violence. 

If we look into the future, the prtupect is not bri^t, but 
one thing gives us a glimmer of hc^. The corrective-edu- 
cation law ("Ftlrsorgeerzi^ungsgeaetz") of the individual 
States — which it is to be hoped will soon give way to a law 
for the whole Empire — gives the State and the authorities 
^>areDts can scarcely be considered), a welcome means of 
preventing endangered and dangerous juveniles from living 
at lai^ and unoontrdled in society. If aO the authorities 
■ Loe. eA. p. 27. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 14] AGE 153 

concerned do their duty, and provide for every child that has 
come into conflict with the criminal law, and whose home offers 
no guarantee for improvement, a tremendous external im- 
provement in the criminality of our boys and girb will be 
attained; if, in addititm, all those children are included who 
are in danger of falling, we can be sure of success. 

How far this success will go, the future alone can show. 
Its perfect completeness, that b, the real improvement of these 
children, that will make of a neglected child a useful member 
of human sodety, will probably often remain a "pium deside- 
rium." But the gain is stilt great it all these dubious elements 
are only rendered innocuous for a few years, in particular (or 
those years in which criminal perils are particularly strong. 

Youth resembles a very sensitive instrument, the functions 
of which suffer from even the gentlest external touch. That 
u true not idone for juveniles of the Penal Code: even older 
boys and girls of from 18 to 21 show but little ability to resist 
temptations of all sorts. Table XXX shows the share of each 
age in relation to the total nmnber of responable persons of 
the same age. 

It is worth while, in this respect, to consider the two sexes 
separately. Among young men of from 18 to 21, the most 
frequent crimes are: offenses agunst chastity, petit and 
grand larceny, receiving stolen goods and forgery, robbery 
and extortion, and, oftenest of all, malicious mischief, — 
the same crimes, that is, as those committed by juveniles. 
The years from 21 to 25 show the greatest participation in 
crimes altogether, manslaughter, breach <A the peace, simple 
assault and battery, fraud and embezzlement. Thus we see 
that at this age, to the emotional crimes and dishonesty are 
added, in growing numbers, the crimes requiring deliberation, 
like fraud and embezzlement; the character of the crimes of 
violence, if one may say so, becomes somewhat more harm- 



154 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 14 

less, breach of the peace taking the place <d malidoas mis- 
chief, and simple assault and battery that of aggravated 
assault and batteiy. Between iS and SO the climax is 
reached for murder, for coercion and threats, and also tor 
procuring women for prostitutioa; at this age the procurer 
thrives. With advancing age deeds of violence grow less, 
and, probably in connection with the occupation, the offenses 
that come into the foreground between SO and 40 are break- 
ing out of Jul and insult, whOe between 40 and £0 it is vioU> 
tion of oath that becomes prominent. 

The weakening body becomes unfit for all those orimes in 
which physical strength and skiU are oecessaiy; there is leas 
energy, and finally, in advanced age, but little crime occurs. 
Thus, for instance, while grand larceny reaches its hi^iest 
point between the ages of 18 to 21. after the seventieth year 
it sinks back to the 150th part, in relation to the same 
number of reiqx>nfflble persons of the same age. So mudi 
the more striking is the high number of convictions for in- 
decency and rape, which at this age nearly equals the fourth 
port of the convictions of young moi in the most vigorous 
age (18-21). It should be distinctly emphasized bae, that, 
with few exceptions, such cases are due to pathological coa- 
ditions. In our climate sexual desires usually cease at mxty 
years; it is very rare for them to be found at a great age. 
£veiy man over seventy who is guilty of such an offense 
should be made the subject of a psychiatrical report; in that 
case most of them would not find their way into pristm, but 
into the insane asylum or home for the aged, where they ri^tly 
bdong. Among all those whom I have come across I have not 
found one who was mental^ sound; in every case there was 
pronounced senile decay.' This view is also supported by the 

> A»diafftiiinire, "Znr I^TcboIogie iex s; ttlw4>fc»iit« wri»M.lM*" QtfSehr. 
Erim. P^ch. n, 4M). 



. ,;™:,C00glc 



§141 






Hi. 



Hi 



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SJSISSiSgS sliSSSSS/tl 



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li|||||iii iiliijiiii^ 



1^' 

8s> ■ ' = 



. . . t J 3. J t 

ssas laifsaassss 

/DiailizodbvGoOgle 



156 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CBIME [§ 14 

fact, that most of these dd men have led bUmdess lives. 
Among the 303 moi of 70 yeara and over who were convicted 
between 1897 and 1899, 216 had never before been punisliedl 

Among women the conditiMis are ali^tly shifted; a v^y 
dangerous age with them is betweoi 18 and SI, when all kinds 
of crimes arising from dtahonesty, eapecially petit and grand 
larceny, embeszlement, fraud, and forgery are committed. 
Betweoi the thirtieth and the ftntieth year violence reaches 
its ctimaz, especially assault and battery, resisting an officer, 
malicious mischief, and indudng women to prostitution. In- 
stead of the men-procurers, we have the women keepers of 
brothels, and landladies, who nuuntain the nmnber of con- 
victions almost at the same height even for the nert decade. 
To these, however, are added, also, the insults and breai^ies 
of the peace that frequently result from quarrds in tene- 
ment houses, violation of oath, coercion, and, finally, re- 
ceiying stolen goods. Whereas, among boys, it is generally a 
coyrade who acts as the receiver, among girls it is often an 
agcJ w(»nan who makes a business of the practice, and — 
unfortunately — it is frequently the mother yrbo recdves the 
godra and supports her children in their thieving. 

Adnrding to Quetelet,' "the inclinaticm to steal is eariiest 
devel^'^ed, and, in a manner, controls the man all his life. 
It is & ?t active in the family drde, and thus thievoy in the 
househojji is developed. Then the youth also turns his atten- 
tion to (jdier spheres, sometimes resorts to violence, and does 
not even tstop at murder. This latter phase, however, is pre- 
ceded by}Uie inclination to carnal crimes, that is so strong 
in youth.N nd that goes hand in hand with the heat <rf de^re 
and the ex« esses that accompany it. The youthful criminal 
first seeks hW victim among those lea^ capable of resistance. 

' Quettiet, "PScaqae kkmIc on enu mr le d^vrioppemeilt det bcnhfa At 



" 18SB, n, p. ! 



\ L ,i,z<,i:,.,Goq^lf 



§ 14] AGE 167 

Be then comes to the crimes that are committed with calm 
deliberation. The man who has become cooler simply de- 
stroys his victims by mmder and poison; the last phase is 
characterized by deceit and cunning, which take the place 
of strength. Avarice awakes anew and leads the criminal 
to falsifications; now be seeks to strike his enemy in the dark. 
If aezual desires still exist, such men seek their victims among 
weak children; to this extent there is a certain similarity 
between the first and the last steps in the career of oime." 

This description does not entirety agree with German 
statistics and is apt to produce a false impression, inasmuch 
as it is very rare to find an individual who has led the whole, 
or even a part, of this criminal career. The distributi<») over 
the different ages corresponds much more to the different 
stages of physical and mental devel(^meDt and the way in 
which they are influenced by the external conditions of life. 
A young fellow, when he steals, is much more likely to depend 
on his phydcal agility than an older man is, and the latter, 
therefore, prefers to steal only when opportunity offers, or 
to depend more on fraud and embezzlement. For the same 
reason, when he quarreb, he will rather rest satisfied with 
mere verbal abuse than try his strength with the other; in 
tbis connection it must also be taken into consideration that 
alcoholic excesses, accept where habitual drunkards are con- 
cerned, decrease with advancing age. 

The whole method of considering ages does not, neverthe- 
less, afford us a deep insight into the etiology of crime, except 
in the case of the very young, and, to a certain extent, the very 
old. But what experience with juveniles teaches us is so much 
the more important and instructive, because it shows us what 
dangers attend the age of adolescence, and where the lever 
must be applied in order to keep the annual crowd of juveniles 
from the first step in a criminal career. . 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



158 THE INDIVIDUAL CAU^S OF CRIME [§ 15 

§15. Bez 

The criminality ctf moi and women shows lemaricable differ- 
encea (Table XXXI). Certun offenaea, except aa regards 
bong an accessory, which is relatively rare, are only possible 
for one ot the two sexes because of thor nature, as, for instance, 
infanticide jC$ SIT) with women, dueling, illegal marriage, 
rape, avoiding nuHtary service, with men. The abandonment 
of children and criminal abortitm are also, for obvious reasons, 
more frequ«it among women. Apart from the fact that in 
moat cases it is the woman who has to bear the greater care 
of the new or unborn, generally illegitimate, diild, it is prob- 
ably much easier to prove a woman's partidpation in a case 
of abortion than a ntan's. On one point we must not deceive 
ourselves: the number of convictions for this crime bears 
no relation whatever to the frequency of the offense; it 
merely shows, as Lewin ' says, "the greater or leaser skill with 
which abortion is concealed." 

Convictions for procuring women for proctitutifni aie strtk- 
in^y frequent among women. This is partly due to the fact 
that prostitutes ate much more inclined to help their men 
companions out of a dilemma in court than they are to aid 
the women who ke^ brothels or rent rooms. But we are not 
justified in taking this offense all too seriously. Frequently 
the wonken concerned keep bouses for roistered prostitutes, — ■ 
hence, with the consent of the police. If such a woman offends 
a neighbor, who is probably no better herself, the latter may 
report the case, and the public prosecutor is then obliged 
to proceed, and the court to convict! As regards this offense. 
too, it need scarcely be repeated (compare p. 96) that the 
rarity of convictioD is out of all proportion to the frequenqr 
of the crime. 

* Ltviit, ke. eiLp.fn, 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 15] SEX 159 

In all other offenses women's criminality is far below that 
of men. The woman tliief and receiver of stolen goods is 
comparatively frequent. Apparently tliat is the kind of dis- 
honesty that their nature and manner of life make most easily 
possible to than. They lack the phyncal ddll and the 

TABLE XXXI 
NvuesK or Addu Wohmm Comtictbd m IMM pmb 100 Aimur Mim 

CoNVlC7K> 

Indudng women to p ro rtituti im ff<a the iTMr 1907) .... 7S.S ■ 

RccMring atoIeQ goodi M.ft ' 

niaoo bnacli 87.8 . 



Petit laroenjr 31.4 

~ ■ 1»JI. 



n*iid 



Sinqde Mwnlt Mid battcay . . 

&c*di of the pewN 

Asgnvated uaBslt utd battoy 

GnndlBNeny 

Mkliciou* nuacbief 

Cocraoa and thtesla 



RtAbery and fxtortion 9.0 

Indecent MKulta tm duldrai, «tc 0.48 

courage to break and enter; embezzlemmt and fraud prosper 
better in commercial pursuits, in which wom«i are relatively 
less engaged than are men. 

The infrequency of assault and battery and malicious 
nuschief is due less to their lack of physical strength than to 
the fact that they are less given to drinking than men. A 
drunken woman, too, is more apt to express her fuiy in verbal 
abuse than in a direct attack. I hesitate, however, to trace 
the frequency ot insults to this rare source. The cause is 



160 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OP CRIME [§ 15 

rather to be found in the greater sensitiveness of the woaian, 
who is onJy too apt to think that some unfriendly remark 
casts a reflection on her honor, and replies with an insult; 
the constant friction between the inmates of large teDemmt 
houses is also partly to blame. 

RnaUy, another specifically feminine offense is false accusa- 
tion. Though the number of such offenses committed by men 
is greater than that of those committed by women, yet we 
must not overlook the fact that women are kept from conflicts 
to a much larger extent because of their work at home and 
their domestic seclusion. The act of which persons are oft«i 
falsely accused is a sexual attack, and the victims of sucii 
false accusations are frequently clei^ymen and [^sicians. 
The accusation is not alw^s a pure iavention; sometimes 
hysterical ddusions and misundostood pathological sensa- 
tions are at the bottom erf it. It occaaonally happms that such 
an accusation is made after narcosis or hypnotism, when oniy 
the presence of a second person can protect the i^ddan. 

On the whole, it may be said that women's crimes bear 
rather the character of i nsincerit y, those of men of brutality. 
We have reason to be glad that the number of convicti<His, 
compared with the total number of responsible women, 
shows but an inconsiderable increase, 15% less, in fact, than 
the increase in the convictions of male individuals in two 
decades (Table XXXU). 

The importance of this stagnation in women's criminality 
must not be underestimated; above all, because <A the eco- 
nomic significance that an accumulation of female convic- 
tions would have. This fact seems to me still more telling as a 
proof that women's greater participation in economic compe- 
tition does not mean greater criminal danger. Embezzlement. 
fraud, recriving stolen goods, have all decreased, in spite of 
the fact that more and more women are engaged in industrial 

_ Cooxic 



§ 15] SEX 161 

and commercial life or as working women. The geogr^yliica) 
distribution also shows us that the industrial districts are, 
for the most part, below the average, as r^ards women's 
criminality.' It is not the work in factories and shops that 
produces crime, but its accompaniments, especially the taking 
part in amusements and carousals. The increase in crime 
among men and minors, and its stagnation among women, 
can only be explained by this difference in the mode of life of 
the two sexes. 

TABLE XXXn* 



CunvurnOm PBR 


100.000 Aoora o 


r THiSAiaSMi: 




YM- 


M- 


w™ 




17M 

8001 






ISW-lWl 


SH 




19J% 


s% 







A few words must be said in regard to the question whether 
the lesser criminality of women is not perhaps explicable by 
the fact that prostitution claims a lai^ number of criminal 
women. Lombroso* positively asserts: "If cases of prosti- 
tution are included in the criminal atatistica, the two aexea 
are at once placed on an equality, or the preponderance may 
even be thrown on the side of women." He himself, indeed, 
contradicts this sentence when he speaks of the large number 
of convicted juvenile girls (only i% in Germany, by the way) 
as being derived from the "prostitutes not yet of age," and 
further, when he emphasizes the high criminality of prosUtutes. 

' Compare in thii coonectioa Mkp IP m tbe SUtiitics of the Genn&n 
EmiHrB, N. P. CXLVl. 

> T*kea from the Statistia of the Gcnwm Emiure, N. F. CXLVI, n, 87. 

* "Crime: it* CauMs and Remedica," p. 180, "Hodera Crimiiwl Sdence 
Series"; Borbm, traiu. 



..Coo^^lc 



162 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OP CRIME [§ 16 

I also bdieve it is tnie thst ve may aotDetimes see in the 
proetitute the equivalent of the criminaL Blany a yoang giri 
vould resort to stealing and embeszlemait in order to gratify 
her desire for pleasure and dress, if prostitution did not afford 
her an easier and more profitable means of satisfying her 
wishes. 

NevwthelesB, I do not bdieve that it is the male thid, 
street robber, at totget that corresponds to the prostitute, 
but the b^fgar and the vagrant. Onl; in a very shght d^ree 
do prostitutes possess the qualities that are essential to the 
carrying out of graver crimes, to deliberate, purposeful actiofi 
(p. 9S). In general, they axe apathetic persons, li^/-lHng in 
eneigy and frequently somewhat weak-minded, who would 
not, indeed, stop at crime if occasion should offer in a tnnpting 
form, just as the tramp does not disdain at times to lay hands 
on others* property. But on the whole, beggars and vaga- 
bonds, as well as prostitutes, shirk energetic action. 

At present, then, I can see no reason for r^arding prosti- 
tution as a kind of criminal safety valve which allows the active 
dangerous inclinations of womm to find another outlet; H 
is rather a substitute for the relatively harmless b^gar and 
tramp. 

§ 16. Sonuftie Statu ' 

Judging by von Oettingen's' experience, the number of om- 
victed persons b nearly everywhere greater among the unmar- 
ried than among the married. He sees in this "a proat of the 
elevating power of family life, in spite of the fact that the 
cares of occupation and of providing for the family are nuse 
numerous in this case. But within the sphere of regulated 
domestic and business life such cares have a beneficial influ- 
ence; they prevent ^coesses." In contrast to this, the aim- 

> Loe. eiL p. SM. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 16] DOMESTIC STATUS 163 

inal statistics of the German Empire point out that "great 
c&ution must be used in deducing anything from the influence 
of domestic status on criminality." * 

Our statistics divide criminals, according to thdr ages, 
into three groups only: from 21 to 40, from 40 to 60, and 60 
and over. In the first group, in 1901, tlie unmarried, widowed, 
and divorced predominated aa regards most offenses, those 
excepted bdng prison breach, insult, simple assault and 
battery, coercion, embezzlement, recdving stolen gooda, 
extortion, and forgeiy. Betweoi the ages of 40 and 60, 
robbery and violent extortion are the only exceptions in 
favor of the unmarried. Otherwise, the criminality of the 
married is conaderably higher. linally, among old people, 
married criminals predominate over unmarried, except as 
r^ards indecent offenses, grand larceny, fraud and arson. 

We get an entirely different result If we divide these groups 
according to sex; I give the most important figures, taken from 
Primdng's* calculations, in Table XXXIU. The bringing 
of the figures into relation with 100,000 persons of each cate* 
goiy, and the adoption of a twelve-year period, guarantee the 
rdiability of the conclusions. Thus considered, the figures 
show undeniably that marriage has a favorable influence on 
men. This does not iq>ply to those who marry as early as under 
25 years; they commit a large share of all crimes. One of the 
external causes ia undoubtedly the poverty that so often ac- 
companies early, heedless marriages. In such cases a young 
and immature fellow, who is scarcely able to earn his own sup- 
port, takes upon himself the care of a wife. Often numerous 
children are bom, who add to his burden, and the direct 
result is that he lays hands on others' property. Moreover, 

> "SUtutik dcs Deutachen Beichea," N. F. LVm, II, p. 18. 

* Prinmig, "Die EiMhung der KrimiiisliUlt des Wdbes durch £e Ehe" 
("ZcatKhrift fUr SouBlwinenschsft." 1900, m, p. 4S3): "Der EinfliM der 
Ebe BuT i& KrimiuIiUt dea Mmwcs." Ihid., ISW, II. p. 37. 

.,K.«IC 



164 



THE INDIVmUAL CAUSES OF CBIME 



[§18 

at this age men are not apt to stay at hoioe with their wives 
and children instead of going to the public-house, as the lai^ 
number of them that are convicted of simple and aggravated 
t and battery shows. 



CoaTteliooi 

cat^ory: 



TABUG XXXm 

(Ajtks PBiHiiiro) 

t G<Riwii7 ISaS-lSBS per 100,000 iims and i 





Au-Cmaat 


BuufsorTu 


I»DU 


A<un» An> 




AsiOnnw 


Pud 


Bi^Si^.. I 


^a^ 






s 






8 






S 






g 




1 


1 


II 


3 

1 


1 


M 


i 


1 


L 


1 


1 


I 


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U-Ujan 










... 
















l*-I» ~ 


IMM 








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Miis 






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glOT* 


«wu 




1T»^ 


nu 




ITS.* 


>nj) 


MM 


M.l 




IIM.! 




«MA 


UM.T 


(siaT 




A.S B«.a 




»«.* 


Ml.' 


m.1 


nsi 




ai>-«a " 




itnjt 






IWJ 


iBT.r 


rjTj 








n&i 


411J 


«Ma - 




imx 


■MM 


M.0 




iSi 


MO.T 


SlU 






•H.I 






1M*« 


mtM 


W.O 


ui 


»ij 


m.1 


«T.T 


IBTJ 




IU.1 


1W.< 


O««0" 

WOMMM 


«M 


MO.l 


MtJt 


lU 


(M 




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aij 


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US 








fMJ 


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9tM 


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a»^ 




o««- 


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UM 






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41 


tM 






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■4.1 


_2j 



With increasing age, however, the criminality of married 
men decreases. Partly, perhaps, because improvident mar- 
riages are rarer among older people, and a la^er percoitage 
of the married belongs to the well-to-do and educated class. 
Another reason is, that older men are more likely to stay at 
home, partly because th^ lack the means for nnnecessaiy 
expenses, partly because the pleasure they take in their own 

L ......Coo'ilc 



S16] 



DOMESTIC STATUS 



165 



homes aod thdr own familiea compensates them for staying 
away from the public-house. Another fact that probably 
contributes to the significance of this change is, that their 
criminal past and their preference for the life of a thief, a 



TABLE XXXUI — (CanfMiiaQ 
(Afteb Pbincino} 
Convictinu in Gvnuaty 1SS1-189S per 100,000 meo 





PanrLucBi 


Jfi^OT 


r~*^ 


F„„ 


ua> 


ss? 














Ana 


1 


1 


S 

II 


1 


1 


il 


1 


1 


S 


1 


1 


8 

II 


1 


1 


8 

11 


It-W " 
W-«l " 
Cl-M - 

ao^w - 

Ot«W- 

WOMM 

■•-i5r«ii 

15-18 •■ 

19-ai - 

«1-M " 

M-ao - 

*)-« - 

M-M " 
WMW " 
OrtntO~ 


»i.T 

iw.t 

iM.a 


uisj 

IM-O 

IM.O 
«4.4 


JtTJ 

ni.i 

V7.I 

BS.< 

18.11 


48.0 

tt.S 

a!* 
fl.t 

0^4 


77.7 
«.7 

s.o 

9.J 


7BJ 
«.« 
S8J 
IS.I 

t.l 

0.4 


M.0 

M.t 

»^ 

IS.4 
».t 

11:4 


70!l 

oil 
is!* 

Ki!s 
*s.» 

s.s 


•1.8 

IS 

5t.t 

ta'.t 


117.4 

144.S 

in.o 

«7,B 
tt.t 
M.0 
91.1 

ttO.D 


9U 

4s!l 
18.( 

lS-7 


Bs!l 


tBS.4 
[♦4.8 

■*.7 

1.S 


MM 

8s]< 

M.T 

T.l 
0.1 

a. 7 

8.8 
4.* 


MIJ 
«M.7 

88.* 

>:> 

14.« 
ll.« 

a.* 
i!s 



tramp, or a drunkard, is in many cases the reason that the 
unmarried never marry, and thus they influence unfavorably 
the number of unmarried criminals. That a man is neces- 
sarily, as Prinzing believes, favorably influenced by living with 
a member of the female sex, in which criminality is much 
lower, does not seem to me so certain. 

When we see how much higher the criminally of married 

Coogic 



166 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CRIUE [§ 16 

women is tlun Uut of unmamed, it almost seems as if this 
were due to the intimacy of the married woman with the man. 
whose criminal inclinations are more pronounced. We mi^ 
naturally assume that the mairied woman, who is supposed to 
be "provided for," would be less liable to ^igage in criminal 
activity. But this b not the case, above all as regards young 
women, who up to their twenty-^rst year are re^^xMisble for 
a lai^ number of the thefts committed. later, however, 
theft, in particular, is rarer among married than among 
unmarried women. Partly, probably, because in later yean s 
married woman is gmerally able to depend on her husband for 
her duly bread, and because older women of the poorest dasses 
are often able to live on astonishingly little. When a mature 
married woman transgresses, it is goierally as an anxtaaary, a 
receiver of stolen goods, or an offender against trade rc^olatkHis. 

Convictions for assault and battery, for bread of the 
peace, for insult, increase among married women. Frinxing 
connects this with the practice of drinking. "In many places 
it is CQstom&ry for a woman to accompai^ her hosband on 
Sunday when he goes to the public-bouse, and, although 
this is often the best way of preventing his drinldng to excess. 
yet it sometimes haiq>ens that the woman is drawn into the 
dreadful vortex." 

I admit this, but would lay much greater stress on anotho- 
source of these crimes. Almost without ezceptioa I have found 
that insult and breach <A the peace were the result of two 
or more women's living together. In the large texiement 
house, the use of common passages, gardens, yards, cellars, 
and storerooms is the source of endless disputes and friction. 
The relations between the parlies gradually become mc»e 
strained, until some trifle, frequently an act of one of the 
children, gives rise to a scene that often cuds in insults and 
an assault. 

DiailizodbvGoOgle 



§ 16] DOMESTIC STATUS 167 

The proof tlist it is not the gravest crimes for which married 
women are responsible is consoling, but not so the fact that, 
on the whole, the criminality of married women is increasing 
while that of unmarried women is not. This increase of crime 
among married women conespoods to the spread of the causes 
of their principal offenses. The more women frequent public- 
houses, and the more lai^ families are packed together in 
small spaces, the greater is the danger of conflicts. If we 
could prevent women from becoming more and more regular 
patrons of public-houses, and if we could introduce single, 
instead of large, tenement houses, the criminality of the mar- 
ried would soon fall below that of the unmarried, and the 
beneficial influence of family life would appear. I wish es- 
pecially to emphasize, however, that, even if these external 
conditions were favorable, it would still be necessary for us 
to do everything possible to prevent too early marriages. 
The greatest danger lies in them; imfortunately, the law does 
not permit us to hinder the marriage of those who are physi- 
cally and mentally immature and of those who are econom- 
ically incompetent. The reduction by the Civil Code of the 
age up to which the parent's consent is necessary, from 25 to 
21, was a great error from the standpoint of criminal policy. 

A remarkable phenomenon is the h^ criminaUty of the 
widowed and divorced, which is lower only among those 
over 60 years. I must confess that I know of no explanation 
of this. Prinsing thinks,' "the loss of the husband or wife 
often produces a mental disturbiukce in the other spouse; 
we may also suppose that many widowers find it difficult not 
to lose their moral balance." It is not clear why this latter 
should be so, particularly as we find the same high criminality 
among widowed and divorced women. It would seem more 
probable that some marriages are dissolved because of crim- 
' Loe. eit. p. ItS. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



168 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 17 

Inal acta, so th&t later crimes are only a continuance of the 
former mode of life. It is an error, however, to bdieve that a 
widower (why not also a widow?) frequently becomes insane 
owing to "grief." If this does occur — I personally have never 
known of such a case — it must be only as an exertion, 
without any bearing on criminal statistics. 

No explanation can be given at present. light might pei^ 
haps be thrown on the subject if the widowed and divtnced 
were considered separatdy. 

§ 17. The niTsieal Ohanetetistiw of th» Cximinal 

The question whether psychic qualities appear in exter- 
nally visible phenomena has always attracted thinking m«i. 
The temptation to seek for such external sgns increases wHh 
the consciousness of bow difficult it is to decipher a man's 
character. Common experience of the ease with vbicb we 
mistake others' thoughts and feelings positively cries out toe 
objective signs to supplement our subjective judgment. 

The problem is still unsolved. The names of Lavater, 
Gall,* Spurzheim, and Lombroao, as well as the interpretation 
of handwiiting, represent efforts that are as various as they are 
different in value for finding such signs. Nev^thdess, we 
are far from knowing rdiable extomal signs of qualities of 
character. Hitherto all efforts in this direction have been in 
vain; they failed because the value of the few detmls th^ 
discovered was always exaggerated. 

Lombroso's teachings have always been defended with more 
heat than objectivi^, and it may be asserted of many of his 
opponents, that they have carried on a bitter fi^t against 

' Gall ii by DO means merdy a virionarj' at a swindler u many tctatSEst 
him to be In tact, much credit i» doe bini for hia study oi the anatomr at 
the brain, cndit that has been lorgottcn in the justified BtUcks «i bis phren- 
ologr- Compare irsb(u,"Vber die Anlage snr HatlMmati^"L^psig.tMO. 
Job. Ambr. Bwtb. p. 197. 



i 



. ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 17] I^YSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CRIMINAIS 169 

him without having an absolutely clear idea of His doctrines. 
It ia not so easy to form a clear ides, because in course of 
time he changed many of his original assertions. Bat to 
reproach him with having done so, seems to me entirely with- 
out justification; some of his untenable earlier statements 
gave way to better knowledge. Of one fmligg, however, 
Lombroso cannot be acquitted, of a aurpri sing htck of critical 
faculty. He makes use of accurate and careful measurements, 
anecdotes and proverbs, statistical data and subjective im- 
pressions, inscriptions written on prison walls from monotony, 
observations of individuals and phenomena of masses, with- 
out <<iirtingtii«liing sharply between what is important and 
what is unimportant. In his later editions numerous statistics 
are repeated which are undeniably erroneous. This lack of 
reliability is due, in part, to the multifariousness of his pub- 
lications, which made deeper and thorough study impossible, 
but it is probably owing to natural superficiality. 

It would be unjust, however, to judge him only by his faults. 
Th^ have wnply made it ea^ for his opponents to stamp him 
and his doctrines as unscientific. I consider Lombroso's the- 
ory of the bom criminal erroneous, nor do I agree with many 
of his assertions, but, just because I count myself among his 
opponents, Z think it necessary to declare that, without him, 
crhninal psychology would never have made the advance the 
fruitful results of which we are now gathering. I must 
acknowledge that Gaupp' is right when he says: "The 
researcher (Lombroso), with his wealth of ideas and his 
intuition, is a scientific phenomenon in whom much light 
and shade are united; the genuine kernel of his doctrines 
will long outlive the achievements of many of his sharpest 
Of^wnents." 

> Oaupp, "Dbs dm heutiga SUnd 6a Lehre vom 'geboiCDca T«^ 
twecbcr'" (HSdu-EiimPq'c^ I. 39). 



170 THE INDIVmnAL CAUSES OF CRIME [$ 17 

Kurells,' Lombroao's most faithful adhermt in Gennaiiy, 
tliua simu ap tlie latter's doctiioe ot the "born criminal": 
"Thia hypothesis supposes that all true criminals possess a 
definite causally connected series of physical characteristics, 
anthropologically provable, and psychic charactraistics, psy- 
cho-pbysiologically provable, which abaw them to be a partic- 
ular varie^, a special anthropological type. This aeries of 
characteristics necessarily makes its possessor a — perhaps 
undiscovered — criminal, quite independent of all the social 
and individual conditions of life." 

Lombroso denies nather the significance of the individual's 
acquired charsc^teristics nor that of social influences, he does 
not dispute the existence, either ot criminals of passion, or of 
occasional and habitual criminals. In his last work * the dis- 
cussion of external causes even occupies by far the most 
space; the anatomic^ characteristics of the "ddinqumte 
nato" are almost entirety lackiiig. Yet he tenadously holds 
to his theory that about 35% of all criminab * are bom ctiiih 
inals, and that they bear numerous nutrVH that differ fran the 
normal. 

Before we proceed to examine the correctness of these views, 
especially in their further development, which r cpnacn ta 
the " uomo dellnquente " as a peculiar, atavistic type, we must 
review what we know of the body and mind of the criminal. 

This is more difficult than it seems. Precisely in this field 
of investigation a tremendous amount has been produced: 
dilettantism works mde by ^de with careful and critical re- 
search, and it is the more difficult to obtain a dear view be- 
cause we are ctmcemed with the most complicated questions 
imaginable. We have iro canon o f - ^e norg jal man by iriiich 

> KvnOa, "Nattiigcachiclite dn ViabnAaa," p. 2. 
■ Lombroio, "Die UrMdicn and B^Impfimg dM 
» Ibid., p. sste. 



. iiizodbvCoogle 



§17] PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CRIMINAIS 171 

to measure all deviations. We cannot simply compare the 
GrermaD with the Italian, the Northerner with the Southerner, 
for it needs bat a glance to convince us that the average type 
of the Lombards or of the tall and vigorous people of the 
Bomagna is far removed from that (tf the small Southern 
Italian. On the other hand, intermarriage between the 
races has resulted in a vast decline of the pure national type. 
This makes it even more difficult to adopt a type with which 
the criminal can be compared. 

A furtlier obstacle lies in this, that we cannot ea^ jly ^T^tAJn 
indisputa bly nom ^^gifltf "aLjgi- '^^P^""'" ^<>'i V^ > 
raiment of soldiers, for instance, even if we leave out all who 
have already come into conflict with the law, and all fif ques- 
tionable mentality — who are not lacking in the army — 
it is still a question whether, among those that remain, some 
are not criminally inclined. Many a man whose evil deeds 
are by no means slight has escaped criminal prosecution, and 
many another has only external and fortunate circumstances 
to thank for it that his criminal tendencies are active in a 
sphere that lies outside the criminal code.' _ 

Most serious of all is the fact that we are unable exactly 
in fjpfinp ytiat must be recognized as a m^^jifjlegeasistion. 
Eraepelin's * de6nition reads: "We are accustomed to r^ard 
certain defects in development which occur with some fre- 
queiM7 among those of unfortunate heredity as physical signs 
of hereditary degeneration ('stigmata hereditatis')." But 
it is difficult to define the sphere within which all deviations 
in development must be r^arded as still normal, 

Naecke* is quite right in pointing out that we cannot 

■ Ptmatu, "DeUnquenti scaltri e fortwutd," Como, IS97. 

* KTorpdat, "Vty^Xnt." Tth ed, IMS, Joh. Ambr. Bwtb., Leipng, L 

' JVoMtt*. "Dtgenentjon, D tganeta lioiiM rid itai and Atevinm'* (Anbi 
jbim. Anthr. I. S02}. 



. ,l,z<,i:,.,G00^lf 



172 THE INDIVIDUAL CAI^ES OF CRIME [§ 17 

r^ard as a sign of the degenaatioD of the nation in question 
anything that is ethnically conditicMMd. The conceptkn 
" mark of d^eneration " must alwi^ be determined in relation 
to time, place, age, and sex, and a oertun margin for devi> 
ation from the average must always be allowed. 

It is less important for us wheth^ tlie deviations from the 
average structure of the body, and d^ects in the devdofHucnt 
of its oigans, are really to be looked upon as degenerative 
pbenom^ia or as anatomical variations, as Stieda asaerta. 
Among insane persons, criminals, and healthy persons, we 
find a varying number of anomalies, book <rf i^iich iHing about 
a considerable functional dUtorbance in the oigans affected. 
We see that such malformations and deviations from the 
average type are rare among healthy persons and nmnenHU 
among insane ones. We find, further, that th^ are most 
pronounced vhere injurious influences, akxdudic e xo ewes 
of parents, for instance, have affected the chUdien; and 
finally, ezperioice teaches us that persms in whcHn several 
of such anomalies are found are ther^y rendered inferior 
and less capable of resistance. All this justifies ns in '■yJl?*^ 
these disturbances in the oi^anism marks of degraeration, in 
the clinical sense.' 

In 1890 Lombroao* asserted that in the course of a few years 
the criminal-anthropological school had ezamined 54,IS1 in- 
sane, criminal, and normal persons. It is particolarly diflS- 
cult to select the useful material from this abundance, because 
the results are often sharply and irreconulahly contradictory. 
Precisely in the sphere of physical examinations I have no 
systematic investigations of my own at my disposaL I be- 



* NtdM, "Cber da Wert der ■ogwanntwi Daymt ki u MMt^M " 
(KGchrKrimPiydi. L SOS). 

■ LomAmio. "TTiiii riiiliiliiilli in iliii VuliiiilMiiliiiHin". liiiJilirihj 
Mtrian, Gen. 189(1. C. B. GrieAuh. 



. ,l,z<,i:,.,G00^lf 



§17] PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CRIMINALS 173 

Heve, however, that it is passible, without quoting too many 
detiula and figures, to give a sununaiy of the present status 
of such research. 

The brain and the skull claim our duef interest, the brain 
as the seat of the psychic functions, the skull because it is the 
key to the me and appearance of the brmn. The latter is so 
complicated in structure that it is undoubtedly difficult to 
determine the boundaries of the normal. Even its most ex- 
ternal quality, wdght, varies greatly. Welckei established 
a weight of 1S88 grams as the limit of the normal. A later 
investigation undertaken by Handmann ("Archiv tUr Ana- 
tomic und I%ysiologie," 1906, p. 1) also established 1S70 
grams as the average weight of a grown mao's brain. But 
while many eminent men had considerably heavier brains 
(Cromwell, Cuvier, Turgenieff, Byron, Schiller, Volta, and 
others) many who were not less gifted had brains weighing 
considerably less (tor instance, Dante, the anatomist Dsllinger, 
Gambetta, GaU). The heaviest bruns that Bischoff ' himself 
observed belonged to ordinary and unknown workmen, and, 
lately, a br^n weighing even well over iMWO grams has been 
found in an idiot. This is the best proof that it is not the 
outside measurements and weighable qualities, like size and 
heaviness of the brain, that are of importance, but its 
gtructiye.* 

Within the margin of the normal, the structure of the hrain 
differs to such an extent that it is di£Bcult to judge of the value 
of striking deviations. Moreover, a perfectly regular fonnation 
of the brain is no proof of mental health. Outwardly the brain 
may appear to be perfectly normal, but we may occasionally 
find serious changes in its cortex which cannot be combined 

* Bitdioff, "Du Singewkbt dea MenKben," Bonn, ISSO^ p. ISS. 

* Drasuke, "Gehirngewicht mul Intelligen*" (Aichiv tOr Raaaen- nwl 
GcMlbcluftdiiologie, 1W6, p. S18). 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



174 THE INDIVIDCAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 17 

with mental health.* Often oeither a macrosooiHC tMH- a 
microacopic examination will disclose defects, althou^ the 
possessor of the brun unquestionably suffered from a senoos 
mental disorder. I mention this espedally, because enooe- 
ous ideas about the results of post mortem examinations often 
exist. They sometimes enable us, especially microscopic 
examinations of the cortex of the brain, to say definitdy 
that disease existed, but never to a£Snn with ccrt^ty that 
the brain was healthy. 

According to Benedikt, Mingazzini, and others, the signifi- 
cance of the deviations in the configuration of the brain sbonld 
lie in this, that within the margin of variatiou the brain^ 
convolutions found in criminals show atypical and atavistic 
formations much more frequently than do those found in 
normal individuals. A R usaan anatomigt r-Semoff,* has latdy 
made a special study of these deviations; his explanatioiis 
deserve to be held in the highest esteem, because he has long 
devoted himself to the subject of the brain. He rejects most 
of the anomalies described, becwise he shows that, atthou^ 
they do, indeed, occur somewhat more frequently in criminals 
than in others, yet th^ are to be r^arded as variations <A the 
normal type of convolution. There was oDe excqitioo to v 
this rule: the sqtaration of the calcarine fissure from the 
occipito-parietal fissure was found in 1% of the brains <^ 
normal persons, in 8% of those of criminals. Semoff admits 
that this combination (rf convolutions "forcibly reminds one 
of the relations in microcephalic individuals and certain repre- 

' According to Kraepdin ("PiyduBtrie," 7th ed, II, S23), "In two cue* 
of coogtnitkl obtuae lack of feeling, which in both cases led to muider and the 
guiDotine, Niial found nnquestkiaable chrome chutgea in the ceili of the 
cortex, a proof that in people who, like theie two, are not teguded aa inBne 
but as taotally corrupt, a pathcJogical conditimi of the brain may be foood." 

* Ssmoff, "Die Ldtre Lombraso's ond ihre aaatomiacJien Gnmdlagen im 
lichte modemer ForKhung" (Biologiacbes ZentralUatt. XIV, 90S). 



§ 17] PHYSICAL CHAKACTEEISTICS OF CRUnNALS 175 

sentatives of the animal kingdom, and that it has long been 
regarded as an atavistic phenomenon." 

All other deviations in the brain and skull Sernoff either 
denies outright or strips of their significance. Thia applies, 
above all, to the relative smallness of the frontal bone, or. 
rather, of that part of the frontal bone that covers the frontal 
lobes of the brain. The tact that the average value of this 
part of the skull is lower in criminals than in non-criminab 
is confirmed by Semoff; but at the same time he points out 
that there is no fixed relation between the size of the frontal 
bone and the brain lobes, that, on the contrary, a smaU fore- 
head often contained a frontal brain above the average in fdze 
and vice versa. 



TABLE XXXIV 





F«»ni. 


Pbom. 


SS^ 




40.4% 


11.8% 


1.7% 







Still another assertion of the Lombroso school is recognized 
by Semoff as correct. "The relatively strong development' 
of the skeleton of the face with the resultant prognathism 
(protrusion of the facial part of the skull) and the receding 
forehead." These deviations are clearly shown in the two 
drawings taken from KureDa's book. 

In Table XXXIV Kurella's summaiy of the frequency 
with which these deviations are tomid is compared with 
Baer's calculations. 

I have purposely compared precisely these two authors 
■witb each other: Kurella who for years has been an eager 
and gifted adherent of Lombroso, possessing an unusual 
knowledge of the literature bearing on the subject, and who 

v.ooglc 



176 



THE INDIVIDCAL CAUSES OF CRIME 



[§17 



represents Lomlooso's teachings in Gemuny, and Baer,' 
who, as an opponent oS the tlieory of the bom criminal, 
has based his vietw on particulariy careful investigaticau 
of his own. Baer, abo, as we see, oonfirms the fact that tliese 
deviations occur frequently. 




(Dniringi bom KmcBk.) 



Hm u^ ifg if wed to meunre to dope of tiw totdtMd, the u>^ bBm 
to mMmre the pn^iuithism, which a ueea eztomlly ia the pronoaDcal pvo- 
jectioD of the \rppa j«w and in the protruding teeth. Ilkeae aaoniBliea aie 
ncnaOy comlNDed with inonuneDM c( the orUt*! curve. 



The size of the skuU has been the object of many detailed 
investigations. Knecht's ' figures and Baer's do. indeed, 
differ, but they enable us to perceive that unusual^ small 
and strikingly la^e heads are not rare among criminals. 
Among 1314 convicts Knecht found as many as 2% with 

' A. Batr, "Der Vobrecha in uitluapok^BdiQ' Besehimg," LeqMJfr 
Gccog lliieme, IMS. 

* Ktuda, "Cber die Verfareitimg phTmacbei D«g«Mntian bei VobKdwn 
imd (Be BesdinDgen iwiachen I 
(AUg. Zatschiift tflr Psyehiabrie, XI^ 580). 



§ 17] PHiraiCAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CRIMINALS 177 

pronounced hydrocephalic head fonnations, indicating path- 
ological processes in the earliest period of development. 

As often as a new field of criminal anthiopol<^cal inves- 
tigations has been attacked, the same thing has been repeated. 
First, the assertion is made that a certun form of deviation 
is characteristic of the crinunal. Then it is proved that the 
same phenomena are found in non-criminals, and finally, 
it is shown that these anomalies are somewhat more frequent 
in ciiminals. Hence, it would lead only to useless repetitions . 
if I should take up each of the marks of degeneration in tium 
and speak of what has been found to contradict them. The 
most important physical signs of d^eneration, such as ill- 
formed ears, extra fingers and toes, the abnormal position 
and formation of the teeth, abnormal formations of the sexual 
organs and the mammary glands, unequal development of the 
body, etc., are all found in healthy people as well. Theyi^ 
are the more numerous, the nearer we approach to the de- 
generate insane. Between the two stands the crinunal. 
Even LombroBo's most eager and decided opponents do not 
dmy that degenerative signs are found particularly often 
in criminals. Thus Naecke * says: "We can only refer to a 
possible, perhaps probable, inferiority of those who bear the 
stigmata of degeneration, no more; even that, however, 
may be valuable in foro' or to corroborate a diagnosb." And 
recently he has gone farther:^ "The longer and the more 
accurately we investigate, the more do we value the doctrine 
of degeneration, without, however, trusting to it blindly, 
as do some of the Italians." 

I should not care to go as far as Naecke in the forensic 

■ Naeckt, "DegcoeratioD, DepmcimtioiisfMdien nnd Ateviamut" (Arcb. 
Krim. Antbr. I, 210). 

■ Sateke, "Uber den Wert der wigwuwiiten DesmnetatiOMlrichfn " 
(BiSdirKrimFBydi. I, 108). 



_ ,i,z<»i.vGoogIe 



178 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 18 

judgment of a criminal; I consider it inadmissible to make 
even the slightest use of the existence of marks of d^eneratkHi. 
even in the most pronounced form, to tip the soak in a case 
of questionable guilt. Nevertheless, what cannot be «^ptied 
to the individual criminal may yet have general validity. 

I share this view with Baer, whoi in iQ>ite of his cautious 
criticism, is obliged to admit: "Abnormalities <rf a simple or 
graver kind are often found in criminab singly, or in larger 
numbers, and although there is nothing specific in them, 
yet they are signs of the inferior value of the criminal's 
oi^anization." ^ 

In reali^, we should not wonder at finHing go many crim- 
inals physically inferior; the ctKitrary might wdl exdte 
surprise. By far the largest number of criminals come out of 
classes in which poverty and wretchedness are comntoo, 
in which underfed women during pr^nancy must often use 
up their strength in hard woric; the unborn child is oltai 
poisoned in the germ by the drunkenness and disease of tts 
parents. This cannot be met with the statement that our 
poorer classes are still able to provide a physically fit army. 
Not all those d^enerste, who are subject to the conditions <tf 
degmeration; not all, but many. The descent of criminals 
(compare p. 124) proves that the recruits of the crintinal 
world are most often found among the children of drunkards 
and the insane, among the poorest of the poor; in view of this, 
the existence of ^gns of d^eneration ceases to be strikiiig, 
and the signs themselves cease to bear the spea£c character 
of a phenomenon peculiar to crime. 

§ 18. The Xental CharaoteristlM of tha Criminal 
In considering these mental characteristics we are on firm 
ground as long as we keep to the intdlectual abilities. Tbe 
> Batr, ioc. eit. p. 117. 



. ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 18] MENTAL CHABACTERZSnCS OF CRIMINAIS 179 

degree of knowledge and the power of judgment that a man 
possesses can be ascerttuned. On the other hand, we at once 
enter upon an uncertain field as soon aa we examine the 
emotional life, the passions, the moral sense; then we turn 
from objective facts to subjective Impressions. 

The fact tliat the intellectual capacity of the criminal is 
far below the avenge has already been made the subject \ 
of ft detailed discussion. The experience of teachers and over- 
seers in penal institutions fully confirms it. The subjects in 
which the teacher instructs the prisoners are extremely 
elementary, and yet the results of his efforts are pitifully 
small. Undoubtedly the dislike of learning plays a part, but 
it b certainly not all-important. A superficial examination of 
405 prisoners with sentences of over S3x months showed me 
that, apart from 31, whose mental state I shall speak of later, ' 
67 were more or less feeble-minded, certainly far below normal 
in thdr intdligence; 8 of them were decided imbedles, almost 
idiots. 

Both Baer * and Kim * have tried to combat Lombroso's 
teachings, and Baer in particular has spent infinite puns in 
y^ftmining the assertions of the Italian school, with a view to 
corrobomting or refuting them; both, however, have empha- | 
sized the tow plane of the criminal's intellectual development, I 
Baer expressly pointing out that "social environment and I 
educational conditions cannot be held- accountable for it." 
Hence Sommer * is undoubtedly justified in s^ing: "In the 
geniaal rejoicing at the refutation of Lombroso in detaU, 
the positive facts were entirely overlooked, which he [Baer] 
contributed to the doctrine that there are inherent nnimenta 
tbat lead to crime." 

> Baer. toe. eii. p. ««. 

* Kim, "G^stoflUlniiig mid VubKcben. Festaduift der AnaUh nknkQ," 
Hcsddbeiv. 1002, p. 07. 

* SommtT, "KriminalpBychobgie^" Ldpiig, 1904, p. 318. 



. ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



180 THE INDtVIDnAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 18 

I purposely emphasize so strongly the low mental status of 
cruninats, for it exphuns, without the aid of unprovable the- 
ories, why, with many criminals, the ethical peicepticms ai« 
so striking disUnguiahed from those of the average man. 
The weak-minded are generally chUdroi of the mcxnent. 
Everything makes a deep impression on them for the minute; 
often, indeed, the mental reqionse is particolaify vivid; 
but this momentary leaping up of the intelligence subsides 
again as quickly. The lessons of experience, which serve 
normal persons as a guide in later events, soon fade, because 
tb^ cannot be fitted into the PTrigting condition of the ideas. 
The inability to understand, much less to form gesieral points 
of view, is the <Urect result of mental weakness. ■ 

This is the picture that many criminals presoit to us. I 
must confess that, after reading the pi4)eTS in tbe case. I was 
often prepared to see a rough, brutal man, when, in reali^. 
I found a quiet, docile, and even good-natured, feeble-minded 
fellow. This is true not only of those who are sentenced for 
the first lime; precisely among people with king criminal 
records I often found such quiet, feebte-mioded perstms; by 
this I do not mean imbedles of such defective m^itality that 
our existing laws would classify them as irresponsible. 

These people — and this applies also to a large numbw 
with average intelligence — are often strikingly unstable, — 
not in the p&ta\ institutions, where they often submit to the 
Isolations of the house without any difficulty, where they 
work industriously under pressure, but i^wn at Uberty, when, 
in spite of the best resolutions, th^ give way to the first 
temptation. -" 

At present we are not able to describe the psychcdogy <tf 
the criminal. In the first place, because the material frc»n the 
detmls of which we should construct a (^mptete image is too 
varied. All attempts to determine the main characteristics 



§ 18] MENTAL CHAEACTERISTICS OP CRIMINAIS 181 

fail on account of the difficulty of exactly defining these char- 
acteristics, and on account of the danger of generalizing from 
particularly striking individual observations. I do not mah to 
underestimate the value of the careful analysis of the espedally 
striking phenomena of crime, when I assert that, on the whole, 
we can learn little by it at present Every case certunly has its 
peculiarity, and practice in observation alone makes the pains 
spent on it worth while. But we must not forget that it is 
not the murderers, not the swindlers on a larger scale, not 
the assassins of people in high places, and not the sezuat 
murderers, that determine the criminal physit^piomy of our 
day. but the thieves and pickpockets, the swindlers and 
abusers of children, the tramps and prostitutes. These are 
the criminals that first demand our attention. The very 
fact that all these offenses are so frequent, makes it possible 
alowly and cautiously to draw conclusions from the analysis 
of individual cases, conclusions that may lay claim to univer- 
sal validity. As long as we are salisfied to examine the most ~ 
external phenomena, to ascertain the intellectual capaci^, the 
error that consists in valuing simultaneously the most different 
lands of criminality is not so great. But as soon as we go 
deeper and b^in to study the passions, the moral perceptions, \ 
the degree of altruistic thought, remorse, and similar qualities, i 
ve must restrict ourselves to a tew psychologically similar 
crimes. Otherwise we make the same mistake that we rightly 
object to in the works of some of the Italian school. Let us, 
however, go on collecting material and studying a few par- 
ticularly interesting cases. The day will come, in time, when 
-we can draw our conclusions from them. But we have not 
yet reached this point. 

What has been written of the characteristics of criminab 
must be used with great caution, except where the most 
dementaiy qualities are concerned. I think H a mistake to 

L ,-<,::..CoOQ||,' 



182 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CRIME {% 19 

regard most of the experiences, or rather general impreawHis, 
that have been collected, as typical characteristics of crim- 
inals. It, therdore, seems to me unjustifiable to speak of 
them in general, as has been done, as brutal. We find senti- 
mental inclinations opposed to the most outspoken brutality 
in some cases, utt^^ deceitfulness contrasted vith naive 
frankoesB in others, and, yihat is still more striking, we find 
the most contradictory qualities united in the same individual. 
This is aootlter sign of the instability mentioned above; 
carried aw^ by the mood of the moment, the same individual 
is sometimes devotedly unselfish, s(»netimes purdy ^oistic. 

Oae characteristic must be qtoken of especialty: the 
eriminal's own judgment of his act. I should like to avoid the 
word "remorse," because the sorrow that is often di^layed 
for what has happened frequently does not correspond to bb 
iniMT feeling, because pretense, in order to stand wdl. is 
too easOy bred, according to the tone id the penal institution. 
In the course of many conversaticais with criminak d all 
kinds and all classes, I have ntost frequently been struck with 
the superfioality of the criminal's comprehension of the 
gravity of his crime. Almost never did he grasp the tepre- 
hensibleness of his deed with sufficient force to f^ve rise to the 
thought whether he could not ma^ good the damage be had 
done. As a rule, his understanding was directed more towards 
the future than towards the past. Thus, he might firmly 
resolve not to rdapse agiun, but would scarcely be tortured 
by thoughts of the past, beyond regretting that he would he 
marked as having served a sentence. 

The conviction that the present penalty is the last that they 
win undei^ is often heard, even from those criminals who have 
always been only temporarily at liberty; on the other haDd. 
crinunals have often told me that th^ fear it will not be long 
before they agun rdapse into crime. Very rarely, <m the 



1 1$ MENTAL CHAfiACTEBISIlCS OF CKOONAIS 183 

cootraiy, and only in those intimate moments that occur 
oft^i enough between the physician and the convict, particu- 
larly when the latter b ill, have I heard a man express the 
intention to resume his criminal career as soon as his sentence 
shall have expired. I do not mean to infer that this idea is 
remote from the taiminal's mind; the contrary is proved by 
the fact that, even within the prison walls, plans are often 
enough discovered for the carrying out of new thefts. Never- 
theless, I think I am justified in concluding that the criminal 
is cot so often anxious to take up his old life as is commonly 
supposed. It must not be forgotten, however, that I speak 
munly of convicts in prisons, who are the only ones that I 
have been able to observe more carefully. Undoubtedly, 
more profeanonal thieves and swindlers are found in the peni- 
tentiaries. The groups of prisoners in the cattres oi culture, 
too, may display other traits. 

Among the psychological characteristics of the criminal^ 
Lombroao also includes the thieves* slang and the desire to be 
tattooed. He sees in these tattooings the bridge that leads 
to the savages, who also ornament their bodies in this way. 
It is true that criminals are often tattooed with all kinds of 
designs, from the simplest marks to the most intricate, often, 
even, really pretty representations of animaln and plants, in- 
eluding trade and vocational signs, and human figures of all 
kinds, especially those of acrobats, contortionists, etc., as 
well as names and verses of all sorts. But this omammtation 
is not a sign of the criminal world nor of psychic d^eneration, 
but merely a regrettable custom that happens to be very 
popnl^ in Germany at present. It shows local differences 
very distinctly. Tattooing is extremely common among 
seamen, and not rare, but with local differences, among factory 
vco'kmen and soldiers. A man who knows how to tattoo 
pretty pictures often persuades whole regiments to let him 



184 TBE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CBIME [§ 18 

try hia art. Hence, tattooings aie sltogetber vsludess as 
paycholo^cal data. 

But perhaps we might inter sometiiing about a mao &caD 
the subject of the <ksigiis he bears. This is oertunfy the case 
in so far as obscene images are oonoemed. Where we find 
tattooings on the genital parts, unusually vulgar figures, cr 
those that suggest perverse serual indinations, we know that 
the individual who bears them is not given to pmdery. A 
large Dimiber of girls' names, too, characterize a man better 
than a "dissipated appearance" would. Fortunately, here in 
Germany, images of unmistakable sexual aJgnificaaoe are 
rate. On the whde, we must be most cautions in interring 
criminal peculiarities from such marks. 

I consider the proverbs and sayings that seem to indicate 
a whtde tragei^ utto'ly without significance. Laoassagne ' 
found, tor instance, the mottoes: "fils da malheur,** **le 
pass£ me trompe," "I'avenir m'£pouvante," "le pt^sent me 
tounnente"; but, amtoig 700 individuals, the first saying 
was borne by eight, the last by three, persons. The fact that 
the words were repeated more than once woold lead me to 
suspect that the man who tattooed them, ratha than the 
individual who bore them, was responsible tor the cbiHce, 
and that they indicated, at most, merely an indinatiMi to 
pose. And even that seems to me to be assigning too great 
a psycholo^cal significance to them; at least, sevctal times 
■wbea I asked a man why he had chosen certain proveriis. 
such as "learn to suffer without complaint," or "bom to mis- 
fortune," I was told that the professional tattooist had recran- - 
mended them as "particularly beautiful." 

Thus, tattooing loses much of its significance as a ^gn of 

criminal tendencies. But, because of its practical tmpCHtance, 

I must not omit to mention the fact that many tattooed per- 

> LaeoMagne, "Lea Utonaeca," lyon, 1887. 



§ 18] MENTAL CHAEACTERJSTICS OF CRIMINALS 185 

sons have been thus adorned while in prison awaiting trial* 
as I and various other observers were able to ascertun.* 

Thieves' slang was formerly an extremely characteristic 
mark fd the criminal. Just as eveiy class, every profession, 
is inclined to use certain expressions with secondary meanings, 
to coin special, peculiar terms — think, for instance, of igj^ 
dents' slyA — so, too, it is in the criminal world. Formerly a 
great deal of attention was paid to the different variations of 
this thieves' slang, to the " Rotwelschen," Romany, and foreign 
language, espedaUy Hebrew, elements.' Even todi^ in pro- 
fessional criminal circles, numbers of specific «q>re38ions 
are undoubted^ current, but Gmnan words with a hiunorous 
tinge are rapidly taking the place of foreign terms, especially 
among tramps. There is still undoubtedly some difference 
in the terms used by the different kinds of criminals, and this 
sometimes makes it possible for the man of experience to 
distinguish the common tramp f rtmi the individual who makes 
a busioess of swindling [teasants, the habitual thief from the 
procurer. But I do not think that Stumme ' is right in calling 
thieves' slang a secret language; it is rather a vocational 
language, and proves nothing but that the person who speaks 
it has had the opportunityof learning it; atmost,itshowswith 
what class of people he has associated. 

The study of thieves' slang is still justified today. But not 
as a contributiou to the psychology of the present-day criminal 
world. Ellis* prob^ly best characterizes the situation when 



■ Berg«r, '"lUtowiening bei Verfarechan" (VMTteljahnachrift fUr gakht- 
Ikbe Hcdiziii. XXXIL p. 56). 

■ Ate-LaUeinant, "Da* deutKJtc GBOUeTtuiii." Ldpn^ 1802, F. A. Brock- 
lumlV. 

* Son* Stumvt, "Uber die dmtacbe Gftuncnpnche mul andne Gdieinn 

* BmAiek EUit. "VeifoiechcT imd VeiliTecben," Leipiifb I8M, Geoig H. 
'Wigud'a Verisft p. IBS. 



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186 THE INDIVIDnAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 19 

he aaya: "The modem prbfeatdonal criminal avoids it just as 
he avoids tattooing." 

On the whfde. no traits can be recognized in the peycbaiogf 
of the criminal that are characteristic of him, nor coald this be 
«q>ected vhen we consider the general wi^ in i^iich the qses- 
tion has hitherto been treated. We mi^t rather hope for 
success if we studied certain kinds tjt criminals sepust^. 
I believe that certun criminal specialists, as, for ezan^ile. 
the "high Byeta," the pickpockets, certain sexnall; immnal 
criminals, procurers, prostitutes, and tramps would show 
special peculiarities. I do not believe, however, that these 
characteristics will ever pomit us, without knowing the 
person's past, to infer criminal tendencies, that the? mean 
than a certain menace in a d^nite direction. 

{£^ g 19. Knital IMimum aaong Criminali 

Our penal code does not call those transgressions ot the 
legal order that are committed while the perpetrator is insane 
or unconscious, crimes (§ 51). Official statistics, therrfore, 
leave us entirely in the lurch when we consult them as to 
the frequency of those crimes which could not be punished 
because of mental disease. We are altc^ther dq>endent os 
the scattered records of alienists. In Dalldorf, among 17(M 
insane persons, Sander* admitted 112 (6.6%) directly after 
they had come in conflict with the criminal law. In counting 
the patients in the Heidelberg clinic for the insane, I found 
much higher numbers. On three days, in three different years, 
I found,* once 37%, onoe 43%, once 57%, of the male patients 
who, at some time before their admis^on, had offended soi- 

> Sander tind Kdiier, "Die Bcsiehuiigen iwudwn GciataHtlirai^ and 
Teibrechen." BoUn. 1880. 

■ "Cber gdUutidie Gctatetknake" (ADg. ZdUdoift fBr F^cUatn^ 
LTn. p. 1S8). 

U.,r,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 




§ 19] MENTAL DISEASES AMONG CRIMINAIS 1S7 

ously against the criminal laws. It is true that a consider- 
able number wete prisoners awaiting trial, whose mental 
condition was being observed, and tramps, so that my ^ures 
are probab^ well above the usual average. 

A description of the crimes that are committed by insane 
persons does not lie within the scope of this book; it belongs 
in the text-books on judicial psychiatry.' Nevertheless, stress 
must be laid on the fact that the mentally diseased are a 
menace to l^al security, as the newspapers dfuly show us. 
The immeasurable misery that insane persons cause can only 
be avoided by their early admisnon into aanataiia and asy- 
lums. Hence, every attempt to require the establishment of 
insanity and danger to the community at lai^ by some kind 
of legal procedure before the patient can be sent to a suit- 
able hospital, is superfluous, if not injurious to the insane 
person, and a blow in the face of public safety. 

It is also difficult to ascertun the number of the insane in 
penal institutions. Partly because there is no sharp dividing 
line between health and disease. This is true, princq>ally, 
in the large sphere of congenital and acquired feeble-minded- 
ness. The alienist who, in daily contact with such patients, 
has the opportunity of observing carefully the phenomena of 
idioty and imbecility will include among the mentally dis- 
eased many feeble-minded persons that the layman, the prison 
warden, and the judge consider normal. It is difficult to con- 
vince either of them of the contrary opinion, because many 
feeble-minded persons conduct themselves blamelessly within 
the prison walls, where the system of the institution and their 
work relieves them of the task of thought, and where the 
tnnptations of the outside world are lacking. 

' Bod^ "Handbuch der gerichtlichen Paydiiatrie," Hindnrald, Beriiu, 
1901; Cranur. "G«ridiUicbePa;cIustric:," Sii ed., GusUt Giacber, Jen*. IMMi 
DMriidc "Getklitiicbe Piycliopkttiologie^" Aiubr. Buth, hapng. 1807. 



188 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CBOfE [§ 19 

Not all the feeble-minded, boweva, are numboed among 
tlte docile, quiet members ot the prison^. Sometimes they 
ccHne to grief on the demands that are made of their power (tf 
conqirehension; then their foolish obstinacy is aroused, their 
emotional excitability is increased, and this leads to the most 
iiiq>Iea8ant scenes, to senseless raving and screaming, to 
abusive language, and assaults on attendants. 

StiU more frequent are scenes with epilegjics in ■w\ath it 
seems as if the fury that has been accumulating for a long time 
and has been lestruned with difficulty, suddenly brei^ out. 
The conception of this disease includes periodicity, the <jiange 
from completely normal behavior — assuming that epileptic 
idiocy has not already occurred — to patholo^cal distail>- 
ances of the consciousness. On this soil, especially, the very 
slightest cause is often sufficient to kindle an irritability that 
is expressed in wild raving. The cootrast between the per- 
son's usual quiet demeanor and these sudden outbreaks malus 
it very difficult for the l^rman to recognise thdr pathdogical 
origin. They are injurious, not only to the patient, who is. 
of course, subjected to the most severe disciplinary measures,' 
but also to the discipline of the institutioiL 

In the interests of the execution of the penalty, as weQ as 
from a medical standpmnt, it is imperative that these and oth«r 
pathological conditions should be immediately recognised 
for what they are, that they may be prevented in the futuie. 
Many physicians, unfortunately, are hampered by a lack <i 
psychiatrical knowledge. In addition, the time that is at the 
disposal of most pl^sidans in which to make their own 
observations is generally insufficiebt, the reports ot the <^- 
ciak in the instituticm are incomplete axid frequently infiu^tced 
by the unfortunate t«ndencar to r^ard many symptoms as 
simulated. All this makesst difficult to see the case clearly 
and dispasnonately. and tttis it happens that vbat tm years 

, ,.,,. ..C.oo'ilc 



I 




'AL DISEASES AMONG CRIMINALS 189 

>Qsider«d due to malice and criminal qualities 
later recognized as the expression of a psychic - 

The difficulties of ascertaining how many insane [persons 
are serving sentences are reflected again in the variation of the 
figures that represeat the differ^it institutions in the statis- 
tics of penai institutions and prisons published 1^ the Prus- 
sian Ministry of the Interior. As a whole average for the ' 
last three years, I have reckoned, from the figures for peni- 
tentiaries, 1%, from those for prisons, 0.24%, insane persons. 

In itself, this low percentage is not surprising, although in 
the prisons, at least, the numbers do not reach 4 to 1000, which, 
according to the general opinion, is the proportion of the in- 
Sane to the whole population. According to the laws, the 
gates of penal institutions should, indeed, be closed to the 
insane; thus there would remain only those who become 
insane while they are serving their sentences. In reality, 
however, the situation is very different. 

Those persons who have committed a crime during or in 
consequence of their mental disease have been classified as 
"criminal insane.!* Krohne ' has taken exception to this term 
because it "tears awi^ the foundations of all penal justice, 
which is expressed, both in the rule of the Sachsenspi^^ ; 
'the re^ fool and the s^iseless man shall not be judged,* and 
in the Code P£nal: 'D n'y a ni crime ni delit en cas de 
d£mence."* Every psychiatrist certainly represents this 
point of view, but, unfortunately, not every judge. As a 
matter of fact, we find real fools and senseless men enough 
Jb all paial institutions, stnne of irtiom have been sentenced 
^;x evenUn spite of an alienist's report. 

Hepoe, the term "criminal insane" must only be understood 
in the sense of insane persons who have committed some act 
> Knkne, ke. mt. p. S73. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



190 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CKIUE {§ 19 

that is punishable accoiding to law. It is not easy to ascer- 
tun afterwards how large th^ number is among the convicted; 
at least, the judgment is not so reliable later, as wh«i the effort 
is made to separate them as soon as they are committed. 
Yet I should mentiw that, of all the insane wtwoen in the 
Hubertusbuig institution, Naecke ' reckons that from 80% 
to 25% were mentally diseased when sentenced. Scheven* 
found that, of 114 oriminally insane persons in Mecktenbuig 
who were admitted to the insane asylum, either from penal 
institutions while awaiting trial, or while at liberty, 49 had 
been unjustly punished. Also, among the criminals who, 
while serving their sentences, were transferred to the hospital 
for the insane because of a psychosis, that is, among the so- 
called "iosaoe criminab," thete were probably many -whio did 
not become insane during imprisonment, but whoae disease 
was recc^!nized then; accordiogly, Scheven estimates the 
percentage of insane persons who were convicted in ^ute of 
their condition to be about S4% of all the insane persons who 
come into conflict with the criniinal code. 

These miscarriages of justice are distributed over many 
years; nevertheless, the proportion of such errors is not in* 
considerable. I can corroborate this by the result of my own 
investigation.' For more than three years I have examined 
^stematicatly and indiscriminately into the mental condition 
of every criminal committed to the penal prison in Halle 
for an off^ose against sexual morality, after having learned 
as much as possible of the person's past from the documents 
and records of the local authorities. Of the 200 such criminals 

> N<ueb», "V«rfand>en nnd WKhnnnn bcim Wdbe" (ADg. ZeitMltritt ftir 
PqrchiatiMv XLDC). 

■ Sduten, "GeutaaUtamig UDd V eiU c ch eo in HecUatbary-Sdiwcrin'* 
(Arch. Erim. Anthr.. IV, 260). 

> AichiffftTibuTt. "Znr FtydKilogie der SttikUoatsvetbtoder" (BCSdnv 
Krim. Psych. II. S0»). 



^laiiizodbvGoogle 



§ 19] MENTAL DISEASES AMONG CRIMINALS 191 

that I examinedi only 45 were entirely normal, and, even 
of these, alcohol had been the provocative agent of the crim- 
inal action in twelve cases. Ten suffered from senile dec^ 
(all sentenced for indecent tissaults on children), 2 from 
dementia due to calcification of the arterien, 4 from other 
kinds of psychoses, 1 from dipsomania, 1 from severe 
hysteria. Fourteen were idiots; 3 feeble-minded persons 
and ^ileptics had to be counted irresponsible, because 
their diseases were combined with drunkenness or other 
detiimeutal momenta. Thus 44, nearly one-quarter, un- 
questionably belonged in an asylum for the insane, for idiots, 
or for the aged, instead of in prison. But even the others, 
who were not considered irresponsible, showed more or less 
serious psychic anomalies, especially feeble-mindedness, epi- 
lepsy, chronic alcoholism, etc., so that only 45 could be 
pronounced unquestionably normal. There were only 99 
whom I should have reported to be entirely responsible, 
or very slightly affected in their responsibiUty, if I had been 
called upon to examine them as an expert. 

Fritz Leppmann's ^ examination of the inmates of the peni- 
tentiaiy in Moabit produced a similar result. He found only 
SO normal men among 90 convicted of rape or of tissaulting 
childr^i, and in Moabit there are no men over 40 com- 
mitted for offenses against chastity, above aU no aged mea, 
who may all be considered psychically defective, even if not 
entirely irresponsible. 

Among the b^gars and tramps that he examined, Bon- 
hOffer * found 12% who were insane to such a degree that 
{ 51 of the Penal Code would apply to them. "Much larger, 
as would naturally follow, was the number of those who, 

' fVtb Leppwsann, "Die SitUichkeitiveibrecher, cine bimiiiBl-faydudo. 
gbcbe Stvdie'' (VkrtdHuMdirift f. gerichtl. Hedmo. N. Polge. XXIX. i). 
> Bonhliffrr. lae. dL p. M. 



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192 THE INDIVIDUAL CAl^ES OP CRIME [§ 19 

from a psycliiatrical point of view, would be dassified ss 
lutving 'decreased responnbili^.' If we shoald inclnde aS 
thoee with slighter acquired or congenital psychic defects, 
all imbeciles, q)ileptic3, inebriates, senile individuals, and 
those that were pathologicaUy irritable, the number would 
eieeed 75% of the whole." 

The mental condition of other criminals is probably not 
as bad as that of tramps and criminals against semal morality. 
But from the foregoing it may well be concluded that the 
alienist should be more frequently consulted, especially 
where offenses agunst chastity are concerned, and his report 
taken more into account. If this were done, many tA the 
cases of illness in penal institutions would disappear. 

A small numbo' of the psychoses that break out in i»iscHi 
is due to the alcoholism that is so common among criminals, 
a number to epil^My. Some delinquents, however, show the 
first signs of disease during their imprisonment, and the most 
careful examination reveals nothing that would justify us 
ia ^uwiiniing that the first symptoms woe present before the 
criminal act was conunitted. The peculiar symptoms of this 
pqrchoeis, which is generally characterized 1^ auditory hallu- 
cinations while the mind is otherwise quite rational, has led 
to the recognition of a special form of disease, "inison de- 
lirium." 
I This is d importance, inasmuch as the frequmcy of this 
condition was often attributed to the cell system, sotitaiy 
confinement, and isolation, and a dangerous enemy to this 
so beneficial institutkni of our penal system was thus created. 
Subsequent experiences, however, have proven that this fear, 
if not entirely grotmdlesa, was at least of small significance. 
Btldin ' found that, among 94 diseased prisoners, "coofine- 

■ Radin. "Dm klinudiao Fannm der Gdta^aptfAouta" (AB^ 
ZdUcbrift t. PaTcluatrie. LVm, W7). 



. ,i,z<,i:,., Google 



§ 19] MENTAL DISEASES AMONG CRIMINALS 193 

molt symptoms " appeared in S8 cases. Of these, 22 were 
psychoses of which the symptoms had merely been given a 
peculiar tinge by imprisonment, and the other 6 too were 
probably identical with diseases that also occur outside 
prisons. The symptoms appeared 18 times in solitary con- 
finement, 10 times in conunon confinement. One thing m^ 
be said with certain^: in general, the diseases that occur 
during imprisonment are identical with those that occur in 
persons who are at liberty, and all that can be attributed to 
confinement is the predominance of certain symptoms. la 
any case, "convict's insanity," if it exists at all as an in- 
dependent psychosis, is extremely rare. 

My own experiences lead me to agree entirely with this 
view of BUdin's. The idea that solitariness awakens in the 
criminal feelings of remorse, that the shades of his victims 
surround him threateningly, that despur overwhelms him, 
till he is no longer able to think clearly and collapses under 
the torments of his conscience — all these fine ideas cannot 
stand in the face of sober observation. Prison or penitentiary 
may, indeed, hasten the criminal's lapse into insanity occa- 
donally, — in rare cases, perhaps, even cause it; but, as a 
rule, the penal institution merely happens to be the dwelling 
at the moment, of the person in whcmi the disease breaks out. 
When we consider that most convicts are encumbered by 
heredi^ and have not lived in accordance with the laws of 
health, we cannot wonder that they often devd<^ ment^ 



Id the penitentiary of Waldheim, Enecht ' found that 7% 
of the individuals were so burdened with psychic defects, 
or so disposed to psychoses, that they developed mental 
disease either before or during their imprisonment. Baer* 

> Lee. eii. p. 695. 

* "Lehrtnidi der GefKngiiiakuiide," Fmfinknd Enke, 1B89, p. ttO. 



194 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 19 

found a somewhat lower percmtage: <^ every 100 priaonen, 
at least 5 had mental defects, and of these, 2 had [wonounced 
mental diseases. 

As I have mentioned, on one d^, of the 405 prisoners whh 
sentences over six months that I ezamhted, S7 ynxe distinctly 
sub-nonnal. Of these, 8 were feeble-minded to svtch a decree 
that they absolutely deserved the protection of § 51 of the 
Penal Code. Eleven men suffered from the most various tonoB 
of mental disease, some <^ them from senile insani^. Besides 
these 19, I found hysteria in 1 case, epilepsy in 10, and 
nervous disturbances of a serious nature in 9 othos. 

From my own experience I must add that eves grave 
psychoses often for a long time etude the eye of even a prac- 
ticed observer, unless they affect the peison's outwaxd de- 
meanor. The longer and the more frequently the phyndan 
sees such patients, the more certain, of course, will his diag- 
nosis be. Hence, the observations of convicts that have beoi 
made during long years in the penitentiaiy are the most vahi- 
able. Most significant is Kndme's ' judgment, tor he cannot 
be reproached, as alienists so often are, with bong prqudiced 
in favor c^ insane persons by his profession. He says: "Ac- 
cording to my careful investigations, made with the co-i^iera- 
tion of the institution's physician. Dr. Werner, and the two 
spedalists, Dr. Richter and Dr. I^ngreuter, both <^ whom 
are certainly experienced in this field, the number of the mm- 
tally deficient in the penal institution Moabit amounted on 
an average to 10%, and yet the inmates of this institution are 
iUl penitentiaiy prisoners with sentences ranging up to 
4 years, those under 25 having been committed, whethar or 
not there was any former conviction against them, and Uioee 
over that age and under 40 bdng men who have not already 
repeatedly served prison or penitentiaiy sentmces. 'ntua 
' "Ldutmch dm Gcftognuknnde," Fadfaund T^tr, ISB9^ p. IMk 



§ 19] MENTAL DKEASES AMONG CRIMINAIS 195 

the institutioD doea not harbor an; completely depraved 
habitual crimiDals, Dor any aged and weak-minded ones." 

'Hie auspidon is involuntarily forced upon the bQrmaD 
that a large number of these ^parent cases of illness m^ be 
boldly simulated. In reply, one thing may be d^nitely as- 
serted, the simulation of p^choses is as difficult as it is rare. 
Attempts to "play the raving madman" do, indeed, occur 
occanonally, eq>ecially in large cities like Beriin, where the 
opportuni^ to study the subject is easier to find. But all 
such attempts are strangled at once if the prisoner knows 
that he is confronted by a specialist; usually a quiet seiiotis 
demeanor suffices to cause the symptoms to disappear. 

Then it is that the difficult task stUl ties before the alienist 
of finding out whether the individual is not really insane after 
all, tor experience teaches that simulation is generally tried 
by insane persons. Hence, I wUl only mention my own ^• 
periences. Among the unusually large number of prisoners 
held for examination whom I have seen in the course of my 
psychiatrical practice, there were only 4, if I except some 
aiCting that lasted for a day or two, who showed symptoms 
for a lengthy period which we thought were simulated. Of 
these, 2 later proved to be incurably insane, and I do not 
heutste to pronounce our diagnosis as erroneous in at least 
one of the other cases, although perhaps it was un- 
avoidable. 

In two other cases, besides the simulated symptoms, 
there was pronounced feeble-mindedness, although in neither 
was it of such a high d^ree that I could apply § 51 of the 
Penal Code. Quite striking are Loogard's remarks (on moral 
insanity, "Archiv fUr Pefydiiatrie,*' XLIV, No. 1), in which 
he says that in no case where, together with the physicians of 
public insane asylums for instance, he diagnosed simulation, 
was he successful. In every case, even in one in which the 



196 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CRIME [§ 19 

criminal himself confeased that he was Emulating, the individ- 
uats proved to be insane after all. 

The fact that I have met with no simulant who was un- 
mistakably normal, and with very few in any case, is c«r- 
tainly due to chance, for other p^chiatrists of cautious and 
experienced judgment have occasionally found simulants;' 
neverthdess, cases of pure simulation without any patho- 
logical basis are isolated exceptions. 

Brief attacks of pretending to be insane, particularly to 
be imbecOe, are more frequent, both before the graniining 
judge and while serving sentence. Bat they are rar^ long 
or consistently carried out. The criminal judge and the 
prison official ought gradually to recognize tliis. If an un- 
fortunate prejudice did not exist, and if, whenever a striking 
symptom appears, the suspidon did not arise that it is mer^ 
simulated, examination by a specialist would more often be 
demanded, and thus many an individual who, according to 
our laws, must be regarded as innocent, would be delivered 
from the prison and the pemt^itiaiy. Tlie officials in penal 
institutions, too, who are inclined by their daily contact 
with criminals to think the worst of prisoners, should be more 
influenced by the general ezperience of specialists. If th^ 
were, persons who are psychically unbalanced would not so 
often have to taste the extreme severi^ ot discij^inary pun- 
ishments, and all possible methods would not be enq>k>yed 
to break the obstinacy of a supposed simulant. Sw^ measures 
are all in vain, for they are directed against a symptom that 
does not exist, against simulation, and because it is attempted 
to influence a man who cannot be influenced because be is 
insane. This cannot be remedied until the distrust of the 
physician disappears, and the institution officials are familiar 
with at least the first principles of psychiatry. The eariiest 
■ £reiIcr."DkSimul&tkia von GdctcnUnmguiidEirilqHie.'' Halle, 1904. 



S 19] MENTAL DISEA^S AMONG CRIMINALS 197 

possible recognition of the priaoner's condition will then 9paie 
him lumeceasary punishment, and the discipline and order 
of the institution will only gain, because the patient will 
soon be removed from his unsuitable surroondings. 

The enormous frequency among criminals of mental 
disturbances and aberrations in the widest sense of the word 
suggests the question, what relations exist between the ab- 
normal mode of thought c^ the insane and that of the crim- 
inal? Past experiences forbid us to draw a sharp dividing line 
between the two. I will only mmtion as the eacample of a 
pqrchosis, softening of the brain, the qmq>tomB <d which, 
known in part also to the layman, most easily admit of the 
proof that we are concerned with a soiious and incurdble dis- 
ease. Clinically, we have known this disease only since 1896. 
How many diseased persons before that must have been nus- 
uuderstood and, with their inclination to criminal actions, 
have bec3i deUvered over to the criminal judge! What we 
have experienced in regard to softening of the brain and some 
other diseases nu^ be repeated at any time. Certain symptoms 
may combine in a certiun aspect of disease that is as yet un- 
known to us, and thus the boundary of mental health would 
again be removed. 

A sharp separation of the mentally normal from the psy- 
chically diseased criminals also hinders the knowledge of 
what are called "borderland conditions." * One fiank of the 
whole anny of the feeble-minded, the hysterical, the epileptic, 
of those who suffer from persistent hallucinations and from 
neurasthenia, of those who are injured by the habitual abuse 
of alct^ol or morphine, stands b^ond the boundary of crim- 
inal lesponubility; but where only the very slightest degree 
exists, the person must be pronounced responsible. I shall 
letuni to the importance of these "borderiand states" in 

> Hoclu. he. «tl. p. MS. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



198 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OP CBIHE I§20 

criminal prosecution; here their aigniScanoe ia merdy that 
ot a bridge from the dangerous iiuaDe to the dangerous 



Both, criminality and mental diaeaae, aie fJants that draw 
their nourishment from the same soil, physical and m^ital 
degmeration. The fact that this soil ia not aUe to jnioduce 
better fruit must be attributed to intempoance and wiebdied- 
ness, to the marriage of mentally deficimt posona, in short, 
to unfortunate social conditions. Why it ia that one child 
of a drunkard will he epileptic, idiotic, or insane, and another, 
with QO discernible psychic defect, but irritable and unstable. 
wUl become a criming; why one ot a depraved famOy's 
badly brought up children will turn drunkard and end in the 
insane afylum, while another finds his wi^ to prison, we do 
not and never shall know. 

§ SO. !nt« ClaoifleatiiHi of CriBiiali 
In spite ot some alterations in hia classification of crhu- 
inals, Lombroso ' continued to mflintnin that perhaps one- 
third ot all criminals represented a special type distingtnsbed 
by common physical and mental qualities. He considered 
the pRM^ of these physical and psychic anomalies of particu- 
lariy great value, because to him they w«e ugtis that tbe 
"deltnquente nato" was an atavistic step in the development 
of mankind. This assertion is, at present certain^, mtirety 
unfounded. The dividing line between the really atavistic 
formations and the anomalies that arise in earliest youth, 
or during foetal development in consequence of pathological 
processes, is just as difficult to draw as that between tbe 
anomalies themselves and the variations that still lie within 

' Lombnto, "L'antlirDpcilo^ crimiDdk et Ki Tfaeots pngrt^" Pmn, 
1896. Fdn Alcui. p. M; " UiMcben und B 
p. 886. 



. ,i,z<,i:.., Google 



§20] CLASSIFICATION OF CBJMINAtS 199 

the m&tffn of Dormality. The most able judges in this 
sphere, the aiutomista, and among these, above all, Semoff. 
reject the atavistic significance of most of the variations 
found by Lombroso and his followers. 

Similarity in anatomy and mental qualities to savages and 
the peoples of former ages has been used to support the theory 
that the criminal signifies a relapse which may lead "beyond 
the savage, to the j^nimftl itself." This hypothesis stands on 
very uncertain feet; the life and doings of primitive peoples 
are often very difFerent from the rough and unchecked 
brutality, cruelty, and other characteristics which are ad- 
vanced as the basis of the likeness between savages and 
criminals. 

Entirely mistaken b the comparison between crime and 
epilepsy. The "epileptic background, from which the clinical 
and anatomical picture of the morally insane person and of 
the bom criminal is projected, acts as a medium for the com- 
prehenaioD of the directness, the periodicity, and the para- 
doxical contrast of their symptoms, which, without doidit, 
are their most prominent characteristics." This view is based 
on an entire misunderstanding of epilepsy. A criminal 
never shows epileptic characteristics unless he is suffering 
from this disease. This is common enough and is easily 
explicable, if we know the frequency of epilepsy among 
drunkards and the children of drunkards. But the only 
thing that crime has in common with epilepsy ia the commoD 
soil of degeneration. 

AU of Lombroso's attempts to separate the bom criminal 
from the normal man 1^ bringing him into connection, 
partly with atavistic, partly with pathologicat, states, have 
come to grief; and so has the endeavor to characterize the 
criminal "clinically and anatomicaUy." We must never infer 
criminal tendencies from the existence of all kinds <rf stigmata 

Coogic 



200 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CRIUE [§ 20 

of d^eneration, just as the fact that an individnal is de- 
scended from insane parents and bears nmnerous stigmata 
does not justify us in assuming tlut we have to do with a 
psychically diseased person. 

The dedded rejection of any pathc^iomonic value t^ crim- 
inal anomalies, in which almost all Goman sdoitists without 
exception are agreed, has aided in routing two proUems,' 
which must be kept quite s^wrate, namely: 

T'^I. Whether bom criminab exist. 

/ S. Whether this congenital moral abnormality ex p rcaa ea 

f itself in tangible, morphological ugns. 

Sonomer affirms the first question "nncondttionaQy^." 
Kim,* too, and Baer * are oUiged to admit, in the same breath 
in which they speak of the theory of the bom criminal as 
refuted, that at least we are concerned with inferitw human 
material. "In any case, so much is certain, that the average 
habitual crimiiul is below the average mental plane ci human- 
ity in general." * 

Tie analysis of ^lat we have ascertained conoemiiig tlie 
body and mind of the criminal leads to the same condosicHis, 
Intellectually and physically thsy fall bdow the average. 
This does not apply to the individual, but to criminals as a 
class, just as we may s^ of a race that it stands on a low 
plane without intending to intimate that it ladra [diysically 
strong and intellectually eminent men. 

~~ As we have seen above (p. 124), infericnity is the result d 
descent and training. Thus, the roots of the evil are trana- 
terred to the social sphere. The great advantage of this is, 

> SomnMr, "Die KrimiiulpiycliDlogie" (Allg. Zcitadir. f. Parch. LI. 78S; 
''Kriiiiiiialp«ycbok>gic" Ldptig, 1B04, p. 8L1). 

■ Kim, "Cber den gegeDwBrtieen Stand det Knmiimi-AaHiopcAB^'' 
(Mg. Zeibchr. t. P^ch-. L, 711). 

' Bmt, "T>a VerbredieT," p. 241. 

* Kin, "Gattetitorang and Veriwecben. IDaiMHr Ttm\m liiifl." p. 98. 



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§ 203 CLASSIFICATION OP CRBtflNAIS 201 

that we can confront the whole phenomenon with more 
courage, because we then realize how it must be combated. 
But Bleuler > U not wrong when he says: "Such influences 
of environment do not speak agunst Lombroso, they justify 
him, but go even a little b^ond him by discovering the 
causes of the *reo nato.'" This b true in so taxaa we try to 
ascertain whence the average inferiority comes. But we do 
not thereby acknowledge the existence of the "bom criminal," 
whose nature forces him with fatalistic necessity into a career 
of crime. 

The social evib, wretchedness and poverty, drunkenness 
and disease, produce a generation of men who are not equal 
to the storms of life; th^ are socially useless, in the same sense 
that those who are rejected, when recruits are ^uunined tor 
the army, are physically unfit. The State requires a minimum 
height and chest measurement. Some of those who are re- 
jected as unfit would endure the exertions incidental to service 
perfectly wdl, just as some of the tid! fellows with adequate 
chest measurements, collapse, llie rejection of the short and 
narrow is merely ao expression of the experience that the 
health of thos^below a certain limit is especially apt to suffer^ 

So, too. for us the establishment of a low intelligence, of 
physical and mental inferiority, is merely a sign of the lack 
of the power to resist social drcumstances, a signal that warns 
us to be cautious and not to ask too much of these socially 
unfit. If we could tear up all these people out of the foul soil 
in which th^ are rooted, if we could strengthen them phy^- 
cally and steel them by education, if, above all, we could pro- 
tect them from the dangers of life, we should be able to save 
most <^ them from social ruin. 

But that would be Utopia. Life takes its course and grinds 
him who cannot keep up. As the struggle for existence is 

' iUMbr,"Derg(!boiaieVerbfecher,"Mmuclw ISM, J.F.Ldiinaiiii,p.SI. 

L ,-<,::..CoOQ||,' 



202 THE INDIVIDtJAL CAUSES OP CffiME [$ 20 

going on at present, as national customs force emyone into 
tlie yolra of "doing likewise," we are obliged thua to judge the 
dsngeis to whidi we are all exposed. They are greater than 
the power of resistance of all tliese inf^ior. persons; v^ieie 
the strong swimmer breasts and surmounts the surf, the weak 
one perishes. And those that perish are many. Hw Prussian 
statistics of penal institutions contun a lughly notewcuiiiy 
table on this subject.' 

All those penit^itiary prisoners who had served at least 
three sentences (penitentiaty, prison, or house of anrection). 
of whidi one or more amounted to six montlis and over, were 
counted on the first of October. 1894, and to these were added 
also those who were committed between then and March 31. 
1897. Aconferaicec^officials reported what in their judgment 
was to be expected of each of tliese 15.S39 men and 2510 
women in the future. 

The result is truly horrifying. Social uselesmess was in 
the highest degree probable in 92.4% of the women, 94.8% 
of the men, in the first period; in 98% of the women, and 
96.4% of the men, in the second period. The predominant 
cause is incorri^bility. But wher^ can this incorrigibility 
consist, if we do not include those with physical and mental 
defects — in this case probably identical wiih invalidism 
and insanity — unless it be in the individual natural disposi- 
tionP This is the instrument on which tlie storm of life 
strikes discords that clash harshly in our ears.- 

All theoretical considerations are powerless before the 
weight of these figures, representing as they do the ezperienoe 
of those who are in daily contact with criminals. We mu^ 
reckon with an army of criminals who. under '■^w^ing cod- 
ditions, cannot be fitted into a r^ulated life. If we loc^ 

> "Sbitistik in mm Bcsort cks Ettaii^icli PivutHMekea Hhuftenuma dea 
TnncrD gdkOcciidai StMlkostttltai und GtAlngDine^" BcvUn, 1900. 



S201 



CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMINAIS 



203 



closer at tltese men, we shall find that outward causes play a 
very different part in their lives ; one gives way at the slightest 
touch, another only after resisting temptation for a long time, 
but, as far as human power can judge, they one and all even- 
tually succumb. 

TABLE XXXT 

L BxCmiTATB 18 









B»lD»ar 












Ikcouio- 


S- 


Otbb 




aa 


Men. . . 
Women . 


I4.7M 


«,«17 


ss 


122 
U 


440 
128 


STS 
08 


ToUl . 


I7,0*S 


ie,«5s 


201 


180 


003 


441 


Hen. . . 
Women 


8.809 
1,1S2 


8.8B7 
1.14S 


lOOO-lWS 
10 

i 


8 


as 

80 


92 
20 


Totol . 


WOl 


fl,«8d 


14 


S 


iBS 


118 



Now, are all these socially "incorrigibles" mora% insane 
persons, incorrigible because they lack the abili^ to perceive 
and follow the laws of morality? "Moral insanity" is a much 
disputed conc^ition, and the controvert as to whether a 
disease can appear exclusively in ethical drfecta is not yet 
at an end.* Hence, I can only give my own personal point of 
view here: I do not believe in the existence of this disease. 
AH the cases diagnosed as such with which I have come in 

1 Aftci Nadutai. "Die TUckflUligen Vobrechei FreiUKna von 1000-IOOS." 
(Zeiladirift det Klku^ichoi Preiuaucbea statiitiadiea Butmui. 84 Jkhrg. 
niAbt.) 

* Qaupp, "Vbtx den Iwutigen SUnd det Lehie vmu 'geborenen Vcr- 
bmdier'" (HSchrKiimlVch. I. 8S), and "Ober n 
jugendBchca Terbnchertom," H&Ue, 1004. 



J.,r,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



204 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CBIME [§ 20 

contact weie dther Bccompsnied by proDounced intelkctaal 
defects, or were meidy symptoms of serious oearoscs and 
psychoaea which had failed to 'be lecogoized. 

With this view, which, by the way, is almost umTCtsally 
shared, there b no longer cai^ for the frequently expressed 
apprehension that the alienists will see in every criminal an 
insane person who belongs in their hands rather than in those 
of the criminal judge. I mentioned in the last diapter that 
serious nwntjtJ diseases exist ofteiter than judges thinlf , but 
"de l^e data," we are modest in ^>plyiDg § 51. We do not 
go nearly so far as Krohne * desires, whom experience ot crinn 
inal justice induces to say: '"The more the conception of the 
pathological disturbance of the mind which entirely pre- 
cludes the exendae of free will is comprehended by l^islators 
and judges, the more possible will it be to remove frcHn socie^ 
the lai^ number at mentally defective persons who are not 
able to withstand the temptaticai to transgress the law, and 
thus become a true pest to society and to the judge, eitbef for 
always, or until th^ are no longer dangerous." We are for- 
bidden to go as tar as tlus at present by the .narroi^ limited 
text of the Ufs and by the opposition of the judges, who 
are often extremely difficult to convince ot the existence al 
serious psycboses. I also fear that there would be no eod 
to those exempted, if we should proceed according to this 
proposal. • 

The establishment of the outward dicomstancea undo: 
which a crime is committed made it posnble clearty to per- 
ceive a number of causes of crimes, of which I wonld mention 
agun the influence of the seasons, the economic situatioo, 
and pc^nlar or national customs. From this it fdlows that 
crime is, in the first place, a sodal phoiomenon; every a^ has 
the crimes that it produces. But not everyone becMoes m 
> Ktahu. Idc ed. p. 27«. 

"- _„ L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 20] CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMINAIS 205 

crimmal; an individual or, as Sotmner * calls it, an atdogenic 
disposition, is necessary for that. This is the true kernel of 
Lombroso's doctrine, even if the stigmata that he gives are 
wrongly, or not sufficiently, prov«i. Every crime is the 
product ot natural disposition and training, of the individual 
factor on the one side, and of the soda! conditions on the other. 

It would be very fine if we could use this point ot view as a 
sign-post in classifying criminak. Hiey would then be divided 1 
according to whether the individual or the social factor I 
predominated. But any such attempt unfortunately meets 
with the great obstacle that both causes are united -in almost 
every crime, and yet, for practical reasons, an effort at 
classificatian cannot be avoided. Any division into gronps 
has something forced about it; the wealth of nature fights 
against being classified in an artificial i^an. This must be 
grasped at the outset, so that the establishment of different 
forms will not be misunderstood; they are not and must not 
be more than a guide to aid in finding the way amid the 
multifariousness of the phenomena. 

Classification from the psychological standpoint would be 
tha best if it were at all possible. At presenUJiowever, the 
problem is absolutely unsolved, and such attempts lead only 
to the most adventurous constructions, without any value. 
As a curiosity, that of Krauss ' may be mentioned, who 
divides criminals into (a) men of strength ("Kraftmenschen"): 
1, the monster ("UngetUm"), 2, the choleric individnal 
("Choleriker"), 8, the passionate individual ("der Leiden- 
sdtaftliche"); (6) the malicious ("BOsartigen"): 1. the 
demqniacal ("der Dttmonische"), 2, the intrigant, 8, the 
rogue C'Schurke"); and (c) the weaklings ("SchwXchlinge"): 
1, the scamp ("Schuft"), 2, the sneak ("Schleicher"), 

■ toe. eit. 818. 

* KnuM, "Die I^7dK4ogie dea Verbrechau," Tabingen, IB84, p. tt7. 

I ,-™:..C00^^lc 



[ 



206 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CRIME [% 20 

3, the vagabond ("Luiiv")>4> tlie Caliban. This. <tf conne, 
is nothing but puie novdistic pefycbolofjy. 

Fmi ' diittinguiabea between five groups: crinunal insane, 
bom criminals, criminals hy aoqniied habit, occasional 
criminals, and criminals of passion. As Feni only intended 
to deal with the sodological significance of criminals, he does 
not hesitate to include the insane. The conseqoence is, that 
he. and, to an evos greater tsteat, Lombroso. obliterate the 
line between psychic disease and criminality. Tbie iodivido- 
als dted by Lombroso as examples of mattoids (semi-insane 
persons) were all actually insane. The bom criminal is dis- 
tinguished from the criminal by acquired habit, in that, from 
bis eariiest youth, criminal instincts are inherent in tiim, 
whereas they are merely early inq>lanted and developed in 
the other as a lesult of physical and sodal evib and n^ect. 

As the starting point of his classification (Hrik * takes the 
criminal will, through whidi the purpose of the penal^ 
(the protection of sodety by deterrence, discii^ine, and 
rendering the criminal innocuous) is determined. He dis- 
tinguishes three main groups, according to whether the will 
is weak, ot average (normal) strength, of particular intenaty 
and obstinacy. In view of the difficulty of estimating the wiD 
according to these gradations, I consider the prindt^ un- 
practical and too sidijective. 
f^'At its meeting in Heidelbei^, in 1897, the "IntetnatiiHiale 

I y rifpinaliirfiw hp Vfrpinigiing" Hiirf-iTigiiinlM ^ th"y gw ^'p' T * 

■ 1. Momentary (occasional) criminals; 

2. Those criminals whose crime and {seceding life show 
that, in consequence ot defective intelligence or tzaining, ot 

> Lot. at. p. Sff. 

* (Hrik, "Cber die Kntmlinig der Tofaredm mh biaaaiaa BOiiwht 
Mif ifie nDtencheidmig nriodiai Gdqjcnbcil*- und GewolmhehaTefbndtan" 
(ZStW. XIV, 76). 

> Uittea. dec I. K. v.. TL sat. 



_.,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



8 



20] CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMINAIS 



consequence of later influencea, thtat ability to sutqect 

I themselves to the existing standards is weakened, and with 
I whom the apprehension seems well-founded that neither a 
I fine nor a brief loss of liberty will be of sufficient effect: 

S. Criminals whose rehabilitation in social life aa regulated 
by law can no longer be expected. 

As its sole leading ide^ this classification has taken the 
menace to legal security, as appears in the direct connection 
of the classification with the penalties to be applied, and it is 
the menace to legal security that arises from the natural dis- 
position of the criminal, not that which is due to the frequently 
accidental gravity of the crime, that is considered. I should 
like to adhere to this grouping, but consider it desirable to 
divide it still further. My clas^catioD is composed of the 
following seven groups: 

1. Chance criminals, 

5. Criminals of pas»ob, 

8, Criminals of opportunity, 
4. Deliberate criminals, 

6. Becidivists, 

0. Habitual criminals, and 

7. Professional criminals. 

Chance criminals are those who come into contact with the 
Penal Code as a result of carelessness. A cellar door left 
open, a burning match carelessly thrown away, an error in a 
ptescriptioD written in a moment of mental fatigue, cardess 
<biving, a runaway horse, any of these thii^ may put the most 
req>ectable, huouute man in the dock. Often the damage done 
is enormous, as, for instance, in railw^ accidents, while the 
responsible switchman m^ be still less to blame on account 
of extreme over-fatigue. There is absolutely no suspicion 
of any intention to injure public legal security. 

lliis is 1^ true to a great extent <d the crioiinal ot paaaoa, 

v'.oogic 



208 THE INDIVIDnAL CAUSES OF CBIBfE (§ 20 

who is earned away in a moment of excttement and loses }m 
power of ddiberstion. His crime, as <Hrik says, is produced 
solely by his emotion, of which it is the natural ezpresraon, 
and the passion itself is psychologically explicable and ex- 
cusable. The case of the husband who surprises bis wife in 
adultery and kills her is often quoted as a typical exanqde. 
The idea of emotional passion has found far-reaching recogni- 
tion in the German Penal Code in the conception of def enae. 
Tbe significance of passionate excitement seems to me to be 
especially inqmrtant in mob crimes, the commission ti iriiich 
has been discnssed on page 121. 

I should like to limit the expression "criminal oS passHm" 
to those vbo act in a momentary wave of passicHiate emotiMi, 
in acute excitement, and not indude, as does voa lisst,' 
those individuals who are constantly dominated by passicais; 
be mentions, for instance, several notorious women poiscHKts. 
These persons are continually under the influence of their 
emotional excitability; it is their innate chanict» that de- 
termines their action, not an external impulse, which, in the 
storm of feelings, destroys all cool reflection. 

Closely related to the crimes of pasnon, but distingoisbed 
from them by greater weakness of the e»ated ^notions, 
are the crimes of opportunity. It is proverbial that the <^ 
portunity makes the thief. For the poor devil who keeps s 
piece of money that he has found, for the starving wretdi 
who appropriates a loaf of bread in passing a baker's shf^ 
temptation is overwhelming. In the one case it is more ex- 
terna] chance, in the other, physical conditiim, that favors the 
commission of the crime, lliese are the least serions cases, 
in which everyone will view the deed in a mild li^it. Thae 
are graver instances, howev^, in which, thon^ the diance 
<q>portunity is indeed the outward occasion, the deed itsdf 
* (OR lutt. "Stnbecbtlidie AntdltK und TocMise," 11, UT. 

- Coogic 



§ 20] CLASSIFICATION OF CRDONAIS 209 

indicates particular weakness of character. In this class 
belong many criminals against sexual morality and the thief 
who robs the till that he happens to find open in a shop. 
To such crimes, too, must be added probably moat of tiie 
excesses due to alcohol, in which the emotional passion must 
be considered of secondary value. 

All those offenses against the l^al order which have just 
been mentioned have this in common, that they owe their 
origin especially to chance, to an unfortunate eonstellatioD; 
these are only different forms of what the "Intematiooale 
Kriminalistische Vereinigung" calls "momentary (or occa- 
nonal) crimes." The subdivision, however, makes it appear 
distinctly that in the class of momentary criminals there are 
also highly respectable persons, who are divided by a very 
deep chasm from the thieves who rob the cash-drawer. 

Quite different must be our judgment of the cnme that ia 
carried out with deliberation, the preliminary condition of 
which is the calm, premeditated plan; with no trace of haste , 
the scheme is formed and ^xcuted. There is a vast difference 
between the psychological processes that lead to embezzle- ' 
ment or the theft of food, on the one side, and to burglary 
that is moat intelligently carried out with all the advantages 
of modem technique, on the other. 

In individual cases, it is true, the boundaries are blurred. 
When the opportunity is particularly tempting, when a theft 
happens to be particularly ea^ of execution, the act, in spite 
of its premeditation, loses something of its gravity and often 
assumes almost the character of an opportunity that was not 
allowed to slip. A crime that is committed in a moment of 
excited passion also sometimes approaches a premeditated 
one, when, for external reasons perhaps, the immediate reac- 
tion to the insult or injury that has been done to the man's 
honor was not poaaible. The excitement, 8ome\^iat reduced 

Coogic 



210 THE INDIVIDUAL CAUSES OF CKOfE [% 20 

in strengtli peili^M, coDtinues, and thus du^ later lead to a 
premeditated crime. Nev«-theless, the psychological esti- 
mation of the act that is committed in the moment ot passion, 
and the one that ia dd^ed. Is naturally different, although 
the two are inwardly related. 

Much more dangerous to le^ securify are those crimes 
that are carried out with the systematic use of all the advan- 
tages that offer; the danger grows if the perpetrator adapts 
the'outward circumst|Uices to his wishes, and if he combines 
with others for the purpose of committing the crime. 

The Penal Code regards as a rdapse the repetition at the 
same crime after the earlier sentence has been servedT" F^- 
chologically, however, the term must be more broadly com- 
prehended. We must recf^nize as a relapse the repetitiott 
of the crime, even if no penalty lies between the commission 
of the two acts. But it is not enou^ that an individual shows 
the same weak power of resistance to the same temptatioQ; 
we must also regard it as a relapse if the offenses that be cran- 
mits, such as theft, concealing stolen goods, embeazlementi 
and fraud, or such as assault and battery and insult, qning 
from similar psychological motives. According to the exist- 
ing criminal law, however, unless he commits the same 
crime, a man is not considered a ret^vist, except in the case 
(A theft, and then he must have been twice convicted tor 
receiving stolen goods, robbery, or robbery and extortion. 

It must not be left unsaid that women show a stronger 
tendency to relapse than men. Sacker ' see^ the reasons for 
this, partly in the nature of woman, which is quicker to ac- 
quire a habit and clings to it longer, and partly in the diffi- 
cult with which women must make thdr way in the worid. 
The first reason seems to me less important than the secood. 



3,a,l,zt!dbvG00gIC 



§201 CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMINALS 211 

"L'hotnme peut braver ropinioa publique, la femme s'y 
doit soumettre," quotes Sacker, and rightly. A woman 
who has once been convicted has much more difficulty in find- 
ing a new situation than has a man, and therefore sinks 
more easily. 

While our penal code takes no account of former con- 
victions unless they were of the same crime, our criminal 
statistics include as recidivists all persons who have abeady 
been convicted — for good reasons. Only in this way can we 
get an idea of the danger that threatens society from the 
habitual criminal. It would be a mistake to see in him always 
the activity of positive criminal tendencies. A large number 
of the noore harmless habitual criminals, the tramps, who are 
the dmly bread of the police organs and district courts, are 
characteristic examples of an habitual criminality, due mainly 
to nc^tive qualities. Incapable of serious work, dulled to 
all fear of punishment, indifferent to everything, they wander 
from place to place, suffering hunger and thirst, frost and 
intense heat, sleeping sometimes under shelter, sometimes 
in the gutter, and yet only a very few among them are able 
to brace themselves and return to a life of industry. 

Among the remaining habitual criminals, too, n^ative 
qualities predominate, especially in those who grow up m a 
criminal environment with no fear of the disgrace of punish- 
ment, become utterly depraved, and live on lazily and plan- 
lessly from day to day. Their criminal activity changes with 
their opportunities and needs. Their attempts to work their 
way up tail because of then inability to withstand the temp- 
tations that are all too frequent in the mire in which they 
live. 

Much smaller ia the number of criminals with poutive 
criminal desires. Usually tb^ only graduaUy develop into 
what they are, but once th^ have become specialists ot a 

Coogle 



212 THE INDIVmUAL CAUSES OP CBIUE [§20 

oertun kind, they axe irredeemably lost to socie^. Hiar 
inteUigoioe is greater thao that <A the ccMmnoD aeaaop irho 
takfis any opportunity that offers; geDeraOy they inak oo a 
large scale. To this class belong the international {nck- 
pockets, who only "work" on great occasions, at horse-faces, 
etc., the burglars wlto (qierate with all kinds of dtemical and 
technical iqipliances, and the "gentlraaai swindlers" ("Hoch- 
stapler"). To tltem, all crime is a proteaaon. It is ranaik- 
able that our l^islation knows of no "occupational crime" 
«ccept concealing stolen goods, gambling, poadiing, ostuy, 
and prostitution, that " the l^slator is enUi^ unacquainted 
with precisely the chief present-day types of crime as an 
occupation.^ " It is just these crinunals -who are incorrigible 
in the true sense of the word. They, together with a small 
proportion of tlie habitual criminals, correspond to tbe group 
clasafied by the "IntematJooale KriminaKatiache Verdni- 
gung" as "criminak whose rdiabilitation in regulated social 
life cao no lougN be expected." 

Our statisUcs show, it is true, that the Dumber of the 
"incorrigibles" is very much larger; in the social seaise, prob- 
ably at least half of all the penttentiaiy piisonas aie irre- 
deemably lost. The majority of this group is made tq;> i^ 
habitual criminalE, only a small proportion b^ng criminals 
by occupation. This distinctjos has more than a theoretical 
interest. In both cases the menace to the ]egai security 
arises from the individual dispoeitioD. One group, however, 
succumbs rather to inability to get on hcmestly in the world, 
an inability that is often connected with physical and mental 
inferiority, almost always with insufficient and defective ttain> 
ing and education. The professional criminal, on tbe oth» 
hand, just because of bis ctmsistlht and purposeful activity, 
his energy and bis pleasure in his occupation, will, from the 
* mm LuMt. "StmlRchtlidK AntAtae und Vorbm" H 9U. 

I _,..■ . Google 



§ 20] CLASSIFICATION OP CRIMINAIS 213 

begmning, oppose any attempt to improve him vitb a much 
greater inn^ resistance, which leaves little ground for hope. 

This das^ficaUon does not pretend to be easily mastered. 
It will not always be possible, even after long study of the 
individual, to classify ev^y criminal correctly. Often, too,' 
one form develops out of tutother. Still, if all the causes of 
9 crime are carefully considered and tlie character of the 
perpetrator sufficiently studied, it ought atwqrs to be possible 
to ascertain to v\uch group he approaches most nearly. 

llie value of such a tedious separation of the harmless from 
the socially dangerous does not lie in the desire to systematize, 
but in its bearing on the future, which appears in quite 
another light if we are confronted by a chance criminal in- 
stead of a profeadonal criminal. And on this depends what 
is most important of all, tlie method to be used in the war 



^laiiizodbvGoogle 



^laiiizodbvGoogle 



PART m 

THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRIME 
§ 2L The Ctimiiutl Fbjiiognomy of the Prwent 

The menace to public safety from crime has assumed pro- 
portioiis that must be somewhat threatening, even to the most 
nnshakable optimism. Wach * does, indeed, assert that 
"No one will deny that we are living in an otderly, healthy, 
and satisfactoiy legal state," uid further, "Even the dis- 
quietiDg limpreswon that our criminal statistics at first make 
decreases on closer observation." He e^Iains this by ptnnt- 
ing out that, on examination, we find the number <^ first 
convictions to be on the dectease. and the tdiole increase to 
be placed to the account of recidivists. 

According to this, in order to obtain a correct impreswon 
of present-day l^al conditions, we must consider three 
questions : first, has the number of delinquents not previously 
convicted really decreased; BecxmSj, what is the theoretical 
and practical significance of the increase in the "recidivists"; 
and, thirdly, can the l^al condition in which we are living 
really be called healthy? 

It is true that the number of those not previously convicted 
has decreased. Of the last twenty years the year 1900 has 
the lowest number <^ those convicted for the first time. But 
this decrease, unfortunately, is very slight, and is not an 
absolute one, but is only in proportion to the total population. 
Tbe gi4>s left in the criminal army by disease and death, 
1 and imprisonment, are almost entirely refilled by 

> Waek. "Znkimft (k« Stnkb«(^t^" p. C 
21A 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



216 THE STBUGGLE AGAINST CBIME [§21 

oewcomers. Thus theie cao be do qaestkm of any decreaae 
worth speaking about in criminal tendencies in generaL 
This is most clearly proved by a summaiy of the last twmty 
years, in four sections. 

To be sure, even then the last five years are the most favor- 
able. But the whole decrease in criminality amounts to only 
one person for every million persons of punishable age. And 
if we consider the different crimes separately, evm the most 
incorrigible optimist can no longer rejoice at the supposed 
decrease in the number of first convictions. If we do not 
include larceny, which is too largely influenced by economic 
fluctuations, improvement is found only in the (Senses ot 
resistance to State authority and violation of oath, "nie 
numba of first convictions for assault and battery, fraud, and 
offenses agunst chastity and decern^, oa the contrary, is 
increasing considerab^. It affords as only a crumb of comf tnt 
to know that the share oi the recidivists in these t^teaaes has 
Increased much more rapidly than that of those convicted 
for the first time, and that a larger percenta^ of most dimes 
are committed by them than by the beginners. 

The latter is especially noticeable in the case of juveniles, — 
for obvious reasons. Six years is such a short period that 
the individual is no longer a minor when later sentences an 
imposed. But is not the fact that nearly one-fifth of sit the 
juvenDes soitenced have already heai convicted once, and 
some even ax times and more without a parallel in sadness? 
B, at the same time, the number of all formerly unconvicted 
delinquents had decreased, we mi^t be more inclined to 
console oursdves with the idea that these early cmnipt 
persons r^resent the share contributed by mexital and 
physical inferiority. But, instead of that, we see a fresh and 
evergrowing stream of juveniles appearing before the crhmnal 
judge. What makes this of graver ognificance than it would 



S211 CBIMINALPHYSIOGNOBIYOFT 



1 

t 

1 

n 

1 
1 


1 

>• 

1 
2 


Is; 


S ! S S : 


s « - 1 


1^1 


S ! 3 S e 


: ' " i 


l«S 


S 5 « S s 


i s "* 1 


ici 


S 1 8 C S 


S 8 * 1 


1^1 


i I I - = 


g p - 1 


1^1 


i g ! S > 


- * " 1 


Ui 


5 = S S 5 


1 s s 1 


ls| 


1 g ! » » 


E s ■* 3 


lei 


E i S E S 


3 = I 


1^1 


litis 


: 3 £: S 


M 


! I S ! > 


' 8 S 1 


M 


5 S S ! s 


! C S 1 


m 


1 1 1 s £ 


S s 1 


in 


1 1 1 ! i 1 


3 « 1 


Pi 


1 i M ! = 


S 8 g 


m 


1 i i S i i 


2 » )| 




'' 




i!:iil 


lil 



<»i:,.,G00gIf 



218, THE STRUGGLE AGAINBT CBIHE [§21 

be with adults, is the tact that, annually, of every tVm^"H 
young penon&, six are dealt with by the courts, and that ov 
educational methods cannot succeed in <dtecking the new sup- 
ply that annually feeds the army of criminals. 



TABLE XXXVII' 

10a;000 MnoM 



188S 

1880 
1S»1 



The most important crimes committed 1^ juvoiiles wen 
^ven in Table XXX; the figures show a steady increase since 
the year 1882, except in simple theft. The offenses enumer- 
ated have not beoi subjected to any diange in the l^islative 
enactments during the years reported. Hence, the conchisiaB 
is unavoidable that brutality, recklessness, and lioentiouaneas 
are spreading more and more in the growing generatioD. 
The reasons for this have already beat discussed; I merdy 
wish here once more to establish the fact, how eztraordi-' 
naiily dangerous juvenile criminality and its ccmtinued in- 
crease are. 

The number (rf juveniles convicted during the last year 
> "Statiitik (. d. Dcntadie Bocb," N. F. CZLVI, L p. S7. 



§ 21] CRIMINAL PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE PRESENT 219 

(190S) of tlie impeiial statistics amounted to 50,219. Nearly 
four-fiftha of these were entering the criniinal world for the 
first time, soon to comi>ete with its veterans. But that the^< 
first step does not uauaUy mean merely a single lapse, but 
generally the final break with a mode of life in accordance with 
the taw. is shown by the number of recidivists; each convic- 
tion heightens the danger of relapse. Again and again we are ' 
confronted by the fact that redemption from crime becomes , 
the more difficult, the oftener the person has been convicted. : 
A number of those already convicted as juveniles attain thdr| 
majority evwy year; they are then lost to view in the generali 
herd of rei^divists. , 

This state of affairs is depressing enou^. 

Here, too, we see that, from year to year, those who have 
Already served sentences are more strongly represented among 
the oonvictions. The number of those convicted three times 
■and more has doubled and trebled. The last two rows of the 
-table show the course of those crimes in which relapse is 
considered an aggravation of the offense, because the repetition 
of the same crime implies its professional practice. Habitual 
fraud has grown considerably more frequent in the twenty 
years given, while the number of r^ieated thefts has decreased. 
But this does not prove that the professional Uii^ has really 
grown rarer. 

Among the recidivating thieves, just as among those con- 
victed for the first time, there are certainly not a few who suc- 
cumb the more readily to temptation, the more unfavorable 
-external conditions are. This is supported by the fact that 
we find the highest number of reddivatisg thieves, as dis- 
cussed on p. 105, in the economically poor yean 1882 and 1892, 
And the lowest number in 1888 and 1900. I think we may 
assume that the professional thief is influenced by prosperous 
-or hard times only as regards the success <^ his acUons, not 

I ,.,-<: ■-Cookie 



220 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRDIB [§ 21 

aa r^ards the intensity with which he i»actises, while the 
decrease in the repeated thefta is at the cort ot the BtHiiewhat 
mote harmleaB occasional thief. 

TABLE XXXVm* 



ll 



n 



isas 

ISU 
IB8S 

IBM 
18S7 
1B88 

1880 
ISM 
IMl 
IBM 
IBM 
IBM 
ISM 
ISM 
1S97 
IBM 
ISM 
IMO 
IMl 



Since a few years the statistical department has tried to 
carry out a new calculation, that is, to keep an account c^ 
the fate of every convicted person. 

Released offenders reappear before the criminal court in an 

astonishingly short space of time; the sooner, the more fre- 

> After "SUtutik des Deutacben Ratittt." N. F. CXLTI, l,f.l9. 



§21] CBIUINAL PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE PRESENT 221 

quently th^ have already beoi convicted. The number of 
tanaet convictions is naturally a direct proof of criminal 
tendencies, yet it is surprising to learn that the relapse into 
dime often occurs within the same year; this happens in 4% 
of the cases of those already convicted once, in 6% of the 
esses of those who have five or more convictions against them. 
It must not be overlooked that the sixth and all additional 



TABLE 





NoPbon 
CcwntTiioB 


1 Fc»« 
Oumcnoa 


r"^- 


C^U 


Intbefintj'Mr .... 
" " ncoDdyeu . . . 
" " third " ... 
" " fourth " ... 
" " flfth " ... 


*7.* 
87.« 

1».4 


190.1 
98.4 
«9.4 
58.9 
41J 


IS>.4 
144.S 
W.4 
«9J 
M.4 


M>.4 
80S.S 
1«.B 
84J 
M.1 


Not le^onvictod during 
iMteoDnction .... 


1M.4 

s«8.e 


8M3 


4S0.T 


7£7.« 
ST9.8 



sentences usually commit the individual to prison or peni- 
tentiary for many years, so that he is deprived of the oppor- 
tunity for other offenses for a long time. 

Of the 98,411 persons, who at the time of their conviction, 
in the years 18M to 1896, had already served five or more 
sentences, 72.7% recidivated in the course of the five years 
foUowing their last conviction. I can scarcely believe that 
this number will rise much higher in the next years. Emigra- 
tion, disease, death, and long imprisonment probably so de- 
crease the number of the persons recognized as habitual 



"Stotiitik dM Deutsehen Beiche^" CXLVI, I. p. S7. 



".OOglf 



222 THE SIVUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [§ 21 

criminak in the yean retorted, that it would oearfy t^proad 
100% if we could take into account the reduction made hy 
the factors mentioned above. Thia, too, would agree with the 
eqierience of prison officials discussed on page 802. 

A couHidnation of the Idnd of rdapae shows uSi farther, 
that most habitual criminak are not particular in their dbcMce 
of crimes and do not limit themselves to one kind ot one groi^ 
ot crimes of psydudogically equal value. Of the rdatpats 
that occurred during the years 1800 to lOOI, 87.8-38.1% 
were fi'n'l^"' in nature, 20.6-80.7% were not similar bat le- 
lated, and 41.8-41.6% were neithn similar aor rdated. 
The very sli^t variation in the different years, whidi does not 
amount to more than 0^%, shows that we have to do with a 
regularly recurring phenomouHi. It is ot great inqiortaitce for 
a correct jud^nent of criminality in Germany to remember 
that those (lenders who have several formn convktions 
against them are least coocemed in the relapse into the same 
or similar crimes, a proof that with these most dangeroos 
criminak there k no one-sided spedalizatimi, no pnrfesmonal 
crime. We find Uus spedalicaUon most frequently in <^enMS 
agunst property; 77% of the thieves, 8S% at the swindlen, 
c<Mnmitted similar crimes again in 1901, iriiile the percentage 
iq assault and battery was only 66, against sexual morality 61. 
in resistance to state authorities only 29. 

Whoever has once got deep into the mire of criminal life 
k scarcdy able to get on to firm ground agun. It k quite 
certain, however, that our penalties are ineffectual, in so far 
as they are intended to deter from relapse. The oftener efficacy 
of pimkhment has been tried <m an individual, the less can 
we hiq>e for success from thk means. This is the practical 
o(Hkclusion that must be drawn from the statistics of relapse. 

I must confess that I have experienced no "decrease td the 
disquieting impression that our criminal statistics make at 



§21] CRIMINAL PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE I^I^ENT 223 

first," nor can I aee ai^ ground for such a decrease. The 
statistics show a tremendous afflux of sodally dangerous 
persons, which, in the case of adults, it is true, seems to have 
come to a standstill, but which, in the case of juveniles, the 
hope of our future, is progressing unceasingly; th^ prove tltat, 
probably with the first, certainly with the third or fourth, 
conviction, the hope is destroyed of ever reclaming the 
criminal from his unfortunate career; finally, they teacli 
that the fall into the abyss usually takes place in a veiy short 
time, and that our p^ial system is unable to check the grow- 
ing depravity. 

The vast army of lawbreakers lives, more or less, at the ' 
erp&OBe of the peaceful citizen, who year in and year out is j 
called upon to build new prisons, workhouses, and peniten- 
tiaries, and who must meet the cost of the mfuntenance ' 
of the convicts. 

It is scarcely possible to estimate the damage that the indi- . 
vidual suffers through theft and fraud, arson, assault and 
battery, and sexual crimes; at any rate it is difficult to express 
it in figures. The att^npt must, however, be made to gain, 
at least, a superfidal survey of the situation. 

In the year 1909, 797,112 acts were dealt with hy the courts 
as Climes or offenses. These acts, whether or not the person 
suspected of them were acquitted or convicted, are a better 
criterion of the injury done to legal security than the number 
of persons convicted, for every act involves an injury, whether 
or not the accused person was guilty. 

These 798,000 are in reality far betow the actual number of 
criminal acts committed. Only those criminal acts come before 
the court of which the perpetrator is rightly or wrongly thought 
to be a certain person; the numerous thefts, the rarer but 
ao much more serious murders, where no evidence can be 
f otmd on which to base criminal proceedings, all these crimes 

, ...... C.oo'ilc 



224 



THE 6TBITGOLE AGAINST CBDfE 



1521 



. «re lackiBg. Ajs u irdl known, the idea of tlie ''coDtmned 
act," tliat U, the supposition that several acta owe their 
origin to one primaiy resolution, is very mudi a matter al 
subjective interi»>etatioii. Wherever the courts assume » 
continued act, the statistics show, jiifft^ttd ol trequenttf 
ntuDerooa individual ibcts, one number only. Thus the 
figures given in Table XL represent only the minimum ci 
damage that honor, health, and pn^>er^ suffered in 1900 . 

TABLE XL 

CUNTILIIUMB IN G^UUXT IN 1909 

(Fb» the "KriminalrtatiaHk dcs DevtKkeB Kckbd," CCXXXVU.) 



nolcaee and mmOI oa aUte 
beacb «l ths pcMX . . . . 

Indocing mmMi to 1 
Iiukcait awullfc ei 

Inanlt 

aiq4e MMoh and battctr 

Ag^mtod MMoh aad iMtto; 

Petitlucaijr 

Petit IsK^y when freqneotljr iqwatcd . . . 

GtMtdUKaiy 

Gimnd luonr whm faequaitlj repeated . . 

£mbeidan^t 

Frud 

Fisnd beqvaitl; npMited 

FotgciT 

UaUcioot miMhtef .--..- 



SLttt 

4«7 

I10.S3S 

97,ait 

«15M 

us.su 

S3,01S 
ICJM 

51^19 
l!M3fi 
12,4*6 

S0,S9T 
7V7,lIt 



To charactmse the legal situation. I wiU sdect only a few 
examples. The thefts, frauds, and onbeszlements indode 
S48,648 single acta; unfortunately we have no idea, even 
approximately, how great the average damage was in eack 
individual case, but there can be no doubt that natkmal 
prosperity sustained a tremendous injury throng theae 
crimes agunat property. 

DiailizodbvGoOgle 



§211 CRIMINAL PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE PBESENT 225 

It may be objected that the sums embezzled remun m the 
oountiy, and the amount of ihe hitter's wealth, therefore, 
leDUtina the same, though a displacement has occurred. But 
it is l^ no means indifferent to tlie prosperity of the people 
whether an industrious business man is ruined by a futhless 
employee, or whether the money taken goes the usual way 
to the saloon or to the prostitute. Without exaggeration 
it can surely be asserted that stolen and embezzled money 
generally serves to chain the thief and the swindler to their 
criminal life with unbreakable tetters, and even, because it is 
so quickly squandered, artificially to support the worid of 
parasites that Uve thereby, the recover of stolen goods, the 
prostitute, the bookmaker, etc. 

It is easier to measure the extent of the damage in the case 
of sexual crimes. In one year, 8856 children under fourteen 
were the victims of indecent assaults. This is less than the 
actual number, for the court often treats the crime as one 
act even thoi^h several children are involved. Now, even 
though often no physical or enduring injury can be proved, 
and there is at least the hope that the child may forget the 
occurrence, yet the memoiy of this sad experience remains 
with many children for life, poisons thetr mode of thought, 
and is felt to be an ineradicable stigma. 

finally, for a third kind of crime, I am able to give a furly 
accurate calculation of the social damage. In my work 
mentioned on page 77 I was able to prove that diuing two 
years the average loss of work of every person in Worms who 
was gravely injured in an assault, amounted to 7.S days. 
It we take this as a measure — and it is certainly not exag- 
gerated — of the material damage due to the serious injuries 
in the year 1908, we obtain tremendous figuiea. The num- 
ber ti criminal acts that actually came to trial amounted 
to 94,883; counting a loss of 7.S days for each act, we get 

I ,.,,:■.. Cookie 



226 THE STBUGGLE AGAINST CBIME [§ 21 

a loas of 692,645.9 days, or, couDting 800 workiag days to die 
year, 2306.8 yean ! This munber, then, representa the actoal 
lo§s of work annually caused by our taunts of the blade. 

In this cakrulatioD I have refrained from including the 
in^gnificaot injuries, as wdl as two cases at manslaughta and 
five cases of injuries likely to result in death. If we assnnie that 
such grave cases are everywhere equally common, we should 
have S65 deaths every year, and 900 dangerou^ wounded 
persons. How many of these are the support of thor families? 
Would a womao, whose husband is brought home to her 
stabbed by some ruffian, join in Wach's mockery when he 
asks, whether it is of any use "to ke^ an incorrigible ru£Ban 
in prison as a life-long pensioner of the State, because, if he 
were at liberty, he might give sraneone or other a slash"? 
Such utterances are calculated to rouse the quite unjustifiable 
feeling that ereiything in our legal state is sound and satis- 
factory. The parents whose diild is ravished, whose son, 
their sole hcq>e, is cripjded tai Me, tdl another tale. Tli^ 
do not feel that we are living in "well-regulated, satisfactory, 
healthy l^al conditions." 

Hie picture that I have drawn here, the most important 
points of which I have briefly emphaazed, b one of far-reaxdi- 
ing public insecurity. The injury done to social life year l^ 
year is immeasurable; there is scarcely a gleam of hc^e tor 
tbe future when we confer that for years the most important 
and serious crimes have been steadily incieasing, that, above 
all, our juveniles, the hc^ oS the future, so eaily and un- 
reservedly embrace crime! We see whither we are steoing 
unless energetic action is begun. But this must be done aom. 
and it must be purposefully done. 



^laiiizodbvGoogle 



5 22] PREVENTION 227 

§2S, Fnraitioii 

Our consideTatioa of tlie menace to legal security at the 
present day ended in a dissonance, whi<^ it is now for us to 
resolve. Was it, therefore, necessary to punt present and 
thieateniog l^s) conditions ao black? Does not such a 
picture produce a feeling of impotence, that fearfully watches 
the evil approach without any effort to ward it off? I think 
not. Only he who looks clearly into the future will find the 
ri^t course in the present. 

Whoi, some twelve years ago, the cholera broke out in 
Hamburg, our health autiumties did not conceal the disease, 
as was done in many other countries, did not represent the 
danger to be less than it was; they announced clearly and , 
without reservation what a dangerous plague threatened 
Germany, and with adamantine strictness enforced all the 
measures that would prevent its further spread. And they 
were thorou^ily successful, as we know. Hius, it seems to me 
today, in regard to present legal conditions, that the una- 
dorned truth is necessary if we are really to hope at all for an 
improvonent in the unendurable ntuation. 

But the work of the health auliiorities did not end with the 
extermination of the cholera. Th^ sought for the causes of 
the epidemic, and, by providing Hambui^ with a better water 
supply, permanently protected it from similar sad occur- 
rences. This "prevention" has always been considered the 
first and most important duty of the physician, and I know 
of no more grateful task for the criminologist and sociologist 
thui the prevention of crime. 

The way to improvement is long and tedious, but the goal 
no longer looms so misty in the hopeless distance. We know 
the obstacles that separate us from it. If all forces work 
together with a sin^e purpose, they must succeed in leveling 
the way, and every step forward must be the starting-poiDt 

, ...... C.oo'ilc 



228 THE STRirGGLE AGAINST CBIME [$22 

of new oideaTon. Every measure that hdps to make: the 
people physically, mentally, and eoononucally hesltliier is a 
weapon in the strug^e against the world ot crime. 

Ferri* has called the methods used to prevrat crime "penal 
substitutea." This is incorrect, for th^ are not intended to 
take the place of paialtiea, but to make the aiqilicatioa of 
the latter unnecessary. Tliese preventive measures corre- 
spond to the duties of social hygiene. Sence the discuasion 
of prophylaxis rightly b^ins with the ciiiet tasks o£ aodal 
hygiene, the struggle against alcohol and against poor eco- 
nomic conditions, because we have reoi^nized in them the 
causes of the crimes that are, on account ol thar frequoKgr, 
most important. 

If we could do away with the custom of drinking, the 
numerous crimes that i^ ** be traced to alcohol and its *Y>"fff 
quoices would be strangled at birth. Not all crimes, and not 
evnywhere. Not all, because we cannot thus destroy the 
brutality and fighting propensities of some individuals. Not 
everywhere, as we have se«i in Southern Italy, whoe the 
knife sits loosely in its sheath, even yrbssi alcidid is not thoe 
to ^ve the impulse. But with us in Germany a limitation 
of the present regular custom of drinking would be an infioibe 
blessing to all the many unftfftunates to whom a fit of in- 
toxication means lasting ruin. 

S)q>posing that with one blow we could do away with the 
abuse of alcohol, the number of annual convictions would be 
reduced by one-fifth, with the omission of the-Qases of aggra- 
vated assault and battoy, or at least l^ one-tenth, if ooiy 
half of such cases can be attributed to alcohoL Sotob 50,000 
persons less would come before the criminal judge every year, 
apart from the numerous cases at ;nmple assault and battefy, 
insults, etc., that can be traced to the same cause. lUs is 
I Ftrri, "CrimiiwI Sodelfagr" P- lU^ 



§221 ^ PEEVENTTON 229 

no fantastic viwm; it might almost be called eqioimeotal 
experience. In Ireland, Father Mathew ' succeeded, by the 
power of his personality and his enthuaiastic speeches, in 
TTialring total ^Mtaluers of 1,800,000 persons in the course <rf a 
tew years. The result was, that, whereas, in 18S8, 12,006 
sestttus crimes were c(»nmitted in Ireland, in 1841 the number 
had sunk to 77S, the sixteentii part! 

The slight pennanoice of this unexampled success proves, 
it is true, that the method employed was not the ri^t one; 
moreover, with us in G«inany, we can never expect to educate 
the people up to permaoent abstinence. Less hopeless, how- 
ever, is the attempt to teach the broad masses how few of the 
good qualities generally attributed to alcohol it really pos- 
sesses, and how great, on the other hand, is the damage it 
does to health and prosperity. To many, liie efforts to 
do aw^ with the abuse of alcohol, especially to oppose the 
"occasional drink," seem to be merely a fad, a sort of hobby 
of uninvited national philanthropists. They are not so to the 
man who has recognized the relation between the occawnal 
drink and crime, who knows that the pleasure of a convivial 
evening may have to be paid for by years of suffering, who 
has seen the extent of the injury that is inflicted on our na- 
tional prosperity by crimes committed while the criminal is 
intoxicated. 

In addition to instruction given to the people, who should, 
moreover, have the good example of the educated to follow, 
other methods of combating the custom of diinkuig should 
also be used. An extremely high tax on spirits, and higher 
ones than at present on wine and beer, will not easily be ob- 
tained in Germany. The "drop of cheer," and the "liquid 
bread," of the poor man, must not be made too dear; agri- 
culturist*, too, will make up their minds with difficulty to a 
' fioM-, "Der Alkolidimiii," p. S9S. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 




230 TBS STRUGGLE AGAINST CBOCB [§22 

refltrictkm of the <li«HH«rinn <rf q>irits. Bat the parl^ that 
ihoukl due in our B wh rtug to demand hi gher t^ yy^ on aH 
aloc^tdic drinks iwigh*. withstand all aotagonistic nnBlanghta, 
in the conadouaneas of having thus raised a powerful dam 
agwnst the destructive stream ot crime. "Taxes, and es- 
pecially all iq direct^ restrictions on the production and sale 
of alcohol, are mudi more effective measures than mcnti- 
mfftif ii) prison buildings. " ' 

In this directicm much good may be e^>ected from the 
sui^wesnon of home distilleries and the restriction ot bai 
licenses, as weD as from the {nohibition of the sale ot qilriti 
between Saturd^ noon and Monday, as it exists in Norw^, 
from the siq>pression ot drinking in places of emfioyvkaA, 
and from the payment of wages in the middle of the week. 

All these measures, to which many others might be iMktfd, 
are looked upon by the woiking populaticm as interference in 
their habits ot life. It is impossible to limit drinking withiMtt 
also limiting the woridngman's visits to the saloon, the on^ 
place where he, especially if unmarried, e:q>ericsioes any de- 
gree ot effort. To bring about an improvemoit in the cus- 
tom ot drinking, then, efforts must b^n here. A pla^tnnst 
be provided where wt^ingmen, without drinking and with- 
out regarding drinking as an end in itsdf, can find good and 
cheap food, light, warm, oomftHtable rooms, and «itertua- 
meot, where they can also take thdr wives and children with- 
out being in constant fear of braids. Popular reading nxmis, 
popular concerts, the opening ctf the museoms in the evoiing 
and on Sunday, gymnasiums and halls for athletic games, 
will then, in conjunction with the restaurants described above, 
breed in a large, and, espedaOy, the best part, <rf the WMking 
class a distaste for the smoky, noisy saloon, and wiU make 
the halntual visit to the pubUc-house dispensable. 
> Ferri, toe eit. p. iSB. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 22] PHEVENTION 231 

But tliis alone wUl not relieve tlie wretchedness of the 
lower classes. Comfort and entertunment to be found out- 
side may, indeed, ^ve a man some pleasure in life, but liiey 
do not make lus own home unnecessary, or at least should not. 
Here the methods of the indirect struggle agunst alcohol 
convei^ with the efforts to provide l^gienic dwellings, 
where, in the interests of health, and, above aU, sexual mO' 
rali^, there shall be no renting of beds and no living together 
of difFerent families in amaU, inadequately ventilated and 
furnished rooms. The construction of small single houses 
instead of great tenement barracks, the provision of modest, 
but neat and clean, dwellings, if possible with little gardens, 
will help to keep the workingman with his family, and will 
soon make his own home pleasanter to him than the public- 
house. 

The broad masses t^ the people must be educated to a^tpre- i 
ciate anew the value of family life, the desire for knowledge 1 
and higher intellectual pleasures muat be aroused and grati- < 
fied. The success of all these 8tq>s, which are only indirectly I 
aimed against the abuse of alcohol, will then, perhaps, be I 
even more important and permanent than the anti-^coholistic 
movement itself. 

The fact that theft is lately dependent on the economic 
situation, compels us to turn our attention to this question 
too; not, however, in order to pursue unattainable, foolish 
visions, and to guarantee every man a certain and sufficient 
income. The difference in the human temperament as re- 
gards saving, economiung, and squandering is so great that 
the artificially leveled inequalities would soon reappear. It 
is impossible to put an end to desire; it is one of the quali- 
ties of human nature that is not satisfied with what has been 
attained, that is not bound to the minirmim required for 
existoioe, but ^>pean in every situation. It is stroi^est, <rf 

, ...... Cookie 



232 "mE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [§22 

course, wlwie it is directed towards protection from cold and 
tbe gratificaticHi of the aiitq>kst needs of life. 

Here too, then, we must aiqily the lever to mitigate the 
greatest misery. Not by private benevolence alone, altlKMigfa 
it finds the widest fidd for its activity just amcmg the vety 
poorest of the poor. In the first place, the State and tbe 
municipalities must do their duty. Care of the sick and 
incurable', r^ulaticoi c^ the ud ffvai to the pocn*, free em- 
ploynwnt offices, insurance against disease, accident, and 
unemployment, and, in the country, agunst diseases ot 
cattle, and agunst haO and fire, compulsory saving 
banks, are only a few of the points at whi<ji attadcB can 
be made to improve the welfare at the pei^le and protect 
them from the worst misery. In econcHnic crises, during 
which even industrious workmw lose ihar enqJoyment, 
in times in which provi^cHis rise to pn^iibitive prices or the 
cold is recessive, the methods moitioned above faiL Then 
temporary employment, the distribution <rf bread and coal. 
the opening of stations where people can warm thunsdvea, 
lodgings for those without shdter, moat all do their part 
together with the liberality of the prosperous. 

We cannot exterminate theft, but we shall save the best 
among the criminals, the individuals who are driven to steal 
by desperation and despur. 

The unfortunate position of tbe children wbo, <rf ille^;iti- 
mate birth or the product of drunken families and criminal 
environment, from their earliest years tall victims to mental 
and moral corruption, has always challenged compasdon 
and energetic action. It would be wdl if we could prevent 
the procreation of such usually physically and mentally 
inferior children. This is tbe purpose of the widely desired 
prohStitioD forbidding epileptics, drunkards, omfirmed mat- 
inab, and the insane to many. We cannot eqiect mndi of 

, ...... C.ooqIc 



§ 22] PEEVENTION 233 

such B measure; we can. indeed, prevent marriage, but not 
the procreatioii of children, and precisely in the lowest strata 
of the people, instead of the Intimate marriage, illegal sexual 
relations would flourish still more luxuriantly. Hie time is 
probably still distant when procreatioD will be prevented 
by castration, although this proposal has already been made 
in all seriousness.' For the present, then, our care must 
begin at the point where we see children growing- up in crim- 
inal surroundings. 

Almost equally menaced are those ciuldren who are the 
result of marriages which, in consequence of extreme poverty, 
consist only of an outward living together and the procreation 
of, usually, numerous prog^iy, — marriages in which the hus- 
band is at work in the factory from early till late, and the 
mother sp^ids her times at the wash-tub, or, as well as her 
husband, in the factory. No one is there to look after and 
bring up the children; at best, they are left to the care of 
some neighbor or to themselves, but c^ten enough they be- 
^ at an early age to work too, ddivering bread and news- 
piq>ers, selling flowers and matches. The street supple- 
ments the events that take place before the eyes of the 
diildren in the overcrowded home. Precocious, and with- 
out education or training, the poor little mortals are an 
easy pi^ to the temptations that surround them on every 
side. 

Our civil code has left it to the national legislation to pro- 
vide for these n^ected children. Fortunately, the s^Mirate 
States at once realized the seriousness of the situation, and 
in quick succession special laws followed one another, allowing 
State intervention even before a child or a minor has shown 
by crime that his trailing has failed. 

> JVowi*, "Die KMtntion be! g«wi«Kn KlaMcn von DegoHfiertca »U mi 
iW Schuti" (Ardi. Erim. Antlir. TO, SS). 



234 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CBIHE [§ 22 

The Pnusiaii law <A July 8, 1900,* relatiDg to the "State 
education of minors" avoids the expression "compulsoiy edn- 
cation," used by most of the States, so that there shall be 
no danger of this kind <rf education being r^^aided as a snb- 
stitote for penal measures, and a stigma attach to the cjiild. 
This would be very unjust, inasmuch as we cannot admit 
that the children suffer for the guilt of the parents; besides, 
in nkany cases, the neglect is not due to the lack of will oo 
the part of the parents, but to their inability to bring up the 
child properly because they are prevented bom doing so l^ 
disease, absence, and dire necessity. 

It is true the name does not hdp matters, if the whole 
proceeding is not rightly carried out. Evm though a namber 
ti mistakes may be regarded as the unavoidable conseqaence 
of the short time that the system has had in which to develop, 
yet it cannot be denied that serious and e]q>erieDced observers 
say quite openly that the State education law does not fulfill 
the expectations to which it gave rise. 

Perhaps expectations were too high in sonte respects, 
because it was not taken into consideration and, indeed, 
could not be foreseen, how great the proportion of mentally 
inferior children is who require this kind of education. 
Among the children who were being given special edu- 
cative training whom Tippel ' examined, he found 66.87% 
mentally inferior. In the light of this fact it is int^est- 
ing to learn that an official enquiry put to fourteen instd- 
tutions harboring 544 children called forth the reply that 
there were no p^chically defective diildren among themi 
There can be no doubt that the difference here lies, not in 
the material, but in the judgment, which is explained by the 

•eU," end ed^ DOwddorf, IBOl, L. Schwann. 

* Tippel, "FtlnorgeeizMiung und Paydtrntrie" (AUg. Jiriftrii. f. ^nk 

L ,;™:,C00glc 



% 22] PREVENTION 235 

difFerence in the special education i^ the persons forming the 
judgment. It is essential, however, that, if spedal State 
education is to be properly carried out, the institution physi- 
cians and the superintendents of the institutions should have 
a prelimiuaiy psychiatrical education and some degree of 
psychiatrical ability. This is shown by Kluge's ' experiences; 
for he was able to overcome di£GculUes which would have 
proved insurmountable to the superintendents of the special 
educational institutions. 

Unfortunately, however, in addition to these defects, 
there are many other things to be desired without which the 
success of the whole scheme is questionable. Admission 
to an institution must be more speedily procurable, there 
must be less red tape about it, an individual's ruin must not 
be allowed to take place because of the expense of preventing 
it, the foolishness or obstinacy of parents must not be permitted 
to undo at one blow the good that has been acquired in years 
of training.* There b still much to be improved in the pro- 
ceedings that lead up to the child's admission to the institu- 
tion, as well as in the spedal education itself. But, for the 
most part, the errors are capable of correction, and so we may 
hope that Kohlrausch's * fears are unfounded, when he s^s: 
"It is just the idea that we are concerned with a social hy- 
gienic, a preventive, measure, that is seemingly fading away." 

The training of neglected children in spedal educational 
institutions is, of course, only one of the posubilities of pre- 
venting complete ruin. It the offspring of criminal families, 
children who are themselves already affected, are too numer- 

' Khigt. "tjher die BehandliniR and Dnterbringimg poTchuch abnomMr 
nnorgaaOglmge" (HSchrKrimPBych. 11, 232). 

' Kbimlur, "Brbhrungen mit da FUnoigecniehuiig" (MSehrSran> 
IVdi. I, 6«0). 

■ KMrmaeh, "Die Remltste der KunmergericbUicheii Becfatipiediiing 
tiber du FtlTMrgeemehuDgieeMU" (BlSchrEriniPiycIi. I, SIS). 



236 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CBIMB [§ 22 

ous in one institutJon, tlie other duldreo, i^ ai« still quite 
healthy, are in too great danger of psychic infection, and tat 
this reason it has been deckled that they nu^ quite pTOpaiy 
be put in the care c^ suitable families. If there were rnHy 
aum^ of such families! But we must not forget that • 
family's nxttives in mnimmg the care <^ a n^ected diild 
are not alw^s pure, that the hope of gaining anotba* voic- 
ing member in the f anuly often plays a part. 

Hence we must turn to the eadsting educational institatiiHU 
of churches, societies, and private persons. I perwHiaDy 
have the greatest hopes of the activity at those guardians 
who have to supervise the "natural and regular growing up 
into social hfe." ' When, with the increased ^qdicaticm of 
this special education, the circle of those persons who are 
active as guardians in accordance with the r^ulatioos is 
growing ever wider, we shall have a staff of bdpers irtko, 
with their interest in the individual childroi, will also become 
interested in the movement itatM and in the whole prcqJiy- 
laxis of crime. They need fear no lack of work. 

Here is the place to speak of the care of released convicts,' 
whldi is also directed towards preventing a rdapse into crime. 
It is often subjected to a harsh critidam, which Fnri * expresses 
in the words: "It must not be forgotten what kind of an im- 
pression this support'of criminals must make <hi the millicMis 
of honest wwlcmen who are less fortunate than the rdeaaed 
convicts." lUis view rests on a nusunderatanding of the 
aim in providing shelter and work. If, on the expiratkMi 

* Kroftn«, "EiwrihimgBKMUlten fllr <& Teriiwcrc. grAhrdete and vcr- 
wahriocto Jngoid in Fictuaen," Berim. IBOl. Cmil Hermaim'i Veriaft 
p. XXXIX. 

* According to Batenftld ("Zweihnndat Jslne FUnorge ikr prewmcfan 
SUatare^eniDg fOr die entluteneD Stnlgefuigoiai." Berim. 1S03, p. S). tlie 
oldeat "FUnorge" decree u the decree of Frederick I o( PRan^ of Ang>ft 
28. 1710. 

■ F^ri, "Dm Vecbrechen all aonale bidtdnang.*' p. Ui. 



§ 22] PREVENTION 237 

of his sentencet we turn the rdeased prisoner into the street, 
we ^mply deliver him over to the mercies of society. It is 
very di£ScuIt for the released prisoner, alone, often in a strange 
aty, dependent entirely on himself, to find work; the money 
he has earned is soon gone, he grows hungry, and all his good 
resolutions quickly disappear. Or perhaps he spends liie 
money at once in dtink; then his re^pearance before the 
criminal judge occurs even sooner. "Nothing is more dan- 
gerous than the few bolide's after expiated punishment, 
whidt, devoted to hunting for woric and shelter, lead to 
loafing, drinking, and the forming of bad acquaintanceships, 
and make the released prisoner refractory, rude, and inacces- 
dble to good influences." ' 

This must be prevented. The prisoner must not receive 
into lus own keq>ing the mon^ be has earned by his industry; 
for this reason the term "work premium" was changed into 
"gift for wo^" The money is not pud to the man, but is 
sent to the societies that care for rdeased prisoners. It is 
eaqr for them to prevent its bdng foolishly wasted; more- 
over, they are able, t^ procuring tools and suitable clothing, 
paring the arrears of rent for tbe~family, etc., to provide 
agunst the new life's being b^un with debts. 

The most important thing, however, is the procuring of 
work, and it is necessary that this should be done before the 
prisoner is released, so that the seriousness of work may he^ 
to sustain him immediatdy on his dismissal, and facilitate 
his re-entry into society. The endeavors of the societies for 
the care of released prisoners are not alw^s crowned with 
success. This is partly due to the ways of the released pris- 
oners themselves, and partly to lack of ene^y of the organs 
selected to do the work, which do not all fulfill their social 
dbligations with complete understanding. Many a released 
I Knkne, "Lebibuch der Grflngniiikunfe" p. SSI. 



238 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [§22 

criminal might be brought back to an indastrioas, hoDcst Uf^ 
if tbe war were made eaqr tvt him as often as now obstada 
are found in his path. Ikrohiie* gr^hically describes the 
strode <A a criminal for his dvO rdiabilitation. "It is really 
heaitbrealdng to watch such a death strog^e, and if societ; 
doses its eyes to iti it will nevertheless soon be unjdeasantly 
reminded of it; tor then, like all convulsive movements, 
this struggle makes itself felt externally. The criminal is 
not dead, he continues to live in his childioi, in the young 
people he has met in prison and in lodgings. That is tbe crinir 
inal bacillus that goes on q>reading. By watdiing it, aocaety 
can see how it injures itself if it does not do eveiything pos- 
fflble to redum the delinquent, or, if that is imposdble, at 
least to give him a quiet place in which to die, matnut of 
affording lum tbe opportunity of infecting others." Such 
endeavOTs, apparently, benefit only the criminal who is helped, 
but, in realty, puUic securi^ pn^ts still more. 

Tbe prophylaxis <rf crimes indudes also the developmeDt ol 
tbe police, and energetic prosecution. A vadllating man, 
who knows tiiat punishmeDt will follow swiftly oo the heeb 
of his crime, is less Ukdy to fall than if others' espcrknce 
has shown him that he has the prospect of escaping ponidi- 
ment. Hou^ this may not be a hi^ily ethical point of view, 
yet we cannot afford to disdain anything that will help as 
in the struggle agwnst crime. Most demoralizing of all, 
are threatened punishm^its that exist only on p^ier, en: are 
but sddom used in compariscm with the frequency of the 
offense, as, for instance, criminal abortion, aodMoy, the pro- 
curing <rf womoi for prostitution. Th^ undermine the 
general feeling for the law slowly but surdy, instead of 
strengthening it. 

And strengthening is what it urgently needs. When aoow 
> Knkae (Hittdungen der I. K. V., TI. am). 



§22] PBEVENTION 239 

seosatioiiid court trial is taking place, some unusually honible 
murder is committed, some unheard-of svindle is perpetrated, 
the indignation of the whole people is so unanimous that we 
might hug ourselves in the illusion that the people's feeling 
for the law is highly developed. Unfortunately, however, 
it fails in the course of everyday life as regards minor trans- 
gressions of the law. The "market penny" which the cook 
who does the marketing keeps for herself, the adulteration 
of milk, the giving of short weight, the whole field of dis- 
honest competition, betray as undeveloped a feeling for the 
law, as do wrong declarations of property to be taxed, and 
smuggling goods through the customs. 

The last-named example shows that slow improvement ia 
taking place. Not many years ago, in passing the frontier 
into Austria, Italy, or France, one could be fairly certiun 
that, once over the border, the undeclared cigars would be 
brou^t out from their hiding-places with a cert^ pride, 
frequently that elaborate accounts would be given of how the 
vigilance of the offidals had been avoided. This is now gen- 
erally recf^nized as not respectable, and, though I believe 
that such smuggling goes on often enough, yet it is no longer 
done so publicly and with such an attitude of resisting the 
onjustified demands of the State. Sli^t as this sign is, I 
yet believe it to be a symptom of a finer sense for justice and 
injustice. 

The more sharply our legal consciousness rejects, as inad- 
missible, every deviation from the straight path, even where 
neither criminal judge nor statute threatens, the more surely 
can we reckon on a general refinement of the feeling for right. 
To this end, according to individuality, descent, and eduo^ 
tion, the home and school, church and press, must worit to- 
gether. H I mention the press next to the school and the ' ' 
dmrch, I should explain why I lay so much stress upon it. .- 
L ,.,... .C.ooqIc 



240 THE STBUGGLE AGAINST CBIME (§22 

Above all, because it is hannful, and, in two dbcectioiu. lie 
published Bcooonts <A triab giving, as is commonly done, the 
names of (hose concerned, spread the name of the convicted 
person abroad, and thus not only make it more difficull tot 
him to r^ain his place in the world, but also injure to a much 
greater extent his relatives, who often have much to' saSa 
from this source. Moreover, the description of crimes does 
not exactly serve to improve moxalityS^ I need wily call to 
mind the Sternberg trial, the details of i^iich formed a hi^ily 
unde^rable subject for conversatitm. 

He curious phenomenon, that certain onosual deeds of 
harme gaxalBiy leHov me another at short intervals in,iJiSrr^ 
ent places, may probably also be traced to the — admittejjly 
unintentional — effect of the newspaper r^Mirts. We are 
concerned here with a phenomenon of pathological nature. 
A great many ot the most infamous sexual crimes are com- 
mitted by epileptics in abnormal states. He ideas and notions 
<A the man in his normal state often, however, play a part 
iriien he is in an abnormal con d ition; tbns, his remembrance 
of newqN^ier descriptiiMU ot dismembered corpses. rq>ped 
tfpea bodies, arson, and murder, may turn the oonfused 
destructive fury of the ^fleptic into dangerous cjiannds. 
Weak-minded posons, too, espedaOy juveniles, may easily 
fall victims to their desire for notorie^, and feel themsdves 
flattered if their heroic deeds are described in the piqier, 
possibly even their picture printed in the so-called "poBoe 
journals," 

It is clear that the press can do a great deal of harm in this 
way: &I^< ^e knowledge that stabbing, swindling, senial 
crimes, take place daily graduaUy makes the people spathetie, 
so that a crime must be particularly sensational to arouse 
th^ indignation. 

It should be the duty of the press to point ont to a 

, ......Coo'ilc 



% 23] RESPONSIBILITY 241 

its share of guilt in the crime, and so to arouse ereiyone's 
conscience that he realizes what he owes to society at lai^. 
When, in times of financial panic and bank failures, public 
indignation stones the guilty, it should be made clear that 
the desire of each individual for the abundant profits of cer- 
taia commercial papers is also to blame for the wild specu- 
lations of the bank directors. At the Ume that an unfor- 
tunate ending of a drinking bout cost an officer his life, 
it would have been the duty of the press not to condenm so 
much this particular case as the general custom of drinking, 
that daily demands victims, though not under such tragic 
circumstances. 

The press ia such an efficient instrument for developing 
the feeling for justice because it can g^ its effect by contin- 
ual i^>etilion without being monotonous. The influence of 
the school, unfortunately, ceases too early, and tho8e<per9ons 
who moat need letigioua influences are oft^i the very ones that . 
hold themselves aloof from them. Nevertheless, it would be 
very i^iettable if aD these factors should not work together 
harmoniously to the same end. 

§33. Be^nnbility 
Our legislation is built up on the basis of the doctrine of 
the free determination of will. "The right of the state" — 
so says the draught (rf a penal code for the North German 
Federation — "not only to adopt measures of security 
agunst the criminal, but to punish him, rests on the general 
human opinion that the mature and mentally sound man 
has sufficient will power to repress impulses to criminal acts, 
and to act in accordance with the general consciousness of 
right." It b not my task to discuss here, at length, the inex- 
haustible theme of free will, but I cannot pass it by entirely, 
as long as eminent criminologists continue to hold to that 



242 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CBOfE [§23 

doctrine as the "basis of criminal Uw," > and, indeed, to 
adhere to the extreme form, entir^ ^iTiljmitj^ freedom of 
thewilL 

The discussion abont the freedom <A the will b always carried 
on in a somewhat irritated k^, as are all a^^nments about 
questions of futh and poception. While Schopenhauer, 
for jnytunrp, treats the adherents of tree will as "superfidally 
tliinlring minds," in another quarter it is more the moral 
qualification of the detennimsts that is doubted. The Bava- 
rian Minifter of Public Worship, von TiftT' d nm"", in his 
opening speech at the third ' Intematiooal Psycbcdogical 
Congress, in Munich, in 189S. felt himself constxained to 
say, with unmistakable reference to von lisst's address oa 
"Bespoosibili^ in Criminal Law": * "I hope that the psy- 
chological congresses will aid in allaying the great danger to 
the public life of the cultured nations which mi^t arise from 
certain psychological theories, and I am confident that these 
congresses will not shake, bat rather le-eaiforce, the <dd b^rf 
in a man's lesponnbiUty for his acts." 

Disputed sdentific questions camwt be decided with pas- 
don. As we see that a number of our most eminent thinken 
adhere to the doctrine of free wiD, Sdiopenhaoer's view seems 
to me to be as unjustified as the ojqwsite attach of those vbo 
fear that the relinquishing ot free will will mean the ctdbqwe of 
ethics and morals, law and society. State and diuich. 'Ouj 
foiget that St. Augustine* and Luther denied the doctrine 
of free will. 

We shall see that, with the deterministic view, it is stiD 

> Birkmag«r, "Geduikeii rar bevonfaJMnden Bcfonu der deutadten Stnf- 
getetagthvag" (AiduT fUi Stiwfredit. XLVm, «7}. 

■ "Diittet.internatioiuler KongnaB fUr Porcbcrfo^" M no i rf i. 1SB7, J. F. 

■ POtnm, "Wmen^eibdt. Mori nad Sti«Si«iheit." Hmuck. 1MB, Jt. F. 
>. p. 14. 



DiailizodbvGoOgle 



§ 23] BESPONSIBIUTY 243 

possible to nuuntain the re^Mosibiliiy of « man for his acts, 
— though from an entirety different standpoint, it is true. 

The standpoint of the natural sciences, and this is the only 
one I can represent here, varies considerably from "general 
human opinion." We must hold fast to the fact that an effect 
can take place only if it is preceded by a cause. Consequently 
the phenomena which we call acts of will must be preceded 
by a causal activity. This activity goes on in our brain^ 
hence is dependent on the latter's condition. 

A "free will" that acts without cause, or, more compr^en- 
sibly, without motive, does not exist. To be sure, it cannot 
be denied that the weighing of the motives for and against, 
and the final decision, are bound up with a feeling that may 
easily pve the observer the illusion of "tree will." And the 
man easily and clearly is this illusion produced, the less 
careful the observer is in the analysis of the processes of his 
consciousness. And yet the recognition of the law of cans- 
ali^ compeb us to give up this illusion, flattering as it is to 
self-love and concdt. The supposition that acts can be 
caused by a will that is entirely b^ond and removed from 
motives, would lead to the most fantastic consequences. 
"What would become of this world if necessity did not nm 
through all things and bold them togetherP A monstroail7, 
a pile of debris, a distorted vis^e without sense or meaning — 
the work, namely, of true and pure chance." ^ 

Every act is the necessary final result of the effect <rf a 
series of motives on a certain character. We are far bom 
being able to view this origin and development in its whole 
course. But, just because we are affected by a number of 
motives which we do not know, which, perhaps, practiced 
introspection, may lead us merely to suspect, we should 

> 8ehopaAim«r. "Vba die FnHtat dea mnnchliAeii WiUcna," Stdfng. 
FbiOpp Redvn. Ill, p. Ml. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



244 THE STBUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [§ 23 

beware of applying to otbera the thmonghly subjective 
measure which we gun by, ouiselves, measuriiig our own 
thought, and of trusting our own dednoD too confidently. 

llie reaction to an outward or inward irritant is exttemdy 
different. It is dependent on individual diaracter. But is 
it true that the character is not "something pven (w even 
forced upon the individual by causalities, but a pecoliaiity 
tredy acquired by eveiyone, of his own knowledge, judgmeot, 
and choice, the product of free will in the education of self "? ' 
lliese words bear witness to a tremendous underestiniaticm 
of the natural disposition given to the individual, and »»ri«*4ng 
at birth. Externally, intelligence is the factor in nsturd 
disposition that is moet striking, and consequently it is often 
pushed too far into the foreground. The atulity to experienoe 
and to assimilate can be measured hy a tairiy high degree 
of reliability. We are not so dear about the part played by 
the emotions; * evm if we do not agree with Wundt in making, 
in every case, the emotion the starting point of the act <rf will, 
we must not underestimate its infiueaice on the sin^ act 
and on the formation of the cfaamcter. The intmsity of 
emotional feelings is certainly a quality that can be mudi 
duuoged by education and experience, but, just as certainly, 
it is not always thus dianged. Tlie intdlect is far more easily 
affected by experience, and is influoiced by envircmment and 
schooling, example and instruction. At a definite momoitk 
however, that is, at the time of the crime, the duroctw of a 
man exists as a complete and finished qne, not to be changed 
until after, or except by, the eventual decision. ' At this 
moment, then, a "free" alteration ot diaracter is no kmger 

■ (MiOfff, "Die Tenmndemng der WiUenafretlMit im DelenniBi^HiB'* 
<Zeitodu-. I. A. gem. StnfrechtiwiaKiucIikfl. XH. p. S27}. 

■ HoAa. "Dis Pnibrit des WiDen* vmn SUni^punkte der Pi7cboi»thato- 
^'' ITiMbMlen, IMS. J. F. Bagmum, p. 14. 



§ 23] BESFONSIBIUTY 245 

possible, the act takes place as the necessary lestilt of the out- 
vard and inward motives, working on the existing character. 

Having established this, we must not pause, but must ask, 
further, how is a character formed? We mi^ leave the fact 
aside, that environment, family, instruction, religious, social, 
and ethnological influences, certainly cannot be freely formed 
hy the individual according to his desire. But we ask in vain, 
why do the thoughts and feelings of the one individual cling 
mainly and enduringly to ethically good, altruistic ideas, 
while the same ideas rdwund ineffectively from the mind of 
another? Let us try, without prejudice and with the greatest 
possible objectivity, to follow the character development <A 
an individual backwards to the point at which a "wilUng" 
of the character is possible. By doing this, we find ourselves 
at our point of departure; we must halt at the natural dis- 
position, intellectual and emotional, and confess that the J 
development of character also is not a product of free will. . 
Whether we, then, ascribe the final result more to the tnade- t 
quate organization or to wrong development, is indifferent I 
to the fact: a man caimot form h is character as j g desires . 

If penal acts do not appear astiie expression of free will, 
but as the result of complicated processes, which are depend- 
ent on the organization and development of the bnun, on 
inteilig^ice, experience, and emotional excitability, on 
the one hand, and, on the other, on ^eternal conditions, — 
w hat rifjht have w ^ *n maltf a criminal re^jonsible -for Us 
acts? 

Study (^ the world of nature shows that every organism 
responds to stimuli of sufficient strength. Reactions take 
place espedally in response to irritations which threatoi the 
existence of the individual. The motive of every defense 
against attack is personal well-being and self-preservation. 
Thus -the ^ngle cell resists attack, as does eveiy animal. 



246 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [§ 23 

induding man; hence Uie oripnal fonn of the devehqinieiit 
of punishment was simple defense. We can rtill see that 
today in races on a low plane of culture. 

A later devdopmeat is the reaction that does not take 
place at the moment, but is delayed and appears as lerenge. 
Both fonns, the direct as wdl as the ddayed. the detensiTe 
and the revengeful, function confrcmt us on two planes, of 
whidi the lower, the individual, progresses to the social. 
The defense and revenge of the attacked individual eaaly 
exceeds the limits of the necessary, and thus ^ves riae to 
new counter-reactions; a ^rpical ezam|de is blood-voi- 
geance, whidi led to the con^ikte eztennination of wb(^ 
families. 

When a larger organism, that is, the tribe or the State, 
takes over the office of defense, a more practical estimatkHi 
of the reaction necessary to a certun attack is arrived at. 
Tliose persons who were at the head of such an organism 
undertook the decision in difficult cases and [Hovided, cm 
bdutlf of the tribe or State, for the execution <^ the reaction. 

A new dement was introduced by the priests: "In thor 
hands," writes Perri,' "what was originally individual «• 
tribal revenge assumed the character of divine revenge, and. 
from a purely defensive function, came to be a moral and 
religious one. Hie consequence was that, as in aD ecdeai- 
astical, rdigious formations, a strict formalism and a mystieal 
idea of expiation made themselves felt." 

With the development of the State, the judicial power ooce 
more slipped from the priests' grasp into the hands of laymen. 
but the idea of expiation was retained; the penal power r«pce- 
soited simply a retributive measure. This princqile, which 
was not originally inherent in punishment, cannot be carried 
out, as will be diown, and the criminal codes, too, that are 
> Xoe. «(. p. IM. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 23] BESPONSIBILnT 247 

built up on it are full of inadequaaes, compromises with other 
vievra, and contradictions. 

We cannot do without the defensive response to attacks. 
Both the individual and the totality of persons that we know 
as the State and society, require protection for their existence. 
Tlius, quite apart from all the alien elements of the original 
defensive reaction, we still, from an entirely different point 
of view, come to maintain the responsibility of the attacker. 
I agree with Ferri: "The natiu«l foundation and the funda- 
mental principle of the repression of crimes exists solely in 
the necessity for self-preservation, which applies to every 
individual and every social onanism." 

From this standpoint, ^riiich sees in crime only the injury 
to society, and in punishment only the necessary social re- 
action against it, the struggle against criminals must be 
carried on. We thus depart ^m the moral, and in its place 
set op the social, responsibility. This is not so strange to our 
legislation as it appears. In the case of minors, and juveniles 
acquitted because of lack of comprehension, our penal law 
provides a compulsory education, lasting for years, even 
when the offense is hannless, and although the person who 
c<Hnmitted it is not regarded as accoimtable. Still clearer 
ia this social reaction in the case of beggars and prostitutes. 
Prostitutes who frequently offend against the police regu- 
lations, who, for instance, pass through certain forbidden 
streets, show themselves after sunset, etc., are conunitted 
to the woriibouse for one or two years. It is the same with 
beggars and tramps who are repeatedly found without work 
and shelter. The effect of this regulation can only be measured 
by the fact, that the average penalty imposed for indecent 
assaults on juveniles is about one to one and a haff years. 
Now, it the vagabond who is afr^ of work, and the prosti- 
tute, are sent to the workhouse for one or two yean, it cannot 



248 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [§23 

be that this course is cUctated by moral indignattoo aboat 
their offense; it must be explained as the State's method of 
dreading itself agunst these parasites. 

llie oecesmly for protecting society has also caused the 
State to intervoie, even where sympathy with a psyiduc 
disease restrains all feeling of dis^provaL The hmatic, 
whose mad ideas menace public safety, is takoi care of in an 
insane asylum, evra if, because he entirely fuls to realise his 
condition, he feels this, often lif e-kmg, confinement, to be end 
in the extreme. Though h« may excite our deepest pity, yet 
no one would feel his confinement to be inadmiatoble. Recently 
our legislation has gone even a step farther. The insane per- 
son who sets fire to a house is not, indeed, ctokvicted o£ arson, 
but, according to § 839 of the Civil Code, be is obliged to 
be kept harmless " as equity requires." Although this belong 
in quite another field, that of the civil law, it nevorthdess 
proves that the sodal responsibility of a person who is irrespiHi- 
aiUe in criminal taw is not incompatible with our legal views. 

Many people have come to r^ard the giving up <A free 
will as idoitical with the giving up of the feeling of respcMia- 
bility. But this does not correspond to the general feeing. 
"With or without the belief in free will, unpleasant fedings 
arise in me, if I belong to the normal majority, as soon as 
my behavior departs from the course that I feel, with subjec- 
tive certainty, to be the right one; and this stirring of con- 
science guides me, whether I believe the oonsci«ice to be the 
indicator of an intelli^Ie character or not. I feel myself 
to be the perpetrator of my deeds and must be accountable 
for them; this feeling of responsibility is not changed in the 
least by my scientific conviction that the nature of this feding 
too is necessarily determined." * 

>■ BoiAa, "Die FVeihrit det WiOena vom Stan^mnktc <kr I Vychnprthoto- 
gie," VTiobaden. 1002. J. F. Bergmuw. 



,..,... C'oo^lc 



§ 231 RESFONSIBILrrY 249 

This feeling of responsibility dominates the normal man, — 
in fact, as Hoche and Mohr * have proved, it is not always 
lacking Id the insane, vhom even the most fanatical indeter- 
minist would deny free will. From this, w« may conclude that 
there is nothing antagonistic to our feeling when the State 
presumes to htJd us reqwnsible for our acts. One thing, how- 
ever, must be admitted, if we no longer regard character as 
the work of our will, and that is, that our feeling for the evil- 
doer should be rather one of pity than of moral indignation, 
a view that our own self-approbation often makes it difficult 
to take. 

And that is the only point in which we differ from the mor- 
alists and the representatives of free will. We, too, certainly 
do not wish to allow the criminal to follow his criminal toi- 
den<nes unmolested, we too desire an energetic reaction against 
the disturbers of the l^al peace. If a feeling of compassion 
runs through aU our measures, it can yet exercise an influence 
only in ao far as the interests of the individual can be combined 
with those of society, but never further. 

This compassion, however, must nevCT d^enerate into 
weakness. More important than the right of the individual, 
is the right of the totality; whoever injures it, must suffer 
in consequence. And, just as pity does not prev^it our 
removing the insane from society, just as we protect the com- 
munity from the infection of leprosy, so too our course, as 
regards the socially dangerous, must be dictated by this point 
<d view: the protection of our healtli, our honor, our property. 
But will it be possible to go on building on this basb? That 
experience alone will show. 

To disarm an important criticism at the outset: we do not 
demand that a new criminal law shall be draughted at once, 

■ JfoAr, "WUknafieilieit nnd ]h]rcbopBUxik«ie " (HSchr&imPardL I, 
TM). 

I ,-™:,GoogIe 



250 TBE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [{24 

which shall throw overboanl everything that at present exists, 
but we do demand that people shall not cling to the old with 
persistent prejudice merdy because it is dd. E^terience 
teaches us that great revolutions are slow in talcing place, 
that the enthusiasm of the advocates of the new finds its 
natural corrective in the conservatism of the adhn^its of 
the old, — and this is well. For then the way to improvonait 
is gained step by st^t and every advance rests on a sure 
foundation. 

§84. Th« PorpoM of PmuduiLaii 

The makers of our criminal laws have avoided setting ty) a 
definite theory about the foundation and nature of punish- 
ment. Science, therefore, has tried the more eaga4y to find 
one. But "it must be affirmed that no uniform, generally 
recognized, and universal theory of punishment, for all ages 
and peoples, exists."* And yet, neither the theorist, the judge, 
nor certiunly the legislator, and, least of all, the official in 
whose hands lies the carrying out of the sent^ice, can do with- 
out one. He must know what he ia to do with the delinquent. 
The presmt state of the matter ia theoretically this : the judge 
pronounces a sentence of dc£nite duration, and delivers the 
delinquent up that the sentence may be executed; that is 
the end of the case, as far as the judge is concerned. He has 
nothing to do with the way in which the sentence is executed. 
Many judges have perh^>s heard lectures on jMrisons and 
prison discipline, but there are numbers who have never 
-visited a prison, and very few who have a clear idea at the 
Oi^ution of the sentence. 

Krohne, who is most intimately familiar with the way in 
which penalties are carried out, is moved by his experience to 

> For Holttmdorff, "Die lechtlicheD Priuqtien dea Stnfnrfbo^ Bmd- 
fauch des GefUngnisweseni." Hamburg, 1888, I, p. SSI. 



§24] THE PURPOSE OF PUNISHMENT 251 

exclaim: "Even if you have the best law, the best judge, 
the best sentence, and the prison official is not efEdent, 
you mi^t as well thiow the statute into the waste basket and 
bum the sentence!" ^ Not from the law, then, may we ex- 
pect an improvement in I^al security, but from the execu- 
tion of the punishment. There lies the centre trf gravity of 
the struggle agunst crime. 

As, in von Holtzendorff's opinion, there can hardly be three 
eminent teachers of the law in Germany who are completely 
agreed as to the final formula of crimioal lav, it cannot 
possibly be the duty of the physician to take a stand as 
regards all the existing theories, an attitude which mer^ 
ends in his setting up a new one. Only the most important 
points of view must be mentioned. Von HoltzendorS assumes 
that every offense produces three effects, and that popular 
feding demands of punishment three purposes that shall 
correspond to these three effects : a. The effect of anger and 
of the feeling of revenge; the penalty acts 'as satisfaction or 
as expiation; b. the effect of fear produced in those persons 
who have not been injured; the purpose of the punishment is 
deterrence, deterrence of the evil-doer as special prevention, 
deterrence of all the dubious elements in the people as general 
prevention; c. the effect of sympathy with the criminal, 
who is tortured by remorse, or has been rendered innocuous, 
or has been physically overpowered; the suffering of the 
penalty is intended to lead to improvement. 

llie idea of expiation, of retribution, corresponds roi^hly 
in its meaning to "an eye for an eye," * to the measuring of the 
punishment by the greatness of the objective guilt. Schmidt * 

■ BlhteUiiiigen ikr I. E. T., VI, 9«4. 

* Birkmtger, loe. eit. Note 00. 

* Ridurd Stkmidt, "Die Autgaben der Strabechtqifleg^" Le^pcig, 18M. 

p. we. 



_.,i,zt!dbvGoogIe 



262 THE CTBUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [§24 

quotes Ansdm Feuerboch's pathetic words: "It vaaj be ol 
sdvEDtage to the State to q>are certain criminals! Chsnoe 
causes m^ move a man to crime; he only needs to be warned, 
to be disinplined, and be wiD be the most upright citizai. 
If he falls under the penalty of the law, he is lost forever, and 
thus the State is deprived of a useful, p^h^w necessary, 
member. But it is still more advantageous to the State tor 
justice to show itself to be inflexible, that it should not be 
bent to secure chance advantages, thus undermining the 
authority of the law? and m^Hng a '•hilHiali toy c^ the threat 
of punishment." Tins is the point of view ot- the words: 
"fiat justitia, peieat mundos." 

The adherents of this view are probably few in number. 
They, like Sdunidt, pcwt to the legal consciousness, and the 
people's feeling for justice, as a proof of the neoesnty oS ad^it- 
ing the punishment to the social mgnificanoe of the off^ise. 
It will readily ocqir to us all, however, how oftoi the feding 
of the people fails to agree with that of the judge. I merdy 
wish to touch on a few points on which the avenge judgment 
of the people dilFers from that of the law: popular judgment 
does not understand why the unsuccessful attempt should 
remain unpunished, why an accessory to a criminal act, 
the actual perpetrator of which is acquitted cm the ground 
of insanity, should be allowed to go free; in (act, the feeling 
of revenge even demands that an insane person shall be pun- 
ished, if his act is one that particularly excites popular passicHi; 
we see this in the convictions of insane persons by juries and, 
occasional^, by judges, when they disr^ard the unaninKNis 
reports of alienists. Such wide disagreements between pc^Hdar 
feeling and the laws as were seen in the case of larceny of 
electricity need not be considoed, because the differences there 
can easily be remedied 1^ suitable aui^tlemratatioa and ex- 
planation of the sections of the statute. 

L ,l,z<»i:,., Google 



§ 24] THE PURPOSE OF PDNISHHENT 253 

The ^>peal to the legal conscioiuness of the people also 
fails in the case of such excrescences as witch trials and the 
excesses of the Commune. But if the people, with thdr 
naive, often short-sighted and ooe-sided feelings, are headed 
in the wrong direction, it is the duty of science to correct and 
mlight^i them. 

But many ot tlie most important fundamental principles 
of our crimioal law are incompatible with the theory of retri- 
bution, which demands a punishment equal to the objective 
guik: such are, tor instance, the heavier penalty for the re- 
cidivist, extenuating circumstances, the statute of limitations, 
conditional release during the carrying out of the sentence, 
the lighter punishment of juveniles, the curtailment of the 
accumulated penalties when an offender is sentenced at the 
same lime for several offensest a system which Fern harshly 
but not incorrectly describes as "selling at the wholesale 
price." All these things are the result of the consideration 
of the subjective guilt of the perpetrator, in addition to the 
objective injury to legal values. The modem representatives 
of the theory of retribution also desire to do this; for, "if 
the punishinent is to be entirely proportionate to the guilt, 
it must take the guilt, not only as it is objectively embodied 
in the crime, but also in its subjective source in the nund of 
the criminal, in his motives, and in his attitude before and 
after the deed, more fully into account." ^ 

The judge is thus conhonted by one of the most difficult 
tasks conc^vable, one that is frequently impossible, the finding 
of a formula that unites the subjective and the objective guilt. 
The solution oi this difficulty is above all, impossible when the 
success of an act is either greater or less than was intended. 
In the case of an attempted murder which fails because the 
murderer does not use the poison properiy or miscalculates 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



254 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [§24 

the nuge of a revolver, when SQ attempt at ancm (ails be- 
cause the offender did not notice that the hay waa wet, when a 
bui^lw opens an eiiq>t7 safe, — in all the mere attempts at 
crime, — the damage done is often slight or eotiiely laddng, 
while the subjective guilt often stamps the act as particiilarijr 
dangerous in the sense of retributive justice. The t^ipostte 
is the case with liability for the consequences which makes 
a man answoable for events of which he has been the caoae 
in a slight degree oaty. If a fight leads to the death of ooe <i 
the partidpaats, not because he was seriously injored, bat 
because he did not take care of a harmless scratch and died 
of the blood poisonisg that ensued, his death is laid at the 
door of the man be fou^t with. The same is true of the 
student whose opponent neglects a slight sword-cut, of the 
pedestrian whose falling match causes a fire in whidi people 
perish. What detoimineB the amount of guilt? The result, 
the subjective guilt, the general m^e>up of the offcsider? 

We find ourselves entirely at sea as soon as we — sUll led 
by the fiction of a just retribution — attenqtt to consider the 
individuality of the offender. Birkmeyer, who OHisiders the 
reform of the criminal law possible only from the point «f 
view of the idea of retribution, and m^y, therefore, be con- 
sidered a typical representative of this school, goes so far as to 
deniand, with von Weinrich, that: "The judge should know 
more about the personal circumstances of the accused, that 
he may be able to weigh rightly the d^ree of his guilt. 
He must know whether, besides the accused himsdf, his 
parents or nearest relatives have ever been convicted at seri- 
ous crimes, whether they were intemperate, whether mratal 
disease is hereditary in the family, — moreover, what has 
been the truning and education of the accused, the coarse of 
his life hitherto, at least its main events, his family circunk- 
stances, his occupation, with what persrais he asaodates and 



§24] THE PTJEPOSE OF PUOTSHMENT 255 

what his other social relations are, and all this he must know 
more accurately than is at present usual." ' 

I must confess that I do not see what vestige of a "just 
retribution" can remain if the judge p^ietistes into the deep- 
est causes of a criminal act to the extent Birkmeyer demands. 
The sad picture of the child that has absorbed, almost with 
its mother's milk, contempt for everything that others revere, 
that, n^ected and callous, has reached the age when it can 
feel the severity of the law, will rath«' arouse in the judge a 
feeling of compassion than one of indignation. And whrai he, 
further, t^es into consideration the external tnicumstances 
that have deprived the weakling of his last moral support, 
then, indeed, it will be di£Ecult for him to decide who bears 
the greater guilt, tlie individual or sodety. The ntore seriously 
the judge enters into his task, the wider will be the circle of 
circumstances surrounding the crime that he must take into 
account. I have not described the social causes of crime so 
carefully for nothing; th^ should prove that a crime, apart 
from the directly recognizable, purely outward conditions, 
is influent^ by numberless factors which are of greater sig- 
nificance in judging it than is the fact of bad inheritance. 

An administration of justice that pays no attention to this, 
or knows nothing of the social conditions of crime, will be 
little more than a mechanical activity, it will be an adminis- 
tration of the letter, not the spirit, of the law. To these 
intricate preliminary conditions that are essential to the 
performance of a penal act is then added — most difficult 
of all to grasp and understand — the individuality ctf the 
criminal. Even such a staunch adherent of the doctrine of 
free will as Krohne * is obliged to adimt: "Why, in one case, 
the will triumphantly resists these [social] causes, and, in 



■ Lot. oU. Note u. 

* Krohte, "Lehifovch der Ggfangniakiinde," p. SOS. 



.OOglf 



256 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [§24 

aDotba, faOs, b an incakulaUe inoblem; it ia one erf theae 
mysteries bef<He which at present we stand baffled with the 
cmfesskm 'Ignoramus' on our lips." 

How can the judge solve an equatkn that is compoaed 
entirely cA unknown quantities, how can he find his way in 
this diaos of social and pqrchok^ica] causes, how form his 
judgment? It would scarcdy be possible to find a shaiper 
oondemnatioD of sentencing than Finger ^ gives, when he 
says: "Definite directions in regard to the passing ot sen- 
tences, which is more a matter of feeling thou of ddiberaticMi, 
caimot be given." Only Wadh's* <qnnion is even more 
annihilating: " It is true that the judicial passing (tf sentoMxs 
is latgely a matter of arbitrariness, mood, and diance. IIub 
is an open secret, a punful fact of experience, to everycme 
■who has been engaged in crinunal proceedings. Whether 
the accused is sentenced to six ot five or four weeks, or two 
months, imprisonment is more dqiendent on the judges, 
wlio h^tpen to be sitting, on the subjective views and sug- 
gestions of the judge, on his temperament and his digestim, 
than on the gravity of the crime." 

But this hard criticism, the correctness of which is only too 
obvious, and the full recognition of the fact that the i»obIein 
caimot be solved, do not permit the criminal judge to refrain 
from sentencing. He must find reasons for, and impose, a 
carefully measured sentence. Ute adherents ai the theoiy 
of retribution apparently see a remedy in the exact detomina- 
tion of the psychological judgment of values for evoy crim- 
inal act. Birkmeyer dewes a "lestrictioo of the judicial 
power, which extends too far in this directRHt"; Sdunidt* 
asks for "standards which compel the court, wbidt diall be 

I Filter, "Ldutinch des tkuttdxn StraltcditK'' p. CIS. 

■ (Poefc, "Die Bcfonn Act FaMkitHlrafe." p. 41. 

■ loc. eit. p. 908. 



bvGoot^lc 



1 24] THE PURPOSE OF PUNISHMENT 257 

restricted, as far as possible, in Uie exercise of its judgment, 
to rive between a certain fixed mnxiniiini and fpiniTnuTU t 
heavier and lighter penalties for the giaver and milder forms 
of the same offense." 

"This precise, numerical expression of the gravity of each 
separate offense in marks, months in prison, years in the 
penitentiary, is scarcely less naive," wrote Kraepelin in his 
treatise on the "Abschaffung des StrafnLasses," "than the 
more lucrative idea, which sprang from the same soil, of 
11-giilftting the forgiveness of sins by issuing^share certificates 
of different value on the stock capital of surplus good works." 
I^iis curious method of compensation by providing for an 
act an accurately measured penalty is, moreover, to be 
crowned; character and education, descent and environment, 
resolution and remorse, former convictions and injured Ic^ 
values, are to be squeezed into a schematic system, which, 
"with the greatest possible restriction of the judicial judg- 
ment," shall make it poeuble to practice just retribution. 
Apparently the judge will merely Have to refer to something 
like a price list in order to see how heavy the penalty must 
be, taking into consido^tion aU the factors that bear on 
the crime. 

Whether it would then still be possible to find a judge to 
perform this mechanical work, I am inclined to doubt. But 
we need not worry about that, for no such criminal code will 
ever ^st, because the preliminary supposition, that life can 
be expressed in formulte, is wrong, absolutely wrong. How, 
thai, can we take into account hereditary influences, educa- 
tion and environment, bow measure the significance of natural 
disposition and external conditions? A law that still further 
restricts the judge's power b subject to the same critidsm 
that applies to our present criminal law: "We do not know 
the measure that we desire to recompense. It is solely a seek- 



258 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CBIHE [§24 

ing and groping in infinity. — this that we take to be dte 
seardung out of the guilt for which we want to create a 
balance." ' 

I will not delay to repeat the often dted proofs that, aada 
the present ^stem too, sentences diffw in every comt acond- 
ing to local, and widely vaiying, customs, will not point oat 
how often higher and lower courts agree as to the act but differ 
as to the kind and ertent of the penal^, which is hardly 
compatible with "just retributiott." They all, howevo', pay 
too little attention to the effect of the penally. If an official 
is imprisoned even for a few days, he loses his <Ace and rqio- 
tation; to a respectable citizen who is imprisoned for aonte 
n^ligence or slight offense, eveiy day is a torture; while 
an habitual inmate of penal institutioiis scarcely feels a briei 
int^TUption of his liberty to be an inconvenience. 

From my own ^>erience, I will mmtion only the f blowing 
cases. A man viho had already beoi sentenced 22 times tor 
such offenses as embezzlement and fraud, theft and resisting 
an c^cer, assault and battery, b^^ging and vagrancy, was 
convicted of his twenty-third offense, insult, and received a 
sentence of 3 weeks; his next conviction was for insulting 
an (^cer, and he was sentenced to 24 d^s' imprisonmoit. 
Another had served 43 smtences, generally tm a number of 
offenses at one time; he had been sentenced 6 times tor 
assault and battery, 18 times for insnit, 20 times for resisttog 
State authority. His forty-fourth sentenoe, for "reastance, 
insult, and assault and battery** was set at 3 mcHtths* im- 
prisonment. A third had spent 13 years in prisons and 
poiitentiaries, apart from a short detention for beggiDg: 
1 conviction for receiving stolen goods. 3 for larcaiy, and 14 
for fraud and attempted fraud. His seventeenth sentence 

■ Sm^irt, "V^wndluiigai d«a 21 Dentscben JnmlaiUink" ISKt I, 
P.SW. 



. ,l,z<,i:,.,G00^lf 



§24] THE POHPOSE OF PUNISHMENT 259 

was again for "fraud repeated a number of times" and 
amounted to 4 monttu' imprisonment! The fourth, after 
having been 7 years In prison, the same length of time 
in the penitentiary, and 4}^ years in the house of correction, 
was sentenced, for the thirty-ninth time, to S days for beg- 
ging, for the thirty-sixth time to 6 months' imprisonment for 
repeated thefts. 

These are, indeed, particularly striking cases, but not ex- 
cations. If we look at a list of the former convictions of old 
and habitual offoiders, we are surprised to find how frequent 
such cases are. To none of these men does a few months in 
prison mean a "disgraceful punishment." On the basis of 
our present criminal law, increasing the severity of the sen- 
tence does not greatly change the fact that the criminal is 
much too accustomed to imprisonment to compare the 
impression it makes with the intense effect produced on a man 
who acted in a moment of recklessness, or was the victim of 
an unfc»iunate chain of (nrcumstances. It is precisely the 
best among the convicted who are utterly ruined by the pun- 
ubment, the most depraved who are scarcely touched. Thus 
the unequalness of the effect of the pmalty also, which per- 
hi^ we should first have to try in order to appreciate, for- 
bids our considering the sentence a just compensation for 
the criminal act. 

Ilie theory that considers a penalty necessary only "quia 
peccatum estt" is based on wrong assumptions. It m^ be 
left entirely out of the question, as bong wrong in primnple, 
— the more so, because it is also practically worthless. 

T^ Prusnan "Zirkularverordnung" of 1799, which, in 
view of the increasing number of thefts, was intended to make 
the penalties more practical, contains the following passage: 
"In TT'<'H"g these changes in the former crinunal laws, it is 
our intaition, as the paternal head of the State, to secure to 



280 TBE 8TBUGGLE AGAINST CBDfE [§ 24 

our faithful subjects the quiet poesessioD of their p roperty , to 
set up deterrent examples to prevent stealing and robbing, 
to correct ciimioab where poasiUe, and, if th^ are incorrigi' 
ble, to render them innocuous to their tdlow-citizens.'' In 
this smtence is deariy expressed the otho' conception at the 
purpose <J punishmemt: to bring about greater kgal security, 
and to do this by deterroice, on the tme ade, and by correcticn 
and rendering hannless, on the other. 

The d eterren t effect of punishment should be active in two 
directions. It must impress itself on the ccniscioasness of the 
people at large and thus act as a preventive, and, throng the 
punishmuit, it must be a warning to the individual and must 
thus restrain him from further evil deeds. The first effect, 
g^ieral prevention, belongs to those things the effect of wbidi 
cannot be given in figures. If we go by statistics, we crane to 
the conclusion that the hoped-for effect is other veiy sli^ 
or entirely non-existeat. For yeats the number of first con- 
victions has been increaang rather than diminishing, certainly 
and decidedly increasing among juveniles, as has ahead? been 
pointed out. From this we may, indeed, conclude that the 
fear of puniabment is not suffident to check crime; but we 
must not forget that social causes, popular custcxns, ecraiomic 
fUstress, too early partidpation in the sttu^e for life, large^ 
explain and make this increase comprdtoisible. Hoioe we 
must restrict our opinion of general prevmtion to this: the 
deterrent effect of punishmmt is not great enoo^ in the face 
of the growing sodal menace. 

That punishment does not deter, may also sometimes be 
due to its too liberal application. By d^rees our whole 
existence has become so surrounded by a barbed-wire fence c^ 
penal and police ordinances that it is reaify difficult to ronoain 
entirely unpunished. We must not deceive ouradves into 
thinking that the tact that the numerous -nuall penalties for 



§ 24] THE FUBFOSE OF FDNISHMENT 261 

acts sudi a s bestipg carpeta a t the wroiy Ume , omitting to 
put ashes on an icy ddewalk, and other harmless offenses, 
are followed, with no sharp dividing line, by those offenses 
that the Penal Code threatens with punishment, detracts 
from the gravis of the p^ially. And I do not think I am 
mistakra when my experience leads me to assert that the 
dread of prison and the dread of pimishm^it have tost some- 
thing of thdr former strength in the popular mind. In con- 
sidering this fact, I attach less importance to the fact that more 
humane treatment, cleanliness and sufficient food, simple 
thou^ it be, have destroyed some of the terrors of imprison- 
ment; it b of far graver inqtort ihat the feeling that causes 
people to look at crime askance should be weakened or lost. 
As long as hundreds of thousands of hitherto blameless indi- 
viduals are annually punished, no very fine reaction of the 
peof^ against criminality can take place. And the moral 
of this is, that we need fewer threats of punishment and 
greater seriousness in the prosecution of crime. 

At the moment a crime is decided upon or, in the case of 
passionate crimes, carried out, the idea of punishment has 
very little effect as a counter-motive, because the criminal 
is either so excited or so confident of remaining undiscovered 
that he looks upon the penalty only as a remote contingency. 
Eveiy crime committed by a previously unconvicted person 
is a proof of the failure of general prevention. Nevertheless. 
we may probably assume that, eapeoally with weak and 
vacillating persons, the fear of punishment is sometimes, 
in the moment of temptation, determinative and prevents 
the crime bong committed; this of course cannot appear in 
the statistics. 

Greater, however, than the value of the threat of punish- 
ment in the individual case is its educational vahie for the 
wIk^ view of life held 1^ the people. 

DiailizodbvGoOgle 



262 THE STBCGGUB AGAINST CBIHE [§ 24 

Hie stamping of an act as an offense the commisakoi <ji 
which the State will prosecute with unrelenting aevetitj, 
immediately arouses the feeling that the act is unsnitabJe, 
inadmissiUe. disr^ntable, contrary to duty.* A Telativdj- 
harmless example may illustrate this. The posnbility of 
being punished for dishonest competition, at first arouses the 
attention of econcnnic t^ponents, who watch each otba care- 
tolly, so as to be able, in case of misrepresentation, to act 
immediately. But already the reaction is becoming notice- 
ablet <uk1 the words of an advcrtisemoit are carefully wogfaed, 
— not alone because the merchant fears the ea^ ^ye of his 
envious opponents. Before long we shall be able to look iqmn 
it as a matter of course that every firm that cares anything 
for its reputation will avoid all ^±ravagant advertisemeaits, 
calculated to deceive the public, as bdng unwmthy. 

Thus, general tneventicm operates rather quietily, slowly, 
and penetratingly, mAlring the consciousness of right shaiper, 
intoifflfying the gmeral feeling for right and wrong, and is 
thus rather educative than directly deterrent. 

As r^ards the effect of qiedal prevention, the figures in 
the statistics of relapse are nnconmumly instructive. They 
show that it fails utterly. We have already seen that many 
criminals re^pear before the criminal judge in the course of 
the same year, that the more frequent former convictions are, 
the surer and quicker is the relapse, and also that the severity 
of the punishment is without infiuence. If anyone diould 
take the trouble to jot down graphically the career of an 
habitual criminal, he will be astonished to see how short the 
time always is between the end of one sentence and the coat- 
mission of a new crime, especially if he bears in mind that not 
every offense inmiediately comes to the knowledge of the court. 



' LupMOMn, "Einleitiiiig in du Stmfiecht," Becfio, 1900^ 0. BMi 

aai. 

L ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 24] THE PUBFOSE OF FDNISBMENT 263 

The reasons vhy punishment fiuls to have a detenent 
effect on the individual lie in different fields. The first reason 
is in the execution of the sentence itself, which, looked at 
closely, loses much of its horror. I do not share the opinion 
that security from hunger and cold makes imptisonment 
actually inviting. Nor can the occasional remark of a crim- 
inal, that his desire for the comfortable quiet of prison Ufe 
led him to commit some offense, lead me astray, even if he 
speaks the truth. It has been my experience that practically 
all criminals long for the time vhen th^ are to be set at Uberty. 
As long as the prisoner m a penal institution is subject to 
the strict system of the house, and sees day after day pass, 
all too slowly, in hard, monotonous work, he certtunly does 
not look on imprisonment as desirable, or even ea^. But it 
is a well-known p^chological phenomenon, that the remem- 
brance of pain and suffering very soon fades, and that time 
soothes even apparently unendurable trouble. This is even 
truer of the impressions made by imprisonment, in wbidi 
it is the long duration, the eternal sam^iess, the strict disci- 
pline as a whole, that weigh so heavily. But from a distance, 
the danger of having to go to prison again does not seem so 
unendurable; as a counter-motive to new crimes, the remem- 
brance has scarcely any effect. 

Let me say at once that I would not for a moment con«der 
it advisable to keep the remembrance alive by making the 
penalty severer. Such a course would grind the more harmless 
and milder criminals even finer than does the present practice, 
and would be ineffective as regards habitual criminals. 

The second reason for the failure of special prevention is 
to be found in our lavs. Becidivism is regarded as a ground 
for increasing the penalty only in the case of a few crimes, 
and then only if it is the same offense that is repeated. I 
have had to point out again and again that all (Senses <tf 



:. Cookie 



264 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CBIME [§24 

equal pqydu^ogical value, as wdl as the fact ti a fonner 
coDvictioD for any offense, should be takoi into account 
in passing sentence. As a mattCT of fact, this is actually <loDe 
in the practice of the courts. I am always glad when I hear 
a sevoe sentence imposed on the ground of frequent f c»mer 
convictions. But the constanttaldng into account of the injuiy 
done to a legal value prevents the canying out ot this princq^ 
and produces such judgments as those menti(»ted on page 258. 
But how is a sentence of 4 months' imprisonment to make an 
impression on an old swindler, nho is ccmvicted ot his seren- 
teenth fraud, and how can S days in jaO for b^ging aSect a 
man who has spent nearly 19 years in p^ial institutions? 

If punishment were to have any deterrent effect at aS on 
such old prison habitues, (he penalty would have to be one 
to be really feared, and that could only be htqied if it woe 
increased tor every offense. But — after all that has been 
said, this requires no proof — even then the effect would ful 
in the case (rf criminals whose nature is such that they cannot 
be influenced 1^ a motive of this kind. The DKWt drastic 
laws, fire and sword, the wbed and the gallows, have not 
rooted crime out <tf the worid. Hotce, where it is not possible 
to operate by fear, other measures must be taken. 

Punishment is intended to protect society from the crimmal 
assaults of certain individuals. In our endeavors to readi this 
goal we must not discard a method because it rardy proves 
to be effective. Even if it w^ie only on accotmt of its educa- 
tional value, I should not like to do away with the deterrent 
effect produced by the threat of punishment. But it would 
be a mistake to construct a penal code entirdy frmn the 
standpoint of deterrence. 

Let him who does not approve of this f<Mmula, pot Heim- 
betger's question ' to himsdf : Why does not the State repeal 

I Hnmiersa: "Der Begriff der GenditigtDcat im Stia b tA d, " iSOt, p. SI. 

, ...... C.ooqIc 



§ 251 THE MEANS OF PUNISHMENT 265 

its caiminal laws? With Hetmberger he will have to answer: 
"Because from a repeal of its criminal Uwa the State would 
have to fear, asd rightly, the war of all men against aU men, 
the destruction of aU order, and its own end." Hie State 
must protect socie^ by means of its laws. 

Much higher is the endeavor to make the criminal harmless 
by making^junrSetter. by givtQ£.hini thfi-^centives that be 
lacks attd trying to supplement his defects of education and 
disposition. We may as well acknowledge to ourselves at 
the outset that these efforts will often fail, will fail for the same 
reasons that the attempt at deterr^tce fuls, because the 
means used to correct and improve the criminal, above all 
the execution of the sentence in its present form, have too 
many d^ects, because our laws fail to pve us the opportuni- 
ties that we need, and, finally, because many criminals, on 
account of (heir natural disposition and mentally, are incor- 
rigible. Eves from the standpoint of the theory of better- 
ment, then, nothing can be done with these latter but to make 
them harmless. T^ff^x-ta jn ^ legislation jmj in thft rnn^'ing 
out of sentences, however, can be re roedi^ In order to do this 
we need only keep them clearly in view, and X will now try 
to discuss "punishments" and their psychological ugnificance 
in the prevention of the descent into crime, always keeping 
this end in view: the protection of our health, our hODor, 
our property. 

§ 38. The Keani of Pnnidiment 
The most radical means of preventing a criminal from re- 
peating his evil deeds b to put Mm to death. Capital putush- 
ment has, therefore, always been used in the case of certun 
crinunals whose particularly dangerous acts made them a 
■pedal menace. Thus the crime was "atoned for," society 
was relieved oS the necessily of supporting such a person few 

.oosic 



266 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CBIME [(25 

yean, and was safe from the danger oi his attacking tlie 
officials of a penal institution or, in caae he should escape, 
ctf his maukdng public safety in general. It cannot be deiued 
that, from the standpoint of security, capital punishment is 
justifiable; de Fleuiy * even desires to see it much extended 
in the interest of a sodal selection; what is repulsive to our 
feelings about the outward procedure oould be done away 
with by j'hfinging the method of execution. 

The grounds for and against capital punishment have so 
okeia been discussed * that it is not necessaiy to enumerate 
the objections to it, among which the poesitMlity of a mis- 
carriage of justice * ia the moat serious. For the most part, 
they lie in the sphere of feeling, which, in general, r^ects the 
^cecutioD of the death sentence. 

It is essential, however, that we should consider iriiethcT 
capital punishment acts as a deterrent; I can scarcely bdieve 
that it does. German statistics do, indeed, show that the 
number ot those condemned to death has decreased some- 
what, but only veiy little. Belgium, on the other hand, 
where no capital punishment has been carried out f<H- years, 
has also had no increase of the crimes for idiidi coital 
punishment is the penalty. Observations show that the eSett 
of executions is by no means deterrent. Ferri * had the oppar- 
tunify of being present at two executions in Paris. His 
remarks show that thdr effect on the suburban p<^Hilattaii 
of Paris was the very opponte of what was hoped for.^ Instead 
of dull terror, he saw curiosity, pleasure in the unusual aen- 

■ Dt FUurf, "L'ime du criminel." Puis, 1808, Felix Ak»n. p. IS4. 

■ FraiicaTi, "La peine de moit" (Mitt, dej I. K. V. VII. 36). 

• laiMutg, "AhachiBuag der Todentnfe" (Arch. Krim. Antlir. K. 1). 

• Ferri, "Lea ciiminda duu Tart et U UttAature," Puia, laOS, Fds 
Akan. p. 75. 

■ A fine d««cription of such ■ scene, iriiidi, as cooipanaon with Fnri'i ob- 
■erVBtioiu shows, is entirel; DDenggerated, is to be found id ZolM'a "Fata" 
(Bibliothique Charpoitier, 1898, p. 401). 



:,,G00gIf 



§ 251 THE MEANS OP PUNISHMENT 287 

sstion, betting aa to iriiat the dmieanor of the condemned 
man would be, everything, in fact, rather than the solemnity 
Btutable to such a sad occaaion. It can positively be asserted 
that the peculiar rdle played by a person condemned to death, 
the attention that his deeds, his life, his behavior at the 
time of the execution, arouse, thanks to the public love of 
sensation to which the press caters, are an actual attracticm 
to a number of psycho-pathological individuals. The fear 
of lifelong imprisonment vould probably have a more whole- 
some effect on the peculiar individualities of a.'WHMina and 
their ilk than does the martyr's halo of gloiy, the imagined 
tame of a sensational execution. 

Whatever our opinion of capital punishment may be, its 
retention will have just as littie material influence on crimi- 
nali^ as its abolition. 

Deportation may, undoubtedly, be regarded as a conven- 
ient method of getting rid of dangerous persons by piesenting 
them to other countries. Theoretically, we can perfectly 
well imagine that the necessity of getting on in a strange 
country might divert the too well developed impulse from 
deeds of violence. But, considering the nature of criminals, 
I fear that the number of individuals in whom this possibility 
can be depended on would be quite insignificant. Suitable 
as deportation would be for these few energetic and vigorous 
persons, for most of the others it would be just as unsuitable; 
for ihem it would mean an allied and delayed sentence of 
death. Most of the attempts made hitherto have come to 
grief, largely, probably, on account of wrong selection. As to 
tbe practical success of deportation, opinions differ widely.' 
But the question of deportation seems to me to be well worth 

> Bniek, "Fort mit den Zudithkiuem," 1804, and "Die G^ner der De- 
poftatioD," 1001; Milt^rmaur, "Euin die Deport&tkoi im deutacha Stnf- 
lyitem Aububme findenf" (ZStW. XIX. S6); Beiiaitrgm: "Zat Refonn 
dca StntviJInigik" lOOfi. 

L ,l,z<,i:,.,G00^lf 



26S THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [§ 25 

further discunioD, witliout its being necessary to nuUce sndi 
diacussion difficult by adc^ting a passionate tone. Ftu- the 
present, cotainly, I personallf think we should do wdl to 
make use of the strength of our prisoners at home. We 
stiU have in Germany plenty of unfruitful marshes and 
heaths, streams to be dammed and valkys to be closed op, 
and such work waits to be done in places idiere it is impoadUe 
to employ ordinary workmen, because it is too difficult to 
provide them with shdter and food, and the pay would be 
too small. But here the State can step in as an ani^yo', 
and it is doing so more and more. Only those convicts are 
employed who have good prison records, and only in places 
where otherwise the work would not be done because lab(H<ets 
are not to be found, or whne exceedingly high wages wooM 
prevent the wo^'s being profitable. In the year ISOI, 9300 
prisoners were employed in all the provinces of Frusaa, and 
proved themselves to be willing and able. "No difficuhy was 
experienced in the matter of discipline, and attempts to eaeape 
were veiy rare." This result cannot be too stnm^ enqiha- 
nzed, for it shows that even recidivists — only such were used 
in this work — do not under all conditions require expenaive 
cdls, high w^ls, and the whole offidal prison f4)paratus. 
in order to bdiave well. Attempts to use convict labor out- 
aide of the country have proved so satisfactory that we mi^t 
well demand that they should be more extensive, but as ioag 
as the use of such labor at home proves to be practkaUe — 
b^ng both cheaper and better in every respect — we need 
not conader penal deportation. 

The slight success of imprisMunent has led Beuiecke to 
suggest that, in the case of the incorrigible criminal, the pun- 
ishments should be made so bbv&k that he would fear them, 
wherefore Bennecke demands that such criminak should 
receive special treatment, in which corporal punfaJumtit 



§ 25] THE MEANS OF PUNISHMENT 269 

should be one of the chief features. The advocates of corporal 
punishmeiit frequently refer to the good results obtained by 
it iu London, where in a short time it is supposed to have put 
an end to attacks by so-called garroters in the streets. This 
proof of the efficacy of corporal punishment, unfortunately, 
nstsupon an historical error.^ In January, 1863, a high official 
congratulated the grand jury on having been so successfully 
energetic that the bands of garroters had disappeared; hence 
the law introducing corporal punishment, which was not 
proposed until July of the same year, came too late. 

It is to be T^retted that Denmark has recently enacted a 
corporal punishment law, although it applies to only a few 
cases. At the same time the conditional sentence was in- 
trodoced and the age of legal capacity for acts was raised from 
10 to 14 years, both changes being so advantageous that we 
can afford to overiook the revival of corporal punishment. 
Neverthdess, it is disheartening enough that a cultural state 
has reverted to such a brutal meoas-of-edneation and onejthat. 
is <rf most qu^tionable value^_ Altogether it is surprising to 
find people still enthusiastically praising flogging. Experience 
in the army, where it was formerly thought impossible to get 
on without the stick, has shown how easily corporal punish- 
ment can be dispensed with. Discipline in our navy is far 
Ijetter than in those of many other countries, where fear of 
the/'cat-o'-nine-tails," or other equally edifying instruments, 
hdps to keep the men in order. Such humiliating methods of 
punishment are surely not necessary. 

Corporal chastisement does still exist in Prussian peniten- 
tiaries as a disciplinary punishmoit, but it is very rarely used. 
The brutalizing effegtlhat corporal punishment must bave^m 
the man w^is fl<^ged, on the prison officials, and on the 

1 Ty^trs. "Die FrOgelftnJc in IHnemufc" (MScbrKrimFvclL I, 41S 
and n. 159). 



. ,l,z<,i:,.,G00^lf 



270 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CBIHE [§25 

Bpectaton, la out oi all pioportioD to the poodle good effected. 
Krotuw* speaks most deodedly^s^ftliut ft. '"TC diows an 
entire tntaniM tont ta nAing q{ t]ie 'brutal nature dt (rnninals' 
to bdieve tliat the prospect of intense physical pain wonki 
ptevent an outbreak ol their malice or passion." Whoerer 
desires to convince himself of its failure as a means d de- 
terrence, should read Dostoievsky's minute poycholo^cal 
observations made during his imprisonment in Sberia.* 
Id any case, the introduction, or rather the revival, of ccr- 
poial punishment in our penal system would involve so nuti^ 
disadvantages that it is a matter of indifference whether 
occasionally an individual criminal is found who fears it. 
It is certain that no one improves under it. 

The lo3s of dvil rights is just as ineffective a means of de- 
tenenoe aa of correction. It may even hinder a man in his 
efforts to idiabilitate himsdUt in society, as, for instance, 
vheo his inability to fill the o&<x of a guardian, or to witness 
a document, makes it known to those about him that he is a 
fonner convict. But such cases are becoming rarer and ram. 
The loss of dvil rights now goierally follows coily if a crime 
has been committed that betrays a particularly base char- 
acter, and it is improbable that such persons will immediately 
smoosly endeavor to rehabilitate themselves. It is entirely 
in the interest of the State to deprive them <^ every influeitce 
on public and private affairs. I consider it desriy advisable 
that this loss of rights should be extended to indude the ii^!it 
to exercise parental authority. Above all, the right of guard- 
ianship, even in the immediate family, must be takes tron 
one who shows by his behavior that he is unable to lead an 
npri^t life himself, much less to siqiervise the tnuning and 
education of minors and to manage thdr property. 

1 "Lehrinidi da GcHnpiMlnmdfc" p. SStL 

■ i>o«tow»d y /'Men>Miw>«iMdiittnToUflhM»LripiifcPlii^Bndii»." 



$251 THE MEANS OF PUNISEIMENT 271 

PUcing a man under police surveillance is of particular 
interest, because, in this instance, the decision, by law, rests 
with the prison officials; even though the right to impose 
poHce surveillance is assigned to the "higher state police 
authorities, " yet there is no doubt that the greatest weight 
is Inid upon the "judgment of the admimstrators of the 
prison." Here we find recogoition of the principle, that 
the fTiftTigip g of an admissible secondaiy punishment into a 
definitdy imposed one should be made dependent on the in- 
dividuality of the criminal, which careful observation affords 
tL better opportunity to judge than does court procedure. 

Its advocates are few, and for good reasons. The habitual 
criminal laughs at it. He knows how to escape it as soon as 
he begins his underhand doings agtun. In the lists of punish- 
ments imposed on old habitual criminals, police surveillance 
is never lacking. It has probably never hindered a man from 
returning to crime, but often, when a man has been trying 
to pull himself together again, police surveillance has been 
the determinative factor that has drawn him back into 
the abyss. This experience has led to an arrangement by 
which, in certain cases, provident societies, instead of the 
police, are allowed to exerdse the protective supervision. In 
this w^ the interference of the lowest organs of the police in 
the career of a released convict is avoided. When the chap- 
lain of an institution, whom experience of many cases has shown 
"how useless, on the one hand, and harmful, on the other, 
the effect of police surveillance may be," feels himself con- 
struned, in his capacity as a prison official, to oppose the ex- 
ercise of such supervision in most cases,' and when it is known 
that this view is shared by nearly all intelligent prison officials, 
the wish to have §§ 38 and 89 entirely omitted from the Penal 
Code is probably justified; ibey would hardly be missed. 

* Krmu, "Der Kiuiipf g^en die Vabtediauttumdten," IWd, p. 9S>. 

I ,.,,:-C00glf 



272 THE STBUGGLE AGAINSTT CRDCE [§25 

Most questionable, in particular, is the right irf the pdice 
authorities to txpd a former convict from a city or town.' 

Hie >"'"'^'"e over of ddinquotts to the State police anthn- 
ities I have ah-ead^ spoken of as bdng the recognition of the 
necessity of social repression, even when the offense is quite a 
minor one. It is surprising that this measure ^q>Iies only to 
beggars, tramps, drunkards, prostitutes, and cadets, and not 
to far more dangerous persons. When these ddinquents are 
turned over to them, the State police authorities have the li^ 
to commit the convicted persons to a voridtouse tor a period 
not exceeding two yeeia. This bcsKfits not only society, 
but also the vagabonds and prostitutes themselves, ahhoa^ 
usually th^ are far from bdng satisfied with this treatmeot- 
A very large number of physical and moital inferiors are 
found among them. Where the firm will of the institution 
oflSdab affords them a protection frtHU thdr own inatalHli^, 
where the work assgned them spares them the necesst^ el 
taking thought for the morrow, where the impossibility ol 

* 11iepow«cltliep«dicetoespdaiiiuiuJii«ati,iDftnMM.aBtbe«tatate 
of December 81, IStt, relating to Uw lettleipwit at newlj uiind penoo*. 
Hw gtmod paragnph ol thia kw detennioa, ■■ an eaeep tiuii to the "Ftri- 
fDgl^keitqiriit^," that the atay of • PnMrian citueit in • pbee Kiiere he hM 
hii own dwelUnj or ii able to provide for himfeS can be foibiddm or rasde 
dUBcnh by iHctome conditiMu: 

"If the State police findi it aaea w Bry to eicjiide a ideased coavict fran 
TCodence in a certain place. Tbe State pdiee anthorities, however, aie only 
empowered to do thia in the case of convict* who have been tmpriiowd in a 
penitentiary or. for a crime wkiek ifffaip* lft« perptlr^or at a ftrwon ioKtama 
to fubUe tafd^ or wtonUt^, ha* 



He qoMtion whether thia i^ulatioaiattiIlap|dicd>le<»haapa4H4M loat 
Ha validity in cuiaeqnence of tbe anbaequent national criminiJ code, » ooe cl 
tbe moat diqxited pointa of public law. Hie "Ob erv e» wa ltungij;eri A t." 
however, in its deciaion of February Si, 188S (jiA. IX, p. 41S), has accqi to l 
it* validil; and given in detail Raauia for doing ao. Heno^ with na, the law ii 
stiU in fwce. that oiminala who ahow tbemadvea to be dangerous to pnbGe 
aale^ i« mor*]ity — and lAat (nminal ia not? — are anbject to cqnlaaM 
by the p<dioe antboiitiea. 



§ 25] TBE MEANS OF PUNISHMENT 273 

obtuning spirits puts ao end to thar contmuous dninkenness, 
idle vagabonds often prove to be industrious, reliable work- 
m^i, and indolent prostitutes to be skilful and willing serv- 
ants. But purposeful and unremitting guidance b necessary, 
otberwise their energy fails them. Hence they relapse im- 
mediately into idleness as soon as they are discharged. From 
this it follows that the period of confinement must not be too 
short. In the case of those who are corrigible, release might 
be tried after several months of model behavior, perhaps in 
the form of a leave of absence, which should become penna- 
neut if the good behavior continues for a year or two. But 
the incorrigibles have shown themselves to be still as bad at 
the end of two years, the longest time for which they can be 
committed in Germany. The prostitutes immediately return 
to the brothel, the men resume their interrupted wanderings, 
and it is only due to chance or thor skill in eluding the eye of 
the police if th^ are not re-arrested after a few days. The 
short time that they spend in jail before they are returned 
to the workhouse is quite superfluous. It only considerably 
increases the expense to the State, in so far as they have to be 
taken first to the jail and then sent from there to the work- 
house, instead of being immediately committed to the latter. 
This delivering of offenders to the State police is at present 
only a half-measure which has stopped short of the final and 
most im[>ortant step. But — and herein lies its advantage 
from the standpoint of a purposeful criminal policy — it 
has broken with the principle of retribution, and only serves 
the purpose of freeing society from these parasites. It cer- 
tunly cannot be denied that the sums obtained by b^ging 
amount to millions, but, after all, anyone who voluntarily 
taxes himself for the support of the. habitual b^gar can put 
' a stop to it whenever he chooses. It is not in b^ging and 
tramping that the danger lies, but in the fear of work, in 



274 THE SntUGGLB AGAINST CBDIE [§25 

drnnkqioeM, in the gtate (J bong a paraate; these indiTidtuls 
are tor the most part still in the first stages of criminal activit7. 
And from this the State draws its right to defend itsdf deci- 
sively. Wecan but rejoice in this. The first steps will certainly 
be followed by others, and in othw fields : probatjonaiy release 
in the case of the better element, supervision for yeais, eroi, 
under some circumstances, as Hippel * demands, until death. 

Ftoes, in their present form, are altogether usdess, above all 
because they are not suffidett^ adiq>ted to the financial 
circumstances of the persons punished. The vicarious pen- 
alty, moreover, which permits the substitntum of a piiscm or 
even penitentiary sentence if the fine cannot be p^, and 
allows the offender to free himself from the changed sraitence 
by paying the amount of the fine, should be entirely rejected. 
This turns the fine into a class penalty, as it will not, of oourse, 
occur to the well-to-do man to submit to imprisomoent 
rather than pi^ a relativdy small sum, iriiile the poor man 
cannot do otherwise than serve his time in prison. 

It would be far better, instead of imprisonment, which b 
only an expense to the State and, moreover, is entirely ineffec- 
tive as a pumshment, to make the obligation to perform certain 
municipal and other work the alternative. Such a possi- 
bility did, indeed, fonnet^ exist, for the sixth section of the 
introductory statute of the Penal Code 81^ expressly: "Wboi 
in ibe national laws, instead of imprisonment or a fine, forestiy 
or municipal work is provided or remitted, this stands." 
According to the gaieral opinion, even new national laws, 
providing in the same way for the performance c^ public 
work instead of a fine or imprisonment, nuQ^ be enacted,* it 

> KMi Bippd, "VeriXltimg and Bestnfimg vod Bettei. LaodrtRkAerei 
nod Aibeitncbra." 77. Jahietbericit der IUwiD.-We9tf. GcAUgnngeKB- 
sdiaft and *ur VBgkbnadenfrage, Beitm. O. Lkbnuim, IMIS. 

■ OUumten, "KommenUr nun StnfgcaetifauiA fllr (ki DenfadK Rekb,' 
tp. «7. 



,i,z<,i:.., Google 



§25} THE MEANS OF PlilNISHMENT 275 

the natioDal legislation in question already contuned such 
provisiona. In its law relating to forestry thefts of April 
IS, 1878, Prussia has especially urged this forestry and 
municipal work. I was unable, however, to aacertatn 
vhether and to Tdiat extent this method of working off is 
iq>plied, but it seems to me that a very rational idea lies 
at the bottom of it, the re-introduction of which into our 
poial system would be practicable. Such penal labor, which 
von Jagemann ' also advocates, would probably be far more 
unpleasant to most of those who are sentenced to jail, would 
be far more likely to restrain them from new offenses and 
bring the gravity of their actions better home to them, than 
does a few days' imprisonmrait. At the same time the amount 
of work required of an offends could be better adapted to 
his physical strength. If he should altogether refuse to woik, 
that would show that he is not willing to subnut to the social 
order, and severer measures would have to be taken. 

Hans Gross * has recently written in favor of the introduc- 
tion of "house arrest" to take the place of fines and brief 
jail sentences. The objection that house arrest would inter- 
fete with a workman's occupation. Gross seeks to overcome 
by suggesting that such persons should be confined to their 
homes on th^ free days only. Gladly as I acknowledge the 
suitability of the house arrest as a penalty that would be much 
more felt than a fine, especially by the well-to-do, yet, as a 
physician, I must raise a new objection to it. A waiter or 
a railway employee who — I am following Gross's example — 
has only one free day in ten could not for^o two such sue- 
oesdve holidays without injury to his health, nor could a 
servant do without her free Sunday afternoons. The health 
of a ci4>italist, however, would certainly not suffer if he were 

> Vaott ttir Geflmgniikundc XXIV, 17. 

■ Ban* OroM, "HkUMRcrt aia Stnfmittel" (HSchrKrimFlTdt. U, MW). 

L I-™ ..Google 



276 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [$ 25 

obliged to stay in the house for two succesmve daTs. It ia 
unavoidable that the effect of bouae aneat would be too 
unequal on the different classes of the peculation, and* for 
that reason, I tear it will find few advocates. 

The reprimand as a punisbmeot ensts only tor miiiOTB 
between the ages <^ twelve and sixteen. It does not, of 
course, balance the injury done, and must, theiefoie, be 
characterized as a purely corrective penalty. Is it effective 
as audi? In certain cases I think it undoubtedly is so. lite 
reprimand is ^iplicable only in "particularly mild caaes," 
and then it amounts to nothing but a serious admonition &om 
tiie court to lead an iq>right life. But where such slight (Senses 
are ccmcemed, is it necessary to use the whde outward apfM- 
ratus of a forma! court trial? Certainly not. In fact, we must 
even go farther, and ask, whether childroi should otxne before 
the court even for more dbrious crimes. This question too 
may be answered in the negative. I shall return to the treat- 
ment of juveniles, but moely wished here to enqihaslKe the 
fact that the existence of the punishment of the reprimand is 
justified only from the standpoint of the theory oi correctitHi. 
The most important means of punishment is deprivation ct 
^ liberty. Our criminal code rect^nizes four different kinds: 
1. Simple imprisonment; its length may be from one d^ to 
six weeks. 2. Imi»isonment with supervision ct the occupa* 
tion and mode of life ol the prisoner, imprisonmait in a tor- 
tress; the sentence may be tor from one day up to fifteen years, 
or it may be for life. S. The prison sentence, the minimnm 
b^ng for one day, the niaTi'niiim for five years. Prison con- 
victs may be employed at some work suited to their abilities 
and conditions; at their request they must be so enqdoyed. 
4. Penitentiary imprisonment may be for lite or tempfaarity; 
it the latter, then it may be for from one to Slleea yean. 
Fenitentiaty convicts must be r^ulariy eiap]ajei. 

I _,..■ . Google 



% 25] THE MEAI^ OP PUNISHMENT 277 

This gradation shows that another factor is added to the 
deprivation of liberty, that of work, which advances from 
mere sup^vision to the posnbili^ of employment and to the 
compulsion to woric. In practice, the differences in the manner 
of work, particularly betwe^i the prison and the penitentiary, 
liave almost completely dis^tpeared. In general, there is 
the compulmon to wo^ and, with n^ligible exertions, the 
convict has not even a choice of employment. Evety penal 
institution has a limited number of occupations, often so 
limited that it is impossible properly to consider physical 
and mental individuality. Formerly the most various trades 
were r^resented in evety institution. The letting of the work* 
ing force to contractors then led to competition with outside 
labor, which is not desirable in the interest of the woridng 
dass. Thus the State came more and more to admit only 
those trades that delivered work for other State institutions, 
for the army and for the railway administrations, and to carry 
out this work under its own managemrait. To be sure, com- 
petition with outside workmen is not yet at an end. For 
everything that is made in penal institutions would otherwise 
be made by free workmen. But this restriction to the State's 
own needs affects only a few trades, and the work is not indis- 
pensable. It is doubtful, however, whether the interests of 
socie^ are adequately served in this way. In many cases the 
voik is done with the most antiquated equipment, which 
involves a highly unnecessary waste of force. Moreover, in a 
large number of penal institutions it is absolutely impossible 
to teach a prisoner a trade that will be useful to him later 
in life and will thus ud in preventing his relapse into crime. 

When we examine imprisonment with and without the 
oompulsion to work, in regard to its expected result, we must 
be dear in our minds from the outset that correction and 
deterrence here go hand in hand with the urn to protect 

I ,-<,::..C00^^lc 



278 TBE STRUGGLE AGAINST CBDIB [| 25 

society. Above all. imprisonmait prevents the mdividual 
who ia a sodat meosce from following his inclinatioiis at the 
expense of the community. In addition, it has a powerful 
influence on the whole mode of thought of the prisoner. He 
becomes a member of a well-ordered, self-contained organism, 
ID which everything b regulated to the minute. The carduDy 
planned rules of the institution keep the limits of hisri^t 
always before his eyes, he learns to obey, learns to sutMnit, 
becomes accustomed to order and cleanliness, and, above all 
— he learns to work. 

Germany has. fortunatdy, neva adopted sudi foolidi 
methods of compulsory work as the treadmill, the ball and 
chain, etc, whidi are stiU used in some other countries. Tlua 
purely physical activi^. in consequence tA its deadening 
mechanical, an*! entirely puiposdesa motion, J**" a t-hnmn ghly 
demoralizing influ^ice on mind and body; it b mtirely at 
variance with the purpose that working b intended to ats 
complish. that is, to accustom the criminal to r^ular and in- 
dustrious activity. With us an incentive b offned him in 
the shape of a small reward of labor, which at the same 
time may help him over hb first period of need on hb rdease 
(compare p. 237). The d^ly stint ci work b usually fixed 
with care, at an amount that the average worinnoi ' can 
well aocon^liah with constant industiy. If he does dkhc, 
hu reward is increased; if less, all the severity of disdpliiuuy 
punishments are brought to bear upon him. 

I cannot refrain from confessing here that, in the course of 
my activity as prison physician, I have ccnnpletely k>st n^^ 
approve oi the "stint." It seoned to me to be of exccptii»> 
ally edacatitMial value to set the prisoner a definite task, in 
the accomplishment of which he might show hb willii^itess 

^ Of coone the (Ute of • 



DiailizodbvGoOgle 



§ 25] THE MEANS OF PUNISHMENT 279 

and exercise his industry. But the first condition in fixing the 
task would naturally be proper consideration of the mental 
and physical capacity of the person who is to perform it. 
Even if that were possible, many an industrious woriunsn is so 
clumsy by nature that he cannot keep step with his more 
skilful companions. Only the intimate knowledge of such a 
man, nsual^ impossible to the overburdened prison officials, 
can protect him from punishment on account of failure to 
perform his task, llie practice of requiring a definite "stint," 
the average amount of work to be expected, tempts the 
offidab to judge mechanically of a man's willingness to work 
by his ability to work, and this is a serious defect. The 
judging of a prisoner's moral qualifications by the work he 
accomplishes is an error that an efficient prison official — 
and we should have only such — may not make, but which, 
unfortunately, is only too common. 

Of still graver import is the fact that much work is done, 
not by the "job," but, by the day. According to my experience, 
a prisoner must be excessivdy lasy before the (act is discovered, 
if he works by the day, so that such men ore scarcely ever 
punished tor insufficient work. This is soon observed by the 
workmen who work by the stint," and the feeling that it en- 
genders of being unfairly treated is often the cause of con- 
siderable bitterness. I am well aware that these remarks of 
mine, based on personal observation, on the punishment lists 
of different penal institutions and the reports of aU kinds 
of prisoners, will be decidedly contradicted by most prison 
officials, but I have come to my present convictioo slowly and 
much agmnst my desire, being gradually converted by eq>eri- 
ence. and if I should fully express my opinion to-d^, it would 
be absolutely for the abolition of work by "stints," — not of 
work altogether, of course, for I am a firm believer in labor, 
and, moreover, in industrious labOT. 

L,.,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



280 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CBIME [§ 25 

To many » convict prison is the place where he first ezperi- 
CDcea the pleasure due to the completion <rf a task, what he 
first seeks to acquire something by the iDdturtrwoa use oi iaa 
hands. 

The prisoner also learns to iq>predate the blessiiig of wntfc 
from another side; it helps him throu^ the tedious mtmotcaiy 
of uniform days. Without occupation, ah>ne within his four 
walls, he soon b^ins to fear the phantom of tedium, <^ lone- 
liness, of inward blankness. My experience has convinced 
me that this paralyzing stillness is much more enduring in its 
effect than the shades of the past. Far more rarely than one 
would imagine does the memory of his crimes recur to the 
prisoner to torment his hours of solitude. What really tor- 
tures the convict is his inability to make the slowly creeping 
hours fly. Sundays and bolides, the days of rest and recrea- 
tion for those who are free, are thus d^rs ol inward t^mnent to 
the convict, and it is with fedings of joy that he receives per- 
mission to work again. That I am not mistaken in this view 
is shown, ^>art from occasional remarks «^ the convicts 
themselves, by a very common experience. Patients iritom I 
was temporarily obliged to forbid all work, often bc^jjed, 
even after a veiy few days, in spite of pain and fever, to be 
allowed to work again, s^ing they could no kaiger endoie 
sitting still unoccupied. This is true not aknie ct those in 
solitary confinement. Ordinary prisoners too, who were not 
ill enough to go to the hospital, could not long endure to sit 
idle among the others who were woridng. Th^ too asked for 
vrark. 

Thus wc^ is our most pownfol educational means, beside 
which the r^ular instruction which all priscmers receive up 
to their twenty-ninth year, is of seoondaiy agnificance. In- 
struction gives knowledge, but education gives the abili^ to 
a convict to rdnstate himself in the r^ulated ^ptl life of 



§ 25] THE MEANS OF PUNISHMENT 281 

the State. Therefore, the priaon o£Scial should have, not the 
past, but the future of the criminal before his eyes. He must 
be familiar with the past only to this extent, that he knows 
the prisoner's descent and development, career and crime, 
so that he may judge with what kind of |toum he has to deal. 
Cotainly it is advisable to show the prisoner his reflection 
from time to time, that he may know who he is. But then 
it is necessary to remould him, to clasp the hand that he holds 
out pleading for help, to show him the way that he must go. 
The prison official who does not make the improvement of 
the criminal his highest aim, involuntarily places himself on 
a plane with the dungeon-keeper who merely carries out 
another's orders. 

This improvement and correction cannot, apparently, 
be combined with the attempt to deter by intimidation; 
nor should it be. According to the individuality of the crim- 
inal, there is enough to deter him from further crime in his 
absence from his wife and children, in the loss of the saloon, 
of tobacco, of freedom of movement, in the compulsion to work, 
in the strict discipline, in the association with other criminals. 
ID the fact of being punished itself; where none of these mo- 
tives is sufficient, treating the prisoner as if, b^ng the scum 
of socie^, he were unworthy of a friendly word, will also be 
ineffective. To ixmiTifgin order and discipline in a well- 
planned, well-equipped, and well-organized penal institution 
is not difficult, but it is difficult to help a depraved individual 
on to his feet again. 

Our statistics leave no room for doubt that the carrying out 
4^ our sentences is ineffective. The offidals of German penal 
institutions themselves bear witness to this. At a meeting of 
the Society of German Prison Officials, in 1904, in Stuttgart, 
the debated question: "Does the practical ^>erience of 
prison offidals dtaw the present penal system to be effective? '* 



282 THE STRUGGLE AGAIKST CBIUE [§25 

waa answered by, "No." Can there be a sharper critkiam 
of the way in which our s^itences are carried out than the 
words of the Prussian ordinance d Se^temba 19, 1895, 
which gives, as a reaaon for the introduction of the conditional 
sentence, the "justifiable fear of the injurious effect of inqtris- 
onment, because of the convict's association with depraved 
fellow-prisoners"? This criticism touches one of the scwest 
points of our present system, the miTing of former convicts 
with persons convicted for the first time, of mild, occasicMul 
offenders wiUi old habitues of the p«iiteiitiary. The yotmg 
f eilow who first enters prison in fear and trembling is soon 
initiated into things which he should never know, evoy 
feeling of remorse is smothered by the mockery that would 
greet its ezpresaon; he is, as it were, at a high schocd of vice. 
Anyone who, under these conditioas, is not, during a longer 
term ti imprisonment, infected, shows that he might have been 
corrected without imprisonment at all. To the others Kn^me's 
words ^ i^iply: "A sentence served in common confinement 
means that a criminal is punished for his offense by being 
further instructed in crime at the State's expense." 

The association of the older habitual criminals with the 
beginuCTS in crime can be prevented by isolating the prisoners. 
The so-called "Pennsylvanian system" has carried this prin- 
ciple to an extreme; every single prisoner is kept alone daring 
the ^ole period of his imprisoimient. Hie expense of build- 
ing the necessary cells is sufficient by itsdf to bring about a 
restriction of this method; the requironeut of ^ence, *-rigHTig 
oftener on paper, it is true, than in practice, separate dormi- 
tories with conmKin work-rooms, and maiqr other expedients, 
have been tried. The ideal form of imj»isonment still re- 
mains, however, solitary confinement. 

Many erroneous ideas exist in regard to the latter. It is 
' "Ldubnch der G«fiUigiiiikande," p. t46. 



§ 25] THE MEANS OF PUNISHMENT 283 

quite ^ccpUooal now for the principle of isolation to be so 
carried out that tbe prisoner is concealed from his companions 
by a mask, or that he takes his exercise in a Bttle yard all by 
himself. The loneliness of the prisoner in his cell is interrupted 
by the keeper, the foreman, by recess, school, and church. 
It should be most significantly interrupted by the visits of the 
higher officials, who, according to the regulations, are obliged 
to virit every prisoner once a month. These visits are mtended 
to afford the opportunity of studying the criminal, becoming 
more intimate with him, discovering his good sides, so that he 
may receive psychic treatment, calculated really to correct 
and improve him. It is to be regretted that, in reality, the 
visits bear quite another character. No one will ima^e that 
it is possible to become intimately acquainted with a prisoner 
in fifteen minutes' intercourse a month. And yet, with only 
400 individuals, such fleeting visits would occupy fnHn three 
to tour hours a d^. No official has so much time at his 



Solitary confinement is not suitable for every prisoner; 
some of them cannot stand the loneliness, although, as I have 
already explained, I do not believe that solitaiy confinement 
can produce psychoses. But, apart from these cases, solitaiy 
confinement is subjectively and objectively a blessing to the 
unspoiled and to those who are not entirely ruined. I do not 
share the common fear of masturbation. It is not prevented 
1^ common confinement, but rather supplemented by peder- 
astic habits, and I do not consider the injury that it does 
to be very great. On the other hand, the cell has the advan- 
tage that the prisoner can be treated individually, and the 
personal influence of the officials in particular can be better 
exercised in private conversation. 

Tbe numbertess criminals with numerous former convic- 
tions, of course, do not require isolation. Th^ cannot be more 



281 THE eriBUGGLE AGAINST CBIHB [§25 

c(»nipt than th^ aie, and the? are no kniger coiiigiUe. 
Common woric-rooms, then, suffice for them, but a^Mtate 
sle^ing-rooma are necessary in the interest of mtoality. 

A particulariy h^py idea underiies what is called the 
"Irish penal qrstem." I wiQ not connder its defects, because 
it b the main idea that seems to me to be most importanL 
The sentence is served in different grades, the lot of the pris- 
oner being made eaaer from grade to grade, and this in di- 
rect ccmnection with his bdiavior. The better he bdiaves, 
the easier does his punishment become, and the reward tor 
his endeaTors is in the form of a leave of absence bef ne his 
sentence expires. The educational demoit lies precisely in 
the prize that he can win by woik and industry, obedience and 
understanding, and it certainly prevoits faequent offenses 
against the discipline of the institution, betto- than the p«n- 
ishmeaits provided for them. 

In many institutions I thtnt there is too mudi discipline 
and too little training. B rferenc e *•" ^ip'Tt'^ i« "fit- vwy popn - 
lar, I know, bot the remark of such an objective obs e rv er as 
Aschrott,* that prisoners thov are encouraged to behave well 
by being granted privileges, rath^ than by being intimidated 
by the tear <^ disciplinary punishments, deserves caiefol 
attention. Judging by my experience, a remitted diactplinaiy 
punishment is more ^ective than one that is carried out, 
a warning is better than a threat, inrtmctJon than the a{^Ji- 
cation <^ disdpltnaiy punishments, and a number of our best 
superintendents of penal institutions agree with me. With 
exaggerated severity and discipline it is, indeed, posmUe to 
attain the absolute quiet of a cemetery, but, underneath, the 
fire goes on smouldering, and the breath of freedom suflkes to 
fui the sparks into a new flame, more dangerous in its growth 
than the one that formeriy thieatoted sodety. 

> Aiekroa. "Stnfoi aid GellbigiunrcMn NordHteriku." p. 11. 



§26] SUSPENDED SENTENCE AND PROBATION 285 

When we consider the defects of imprisonment, we are struck, 
first of all, with the fact that it is simply a mechanical carrying 
out of the sentence. The criminal laws lay absolutely no 
weight on what the penalty is to accomplish tor the convict. 
The officials who execute the sentence are deprived of all 
pleasure in their occupation, and th^ have reason to be glad 
if th^ merely succeed in preventing injury bong done. This 
must be changed, and it can be changed without a sentimental 
coddling of the criminal taking the place of strictness. The 
gravity of the execution of the sentence cannot be combined 
with this mechanical absolution of it, the prison er must be^ 
made to see ^Uiat ^<' Tiimnplf, by his own improvement, can 
contribute to Tnft*""g good the wrong he has done; if he can- 
uM du tlii8r~h£ must suffer, so that others need not suffer. 
Imprisonment will not guarantee legaJ security until it ac- 
tnal^ deters and corrects the criminal, and, where thut is_ 
^^Kwsible," cule him off from society. 

§28. ^idamnifleation, Bupendod Bentanoe, and 
Frobatlonal Belaaso 

Sboit tenns of imprisonment have gradually become a great 
menace to pobBc t^al security. Just as a medidne loses 
its effect if steadily used, so, too, the abuse of the penalty 
of a few days' imprisonment is without ftood te sulta. dulls 
respect for the laws, and nndemunes the feding that pun- 
ishment is'something exceptional, something that should be 
remote from tite life of every respectable dtizen. The dread 
(rf pn^^iment vanishes. Moreover, such a few days or weeks 
in prison is of no use as a corrective measure. At least, the 
officials to whom is left the carrying out of the sentence must 
refrain, busy as tbey are, from attempting to arouse a teelit^ 
for the right. Nevertheless, short sentences cannot be dis- 
pensed with, even when we consider the punishment steely 

.oosic 



286 THE STRUGGLE AGAIKffT CBIME [§26 

in its lelatiui to the isdividu^r^ of the offeodo-. It is im- 
possible to proceed with the heavy artilleiy ol month-long 
iDq>risonm«it in the case <^ comparativdy harmless offenses. 
Two ways out of the dilemma offer themselves: indemnifi- 
cation and the suspended sentmce. 

Curji^t^^ral views all look upoiLit-aA-a.gEave-d^eet-4hat 
the State, in impos mg a p enalty, Ij-av n^ th^ inj^^Twt pji P imi i - 
entiirelf out of connderation, and doe s not, with the sa i Xeofx , 
impose also the obligation to in<<Bipni^ -^ *Mi i n jwrp d. ffiihjfft 
I know well that that b what the dvil courts are for, but 
this separation has great disadvantages. If, to-d^, a laboro' 
is so severely injured by a ruffian that he is uuaUe to woric 
for weeks, he can biing an action for damages. And they will 
certainly be awarded him, but the award will merdy exist 
on paper; the other's lack (d proper^ will [wevent indem- 
Dification; in fact, if the injured man sues after the convictirai, 
he has to bear the costs himself. This is more than unjust. 
Ferri* describes this proceas, which he calls a "grotesque 
comedy," sharply and strikingly in these words: "The State, 
which is responwble for not having been able to prevent 
crime, and to ^ve a better guarantee to the citizens, anests 
the criminal (if it can arrest him — and 70% of discovoed 
crimes go unpunished), llien, with the accused paw>n befme 
it, the State, 'which ought to concern itself with the ]otty 
interests of justice,' does not concern itsdf with the victims 
c^ the crime, leaving the indemnificatioti to thdr prosaic 
'private interest' and to a separate invocation of justice. 
And then the State, in the name of eternal justice, exacts 
from the criminal, in the shape of a fine payable into the pub- 
lic treasury, a compensation for its own defense — whidi it 
does not secure, even when the crime is only a trespass upon 
private proper^!" Carefully considered, the penaa injured 
» Fmri. "Criminal aoaaiogy," p. S23. 



526] SUSPENDED SENTENCE AND PROBATION 287 

or robbed has even to pay for the maintenance of lus assaUant, 
for the cost of the administratioD of justice is borne by the 
peaceful citizen, not by the penurious law-breaker. 

Id my opinion, it would increase respect for the laws con* 
siderably if the State would acknowledge its obligation to pro- 
vide for the lestoration of the l^al state, not only as regards 
criminal, but also as r^ards civil law. The criminal should 
be obliged to make good the injury by the work of his hands, 
and to this the State should compel him. This will not be 
universaUy feasible, but it would be perfectly possible pre- 
cisely in the case of slight oflfenses. This penalty would better 
conform both to the purpose of deterrence and of correction 
than does the short term in jail. Such a sentence means, 
at present, nothing but a couple of days of idleness — work 
tor such a short time is not worth while — in a warm room, 
with simple but sufficient food. The representative of the 
theory of retribution, too, might agree with our demand, 
which makes compensatioB tor the damage done more possi- 
ble than does the redconing of a bodily injury, or of a mined 
object of value, in terms ot days in prison. 
- The habitual criminal would certainly fear such a punish- 
ment more than a few days in Jul, and the obligation to in- 
demnify will impress more deeply upon him that he must 
respect the property and the person, the honor and the peace, 
c^ his fellow-nian. In the case ot the occasional criminal, 
the procedure would be still simpler. His pimishment might 
confidently be postponed and the obUgatifm imposed to in- 
demnify within a suitable time. The necessity of saving for 
others wiD long be a warning to him that will keep him from 
relapse, better than would a few d^n' imprisonment, which, 
it he happens to have a careless nature, he will soon forget. 

The reasonableness of this idea cannot be disputed, but it 

is a question whether it could be carried out; yet it should be 

_ Cooxic 



288 THE STBUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [$26 

poonble to find aome way that would admit of the combina- 
tkm of these two branches of the law. Perti^M it mi^t also 
make the "suspended sentence" appear more endnraUe to 
some of the theoiists who cHng steadfastly to ezpiatkm. The 
suspended sentence emanates from the idea that it is not 
alw^re 8 sign of a criminal mind if a man falls into the hands 
of the criminal judge. X^ligence, intoxication, irritability, 
necessity, even recklessness and temptation, may lead to 
crime, without our being justified in '•««ting stones at the 
offender. If his act is such that money can be regarded as 
compensation, he will perhaps try of his own accord to make 
the damage good. Otherwise he will become subject to I^al 
punishment, although, perhaps, even the judge — I again 
call to mind Feuerbach's words on page iSt — is omtvinced 
that a warning would be sufficient. But why should the pris- 
ons be filled unneceaaarily, why should the man irtio is suffi- 
ciently punished for his act by remorse and the obligatiiHi, 
imposed other by himself or by the State, to pay damages, 
be still further punished? Hie interest of the commnnity 
at laige is better served by a suspension of the ponishment. 

llie forms in which we find it in literature and in i»actice 
are veiy different. In England the suspen^n of the ponish- 
ment, where there is a reasonable prospect of good behavMH, 
has gradually become more general. It was used long before 
its oodificalion by the "Probation of Viist Offenders Act" * 
in 1887. The act provides: "In every case in which a person 
is found guilty of theft, fraud, or any other crime that is pon- 
isbable by imprisonment for not more than two years, and 
in which no former conviction is proved against this person, 
the court before which he or she is found guilty may, in con- 
mderation of the youth, character, and former life of the 

* Mtttm, "Die GeflliignMrti»fe imd die.beAigto VcnirteiliBV im nods- 
MD Stnfrecht." Hambiirg, ISSO. 1. F. Bicfater. p. «7. 



S 261 SDSPENDED SENTENCE AND ^lOBATION 289 

offender, and in consideration of the insignificant nature <^ 
the deed, and by reason of any extenuating drcumstancea 
under which the act was committed, order, at its discretion, 
that he or she be dismissed on his or her recognizance, with 
or without surety, to appear on summons, to hear the 
judgment, at any time that the court may determine, and 
in the mean time to keep the peace and maintain a good 
demeanor." ^ 

In reality, England does not limit itself to those cases in 
which the conditions are fulfilled, but m^es the widest 
possible use of the suspended sentence. In the years 1894 
to 1896, of the S7,S23 persons who were tried by jury, which 
in En^and tries about half of the cases of recidivists, S109 
were released on their recognizances, with or without sureties. 
This proof of the freedom of the English judge, who is not so 
dosely bound by laws as is the German, shows at the same 
time that the measure is obviously held in hi^ estimation in 
England. The results are good. Of the 18,492 persons who 
were conditionally sentenced during the years 1888-1896, 
only 1564, that is 8.4%, failed to stand the test of probation. 

While, in England, only the guilt is established, and no 
actual sentence' passed, the probation system as it existed 
in Boston as long ago as in 1869-1870 merely postpones the 
execution of the sentence imposed. In Belgium, at the end of 
the probation period the sentence is regarded as never having 
been passed, whereas, generally, it is only the execution of 
the penalty that is remitted, the judgment and penalty re- 
maining standing. 

AU these modifications of the suspended sentence are out- 
growths of the some princ^)le : the postponement of the execu- 

> Kaarlo Igtutiiu, "Ne bedinste Tenirt«hing b En^Mtd" (ZStW. XXI, 
7*0). 

■ IfnatiMt, "Die juiutuche Natnr der badmgteu Verarteflunx" (ZStW. 

xxin,uto}. 

.OOglf 



290 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CBIHE [§26 

tioD iA the sentence in tite hope that Uw ddiaquent wiD not 
offend again in the future. It is assumed that for. weak 
natures a threatening punishment is a more effective vanung 
from a rel^we, the prospect of a reward in the Aape at the 
remisskm of the penahy a stronger motive fac good bdiaviw, 
than an absolved penal^. 

The psydwlo^cal correctness c^ this soppootion cannot be 
doubted. The convicted person knows that it d^>ezids on 
his behavior whether he is to be a criminal who has already 
served a sentence or a respectaUe man with a dear reccvd; 
he knows that he can make good the recklessness ot a moment 
by a blameless life, that if he fails in his good behavior, the 
sentence will still have to be served. 

A stronger motive for upright living than the reward ol a 
remitted sentence cannot be easily imagined; if the man on 
probation succeeds in rdiabOitating himself, the c(»iacioas- 
ness that he has not been given up, that he has beat able by 
hia own efforts to live down his t^ense, will bring with it the 
conviction that he is able to overcome temptations; he has 
won back his sdf-confidence, and, instead of a depraved crim- 
inal, the State has gained a useful citizen. 

Aft^ long hesitation, Germany has also introduced a modi- 
fied form of the remission c^ penalties, conditional pardon. 
Since January 1, 1903, the "Bundesrat" has been agreed on 
the prindple of this measure, so that at least partial uni- 
formity throughout Germany in administering it may be 
brouf^t about.' Conditbnal pardon is to be ^iplied mainly, 
though not exclusively, to juveniles who have not already 
been convicted. The aeventj d the penalty is not to be 
determinative for the applicalnlity of conditional pardon. 
Of the greatest significance is the progress evidoiced in the 

> KIm, "Die bedingte Begnadigiing fat dm devtidwa Burnt ■iImIiii" 
{ZStW. XXIV, »). 



J.,:,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§26] SUSPENPED SENTENCE AND PROBATION 291 

fact that ibe court that imposes the sentence is to have 
a voice in the decision. Hitherto the decision has lain en- 
tirely with the authorities that see to the carrying out of 
the sentence. I purposely emphaoze the word "decision," 
for we can scarcely speiUc in seriousness of the Crown's 
exerdsiDg the right to pardon.^ The report of the office 
of the public prosecutor largely determines the decision. But 
I cannot see why the office of the public prosecutor should 
be better fitted to judge than the court that passes the sen- 
tence. The present practice I consider to be indicative <^ a 
transitional state, leadiog to the su^wnded sentence. If a 
court is trusted to determine the just punishment for a crime, 
taking fully into consideration the individually of the offender, 
it should also be considered capable of determining in what 
f»ses a postponemait of the punishment may be granted in 
the hope of being able to remit the sentence altogether. It 
is my conviction that the conditional sentence should be regu- 
lated by the national laws and that we are fully justified in 
demanding this. 

According to the decision of the "Bundesrat," the period 
of probation is to be shorter than the term required for the 
lapsing of the penalty in conformity with the statute of lim- 
itations. In general, it will be one year at least, in the case of 
penalties that lapse after two years, and, in the case of those 
that ]B)pae after more than two years, the ni'"'""'Tn probation 
will be for two years. These periods are very short; at pres- 
ent, good behavior for a year is sufficient to spare the convicted 
person the execution (A the sentence. But the individual who 
recidivates after only a year has passed, thus shows himself 
to be so dangerous to public safety that a remisuon of the 
punishment in his case would be out of place. Why should not 

> GntT m Dohtm, "Zur SuUatik det bedingten BegnadigDnt" (USdir. 
KiimP^di. 1, M). 



. ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



292 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [§ 26 

abundant use be made of soch a vahiable method of ccwrect- 
ing and training a p^son, and his inner self-disdpline be pro- 
moted as long as possible? In the case of mild offenses, I 
believe that the punishment should be postponed for at least 
two Tears, and where graver crimes are concerned, that the 
sword of Damocles should hang above the offender's head 
for not less than three years, a constant warning against 
failure and a constant incentive to good behavior. 
^ The less the crime indicates evil qualities in the offender's 
character, the more certainly can we reckon cm success. Those 
who will fail will thus show more deariy than under the pres- 
ent procedure that the usual motives which ahoold prevail 
crime are insuffident; other methods will have to be tried 
with them. Lengthening the period oi probation will decrease 
the number of those who have been able to stand the test as 
long as the probational period was abort, but the result will 
then be more valuable in aiding us to progress in the direction 
of avoiding a punishment wherever something better can be 
used. 

Is conditional pardon really something better, then? Tiaa 
cLUst still be regarded ss an open question, at least if we con- 
sider statistics. The relation of the favorably concfatded, 
to the unfavorably concluded, cases, in the course of the last 
five years, has averaged 4:1. As the number of reddivists 
during three and a half years, the time used as a period of 
comparison by the statistical department, amounts only to 
1S%, the result of the conditional pardcm appears at the first 
glance to be quite unfavorable. And yet that is scarcely tfae 
case. Conditional pardon does not apply to offraises that can 
be met by a reprimand or a fine; this cuts out a number <d 
comparatively harmless offenders, who are unlikely to teddi- 
vate. Moreover, the statistics of reddivists aiq>Iy to both 
juveniles and adults, those of conditional pardon onfy to 



§26] SUSPENDED SENTENCE AND PBOBATION 293 

juveniles.' And, finally, the nature of the offenses seems 
to me to be dedsive. The tendency to reddivate we find to 
be most frequent in the case of theft, which is the crime of 
99.1% of all recidivists.' And theft is also the chief crime 
of juveniles, who far surpass adults in it. 

I am far from concluding that conditional pardon has al- 
ready proved to be a success with us in Germany. Further 
and more detailed statistics are required before that can be 
decided. In any case, I believe it necessary, in many cases, 
to supplement coaditional pardon with spedal state education 
or protective supervisbn, which must certainly be seriously 
considered for most <A these juveniles.' For instability, of 
which crime is an eloquent proof, is certainly not corrected 
by conditional pardon alone. This might sooner be the 
case with adults, who have a better imderstanding of the 
seriousness of the situation than have immature juveniles. 

Parole or conditional liberation is based on the same 
psychologica] pre-suppositions as the conditional or sus- 
pended sentence. Section 23 of the Penal Code reads: 
"Persons condemned to a longer penitentiaiy, or prison, 
penalty may, when th^ have served three-quarters, 
which' must not be less than one year, of thmr sentence, 
if they have behaved well during this time, be released on 
parole with their consent." The "Bundesrat" demanded 
that there should also be proofs of improvement, but the 
"Reichstag" struck out this condition. Nevertheless, by way 
of ordinance, improvement has been made a condition of 
release on parole, in Prussia at least. The prison director may 
reconmiend such release only "if he is convinced that the pris- 

> Or^f n ZtoAno, "Zur SUtiitik dei be^agben B«gn*Hiffmg ' (USdu. 
KrimFaydi. 11, 8H}. 

* Krimmmlrtstiitik tUr du hhx IMl, II, p. 24. 

* FroKt KM LM. "Der MuKrfolg der bedingten B^nMUgnac" (ZStW. 
XXV, 887). 



:. Cookie 



294 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [$ 28 

(Hter has in^noved and will not abme the opporhinity offend 
him to begin a new, honest, and law-abiding life." I am the 
last person to disapprove of this condition, whidt alone would 
conform to the protecticHi of society that I demand, but it 
aerau to me that in Prosua judgments are formed front 
entirely different points of view from those current in most at 
the other federated States. In the years between 1894-1895 
and 100^1004 conditional release was recomm^ided only in 
the case of 1706 of the Prussian convicts subject to the Mid- 
istiy of tlie Interior. The recoomiendatitm of the adminis- 
trations ot the penitentiaries was acted (Ht by the siQ)er- 
visoiy board of justice in only 856 cases; that is. 0il6% 
of the total number of 75,756 convicts! The fact that 
their recommendations are so sddom cwnplied with, makas 
the prison directors slow to advise the release on parole 
of a prisons, as I know from my own ezpmenoe, and in 
Biany cases where there is good reastm to believe that a man 
might safely be released on pan^ no such reoMmacsidatioB 
is made, because it is fairly sure to meet with refusaL It is 
not difficult to prove how wrong this method of applying 
such a promising measure is. In WUrttemberg, in the course 
of 2S years, of the 11,846 prisoners in Ludwigsburg, not less 
than lies? (=> 10.9%) were released on parole.' Thei»ivil^ 
had to be recalled in only 2,4% of the casea! This success must 
be r^arded as especially remarkable, for Krauss * has rightly 
drawn attention to the difficulty clumay police supervisicHi 
puts in the w^ of the rehabilitatiott of the released c<Hivict.' 

■ SAwmibur, "AiudaFMnaikrTwbuflgen EnthMmg" (MSdtE&na. 
F«rcli. I. 864). 

> KrauM, "Da Kunpfg^eD die VerbnclMnniMtdteii." IMS, p. Itt. 

' O11I7 recently an iiutmctioD ol tbe Pnmiui Miniitfr ol the Tnfjrifw, «| 
Uay 11. 1004, ahaiply imprened apoD the police snUioiities tint tfaey AonM 
eKKue nqwrviaiai over panJed oonvicia in moA a wa/ that that "progrcM 

■hmll^^lU^tlM■mt>TfpF>^^wHll^ll1J^l^*y^Vmli>^PF^i^^^pnilf^^^^lp^M^^^^»^J■lfy^■" 



(26] SUSPENDED SENTENCE AND PROBATION 295 

The low number of those who tuled shows that prison directors 
wdl know how to m^e a proper selection. The decision as 
regards the petition is in the hands of the Ministries of 
Justice, to which prisoners in Bavaria and Wtlrttemberg 
must apply if their requests to be released on parole are 
refused. 

That conditional rdease has an educational value that 
extends far beyond the period of probation, is shown by 
experiences in Southern Gennaoy. Investigations of the 
later life of those conditionally released proved that only 11.4% 
in Bavaria, 16.1% in WUtttemb^g, were convicted at any 
subsequent time. Schwandner's * figures appear to be high, 
n^ioi we consider that, within the first five years from the 
time of the first convictions, only 15.6% had to be sentenced 
again, according to the German criminal statistics. But this 
refers to all those convicted, even of harmless offenses, 
idiile Schwandner's figures include only reddivists over thirty 
years of age who had been deprived of thdr dvil ri^ts, 
thus only a group of dangerous criminals. 

It is very regrettable that within the same country a national 
law should be so variously treated in the way it is applied, 
as is the case with conditional release in Prussia and in the 
other States in the federation.* And yet there can scarcely 
be any doubt as to what is the best method. I consider also 
the saving in the cost of muntaining prisoners a great advan- 
tage. In Wilrttemberg, Sichart * found that in thirteen years 
108,016 marks had been saved in consequence of 782 paroles, 
of which only 1 % resulted in failure. Hiis material advantage. 

' Inc. eii. p. ses. 

■ lo additioD to thii kbnndant nae ol i«leue oo puide, aentoicea are fi«- 
quently -hnrti^^t by pardoa in WUrttemberg. Thii wm tfae cm^ ftoni 18M 
to ISOS, with IM% of Uk penitentiary, 9.87% of the prison, cooTictal 

* KXt Sidtart, "Die FreibeitMtivIe im Anklagwuiitand and ihicVwteidi- 
gvift" 1»M^ p. W. 



. ,l,z<,i:,.,G00^lf 



296 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CBIHB [§26 

which ia oi great impoituice in view of the tremendous cost 
of carrying out sentences, would not be worth menttoning 
if other objections to the parole wdgbed against it. But thb 
is not the case. 

I have already spoken of what an incmtive to the convict 
it is, to have the prospect of being able to shorten his senteDce 
if he succeeds in gaining the confidence d his siq>ervi8or8. 
He can do so only by industry and obedience. It speaks vdl 
for the thorough and careful supervision and judgment cS the 
prison officials in Southera Grermany, that, in ^te (rf the 
abundant use of § 33, th^ have had so few failures. Hob 
puts an end to the frequently expressed (qiinicm that by 
hypocrisy and cant it is easy for a prisoner to deceare the 
officials. A man whose pefychological knowledge meidy 
suffices to maintain strict (Usdpline cannot, of course, be a 
good judge of improvement. Experience teadMs ns that it 
is just the worst elements in the institution, the regular 
customers, who often behave best, and know most sorely 
how to steer clear of the dangerous points in the r^ulatioos 
of the institution, which threaten in all directions. The tmtit 
that conditional release can be granted only to prisoners wfao 
have served at least a year, prev^its the man who has any 
knowledge of men — and evei? prison offidat should be sodt 
a one — from b^ng deceived. If it is his duty to oonaider 
in every case the possilulity of granting conditional rdeaae, 
it will certainly increase the care with which he observes 
every prisoner. And the latter once more feds himself to be 
master of his fate; confronted fay a task at whidh be failed 
when he committed his crime, he knows the prize which he 
m^ win. How different must be his feelings then from those 
when he is consdous, even during his worst behavior and 
when he resists all attempts to htAp him <m to a better path, 
that the day of his release will be the day <^ his rdi^Me, and 



§ 27] ABOLITrON OF FJXMD TERMS 297 

that, though all the officials must be aware of this, the gates 
of the prison will opeo to him on the da,j fixed. 

No blind confidence is reposed in the conditionally released 
prisoner. His personal liberty is subject to a number of seri- 
ous restrictions, he knows himself to be under constant super- 
vision, and whenever thoughts of a new crime come into his 
mind, the certfunty of his recall immediately recurs to him 
as a warning. Here, too, I think we fail to take advantage of a 
valuable means of combat, when we make the possibility of 
recall extend only over the duration of the rest of the sentence, 
except when the tatter is veiy long in any case. The situation 
is, after all, this; that a released convict who has behaved 
well for two years, for instance, will be very careful not to 
fail in the third year, because he would then have to serve 
the whole remainder of the sentence; he will beware of risking 
the T^le tedious work of two years by a single reckless act. 
The longer, then, we extend this right of recall, the easier will 
it be, by means of this hard test, to separate the .actually 
improved (lender from the socially dangerous one. The 
shortest time that should be required seems to me to be three 
years in the case of first convictions, five years where there 
have been several former convictions. 

g ST. Tb« Abolitiai of Fixed Temi of Pooiahment 
If a su^eoD should have a patient sent him by another 
doctor with the request to amputate the patient's 1^ at a cer- 
tain place because of a dangerous tumor, the surgeon would 
ignore the most elementary rules of medicine if be should 
accede to the other's request without first convincing himself 
of the necessity of the operation. The same course is required 
of a prison official who is entrusted with the carrying out of a 
prisoner's sentence, day in and day out. The court turns over 
to him a prisoner with the definite instructions to keep him 



298 THE 8TBUG6LE AGAINST CBIUB [§ 27 

for so and so many yean. Broi if the mort careful observa- 
tioD of the iitdividuality of the prisoner convinces the offitnal 
that the judge has erred in the length of the penal^ imposed, 
he has no right to interfere; thexe is no way — ezc^ paidoo 
or couditicaial liberation — in which the sentence can be 
shortened by even a day, and, of course, no way in whidi it 
can be lengthened. 

An offidal who is interested in those committed to his care 
must soon lose this interest. Knowledge of drcomstances 
influendng the deed, careful observation, long and intimate 
conversations, have shown him that it is only a diain of mH 
fortunate external drcumstances that has made a certain nun 
a criminal. He is convinced that the moral attitode of the 
unfortunate person is good, and that it is unnecessary tortore 
to keep him longer in prison, that it may periiaps even mean 
injuiy to his body and mind. But he can do nothii^ to h^ 
him, he cannot give the man who is once trapped his liberty 
a day before the time set, he cannot return him to the family 
he supports, cannot save the State the cost of carrying out a 
sentence that has become unnecessary. 

Stilt more painful for the thinking official must be the coa- 
sdousness that he must set at liberty a man who does not 
deserve it. If, occasionally, a lunatic who has been released 
from an asylum as harmless turns out not to have been cured, 
and commits a murder or a sexual crime, the press rises in a 
mighty protest agunst the inefficiency of alienists. In many 
cases it is really hardly possible to judge wheth^ an insane 
person may become dangerous, whereas it can be propheaed 
only too surely that certun discharged convicts are a menace 
to public safety. 

Most of the Prussian prisoners mentioned on page 802, 
of when the officiab believe that th^ coold not r^nstate 
themselves in law-abiding social life, have piobaUy beei act 



§ 27] ABOUTZON OF FIXED TERMS 299 

at liberty since the time of this decision. In spite of the 
firm conviction that it is on^ a question of time till the dis- 
chaif^ crinunal breaks into a house again, attacks his fellow- 
men with a knife, or assaults our wives and children, the di- 
rector must open the door of the prison for him punctually to 
the minute. A dangoous dog must be k^t chuned; woe 
to the owner who omits to see that this is done! But a far 
more dangerous man is "set on mankind" with the State's 
permission. 

Before me lies the record of a man of forty who is at present 
serving his e^th sentence, all of the sentences being imposed 
for s^nial assaults on children under fourteen. His first 
sentence of six months was in the year 1886, his last was in 
June, 1901. Thus in fifteen years the same man has been 
sentenced eight times for the same crime, the time he has 
spent in prison amounting in all to nine years; often one 
offense is separated from the next only by the time that 
his detention in a penal institution made the conmiission of 
another crime impossible. He will soon be discharged again. 
What child will be the next victim of his dangerous instincts? ^ 
Another, a boy of sixteen, was sentenced, in 1897, on account 
of bis youth, to only six months' imprisonment for attenqtted 
rape. A year later he was sentenced ior a repetition of the 
same crime to a year's imprisonment. Then follows a sentence 
of three months for damage to properly, and, shortly after, 
a sentence of two years' imprisonment for attempted rape and 
indecent handling. Thus, within a period of less than five 
yean, this fellow of barely twenty-one has served three years 
and nine months in prison; in his case, too, there con scarcely 

' I b&Te jaapoadj left tlie words of the fint cdhioii m tbe7 stood. On 
tlte Ttfa of December, 1902, tbe convict wu TeteBsed. Fwa weeks lata 
lie>mii]tedatlurt«eD-y««^IdgirIl (Ziemte, "DerSchutsderGcMlbclMft 
vor den ventuadert ZuiwhrninprfMhigen ' ' (USchrKiimPijdL I, 4M).) 

L ,;™:,G00glf 



300 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CBIHB [§27 

be any doubt that he will shortly again ^^>esr before the 
court after having once more attacked the sexual honor of a 
diild or a woman. Another man was sentoiced in 1895 to 
nine months for attempted rape, in 1898 to three months tot 
assault and battery, and in 1898 agun to two years and 
seven months in the penitentiary in accordance with § 176 T 3. 
On Januaiy 24, 1901, he was discharged; on Jane 2 of the same 
year he assaulted a diild of twdve, and was sentenced for 
att«apting the crime of $ 176 V 3 and for insult to — four 
DMMiths' imprisoomeDt! 

Every chiM, eveiy woman, who falls a victim to sudi a man 
is a crying accusation against the State that, in ord^ to main- 
tain the phantom <^ "just retributioii" in respect to the law- 
breaker, exposes the most precious possession of our women, 
their sexual honor. I have purposely chosra exanq>les from 
among sexual criminals, althou^ the same pheuHoeiwn of 
immediate relapse is found equally among thieves and crim- 
inals of violence. I should like to see the adherent of the thetny 
of expiation to whom, if his own wife or his own child were 
brought home to him ravished, the idea would not occur, that 
it would be better permanently to confine a man whose cmi- 
stantly repeated attempts at rape prove his incorrigibilily. 
Must we try the untenableness of our present criminal proced- 
ure on our own bodies before we can realize it? Are we struck 
blind to what is d^ly before our eyes? There must be an 
end made of conditions that guarantee the criminal bis return 
to freedom where he will find the cq>portunity once more to 
gain a few years more punishment, but whidi leave the peace- 
ful citizen without protection ! 

The official Prusman statistics conclude their remarks <m the 
I^obability of relapse with the words: "According to this, 
all those inmates of our penal institutions who have served 
three sentences, one of which was of at least six mooths' 



§ 27] ABOLITION OF FIXED TERMS 301 

duration, must be regarded as lost; at least it cannot be hoped 
that th&r sojourn in the institution will agtun make them 
useful members of society. Having established this tact, 
tbe statistician must pause; the rest hea with the criminologist 
and the l^pslator." 

But how can the criminologist and the l^slator proceed 
so as to do justice to both problems at once: to protect 
society from these dangerous criminals, and to treat these 
persona in such a way that the number of those who become 
socially fit is increased? 

To adi^ the penalty to the individuality of the offender, 
and to cany this through to the final consequences; that is 
our problem. And the abohtion of the fixed term of punish- 
ment is its solution. 

The fixed term of punishment becomes tmnecessaiy as soon 
as deterrence, correction, and protection form the basis of 
our criminal law. "We shall keep this tabular calculation of 
the praially that is invoked by a crime, an offense, a misde- 
meanor, as long as the old idea of revenge, rooted in the bar- 
baric childhood of tbe human race, continues to dominate 
our views of criminal justice. Just so long will the judge, 
uninfluenced by the 'warm-hearted humani^' of a grand 
and unified 'Weltanschauung,' continue to enter, opposite 
the credit side of criminal action, bis debits in fines, disgrace, 
corporal punishment, and imprisonment, that proper account 
m^ be kq>t of the just order of this world; just so long will 
the unfortunate individual who, on the impulse of the moment, 
has yielded to the pressure of poverty and misery, collapse 
under the burden of the sentence that deprives him, once for 
all, of tbe best years of his life, to turn him out agun a broken, 
joyless, and friendless man into the struggle tor existence; 
just so long, finally, will the habitual criminal gleefully count 
the days till the prison doors must open to let him out, only 

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302 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CBIME [§27 

to remve him again aft^ his brief bat eventful enjoymoit 
of his freedom. Smnmum jus summa injuria!"^ 

The idea of "mlHng a priaoner's ponishmmt depend on bis 
behavior suggests itself so readily that we cannot be surprised 
at finding, already in the eighteenth century, an advocate of 
the "indeterminate sentence." * At that time the questirai, 
what was to be done with the more harmless criminals, was 
forced into the background by the problem cS dealing with 
the incorrigibles. The fruit of Klein's endeavors was § 5 of 
the criminal law section of tbe "Allgraoeines Landiedit": 
"Thieves and other criminaU who nu^ become dangoous to 
tbe community because of their corrupt t^ideocies, eveo 
after th^ have served their sentences, shall not be rdeaaed 
until th^ have proved that they are able to suf^xirt tbem- 
^ves honestly." Also, in the order of the Fniaaan Calwnet 
of F^niary 1, 1799, the same idea recurs: "I have noticed 
that very many criminals, and, among them, even some erf 
those who have been set free t^ my pardon, have immediately 
again committed srane crime. For the most part this may 
be due to the complete depravity of the criminal, and then 
no other means remuns of protecting prcqierty from thievea 
and robbers than to imprison the lattn for life." ' 

But just as this order recommends correction as a means d 
[wevrating immediate relapse, just as it deares, that is, every- 
thing to be tried "before the law can, with justice, ordun 
this (life-long imprisonment)," so, too, did Klein and the 
juristic faculty in Halle that supported him. It says in a 
judgment of the year 1797; * "In order to provide the pris- 
oner with motives for his improvement, his Itfe-ltmg im- 

1 Knwpdbn, "Die khmi^thmg des StisfanuMA" P- 17. 
■ •anlMal,"B.F. Klein nnd die tmbeatimnite Vemrtdltmg" ^tnbcdtt- 
Ikbe AutHtie ond Voib«ge, II, 148). 

* OotaJM, "Zweihimdert Jahre FUnixge." Berihi, 1006. p. 90. 
< ■OH Liai, he. dL p. ISO, 



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{ 27] ABOUnON OF EIXED TERMS 303 

prisonmeut shsU be made dependent in its qiumti^ on his 
future behavior." 

The treasure that a few people thus tried to dig up still 
lies buried to-day under a mass of regulations which take 
everything into account except the psychological character 
of the criminal. And yet how different, how much firmer, 
harmonious, and — better — the administration of justice 
would be under the influence of a criminal law that would not 
blindly strike down the occasional crinunal and be weak with 
the incorrigible. The effect of the indeterminate sentence 
would be very different on both. The person who is convicted 
for the first time, if the conditional sentence is not applicable 
in his case, will enter prison with the honest desire for better- 
ment. Remorse and bis own conscience have shaken hirn to 
the depths; he has made the best resolutions. And now fi^ 
knows that he must win back his freedom himself, that he 
must prove, under the new conditions under which he is forced 
to live, that he is inwardly strong. He fights hard to win 
his release, and he does win it; stiU for several years the pos- 
sibility of his recall bangs over him as a sign of what he has 
ovocome, as a warning for the future. And if he is not un- 
faithful to his good resolutions, the State has one respectable 
member more. 

The careless, liappy-go-lucl^ individual, too. who now 
serves his few months in comparative indifference, would have 
the majesty of the law brou^t home to him in quite another 
way. With the better psychol<^cal training of the prison 
offidab, it must be possible to recognize the superficiality of 
pretended remorse; the careless fellow too probably resolves 
on improvement, but he does not really improve. With the 
indeterminate sentence, the few months that he would have 
to serve under the present law pass, and still no move b made 
to release him. In slow monotony d^ follows day, oonstantly 

I ,-<,::..C00^^lc 



304 THE ffTRUGGLE AGAINST CBDfE [§27 

urging him to introspectioii, brining home to him the fact 
that only a change in himself can set him at liberty. The 
eameatnesa of life breaks the wings of airy cardessnesa. When 
he then finally arrives at discretion, and the gates of the prison 
clo«e behind him, firmo' resolutions to behave wdl will accom- 
pany him. The recall threatens him, too, and he knows that 
it is no empty threat; he has learnt the full meaning <^ pun- 
ishment and fears it. In his case we shall perii^is accomplish 
no more than this, no real betterment, but evoi this goaraatees 
public peace better than is done at present. 

And finally, the incorrigible criminal, is be to-q>end his 
life entirely without hope, bdund prison walls? If the pro- 
tection o( society u not possiUe in any other way, then, 
certainly. After all, our present legal order too imiHisans 
men for life, some lA whom, as tbdr behavior when pardtuied 
shows, are quite harmless. No one hesitates to demand that 
a dangeroos lunatic should be confined tor life. Why not the 
criminal also? I know a convict, irtio has latdy gone insane, 
who served seven years at cme time, dght years at anoth^, 
in the penitentiaiy for rape, with only a short interval betwem 
the two sentences. Set at libaiy, within a few we^s, he 
assaulted two women ui snccesfove days, and was again 
sent^tced to fifteen years in the penitentiary for r^>e. The 
only difference between permanent imprisonment and the 
present practice is, that now the State gives such a man just 
so much time as he needs to earn his punishment again, that 
the State now requires the health and hon<» of Beva«l 
blameless young girls to be sacrificed before it fee^ justified 
in taking wbat is the most natural course in the worid. 

I even dare to utto- a hope that apparently ocmtzadicts 
the bdicf I have expressed in the incorrigibility <^ mai^ 
criminals. I believe that such a penal system would periii^is 
save many a man who is now sore to be ruined. As I have 



§ 27] ABOLITION OF FIXED TEEMS 305 

already emphasized a number of times, I do not believe that i 
incorrigibility is the result of innate criminal tendencies, but / 
of the inabili^, due m many cases to defects of mind and 
education, to live under the present aoaal conditions without 
trespassing on the legal spheres of others. Why, then, should 
not uniemittjng care succeed in InnHlJng a spark of decency 
in the man who is f^ven up as lost, and why should it be im- 
possible to educate him slowly and painstaUngly, after all? 
At present this is most difficult, because the criminal knows 
when his punishment will come to an end; -but when once his 
release depends upon himself, the consciousness of this fact 
will periiaps awaken in him the desire to improve, which it 
will then be possitde to cultivate and tnun by purposeful care 
and years oi disdpline. But if all efforts to transform him 
fail, there is no alternative, absolutely none, to isolation 
from sode^. 

But who b to delude when the moment has come for release 
or permanent confinement? "The practical carrying out of 
the separation of offenders into occasional, habitual, and incor- 
rigible criminals,*' contended Frank,^ "b opposed by the fact, 
that the dedsios cannot rest with the judge, but must be left 
to the prison officials. Such a consequence, however, — in 
other words, the admission of the indeterminate judgment — 
will not be acceptable for the next few centuries, because at 
present we lack the possibility of looking into a man's heart, 
and because the offidals entrusted with the execution of sen- 
tences have not the confidence of the people, which is an in- 
dispensable condition of any interference with human liberty." 

Both objections are justified, but — only under the rule 
<rf the present criminal law. Under a future system the 
judge would not be only a connecting link between the 

■ (Hitt der L E. V. VI, S77.} I tliink 1 un not wraBg in aMiimmg that 
Fnnk DO longw ao pooitively rejecti thLi ide*. 



.Cooc^lc 



306 THE STRUGGLE AOAINETT CBIHE [( 27 

egamiiupg magistrate and the prison official, vonld Dot 
merely establish the questioii of guilt. In contrast to his 
present activity, he would, in fact, have most difficidt 
duties. By deep» ccHuideration of the ertemal caoses cl 
a crime and fiim psychological analysis of the crinunal'a 
individuality, he would have to decide in what cases so^ms- 
sion of the penalty nught be tried. He would have to deter- 
mine under what conditions indemnification must be made, 
and to see to it that justice is- done to the injured person. 
He would have to sdect those for whom treatmott and 
education offear more prospect of improvement than does 



This is already done with juveniles to-d^ and, to some 
extmt, with the insane. But with these, the number of pei^ 
scms is by no means exhausted, for whom priscm laom is ea 
as little success as rational treatment promises great; above 
all, it is the drunkards and partially reqioostMe persons who 
must be more intelligently provided for. 

The criminal judge, who is confronted by the problem ol 
malHiig a psycholo^cal report of the offender, finds this a 
QKoe valuable and stimulating <^portnnity to show and de- 
velop his abilities than the present situation, iritereui he is 
compelled to almost mechanical activity in judging beggars 
and vagabonds, ruffians and thieves, and wherein little ia 
demanded of his intdlect exc^t in the case ot fine diffexences 
between fraud and embezslem^it, and such like, — unless, 
indeed, even then the Suiw^ne Court ("Beidisgoidit") 
relieves him of the necessity for thou^t. Moreover, the 
activity tA the judge will not stop with deliv«ing over to the 
prison officials an offender for whom he believes a serious 
warning and thorough education to be necessary. He wiU 
be partly responsible for such a delinquent's further career. 

The training of our judges will, in the future and this 



§27] ABOLITION OF FIXED TEBMS 307 

can be safely prophesied to-day, include temporaty service 
ID penal iDstitutions/ Even vith our present laws it is a cry- 
ing disgrace that the judge imposes penalties the significance ' 
of whidi he is quite unable to grasp. Of course, a few visits 
to some prison will not suffice, nor the demonstration and 
examination of a few particularly grave crimes. It would be 
tdmost worse than the present state of affairs if the belief 
should be aroused that it is possible in this superfidal way to 
penetrate into the methods and effect of the carrying out 
oi the sentence, to penetrate, above all, into the depths of a 
human soul. No, the future judge will have to do hia share of 
the practical work, will have to study the prisoners, in detail, 
leam to know them well enough to report whether a certain 
offender is to be conditionally released, whether he is worthy 
of confidence, whether be has failed to improve. 

In addition, the judge will have to supervise the otecution 
of the sentence he has imposed and to aid in deciding what is 
to be done with the prisoner. This is already done in Baden 
and WUrttemberg. In WUrttemberg the prison boards 
indude high officials in the departments of justice, adminis- 
tration, medicine, both Protestant and Catholic clergymen, 
and even members of mercantile houses; in Baden the en- 
larged conference of officials has at its head a director or 
coun<nllor of the superior court, besides several citizens as 
members. Through the co-operation of the judge and several 
laymen, preferably those who are at the same time the repre- 
sentatives of provident societies (compare page 237), the 
danger which, experience has shown, threatens most adminis- 
trative boards, the feeling of superiority, would best be 
avoided. "We prison officials easily develop into autocrats 
and infallible persons," says Krohne. 

1 mm Jat«mttnn, "Bedeutung der GeflmgntdriiTkimde fOr die Stntr«dit» 
yOtge" (B^chrKiinilyrch. I. 877). 



. ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



308 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [§ 27 

In 1807 the annual meeting of the InteinatkMial Union 
<rf Criminal Law passed the following resolutions, written hy 
Seuffert and Kiobne: 

1. Inwderto ensure the rational carT3>ing out of smtences, 
the supervisory prison boards must ajqxmit suitable persons 
to take part regula^ in the conferences of the head atScaa 
in the larj^ prisons and penal institutioos. These penons 
must include members of the provident organs. 

2. Women as weU as men must be appointed tot the 
women's prisons. 

3. The persons thus ai^winted shaD have the ri^ to visit 
priaonos without witnesses being present. 

4. They shall, especially, be consulted in regard to internq>- 
tion of sentences, conditional release, and pardon. 

In Prussia, it is true, the aid c^ persons who are not ouh 
nected with the execution tA the sentence is possible only in • 
slight d^iee. In spite of the warm advocacy ot fCm^nrt^ 
who promises the confidential agemts of provident societies 
that th^ shall be helped in every possible w^, and recog- 
nizes their right "to go from cell to cell and spea3L pri- 
vately with the prisoners," these persons are not able at 
presNit to do much. Iheir efforts fail because, as ITrrthTip 
admits, prison offituals have a "strong aversion" to this new 
institution.' 

This pasdve rerastance must be r^noved, and tlus will be 
the more easily possible, the more important the duty ctf exe- 
cuting the sentence becomes. 

The far-reaching plans for the abolition of fixed sentences 
must lead to a further elaboration of the resolutitois of the 
IntemationB] Union of Criminal Law. The co-opeiation of 
public prosecutors, of the courts, and of the administrative 

■ vmi BoUaR, "Einif^ widiti«a« ProUenM da EntU— ifBiwui'' 
(MSchtKrimFlTdt. 11, 191). 



_.,i,zt!dbvGoogIe 



S 27] ABOLITION OF FIXED TEBMS 309 

boards, mast be more extenuvely assured, a co-operation, of 
oourae, that is not limited to participation in conferences. 

Hie principal wwk. It b true, will and must fall to iht offi- 
da) entrusted vith executing the sentence. He can do justice 
to his task only if he has a thorough and all-round preliminary 
educatJOQ. Wulffeo' does not oonader any man fitted for 
penal institution service who has not " been through the mill 
of public prosecutorship and court practice," and even such 
a one must not be "only a jurist, which is equival^it to a 
formalist." I consider it questionable whether good institu- 
tional t&ectors can be drawn from juristic circles alone. 
But I fully subscribe to his further words: "EducatioD, 
p<Qrchol(^y, and sjrmpathy, these are the three intensified 
demands that we must make of penal measures in the future. 
With military discipline, bureaucratic formalism, and knowl- 
edge of a trade alone, nothing is won." Only "really peda- 
gogically talented peraons are suited for penal institution 
service." The very best officials are only just good enough 
for the realization of the poudty. Let me once more draw 
attention to Krohne's words: "Ev^i if you have the best law, 
the best judge, the best sentenoe, and the] prison official is 
not efficient, you mi^t as well throw the statute into the 
waste basket and bum the sentence!" 

The abolition of fixed terms of punishment, the conditional 
release, — all hope for greater public security stands and falls 
with the methods by which the sentence is carried out. Where 
the prisoner can be ^ectively prepared for a better future, 
that is the place to apply the lever. 

' Wa^tn, "Befonabcfltidnmgcn kuf dem Gebiete dei StntnUwagi," 
Dmiai.lMS. 



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310 THE STBUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [§ 28 

§ S8. TIm TiMtHaut of JnToiilM ud FtrtuUj 
Katpomihlfi F«noiu 

Und» our present laws the first crimiiui act bringB the 
unfortuiuite creatuie who commits it, if he has completed his 
twelfth year, b^ore the bar of justice. In judging of the 
injuiy done by public trials, we shall do wdl to distingmsh 
between two groups of criminal childrm: those i^ oouM not 
withstand a particularly tenqiting opportunity, inwardly un- 
spoiled; and those who, having grown up in a criminal en- 
vinHuneaat. oo{n^>t from their earliest youth, know <hi^ the 
fear of punishment, of the police, but not the dread cl doing 
wnog. For a diild of the first gro<q> a trial is a stigma that 
it will have to bear even if acquitted, the detrimrattal inqires- 
non of which will be the greater, the dkmv unspoiled the diild 
is. And not only the diild suffers, but his family, idiicii is 
often very little to blame. At sduxJ the child is deqo^sed 
by his mates, watched with suspidon by the teatjicn; pei^ 
fectly ennisable faults are regarded as rigns td criminal 
tendencies. A sensitive nature may be ruined by the wdf^ 
of this pressure. In the case of such a child — it need scarcely 
be said — a trial is the less necessary, because his diaiacter 
can be far better strengthened throu^ educational measures. 

It is very different with the other group d children, found 
particularly in large cities, who grow up uncwitndkd and 
selfish. For them the first court trial means the first st^ 
towards independence. In qiite of his mental and physical 
immaturity, the child feeb himseU to be grown iqi from then 
on, for he has been treated as an adult by the court. He has 
been the hoo of an act of whitdt the State has takm notice, 
and with a feding of self-importance he waits tor the news- 
paper reports of the trial. This feding of having played a 
part in public life is not restricted to the child himadf . His 
comrades regard him with a certain respect, — vaiyii^ in 

, ...... C.ooqIc 



§ 28] TREATMENT OF JUVENILES 311 

degree, it is tnie. His particular chums admiie Mm. But 
it would be a mistaJie in child-psychology to believe that his 
example onjy frightens and repels still innocent children. A 
child's imagination is excited by everything unusual; there 
is an air of something exceptional about the youthful of- 
fender, even to the most unspoiled boy, and his feeling of 
contempt is tinged with respect for the indc^iendence of his 
"grown-up" comrade. 

The damage that the presence of such a child in a school 
does is beyond estimation. And even if, after a public trial, 
the child, acquitted, is not sent ttadc to school, but is made 
the subject of corrective education, his name, his act, and his 
behavior at the trial, will long remun the theme of conver- 
sation among his school-fellows. The effect of this may be 
that, where the soQ is fruitful, it makes the first breach in not 
yet firmly founded moral views. 

The compulsory school age mds at fourteen; until then 
the child needs school training. After that no one thinks of 
regarding a hoy as mentally and physically mature because 
he has left school, because his social independence is b^inning. 
Why is not the criminal child left to the discipline of the 
school, at least up to this age limit? And if this discipline 
fails, if consideration for the other pupils makes the criminal 
child's removal from them necessary, why cannot he inmiedi- 
ately become the subject of special State education, without 
first going through a public trial or, worse, a prison sentenceP 

Punishment is a two-edged sword. As long as it menaces 
the evil-doer from afar, it may perhaps deter, but as soon as 
he has become acquunted with it, its effect is dulled; the sec- 
ond punishment is much less feared than the first. This ap- 
pears only too deariy in the statistics of adult reddivists; 
how nuidi more must the threat of punishment lose its 
efficat? if a person has already become acquunted with it in 

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312 THE STBUGGLE AGAINST CRIME {(28 

Ids yooth, if h bdongs to the childhood mem(»ies of Uk 
growing boy or girl. 

Aa far as possible, juvoiiles serving sentences sbould be 
separated from older criminals. This separatkm is not ahrajs 
feasible. Moreover, association with more e^Mncnced com- 
pankms of the same age (rftoi suffices to stnu^ every vestige 
of decency, remwae, good reacJutions. Thus, I found little 
girls in whom menstniatioo had not yet begun who wese 
astonistungly well informed about all kinds of perverted sexual 
practices. They had been taught by a precocious and eaity 
oomq>t companion of the same age, in prison. Bigid oif Mce- 
ment of sectary oonfinemmt might perhaps have prev«ited 
this, but during detention, iriiile awaiting trial, and in the 
smaU district jails, there Is ample opportunity for the sowing 
of such seed, however careful mi^ be the method of ooofine- 
ment after conviction. 

Von liszt ^ thus sums up the oonduaion we most draw 
from such a state of affairs: "If a child conimita a crime, 
and we let him alone, the probability that he will commit 
another crime is not ao great as when we punish him." We 
should not punish him, but neither should we let him alone. 
The law for special State education empowers us at pres- 
ent, after the execution of the sentence, to prevent the om- 
tinuance of a criminal mode of life by seeking to make up 
the deficiencies in the child's former education and train- 
ing. Now, what part does a few months* imprisonment piaj 
in the life of a twelve or thirteen year old offoider, in com- 
parison to the spedal educatioa that is continued up to his 
twentieth year? In case of acquittal on account of lack <^ 
comprehension, the law allows special education to be b^un 
even earlier. Why, then, the comedy of a public trial? Only, 

■ MM Litjt. "Die KrimiiwlHlit'dCT Jogendliclia" 0tntndiUidie Airf- 
MtM ond VortAge. n, SS»). 



§ 28] TREATMENT OP JUVENILES 313 

perhaps, to establish the fact that the child did understand 
the consequences of its act, after all? This does not seem to me 
Torth while, as long as it is still possible to prove the child's 
comprehension even after he has been in a school for the 
f edile-minded ! This could certainly be settled in the pre- 
liminary examination, in order to put an end to the disgrace 
of having children pl^ a public part in our courtrooms. 

A child does not belong before the criminal judge, nor in 
prison. The whole question should resolve itself into this : vp 
to what age is special education to be applied, instead of the 
criminal law? The International Union of Criminal Law ' 
has detnded in favor of the fourteenth year as the age at which 
punishment should be admissible, rejecting the original pro- 
posals made by Krohne, von IJszt, and Appelius, that the 
sixteenth year should be adopted, a measure that was also 
supported by one-third of the prison directors invited to rqwrt 
on this question. 

Before the child has left school he cannot, ot course, be 
treated aa an adult; he must be treated as a child. Hence 
the fourteenth year is the very lowest that could be set. At 
that age the growing individual enters upon the years of 
adolescence, the years when "inward stability is lacking,"* 
which must not be measured by the adult standard. To bring 
these peculiar conditions of the age of puberty into harmony 
with the criminal laws, requires far more time than the judge 
can devote to the individual case. But if he could, instead of 
impoung the short sentence that the law prescribes, he would 
dbiost alw^B declare long tnuning and education to be neces- 
sary. There we also exceptions, cases in which it is so dear 
that the offense is merely a bit of mischief, that the mildest 

< Mittdliiiigen der I. E. V. m, S27. 

* ili(fM(Cn>M«r,''EntwMUung>}ahTetindG«Mtigebuiig,"Gdttiii(ak,lBO^ 
W. Ft. KlUtner. p. 7. 



.OOglf 



314 THE STBUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [$ 28 

treatmeDt b appropriate. Official reoogmtkHi <rf sw^ a pos- 
abilit? has found expreauoD in "conditioDal paidon." In 
general, only juveniles convicted for the first time, whose 
penal^ would not exceed six months' imprisonment, can be so 
pardoned. Thoae who are more dangerous are threatoied 
with special State training after their sentences, obvionsir 
because, in most cases, the sentence is not conddered soffi- 
dent. Thus, it only remains to be desired that the treatment 
of juvenile law-breakers should be legally and uniformly 
r^ulated. The programme might be briefly summed iq> 
thus: neglected childr^i require compulsory or special State 
education even when they have not offended agunst the 
criminal laws. Criminal prosecution is admisdble only 
after the sixteenth year has been completed; trials are oat 
to be public. Instead of a penalty being imposed, a juve- 
nile may alw^s be required to undergo spedal State edu- 
cation. Where mild offenses are concerned, the sentuice 
is to be suspended till the conq>letion of the twcm^-fiist 
year, and thai remitted if the offender's behavior has beea 
good. If those ccHiditionaUy sentenced offend a second time, 
special State education is to be prescribed. In general, the 
programme agrees with that of the International Union of 
Criminal Law, except that I should like to see it in its original 
form, and not as finally accq>ted, prindpally because the treat- 
ment there provided for thoae between fourtem and axteot 
is psychologically more correct than that recommended in 
the final resolutions. 

Of particular importance, it seems to me, is the treatmeat 
of those persons who stand nudway betwe^i mental health 
and mental disease, for whom it is rightly dananded the t«rm 
"partially re^wnsible" * should be used. Our criminal law, 

' Compare, in tliis ctamection, 1117 explamtioiu in Bodi^t " PfTuflnn* dcr 
g«ridiUicben IVcbiatiie," p. 84; mw LUO, "SchnU dcr Godbdiaft ge^ 



§28] TBEATMENT OF JUVENILES 315 

in contrast to that of former German States and many foreign 
countries, does not recognize this condition. But gradually 
the conviction has gained ground that, besides insane persons 
and normal persons, there are numerous individuals who 
cannot be judged by the same standards as these others. 
A law recognizing partial responsibility was rejected by the 
"Reichstag." on the ground that the term "extenuating cir- 
cumstances" could be made to cover all the cases to which 
the measure under discussion would apply. 

I will not stop to point out that the term "extenuating cir- 
cumstances" does not exist where the most serious crimes are 
concerned, nor dwell on the fact that the judge takes the 
place of the man who would be most competent to judge of 
mental conditions that are so difficult to recognize, the 
physician; it is enough to emphasize here that the effect 
of "extenuating circumstance" is exactly opposite to that 
demanded by a rational policy towards criminals. According 
to our present laws, the partially responsible person receives 
a milder, that is, a shorter sentence. This may knock aw^ 
the last moral support that he has. The consciousness of 
getting off with a light sentence decreases his fear of punish- 
ment, which may have been the only motive that restrained 
him from criminal acts. But even if he does not regard the 
ipiMtHHM of the judgment as a sort of license for his acts, 
yet the fact remains, that the short sentence is useless. I 
have often heard such p^cho-pathological persons, consdoua 
<rf their social uselessness, ask for long sentences, in the — 

gmndiisdlthTlu^GeiiteakraiikeimdveniundertZuT«chnungifXhige"(HScIir. 
ErimF^ch. I, 8); Hitler, "Die Behaiullimg der Tcnnindert ZurcchnungB- 
fmugen im VoreDtwnif xu eimem ichwnmiacbcn Strafgeaetcbnch" (HSchr. 
KrimlHydi. I, 77); Blttdtr, "Zur Behandlung 'der GemeingetKhriicber" 
(MScbrKrimPiych. I, H}i Hotgd, "Dm BelundluDg d«r Mlndenrertigen" 
(MSchrKrimlSTcIi. I, 3SS); KTtupdin, "Zui Fnge dn lemiiidert Zundt- 
nungAhigeit" (MSdtiErim^ych. I, 478). 



. ,i,z<,i:.., Google 



316 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRIME [§ 2S 

perfai^M vaiD — hope that thdr feeble energy mi^t be 
strengthened, and certunly with the tnte aatae that a sbnt 
sentence would have no endonng effect on them. 

How much more advisable ia the piopoeal to make the pon- 
ishment of such persons, not shorter, but different, in qoali^. 
This de^red change in the punishment would have to be 
adapted to the peculiarity of every person, sometimes beang 
tbenq>eutic, sometimes educational, in character, under some 
(arcumstaoces leading to removal &om society, and confine- 
ment in a suitable institution. 

"La responsabilit^ pn^rartioneDe n'est toatrfois acceptable 
que sous la liaexve tonadle d'une sorte de p&ultt£ spteiale,'' 
wrote L^raod dn Saulle ' as long ago as 1874. And, really, 
the nuun point tA the whole question lies here. Le^ recogni- 
tioD of partial responsibilily is only desirable it acccmpanied 
by changes in the punishments imposed. What kind of danges 
these should be, is dear from the foregoing. Some of these 
persons belong in institutions for ^ileptics, some in insane 
asylums. Most irf tbem belong in what would be an inter- 
mediate institution between the workhouse and the insane 
asylum. In any case, their treatment requires the services 
of phyracians. 

In these institutions bdcmg, also, most of the vagrants, 
among wtuch the phyncally and nwntally normal are in the 
minority. Of what use are the present short s^ktences, which 
sometimes mount up to a hundred and more, or evm the 
temporary sojourns in a workhouse? Of none whatever. 
Experience teaches us that many inmates of w(»khonses are 
industrious and useful laborers, who by their own work cover 
the cost of their muntenance to the State dther partially tx 
oitirely. Why should not such people be permanently de- 

■ "TraiU de mMfirme Ugale «t de juriqinKlace mUinIt;" Fmw. IHTt. 
A. Dckliare, p. 799. 

D,a,l,zt!dbvG00gIf 



§ 29] CONCLUSION 317 

tuned in suitable institutions, instead of bring turned out 
into tbe road at the end of a short time? Such a measuie Is 
not as cruel as it seems. The intervals between imprisonment 
and detention in a workhouse are generally very short, and 
many persons do not feel at all unhappy under the systematic 
i^ime of the workhouse. 

In this way, too, the number of cases of vagrancy, etc., 
idiich at present require so much of the judge's attention, 
would be greatly diminished, and thus more time would be 
gained for the thorough investigation of graver dimes. 

Tho-e still remain a few words to be sud in r^ard to dnink- 
ards. Some years ago a drunkard was committed to an insane 
asylum on account of a fit of delirium tremens which passed 
in a few days. The man was physically sound, but a dissolute 
drunkard, who, as the records showed, ill-treated his wife and 
children disgracefully, fought with his neighbors and passers- 
by, attacked the police, etc. But he was not insane in the 
legal aenae and had to be released. This was the decision of 
the Ministry, whose special judgment was obtained. 

This case is typical of the legal conditions that rule at the 
present d^, and shows what should and must be. In such 
cases the court must intervene and commit the man to a hos- 
pital for inebriates or, if he proves to be incurable, to a pei^ 
manent institution for alcoholics. To all individuab, from 
the lunatic to the normal delinquent, the same formula ap- 
plies: ad^tation of social repression to the individuality 
of tbe transgressor. 

§28. Conelnsion 

The adaptation of social repression to tbe individually 

of tbe delinquent, leads unavoidably to the indeterminate 

sentence. The need of a more efficacious defense against the 

dangerous habitual crinunal, must, as was mentioned on page 



..Coo^^lc 



318 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CRDfE [$ 29 

SM, make impruonmoit appea to be the best of the poaaSile 
ways. Again and a^^ain voicea have beoi raised advocatiBg 
the indetenninate sentence as the remedy. In 1880, £ne- 
pelin ' once more gave due agnificance to the proUeso, 
when, in lexically carrying out the theory of correction aad 
oitiiely rejecting the theory of retributioD, wliidi had be- 
come ontenable, he demanded the aboIitioD of the fixed torn 
of punishmoit. Except for a few, generally unfavoraUe. 
remarks, his demand was at first deliba^tdy passed over 
in silence. But not for long. The idea was too somid, the 
soO too fertile, for a reform, the wdght of opinicm that de- 
manded reform too heavy, the value of the scientific mA of 
the new school too great. 

In view of the di£Sculty with which practical ideas pene- 
trate into chiefly theoretical scioices, and of the centniy-kiog 
stability ot the notions in regard to the nature of crime and 
the manner of combating it, the progress made ^peais, 
indeed, astonishingly great. This is, of course, not equally 
true of all countries. Besides the corrective after-detentitm 
of b^gais and tramps, and the conditicmal release, we in 
Germany have achieved only the conditional pardon, and that 
cmly in a limited application. But just in this illostistioa 
the triumphant power of the new ideas can best be demon- 
strated. In 1890 the "Justizministerialblatt fUr die preus- 
sist^e Geaetzgebung und Bechtspfl^e"* published "The 
Beports of the Presidents of the Supreme Courts and the 
Reports of the Fubhc Prosecutors on the so-called condition^ 
sentence." Of the thirteen reports, twelve woe against its 
introduction, and even in the case of its amplication to juvoiile 
criminals, only a nunority was in favor of it. A few yean 
later thousands enjoyed the blessing of condititHial pardcui, 

* Kratpdin. "Die AtaduOmig drs SUafnuHM," 18801 

* laeO; LO. No. M. 



. ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



§ 29] CONCLUSION 319 

whidi we are justified in r^arding as a preliminary stage of 
the cfHiditional sentence. 

And in 1904 a public prosecutor, Greffrath, was able, witli 
the general consent of expert opinion, to demand protective 
detention for an indefinite time, and the meeting of the prison 
socie^ of Saxony and Anhalt, acting on the proposal of the 
pnblic prosecutors von Frittwitz and Gaffron, declared the in- 
troduction of protective detention to be absolutely necessary. 

Wbat with us is still a cherished wish, in other countries 
has been more or less realized or will be so. The regulations 
of the draft of the Swiss criminal code agtaty a break with the 
past. They provide that, instead of receiving a prison sen- 
tence, a dangeious recidivist may be committed to a special 
institution; his detention there to be for at least ten, and not 
more than twenty, years, at the discretion of the court, *' if 
the court is convinced that the ddinquent, after serving a 
prison sentence, would reliq>8e into crime, and if it considers 
his detention necessary" (Arts. 29 and 30). In the case of 
partially responsible persons, the judge has the right to di- 
minish the penalty, according to his own judgment, but he 
has also the right to conuuit the person to an institution 
(Arts. 16 and 17). Most important of all, however, is Art. S5. 
The court can commit to a hospital for inebriates the habitual 
dnmkard who has been acquitted on account of irresponsi- 
bili^, as well as the condemned habitual drunkard. Here we 
see clearly the demand for practical treatment, even where a 
penalty is provided as well. 

On July S, 1904, a bill passed its second reading in the Eng- 
lish House of Commons, providing lengthy detention and 
special treatment for any criminal who can be sentenced to 
penal servitude and who has already been three times txm- 
victed of indictable offenses. 

noaDy, in Norway protective detention is already an 



320 THE STRDGGLB AGAINST CBIHS {§ 29 

accomplished fact. Section 60 iA the general Penal Code of 
May 22, 1902, provides that, whoi a criminal is particular^ 
dangerous, he m^ be detuned in prison for a period not 
exceeding fifteen years.' 

Even in Norway, however, the princqjle has not been car- 
ried to its final consequence, the abolition of the fixed term, 
even in the case of the most dangerous criminals. But the 
break with the methods of treatment that have obtained 
hitherto is unmistakable. We may confid«itly await the 
further development i^ criminal law. "In sdence, as in Hie, 
the ccHiaervative man advocates ideas to-di(y iriiich a few 
years ago were advocated only by the IxJdest td the radicals." * 
If our views are right, thdr triumph is assured. One pcunt 
scarcely needs further proof: the adaptation of the social 
reaction to the individually of the law-breaker does not lead 
to a weakening, but rather to a strengthening, of State au- 
thori^. What could increase our ctaisciousness of the power 
of the State's organisation more than the feeling of bdng i»o- 
tected from the attacks of those who will not or cannot sob- 
mit to the legal order? Our re^)ect for the State's aothcmty 
must grow i^en we see it pursuing such a purposeful polity 

> PuagKph SS: "If Mir p«non ia gaSty <A aevtttl BceoupGihed or at- 
temptedCTJmea tor'wlik^ poultiea are provided in aeclamsIlS, IW; lASdave 
n, in. I. n, m, lU, ISS, ISO, ISl (offeoMs agaiiut poblk Mfety). aetAma 
174. ITS (cotmteifeitiiig moDey), aectiooB tSl. IM, 198. IM-IM^ 200-404 
(■eiusl ctimM). lectkm SIT (lediicUon ol miiKu*}, tectiam XU, KT (kiAi^>- 
ping), •ectioiH SSO, S31, eSS, eu U (crimes a^iiut the pcnon). aecboa SSI 
(gnod Urcefiy). nctioiii SM-S88 (eihntieD and robbdy), aectioa SOS {d- 
fesaea aguuat property), the court caD decide to lay bdon tlie jmy tbe 
quesUon whether, in view of tbe natoie of the Crimea, tbeir motiTea, or the 
attitude of mind that tfaey indicate in the owunal, he ia to be i^arded aa 
particularly dangeroiu to society or to tbe life, health, or ptotptaity of itt- 
diTidualt. If thii quealiMi be affirmed, judgment can be ^ren that the 
GOQvkt ia to be detained in priaoo aa long aa it is oonBdered neccMSfy. the 
term, however, not to exceed three times the fixed poialtf , and in no tue 
to exceed fifteen yean more than the fixed term." 

> Ftrri, loe. eii. p. 489. 



3,a,l,zt!dbvG00gIf 



§ 291 CONCLUSION 321 

towards the criminal that it does not even stop at the most 
difficult step, his pennanent rranoval from sode^, when 
necessary. 

The indeterminate sentence, and particularly the imprison- 
ment for life, of a criminal whose offenses are comparatively 
harmless, have been decried as senseless crtiel^, and the 
mercy shown to the occasional criminal as pure sentimentality 
— in both cases entirely without justification. Why should 
a person be made to feel the wdght of a penalty when a warn- 
ing suffices for him, why pimish a man who is ready to make 
good the injury he has done to on individual or sode^. why 
imprison a person who is deeply and truly remorseful? 

And, on the other hand, is not the peaceful citizen entitled 
to protection and securi^? 

The means hitherto employed in combating criminally 
have proved to be ineffective. Hence, no one can be blind 
to the necessity for tar-reaching reforms except tho^ who 
cting narrow-mindedly to the antiquated and admittedly in- 
adequate methods that have proved unsuccessful. The 
facta shown by impartial criminal statistics cannot be denied. 
The system of criminal law that has been forced and squeezed 
into sections must also bow to the advance of ^scienc e. We 
cannot hope that the new life which we hope to breathe 
into the rigid and benumbed forms will immediately lead to a 
sudden and complete reformation, but we may and do expect 
that its gradual growth will produce better fruit. 

Socie^ is rraponsible to the criminal, because some of the 
causes of crime are inherent in it; it cannot escape the du^ 
of tracing out these causes, and eradicating them where that 
is posfflble. The criminal however is responsible to sodety, 
because he lives in it and because his criminal activity in- 
jures its primary conditions of life. Hence he must submit 
to sodely's oppoung him with all the means in its power. 

I ,.,,:-C00glf 



322 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CBIME [§ 29 

We have reached the point where the i^quuroitty firm 
foundfttious of crimiiial law appear to qoake, where « new 
structure is to be erected, the stones of whidt have not ytt 
beoa tried, a part of the material of whit^ has stfll to be fomuL 
But tluB cannot now or ever be done in the study, nor by Dwans 
of theoreticBl abstractions. Only dispassionate ccmaidoatkHi 
that views impartially the phenomena whidi we call crimea, 
■niaA observes first and then concludes, — in a vtad, oniy the 
natural scientific method, — can smooth the way that leads 
to a knowledge of crime and of criminals. Not nntO then wiD 
a sure f oimdatiiHi be laid for the i»OQd slnwtur e of l^al 
aecuri^. 



^laiiizodbvGoogle 



INDEX 



^laiiizodbvGoogle 



^laiiizodbvGoogle 



INDEX 



[BxrassHaca abd to Paoh] 



Abolition of prostituta, 98, 09. 

AbortioiL cnminal, 9, 31, 63, 158. 

Acquittals, 8. 

AdultenUon of food, S5. 

Age and eriminality, 139-157. 

Agricultund Ufaofen, 118, 147. 

AS»a^l33. 

Alcohol, 44, 45, 46, 69, 1 19, 22S-230. 

AnonudW, 125, 171-178, 198-201. 

Apoplecy, 126. 

Aimy and navy, criminality in, 84. 

Anon, 64, 146. 

Artcna,127. 

Aschrott, 284. 

Anault and battery, 27, 32, 43, 44, 

45, S6, 63, 66, 77, 78, 8S-8S, 105, 

119, 144, 149, 159, 225. 
Atavism, 198, 109. 
AuBUia, 32, 33, 34, 39, 57, 100. 



Baden, 76. 

Baer, 72, 73, 74, 175, 176, 178, 179, 

193,200. 
Bankruptcy, 63, 65, 117, 118. 
Baumg&rten, 93. 
Bavana,34. 
Bebel, 92, 94, 118. 
Beer, consumption of, 119. 
L 162, 247. 



B«rg, Hennami, 113, 116. 

B^Cn, 34, 128, 191. 

Beurle, 39. SO. 

Birkmeyer, 254, 255, 256. 

Births, distribution, by months, 20, 
26. 
ill^tunate, according to re- 
ligion, 56, 67; and home train- 
ins, 130, 131; frequency, in 
- H of Europe, 33, 34. 



Bischoff, 173. 

Blascbko, »4. 

Bleuler, 126, 301. 

Bodio, 31. 

Bonhaffer, 70, 73, 95, 191. 

Borderland states, 107. 

Bom erimin&l, 6, 169, 170, 198- 

201,206. 
Boonia and Hen^ovina, 34. 
Boston, 289. 
Boumeville, 70. 
Brain and fdcull, 173-177. 
Breach of the peace, 27, 149, 166. 
Brothels, 96-100. 
Building trades, 147. 



Cadets, 06, 07. 

Capital punishment, 265-367. 
Castration, 233. 
Catholics, 52, 64, 5S-61. 
Causes of crime, 3, 5, U, 12. 

individual, 15, 123-213. 

social, 15-122. 
Character, 244, 245. 
Characteristics of the criminal, 
mental, 178-186. 

phyncal, 168-178. 



of poor parents, 233. 

see Juv^tilee. 
Cholera, 227. 
Christians, 52-61. 
Church, 239. 

City and country, crime in, 61-60. 
Civil ri^tA, loss of, 270. 
CUuBification of criminals, 108-213. 
Cocaine, 90. 
Coercion and threats, 27. 



.OOglf 



326 IN 

Oonoots, 230. 

CosditkMwl pudoo, 200, 314, 31& 
Conditioiud leteaae, 203-297. 
Conditiinisl sentetioe, 287-292. 
Conf e«ii», 56, 60. 
ConfinoDcnt ■ymptoms, 103. 

' * L^. 



Convict's insuuty, 1! 

Coftttibagai, 75. 

Ctopond punirimMOt, 26&-270. 

Corrt,6. 

Con«ctiTe-«dac»tian Uw, 151. 

GonioA, 37, 38. 

Coot of Uynw, 10 

Country anddtj;. 

Court offioen, criine among, 67. 

Crime, uainst duatity, S5, 147, 
166, 153; natural Uw», 17; 
poBon, 7, 10, 11: proputy, 
7, 10, !1, 17, 28, 63, 81, 147, 
224. 
among itudaits, 54, 60, 30-82. 
M aSected by aloohol, 60-88; 
day Of the week, 76-80; 
economic and social condi- 
tions, 101-123; ctber, 88; 
Eiunbling and auperstition, 
101, 102; national eustoma, 
6»~88; occupation, 64-69; 
<4>ium, morphine, and co- 
caine, 80, 00; I'ace and re- 
ligion, 30-61 ] amson, 16-30; 
summer festivities, 28; tea 
and coffee, 88; tobacco, 88. 
causes <A, 3, S, II, 12; individ- 
ual, 15, 123-213; social, 15- 
122. 
circumstances of, 3-6. 
differences in prosecution of, 31 . 
^ihiool distribution of. 



in dty and oountiy, 61-40. 



occupational, 212. 
prevention of, 227-241. 
paycholoKy of, 3, 5, 10-12. 
punishable taa Doa-punisb> 

^le, 1, 2. 
sexual, II, 16-21,24-26. 
BtruKle asainst, 214-322. 
lines, dimCuitiefl in * * 



Ctiminal — Cont. 

i^i«nce,207. 

dkaracteiBtios, mental, ITO- 
186; physical, 168-17S. 

deliberate, 207, 209. 

habitual, 207, 211, 212, 21>, 
222. 

mental diseases, 186-198. 

motsentaiy, 206, 200. 

of opportunity, 207, 208. 

of passion, 207, 208. 

professiona], 307, 211, 212, 219. 

psychology, ISO. 

recidivist, 207, 210, 215-232. 
C^inunal aboititm, 0, 31. 



maanej^l8l 
initalulity 



of the piLMJBl, 



r, 3, 6, 10-12. 
lity, 139, I4a 
. see Statistica. 
CrimmBlity, and age, 139-157; 
domestic status, 162-168; 
education. 131-138; environ* 
ment, 133-136; hoedity, 
124-131; profMsioo, K-tO; 
■ex, 153-1^. 
in Corsica, 37, 38; Sardinia, 38. 
Criminals, association of^with be- 



dassificatioiL lOt 

injuiy doae Dy, a 
Crmi, 54. 
(iudty, 146. 
Customs and Bmuggling, 239. 



EMense, 246-248. 
De Fle«uy, 266. 

DegenvaUon, 124, 12S, 129 171, 
172, 177, 198, MO. 



Denmai^ 34, 209. 
DeportAtion, 267. 
D^iiivstion (A hlxTty, 276. 
Deterrmce. 251, 260-287. 
Diem, 128. 

Disease, and heredity, 124-13L 
mental, 186-198. 



Distilleries, 2S 
Di Vercfc For 
Divorced, criminality of, 1S7, 168. 



Ptnnasari, 107. 



DTOwning, 23. 

Dmokeimaa, 69-88, 124, 12B, 228- 

2TO,317. 
Du Chatetet, Parent, 91. 
DueUng, 64. 
DutUuim, 22. 
Du SauUe, Le^vnd, 316. 
DwellingB, hygieoio, 231. 



Ecclesiastics, crime BmoDK, 67. 
EeotKiiniG »nd BOci»i conditians and 

crime, 101-122. 
Eduostion, compulaorj^, 234, 247. 
' " e on oriminality, 131- 



mMe, 120, 
Educational institutions, 234-236. 
Ellis, Havelock, 24, 185. 
Embeulemmt, 110, 117, 160, ISO, 

160,225. 
Engel, 136. 

England, 33, 142, 288, 289, 319. 
Environment, 133-135, 201. 
EpDepsy and niileptice, 128, 129, 

14$ 188, 197, 199. 
Ether and crime, 88. 
Erangelical Christians, see Prot- 

Evile3^'l01. 
Executions, capital, 266. 
Expiation, 246, 251-259. 
Ezt«nuatmg circumstances, 316. 



Pake accusations, 160. 

Family disposition, 125. 

Fe^le-minded, the, 186-108. 

Ferrero, 92. 

Ferri, 16, 206, 228, 236, 246, 247, 
2^, 266, 286. 

Ferriani. 133, 135. 

Fertig, Mr., 77. 

Feuerbach, Ansehn, 2S2. 

Fines, 274. 

Fingn, Mr., 266. 

Fixed terms 6t punishmrat, aboli- 
tion lA, 2B7-30B. 



Flogging, 21 
F6I36B, 44. 



Ffildea, 44. 

Polk-customs, 61, 69. 

ForotiT woric, 147, 274, 275. 

Forgery, 66. 

France, 62, 108, 109, 119, 136. 

Frank, 305. 



Pteud, 28, 43, 48, 86, 63, «7, ll^ 

117, ISO, ia», 160. 
Free detwroinatioa of will, 86. 
Free will, 241-2S0. 



Gall, 168. 
Gambling, 100. 
Garofalo. 32, 123. 
Gaupp, 36, 169. 



75. 



Gaupi 

Geill, lu. 

GenUemen swindlen, 213. 

Geographical distribution of crime, 
30-61. 

Gettnany, 17-20, 29, 32, 38, 34, 40- 
61, 62, 103, 110, 111, 119, 130i 
137, 141, 220, 224, 266, 290. 

GettatUTK, 101. 

Geyer, 2. 

Gift for work, 237. 

GrosB, Hans, 26, 51, 101. 276. 

Guardianship, low of ri^t oi, 270. 

Guillaume, 130, 131. 

Guilt, subjective and objeettre, 263. 



Hamburg, 227. 

HanHmMTin j 173. 

Handwriting, 1(^. 

Hanover, 31. 

Hartmann, 120. 

Heim, 80. 

Heimberger, 264, 265. 

Het«dity, 125-131. 

Herz, 39, 50, 117. 

Hippel, 274. 

Hirach, 92. 

Hinchberg, 110. 

Hoche, 249. 

HolUnd, 33. 

Home, influence of, 129, 139, 289. 

Homicide, 31. 32. 

House arrest, 275. 

Hysteria, 128, 197. 

I 

init«n>t«B, 137. 
Imprisonment, defects, 28S. 

ineffectual, 258, 261, 274. 

penitentiary, 276 

ritort, 286. 

simple, 276. 

with supervision, 276. 
Incorrigiblee, 202, 203, 212, 373, 
302,304,306. 



. ,l,z<,i:,.,G00^lf 



Indecent uaaults, 225. 
iDdMnaifiomtion, 286, 287 
Indetmninftte aeaUnoe, 

317, 318, 321. 
Individtul oauaea of crime, 15, 123- 

213. 
Induatrial taodHiom, dkplaoacamt 

(rf, 147. 
IndJiiatos, deMseodanta <rf, fl&-72. 

■ee Dninkeainen. 
Infanticide, 26, 27, 63. 
Innnitr, 124, 126, 129, 248. 
among criminak, 186-198. 
moral, 203. 

■ 1, 195, 198. 



Int^niational Union <rf CrimiiuJ 
Law, 206, 200, 212. 308, 313, 314. 
Intoxication, aee Drunkecmeoa 
Iidand, 142. 
Iririi penal ijvUm, 284. 

Ipmmnwuihility ne HMmmunhility. 

Italy, 3S^ 34, 61. 100-lOS. 



JoW, 37. 
Judges, 3 



Juke family, 127. 
JuTcnilM, 140, 216-219, 225, 276, 
310^14. 



EiTD, 179, 200. 

Klein, 302. 

Kluee,235. 

Knecht, 176, 193. 

KohliwiBch, 235. 

KoUer, 126. 

Eraepelin, 84, 171, 257, 318. 

Kraiue, 205. 

Erohne, 189, 194, 204, 238, 250, 

25S, 270, 282, 307, 308, 309. 
Euppelei, 97. 
Eurella, 39, 107, 127, 170, 175. 



Labor, see Work. 



LafaiEue, 110, 117, 118, 119. 

Ung.Otto, 76. 

Larceny, see Uteft. 

I^vaUs-, 168. 

Law, and popular jo^ment, 252. 

o(XTectivfr«ducatMxi, 151. 

criminal, 3-5- 

LoffdTDay, 52, 80. 
LawyoB, cnme ""«& 67. 
LegiaUtion, incomparability ef, 31. 
Legoyt,31. 
Legriun, 70. 
Leppmann, Friti, 191. 
Uee.fliaiesM, lot. 
Leraneur, 136. 
Lewin, 9, 10, 158. 
Lioenses, bar, 2 
' itnbraao, f ' 
168-170, 1 
206. 
Lonord, 195. 
LMd'a Day Uw, 52, 80. 
I4>tteriee, 100. 

101. 



U 

Malicious miachief, 10, 11, 28, 14i 

l*a, 159. 
Mark of degeneration, 172, 177. 
Marriage and crime, 162-168. 
Masturbaticm, 283. 
MattoidB, 206. 
May, Mu, 109. 

Me^Ol, characieristica of tiie crimi- 
nal, 178-186. 

Kg cisninals, i8S- 



Metalii 

Meyw, Albot, 110. 

Mingaksini. 174. 

Mjnug, 14S. 

Minor cfftaen, 4, 9. 

Minon, Bee Jurenilee. 

Mitigation ct nuaery, 232. 

Mohr, 249. 

Monaco, 34. 

MAnkKundUet, 128, 129, 132. 

Montdortinoe, tke, 127. 

Moral insanity, 203- 

Morphine, 89: 

Momelli, 22, 34. 

Motivea, peyohologieal, of erime, i 

5, 11, 12. 
MQller, Hdmikh, 106, 107, 113. 
Municipal woii, 274, 275. 
MysUcun, 146. 



N 

Naecke, 171, 177, 190. 
Nationiil customs and crime, I 
New^M^ierB, 239-241. 
Niceforo, 38. 
Norway, 319, 320. 



Obscene acts, 19. 

Occupation and crime, 64-69, 147, 

Offenbatdier, Martin, 60. 
Olnk, 206, 208. 
Opium, 88. 



Palatinate, the, 45. 

PamdeieTB, 90, 97. 

Parentage aod trtuning, 124-135. 

I^nmtaT authority, loss of ri^t to 

exercise, 270. 
Parole, 293-297. 
Partially respouBible pereons, 314- 

317. 
Penal Bubetitutes, 228. 
Penalties, existing, ineffectual, 222. 
Penitentiary imfwiaonment, 276. 
Pennqylvanisn system, 282. 
Perjury, 66. ' 

Person, crimes agmnst, 7, 10, 11. 
Physical characteristics ca the orim- 

mal, 168-178. 
Physicians, crime among, 67. 
PlOtsensee, 74. 
Police, 238. 

Police Burreillanoe, 271, 272. 
Porerty, 163. 
Prem, the, 239-241. 
Prevention of crime, 227-241, 251, 

280-267. 
Prices and crime, 106-119. 
Prinsing, 163-167. 



umg, 163- 
wnoeliriui 



Probatiop, 288-292. 
ProcreatioD, prevention erf, 232, 233. 
Procurers, 104, 15* 
Procuring for ttrostituticm, 158. 
Profession and oriniinality, 66-69, 

118. 
Property, crimes agsdnst, 7, 1(^ 11, 

17, 26, 63, 81. 117,224. 
Prostitution, and prostitutes, 90- 
99, 161, 162, 247. 
inducing to, 11. 



Protective detmtion, 310. 
ProtectoTB, 97. 
Protestants, 62, 54, 58-61. 
Provident eocieties, 271. 
Prussia, 31, 56, 130, 131. 
Psychoeeneeis of crune, 5. 
Psychology, of crime, 3, 5, 10-12. 

of masses, 121. 122. 

<rf the miininal, 180. 
PubUoJiouss, 144, 148, 164, 165, 

167. 
Punishable and non-puQishable 

crimes, 1, 2. 
Punishment, abolition of fixed 
terms, 297-300. 

capital, 265-267. 

corporal 268-270. 

essential condition of, 1, 



origin, 246, 247. 
purpose, 250-266. 
threatened but not eieouted. 



Rmu, 134. 
Reaction, false, 85, 

premature, 86. 

to stimuli, 244-246. 
Beading rooma, 230. 
Recall, 297, 303, 304. 
Recdving stolen goods, 116, 160. 
Recidivism and recidivists, 207, 
210, 214-222, 263, 268, 292, 203, 



Rel^ae, see Recidivism. 

Released convicts, core of, 236-^238. 

Religion, influence on crime, 35, 36, 

51-61. 
Reprimand, 276. 
ReeiBtanoe to officers, 27, 43, 46, QS» 

149. / 

Responsibility, criminal, 139-142, 

14^ 180, 191, 197, 241-2S0. 
Restaurants, 23a 
Retribution, 246, 251-269. 
Retttch,83. 

Revenge, 246, 251, 252. 
Rodat,89. 
Rttdin, 192, 1^. 



_ ,l,z<»i:,.,G00gIf 



ItyUn, 67. 

e 

8uk«, 3ia 311. 



Sehevot, 190; 
Bohmidt, 2S1, 2B3, 360. 
School, 139, 3397241. 
ScAapnliMiflr, 342. 
SclirOUr, 77. ' 
8ofauat«r, Enmt, 142. 
Sohmiuhia', 29S. 
SeaMn aitd crime, 15-30. 



iffeit,!! 
[,1»-16 



Senud eriioea, 11, 1»-31, 34-2e, 



145, !■ 
SexiMld 



oeaomc 
ilitj, flu 



of, 154. 



Scxiul escitabiliij, fluctuot 

lft-21, 24-26. 
Sichort, 126, 129, 29S. 
Sighde, 12t, 122, 127. 
Simulation of inBUiitj, 19S, 196. 
EScull and bnun, 173-177. 
Slang, thieW, 183, 186. 



Sodai and eotmoraic oondHiooB snd 
crime, 101-122. 

Social CMuea <A crime, 15-132. 

Softening of the bnin, 197. 

Sotitarv confinemfBt, 192, 193, 
282,283. 

Sommer, 179, 200. 306. 

Spain, 34. 

Spirite, consumption of, 119. 

Bpunheim, 168. 

^tietiee, criminal, 3, 4, 7-13, 17, 
30-36, 39-44, 61, 62, 65, 58, 59, 
61, 64, 68, 78, 80, 82, 96, 106, 
113, 116, 132, 137, 143, 1^ 151, 
157, 163, 186, 202, 211, 212, 210, 
220, 223, 260, 262, 286, 281, 300. 

Stieda,172. 

StwDBta, 126, 171, in, 199, 300, 

Stiot,'278, 279. 
Strikes, 120-122. 
StrOhmbere, 92, 03. 
Students, 54, 80, SO-82. 
Stumme, 185. 



Suicide, 21-24, 34, 35, 3«. 
Sundajr rest, 80. 
Supentition, 100-103. 
Suapended aa)t«De^ 387-302, 814. 



l^nxnrakaja, 92. 
Tatooittf, 183-186. 



Teaehen, erime aiDoog; 67. 
Temperatun, and oUm moKB, 37. 

andsukade, 21-24. 
TeDentent honaee, 167. 
Theft, 28, 30, 32, 43, 46-48, 57, 07, 

lOS, 106, 110, 113-115. 143 144, 

149-151. 159, 219. 
Thieves' aUng, 183, 185. 
Tippel,234. 
ToMoco and crisMi, 88. 
Tnining and parentage, 134-135. 
Tnunpe, 162, 211, 247 
TnunBtan,49. 



UBUI7, 52, 63, 65, 97. 



Vendetta, 37. 

Vei^real dieeaaea, 91. 

Vincnn«,20. 

Von HoHsNtdorff, 3GL 

Von Jagemana, 275. 

Von Krohne, 4. 

Von TiMidmwnn, 242- 

Von LmA, 3, i. 10, 140, 151, 208. 

312. 
Von M^T, 16, 34, 106, 113. 
Von Oetlinc«a> 51, 162. 
Von Rohdeu, 48, 114. 
Von Scfaed, 68. 
Von Weinnch, 254. 



Wach, 214, 226, 256. 

Weloker, 173. 

Widowed, eriounatitj of, 167, ISS. 

Win, 241-260. 

Witchea, penecution of, 102. 

W1anak,44. 

Worit, by the day, 279. 

frawttT aad mmuobal, 374, 
275. 

lot leleaaed iniaoiun, 337. 



WoA — Cont 
pemal, 275. 
ptiaon and pcnitflntiaiy, 276- 



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