_CRIMINALOIDS_
We have seen how, owing to disease, alcoholism and epilepsy, physically
and psychically degenerate individuals make their appearance in a
community of normal persons. But a large proportion of the crimes
committed cannot be attributed to lunatics, epileptics, or the morally
insane, nor do all criminals show that aggregate of atavistic and morbid
characters,--the cruelty and bestial insensibility of the savage, the
impulsiveness of the epileptic, the licentiousness, delusions, and
impetuosity of the madman,--which we find united in the born criminal.
According to statistics obtained by my father, the share contributed to
the sum total of criminality by this latter type is only 33%, which
appears to be a magic figure for the criminal, since it corresponds to
the percentage of the histological anomaly discovered by Roncoroni and
to that of all important anomalies, including those of the field of
vision. But besides this percentage of born criminals, doomed even
before birth to a career of crime, whom all educational efforts fail to
redeem and who therefore should be segregated at once; besides the
epileptic, hysterical, and inebriate lunatics and those insane from
alcoholisation, of whom we have already spoken, there remain a number of
criminals, amounting to a full half, in whom the virus is, so to speak,
attenuated, who, although they are epileptoids, suffer from a milder
form of the disease, so that without some adequate cause (_causa
criminis_) criminality is not manifested. The inhibitory centres are
somewhat obtuse, but not altogether absent, so that a healthy
environment, careful training, habits of industry, the inculcation of
moral and humane sentiments may prevent these individuals from yielding
to dishonest impulses, provided always that no special temptation to sin
comes in their path.
We have said that education is not sufficient to convert a criminal into
an honest man. Conversely, trials and difficulties and the want of
education are powerless to make a criminal of an honest individual.
Hypnotism, the most powerful means of suggestion possible, cannot induce
a good man to commit a crime during the hypnotic sleep, but vicious
training has an enormous influence on weak natures, who are candidates
for good or evil according to circumstances. Such individuals were
classified by my father as _criminaloids_.
_Physical Characteristics._ Criminaloids have no special skeletal,
anatomical, or functional peculiarities. As the criminaloid represents a
milder type of the born criminal, he may possess the same physical
defects in the skull, hair, beard, ears, eyes, teeth, lips, joints,
hands, and feet, as well as all the sensory anomalies, lessened
sensibility to touch and pain, hyper-sensibility to the magnet and
barometrical variations, etc.; but all these anomalies are never found
in the same proportion as in born criminals; that is, criminaloids never
manifest the aggregate of physical and psychic peculiarities which
distinguish born criminals and the morally insane. On the other hand, we
find in criminaloids certain characteristics, such as premature greyness
and baldness, etc., which are never exhibited by the born criminal. The
real distinction between the criminaloid and the born criminal is
psychological rather than physical.
_Psychological Characteristics._ The difference between born criminals
and criminaloids becomes apparent directly on considering the age at
which the latter enter on their anti-social career and the motives which
cause them to adopt it. While the born criminal begins to perpetrate
crimes from the very cradle, so to speak, and always for very trivial
motives, the criminaloid commits his initial offence later in life and
always for some adequate reason.
A criminal of this attenuated type, a certain Salvador, without cranial
or facial anomalies, had led an honest life for many years, but on
returning home after a prolonged absence on business, he found his house
ransacked by his wife, who had deserted him. From that time he seems to
have deliberately adopted a career of dishonesty, as the leader of a
band of thieves.
In another case, an engraver who showed no pathological anomalies,
except excessive frontal sinuses, was ordered by a society to strike a
medal for them. This happened to be exactly similar to a coin current in
his country and the coincidence incited him to the making of counterfeit
coin.
But the most characteristic case, which aroused much interest in its
time, is that of Olivo. He was a man of handsome appearance, with normal
olfactory acuteness and sensibility to touch and pain. He had, however,
inherited from neurotic and insane forebears secondary epileptic
phenomena, which subsequently developed into convulsive epilepsy, and
certain indications of degeneracy (facial and cranial asymmetry,
abnormal capillary vortices and length of arm, scotoma in the field of
vision and exaggerated tendinous reflex action). Up to the age of
thirty he led an irreproachable life; in fact, he was scrupulous to
excess, and this, coupled with pronounced conceit and stinginess, was
his only fault. He married a woman of common origin, who was not really
depraved, but she was coarse and unfaithful, and, worst of all in his
eyes, unscrupulous and wasteful. These defects, and her habits of lying
and trickery embittered the poor man's existence. One night, feeling
very ill, probably owing to an approaching seizure, he appealed to his
wife for assistance and received an unfeeling reply, whereupon he sprang
out of bed, picked up a knife and stabbed her. Afterwards he fell into a
deep sleep. In order to obliterate all traces of the crime, he cut the
corpse into small pieces, packed it into a portmanteau and threw it into
the sea. Two months later, when he was arrested, he immediately made a
full confession, showing deep repentance and sincere attachment to his
victim, whose merits he celebrated in a poem of his own composition. At
the trial, he made no attempt to defend himself; during the hearing of
evidence, which appeared greatly to agitate him, he was seized with an
epileptic fit. He was absolved by the jury and returned to his former
peaceful occupation of bookkeeper, nor did he again come into conflict
with the law.
_Reluctance to Commit Crimes._ Another trait characteristic of
criminaloids is the hesitation they show before committing a crime,
especially the first time, when it is not done, as in the above
mentioned case, during an epileptic seizure.
Feuerbach's fine collection contains a description of the brothers
Kleinroth, whose father cruelly ill-treated and starved his wife and
family while lavishing his money on low women and their bastards. The
sons were unwilling to run away and leave the invalid mother to bear the
brunt of her husband's fury, and while they were in this terrible
situation, a certain individual offered to assassinate their tormentor.
After great hesitation this offer was accepted; when arrested, the
youths immediately confessed their complicity and manifested deep
repentance.
_Confession._ The criminaloid is easily induced to confess his misdeed.
A certain C... on returning from abroad, found his former mistress
married to his father. The pair resumed their liaison, but after a time,
fearing a scandal, the woman threatened to drown herself unless her
lover could find some means of adjusting matters on a satisfactory
basis. C..., who disliked his father, poisoned him and disappeared with
the widow taking with him a few valuables belonging to his father. A
year later, the woman having died meanwhile, he returned home and made
full confession, first to his sister and subsequently in court.
_Moral Sense--Intelligence._ In the place of a weak, clouded, or
unbalanced mind and that cynicism and absence of moral sense and natural
feelings which distinguish born criminals of the most elevated type and
even geniuses, criminaloids generally possess lucidity and balance of
mind and may show themselves worthy of guiding the destinies of a
nation. The men implicated in the French Panama Scandal and the case of
the Banca Romana (Bank of Rome) are instances. When under a cloud of
disgrace, instead of that insensibility, cynicism, or levity common to
true criminals, they show deep sorrow, shame, and remorse, which not
infrequently result in serious illness or death. Their natural
affections and other sentiments are normal.
It is notorious, too, that as soon as accusations were made against
those implicated in the French Panama Scandal and the affair of the Bank
of Rome, the greater number became ill and two died suddenly at the end
of the trial.
Unlike born criminals, criminaloids manifest deep repugnance towards
common offenders. They demand solitary confinement and forego exercise,
the only recreation prison life affords, in order to avoid all contact
with their fellow-prisoners.
_Social Position and Culture of the Criminaloid._ Criminaloids, as we
have seen, are recruited from all ranks of society and strike every note
in the scale of criminality, from petty larceny to complicated and
premeditated murder, from minting spurious coins to compassing gigantic
frauds, which inflict incalculable damage upon the community. The
magnitude of a crime does not imply greater criminality on the part of
its author, but rather that he is a man of brilliant endowments, whose
culture and talents multiply his opportunities and means for evil. In
all cases where opportunity plays an important part, the crime must
necessarily be committed by individuals exposed to special temptations:
cashiers who handle other people's money, which they may be tempted to
spend with the illusory idea of being able later to replace what they
have taken, officials and public men, who possess a certain amount of
power and an apparent impunity, and bankers who are entrusted with
wealth belonging to others, of which in that capacity they are
accustomed to make use. Thus is explained why men of great talent and
only slight criminal tendencies have taken part in gigantic frauds, such
as the affairs of the Bank of Rome and the French Panama Canal.
A characteristic case is that of Lord S----, First Lord of the Treasury,
who committed forgeries to the extent of half a million sterling. "No
torture," he writes, "would be an adequate punishment for my crime. Step
by step, I have become the author of innumerable misdeeds and ruined
more than ten thousand families. With less talent and greater
uprightness, I might be now what I once was, an honest man. Now remorse
is in vain."
In Lord S---- we find united all the characteristics of the criminaloid:
repentance, the desire to confess, irreproachable antecedents, a strong
incentive to dishonesty, and great intelligence.
Although the damage inflicted on society by this man was probably far
greater than any evil wrought by a vulgar born criminal could have been,
his criminality is nevertheless of an attenuated type. The mischief he
wrought owed its gravity, not to the intensity of his criminal
tendencies, but to his remarkable talents, which increased his power for
evil as for good.
In this category of criminals must be inscribed those clever swindlers,
who set the whole world talking of their exploits: Madame Humbert,
Lemoine, and the cobbler-captain of Koepenick.
Sometimes, especially in political or commercial criminals, we find
cases of an auto-illusion, of which the author of the crime is as much
a victim as the public. Sometimes it is some device or mechanism which
an inventor is convinced he has invented or is about to invent, an
enterprise, in which the promoter imagines he will gain enormous wealth.
Sometimes it is a trick in which the cupidity of the victims and their
readiness to swallow promises of large and immediate profits play as
important a part as the ability of the swindler. Sometimes it is a
gigantic hoax, in which the deviser himself becomes keenly interested
and for the carrying out of which he spends as much talent and energy as
would suffice, if employed honestly, to acquire considerable wealth; but
the swindler delights in his ingenious fraud as though he were taking
part in some thrilling drama.
A typical instance is that of a certain C... who was imprisoned about
twenty years ago for defrauding a woman. My father undertook to cure him
while in prison and was able to follow him in his subsequent career.
This C... was a young man of good family, intelligent, honest, and a
good linguist. His countenance was pleasing and bore no trace of
precocious criminality. At the age of twenty he developed an
unrestrained love of gambling and in order to indulge this vice,
promised to marry a rich woman considerably older than himself, from
whom he borrowed large sums, on the understanding that they should be
paid back. However, shortly afterwards, he fell in love with a young
girl and married her. His ex-fiancee brought legal action against him
and he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. During this time he
shrank from seeing anybody and refused to exercise in order to avoid all
contact with his fellow-prisoners. He showed great affection for his
wife and declared his intention of turning over a new leaf. The offence
he had committed, however seemed to cause him little or no regret,
because, as he said, he would never have continued the deception had not
his victim shown such willingness to be gulled. From prison he went to
London, where lack of funds caused him to perpetrate another swindle,
but this time he was able to escape to Naples. Here for twelve years, he
worked honestly in a large hotel, but once again a pressing need of
money made him engage in a third fraud of considerable importance, for
which he is still undergoing imprisonment.
HABITUAL CRIMINALS
The degrading influence of prison life and contact with vulgar
criminals, or the abuse of alcohol, to which better natures frequently
have recourse in order to stifle the pangs of conscience, may cause
criminaloids who have committed their initial offences with repugnance
and hesitation, to develop later into habitual criminals,--that is,
individuals who regard systematic violation of the law in the light of
an ordinary trade or occupation and commit their offences with
indifference.
Physically, habitual criminals do not resemble born criminals, but they
exhibit some of the characteristics of those offenders from whom their
ranks are recruited, besides, in a more marked degree, certain acquired
characters, like sinister wrinkles and a shifty and sneaking look.
Psychologically, criminaloids tend to resemble born criminals, whose
habits, tastes, slang, tattooing, orgies, idleness, etc., they gradually
develop, in the same way as old couples, living isolated in the country,
adopt identical habits, gestures, and tone of voice.
The type of criminaloid, who develops into an habitual criminal is well
illustrated by the case of Eyraud, who in conjunction with Gabrielle
Bompard, murdered Gouffre and packed the corpse in a trunk. Through his
marked weakness for women, Eyraud became successively a deserter, a
thief, and a murderer. He certainly possessed a few of the
characteristics peculiar to degenerates--long, projecting ears,
excessive development, amounting to asymmetry, of the left frontal
sinus, prognathism, exaggerated brachycephaly, and the span of the arms
exceeding the total height, but he had not the general criminal type,
his teeth were regular, beard abundant, and hair scanty.
His psychology corresponds exactly to his physical individuality. During
infancy and youth, he showed nothing abnormal, except an unusual
predominance of the sexual instincts. He exhibited no signs of that love
of evil for its own sake, so characteristic of criminals, above all, of
murderers. According to all accounts, he was a jovial individual, fond
of making merry, but at the same time, brusque and violent and easily
roused to passionate fury. His extreme susceptibility to the attractions
of the opposite sex made him regardless of all moral considerations. In
order to gratify this weakness, he became a deserter, dissipated all the
money he had earned in a distillery and as a dealer in skins, and
finally committed murder. At his trial, it was shown that before his
escape to America, he had attempted to kill a woman who refused to leave
her husband for him. He became violently enamoured of his accomplice,
Gabrielle Bompard, to whom, like many criminaloids, he was attracted by
reason of her greater depravity.
The extreme levity displayed by Eyraud seems to be the strongest link
between him and the born criminal. He passed with extraordinary
facility from gaiety to melancholy. His intellect was well developed,
he spoke three or four languages, and was successful in most things he
undertook, though he seems to have been incapable of remaining constant
to anything for long. As a business man he wasted his capital, and even
in the execution of his crimes he showed frivolity and incoherence. At
Lyons, he hired a carriage, in which he placed the corpse of Gouffre and
after driving about the streets with Gabrielle Bompard like a madman,
left the body of his victim in a spot near which people were constantly
passing.
Eyraud appears to have been a dissolute criminaloid whose unbridled
passions and connection with Gabrielle Bompard caused him to develop
into an habitual criminal. This diagnosis is confirmed by the absence of
morbid heredity.
It would be futile to cite a long series of cases, in which, although
the details may vary, we always find the same phenomenon, the gradual
development of a criminaloid into a criminal. It will suffice to name a
large class of criminals, in whom this phenomenon may often be
observed--the brigands common to Spain and Italy.
These outlaws, and particularly their leaders, notwithstanding the
gravity of their offences, are seldom born criminals, nor do they
(except in rare cases) begin their career at a very early age. They
possess, moreover, good qualities[3] and are capable of affection,
generosity, and chivalry, which explains why their memories are
cherished by the common people long after good and law-abiding men have
been forgotten.
The brigand Mandrin, known as the "Smuggler General" is remembered with
love and affection in Dauphine and other regions of France, Switzerland,
and Savoy; and this feeling is easy to understand, since he was the
enemy of the "fermiers generaux," who, in the eighteenth century, leased
from the French Government the right to levy excise duties, and sorely
oppressed the people.
Louis Mandrin, who in early life showed no signs of perversity nor
possessed criminal traits, became a bandit, because he had been unjustly
treated by these same "fermiers generaux" who refused him payment for
work done. He became the chief of a small band of smugglers and spread
terror among excise officers and gendarmes. He used to bring smuggled
goods openly into the vicinity of villages and towns and invite the
people to buy them, and the buying and selling went on without either
gendarmes' or excise officers' daring to interfere. The Administration
of the "fermiers generaux" promulgated a terrible edict against all
purchasers of contraband goods; whereupon Mandrin, who was not without a
sense of humour, declared he would force the Administration itself to
buy the merchandise, and from time to time he would oblige the excise
officers to buy smuggled wares at a fair price.
=FIG. 18
CRIMINAL GIRL=
=FIG. 19
THE BRIGAND SALOMONE=
The brigand Gasparone (Fig. 20), whose memory is still held in great
esteem by Sicilians, was an individual of much the same disposition.
JURIDICAL CRIMINALS
This category comprises individuals who break the law, not because of
any natural depravity, nor owing to distressing circumstances, but by
mere accident. They may be divided into two classes:
First, the authors of accidental misdeeds, such as involuntary homicide
or arson, who are not considered criminal by public opinion or by
anthropologists, but who are obliged by the law to make compensation for
the damage caused. Naturally, this class of law-breaker is in no way
distinguishable, physically or psychically, from normal individuals,
except that he is generally lacking in prudence, care, and forethought.
Second, the authors of offences, which do not cause any damage socially,
nor are they considered criminal by the general public, but have been
deemed such by the law, in obedience to some dominating opinion or
prejudice. Bad language, seditious writings, atheism, drunkenness,
evasion of customs, and any violation of petty by-laws come under this
head. Instances of such offences are too well known to need citation.
They may best be summed up in the words of an American judge, who
pointed out how easy it would be to sentence the most honest citizen of
the Republic to imprisonment for a hundred years and fines exceeding a
thousand dollars for breaking a number of petty local regulations
against spitting, drinking, disrobing near a window, swearing, opening
places of amusement on Sunday, or employing persons on certain days or
under certain conditions prohibited by the law, etc.
Although persons who commit these acts are often in no wise
distinguishable from ordinary individuals, both criminals and
criminaloids are more often guilty of such offences than are normal
persons, who instinctively avoid coming into conflict with the law.
The difficulty of judging these misdeeds lies in the necessity for
careful weighing of the motive which gives rise to them, whether, that
is, they have been unwittingly committed by an honest individual, or
whether they are but an item in the long list of offences perpetrated by
a criminal. This differential diagnosis should be based principally on
the antecedents of the offender.
To this group belong also the authors of more serious infractions of the
law that are not generally considered such at the time, or in the
district in which they take place. Misdeeds of this nature are: thefts
of fuel in rural districts, poaching, the petty dishonesty current in
commerce and in certain professions, and in countries where secret
societies like the _camorra_ at Naples and the _mafia_ in Sicily, exist,
a connection with such organisations, which to a certain extent is
necessary in self-defence. Such, too, are theft and homicide during
revolutions, insurrections, wars, and the conquest and exploitation of
new territories and mines.
Rochefort and Whitman have pointed out that during the gold-fever in
Australia and California there was an enormous increase in crime.
Individuals of good antecedents engaged in deadly struggles for the
possession of the most valuable territories, and unbridled orgies
followed these bloody affrays.
During the expedition of Europeans to China in 1900, looting was carried
on by soldiers of previously blameless career.
CRIMINALS OF PASSION
This type of criminal, if indeed such he may be called, represents the
antithesis of the common offender, whose evil acts are the outcome of
his ferocious and egotistical impulses, whereas criminals from passion
are urged to violate the law by a pure spirit of altruism. In fact, they
stand in no relation whatsoever to ordinary delinquents, and it is only
by a legislative compromise that they are classed together. They
represent the ultra-violet ray of the criminal spectrum, of which the
vulgar criminal represents the ultra-red. Not only are they free from
the egotism, insensibility, laziness, and lack of moral sense peculiar
to the ordinary criminal, but their abnormality consists in the
excessive development of noble qualities, sensibility, altruism,
integrity, affection, which if carried to an extreme, may result in
actions forbidden by law, or worse still, dangerous to society.
_Physical Characteristics._ These, too, are in complete contrast to
those of the born criminal. The countenance is frequently handsome, with
lofty forehead, serene and gentle expression, and the beard is abundant.
The sensibility is extremely acute; there is a high degree of
excitability and exaggerated reflex action, all characteristics of the
normal (or rather hypernormal) individual, from whom nothing
distinguishes the criminal of passion except the anti-social effects of
his action.
_Psychology._ Here, as in all physical characteristics, criminals of
passion are scarcely distinguishable from their fellow-men, except that
we find in an excessive degree those qualities we consider peculiar to
good and holy persons--love, honour, noble ambitions, patriotism. In
fact, the motive of the crime is always adequate, frequently noble, and
sometimes sublime. Love prompts certain natures to kill those who insult
their beloved ones or are the cause of their dishonour and, in some
cases, even the object of their affection who proves unfaithful. Crimes
of this character are the murder by brothers of the man who dishonours
their sister, the murder of an infant by its unmarried mother, the
murder of an unfaithful wife by her husband. Sometimes the motive is a
patriotic one, as in the cases of Charlotte Corday, Orsini Sand, and
Caserio (Fig. 21) all of whom had been persons of gentle disposition and
blameless conduct up to the moment of their crimes.
This class of offender not infrequently commits suicide after his crime,
or, if this is prevented, he seeks to expiate it by long years of
remorse and self-inflicted martyrdom.
The deed is almost always unpremeditated and committed publicly, without
accomplices and with the simplest means at hand--be they nails, teeth,
scissors, or a stick. The previous career is always blameless.
Cumano, Verano, Guglielmotti, Harry, Curti, Milani, Brenner, Mari,
Zucca, Bechis, Bouley, Tacco, Berruto and Sand, and Camicia, Vinci, and
Leoni (these last three women), all attacked their victims single-handed
and in public.
In the case of Chalanton, the woman he had rescued by marriage from a
low life, not content with betraying her benefactor, covered him in
public with abuse and persecuted him with anonymous accusations. His
demand for a separation was unsuccessful and at last, finding himself,
in spite of his integrity, involved in a scandalous action, in which his
wife figured as a go-between, and tormented by public curiosity and the
implacable questionings of reporters, he murdered the cause of all his
misfortunes. Another murderer, Del Prete, was prompted to kill his
victim, an old woman with a reputation for witchcraft, because he
believed she had caused the illness of his mother, to whom he was
greatly attached.
The motive for the crime is generally a serious one and in most cases
immediately precedes it. Bouley committed his crime only a few hours
after receiving the news which prompted it; Bounin, Bechis, and Verano,
only a few minutes; Milani, twenty-four hours, Zucca eight hours;
Curti, a few days. Thus the crime is seldom premeditated, or if so, for
only a short space of time, never for months or years.
=FIG. 21
BRIGAND CASERIO
(see page 119)=
Homicide forms 91% of the criminality of this group of offenders. There
is a certain proportion also of infanticide, owing to the prevailing
prejudice which condemns immorality more harshly when the results are
evident. Arson and theft form only 2%. Such cases are however possible.
A young girl, whom my father had under observation in prison, seeing her
family in dire poverty, committed arson in order to get the insurance
money.
In another case a woman of refinement, education, and of gentle
disposition, who had fallen from prosperity into extreme want, stole in
order to pay her son's school-fees. When arrested, she refused to give
her name so that the lad should not be dishonoured, and her identity
might never have been discovered had she not been recognised by a lawyer
in court. She died of a broken heart a few days after her trial.
PART II
CRIME, ITS ORIGIN, CAUSE, AND CURE
CHAPTER I
_ORIGIN AND CAUSES OF CRIME_
In order to determine the origin of actions which we call criminal, we
shall be forced to hark back to a very remote period in the history of
the human race. In all the epochs of which records exist, we find traces
of criminal actions. In fact, if we study minutely the customs of savage
peoples, past and present, we find that many acts that are now
considered criminal by civilised nations were legitimate in former
times, and are to-day reputed such among primitive races.
According to Pictet the Latin word _crimen_ is derived from the Sanscrit
_karman_, which signifies action corresponding to _kri_ to do. This is
contradicted by Vanicek who derives it from _kru_, to hear, _croemen_
(accusation). At any rate, the Sanscrit word _apaz_, which means sin,
corresponds to _apas_, work (_opus_), the Latin _facinus_ derives from
_facere_, and _culpa_ according to Pictet and Pott, from the Sanscrit
_kalp_, to do or execute. The Latin word _fur_ (thief) which Vanicek
derives from _bahr_, to carry, the Hebrew _ganav_ and the Sanscrit
_sten_ only signify to put aside, to hide, to cover (_gonav_). The Greek
word _peirao_ from which pirate is derived, signifies to risk; the Greek
_chleptein_ to hide or steal, is derived from the Sanscrit _harp-hlap_
to hide and steal (Vanicek).
In India, from Ceylon to the Himalayas, infanticide is sanctified by
religion, not only among the more barbarous races, but also among the
Rajputs, the nobles, who think themselves dishonoured if one of their
daughters remains unmarried. The inhabitants of the Island of Tikopia,
kill more male children than female, a fact that accounts for their
practice of polygamy.
Marco Polo speaks of the infanticide practised in Japan and China, which
was then, as it is now, a means of regulating the population. The same
practice--common to Bushmen, Hottentots, Fijians, also existed among the
natives of Hawaii and America. In the Island of Tahiti, according to the
testimony of missionaries, two thirds of the children born are destroyed
by their parents.
"Amongst the Guaranys," says D'Azara, "mothers kill a large proportion
of their female infants, in order that the survivors may be more highly
valued." (_Travels in America_, 1835.)
The Carthaginians had originally the custom of offering the noblest and
most beautiful children to Kronos (Moloch), but later victims were
always bought and bred for the purpose. After their defeat at the hand
of Agathokles they sacrificed two hundred children belonging to the
noblest Carthaginian families, in order to appease the Divine wrath.
Phoenicians, Egyptians, Cretans, Cypriotes, Rhodians, and Persians had
similar practices.
Among the Lydians, the sacred courtesans were so numerous and wealthy
that their contributions to the Mausoleum of Alyattes exceeded those of
the artists and merchants combined (Herodotus, Book I.); in Armenia
(Strabo XII.) the priestesses alone were permitted to practise
polyandry, and in Media, a woman boasting of five husbands was greatly
honoured, which shows that polyandry was not only allowed, but esteemed.
In Thibet, the eldest male of a family shares his wife with his
brothers, the whole family live in the bride's house and the children
inherit from her. Among the _Todas_, the wife espouses all her husband's
younger brothers as they attain their majority, and they in their turn
become the husbands of her younger sisters (Short).
Among the _Nairs_, a noble negro caste of Malabar, it is customary for
one woman to have five or six husbands, the maximum number allowed
being ten.
In Egypt, the business of thief was a recognised one. Those who wished
to exercise this calling inscribed their names on a public tablet,
collected all the stolen goods in one spot and restored them to their
owners in exchange for a certain coin. The ancient Germans encouraged
the youthful portion of the population to make raids on the property of
neighbouring peoples, so that they should not develop habits of
idleness. Thucydides states that the Greeks, as well as the barbarous
peoples inhabiting the islands and along the coasts, were pirates, and
the calling was a noble one.
Amongst Spartans, as is well known, theft was allowed, but the unlucky
marauder who was caught in the act, was punished, not for the deed
itself, but for his want of skill. In East Africa, according to Burton
(_First Footsteps in East Africa_, p. 176), robbery is considered
honourable. In Caramanza (Portuguese Guinea) in Africa, side by side
with the peaceful rice-cultivating Bagnous dwell the Balantes who
subsist upon the chase and the spoils of their raids. While they kill
the individual who presumes to steal in his native village, they
encourage depredations upon the other tribes (_Revue d' Anthropologie_,
1874). The cleverest thieves are greatly esteemed, are paid for
instructing boys in their profession, and are chosen to lead the
expeditions.
In India the tribe Zakka Khel is devoted to this dishonest calling, and
at birth every male child is consecrated to thievish practices by a
peculiar ceremony, in which the new-born infant is passed through a
breach in the wall of his father's house, whilst the words "Become a
thief" are chanted three times in chorus. Amongst the ancient Germans,
according to Tacitus, thefts perpetrated outside the boundary of the
tribe itself were by no means infamous. In the midst of a great
assembly, the chief called upon those he wished to follow him; they
showed their willingness by rising to their feet amid the applause of
the crowd. Those who refused to take part were looked upon as deserters
and traitors (Spencer, _Principles of Ethics_, 1895). Among the
Comanches (Muelhausen, _Diary of a Journey from the Mississippi to the
Pacific_) no man was considered worthy of being numbered among the
warriors of the tribe, unless he had taken part in some successful
pillaging expedition. The cleverest thieves were the most respected
members of the tribe. No Patagonian is deemed worthy of a wife unless he
has graduated in the art of despoiling a stranger (Snow, _Two Years'
Cruise round Tierra del Fuego_). Among the Kukis (Dalton, _Descriptive
Ethnology of Bengal_) skill in stealing is the most esteemed talent. In
Mongolia (Gilmour, _Among the Mongols_), thieves are regarded as
respectable members of the community, provided they steal cleverly and
escape detection.
CRIMINALITY IN CHILDREN
The criminal instincts common to primitive savages would be found
proportionally in nearly all children, if they were not influenced by
moral training and example. This does not mean that without educative
restraints, all children would develop into criminals. According to the
observations made by Prof. Mario Carrara at Cagliari, the bands of
neglected children who run wild in the streets of the Sardinian capital
and are addicted to thievish practices and more serious vices,
spontaneously correct themselves of these habits as soon as they have
arrived at puberty.
This fact, that the germs of moral insanity and criminality are found
normally in mankind in the first stages of his existence, in the same
way as forms considered monstrous when exhibited by adults, frequently
exist in the foetus, is such a simple and common phenomenon that it
eluded notice until it was demonstrated clearly by observers like
Moreau, Perez, and Bain. The child, like certain adults, whose
abnormality consists in a lack of moral sense, represents what is known
to alienists as a morally insane being and to criminologists as a born
criminal, and it certainly resembles these types in its impetuous
violence.
Perez (_Psychologie de l'enfant_, 2d ed., 1882) remarks on the frequency
and precocity of anger in children:
"During the first two months, it manifests by movements of the
eyebrows and hands undoubted fits of temper when undergoing any
distasteful process, such as washing or when deprived of any object
it takes a fancy to. At the age of one, it goes to the length of
striking those who incur its displeasure, of breaking plates or
throwing them at persons it dislikes, exactly like savages."
Moreau (_De l'Homicide chez les enfants_, 1882) cites numerous cases of
children who fly into a passion if their wishes are not complied with
immediately. In one instance observed by him a very intelligent child of
eight, when reproved, even in the mildest manner by his parents or
strangers, would give way to violent anger, snatching up the nearest
weapon, or if he found himself unable to take revenge, would break
anything he could lay his hands on.
A baby girl showed an extremely violent temper, but became of gentle
disposition after she had reached the age of two (Perez). Another,
observed by the same author, when only eleven months old, flew into a
towering rage, because she was unable to pull off her grandfather's
nose. Yet another, at the age of two, tried to bite another child who
had a doll like her own, and she was so much affected by her anger that
she was ill for three days afterwards.
Nino Bixio, when a boy of seven (_Vita_, Guerzoni, 1880) on seeing his
teacher laugh because he had written his exercise on office
letter-paper, threw the inkstand at the man's face. This boy was
literally the terror of the school, on account of the violence he
displayed at the slightest offence.
Infants of seven or eight months have been known to scratch at any
attempt to withdraw the breast from them, and to retaliate when slapped.
A backward and slightly hydrocephalous boy whom my father had under
observation, began at the age of six to show violent irritation at the
slightest reproof or correction. If he was able to strike the person who
had annoyed him, his rage cooled immediately; if not, he would scream
incessantly and bite his hands with gestures similar to those often
witnessed in caged bears who have been teased and cannot retaliate.
The above cases show that the desire for revenge is extremely common and
precocious in children. Anger is an elementary instinct innate in human
beings. It should be guided and restrained, but can never be extirpated.
Children are quite devoid of moral sense during the first months or
first years of their existence. Good and evil in their estimation are
what is allowed and what is forbidden by their elders, but they are
incapable of judging independently of the moral value of an action.
"Lying and disobedience are very wrong," said a boy to Perez, "because
they displease mother." Everything he was accustomed to was right and
necessary.
A child does not grasp abstract ideas of justice, or the rights of
property, until he has been deprived of some possession. He is prone to
detest injustice, especially when he is the victim. Injustice, in his
estimation, is the discord between a habitual mode of treatment and an
accidental one. When subjected to altered conditions, he shows complete
uncertainty. A child placed under Perez's care modified his ways
according to each new arrival. He began ordering his companions about
and refused to obey any one but Perez.
Affection is very slightly developed in children. Their fancy is easily
caught by a pleasing exterior or by anything that contributes to their
amusement; like domestic animals that they enjoy teasing and pulling
about, and they exhibit great antipathy to unfamiliar objects that
inspire them with fear. Up to the age of seven or even after, they show
very little real attachment to anybody. Even their mothers, whom they
appear to love, are speedily forgotten after a short separation.
In conclusion, children manifest a great many of the impulses we have
observed in criminals; anger, a spirit of revenge, idleness, volubility
and lack of affection.
We have also pointed out that many actions considered criminal in
civilised communities, are normal and legitimate practices among
primitive races. It is evident, therefore, that such actions are natural
to the early stages, both of social evolution and individual psychic
development.
In view of these facts, it is not strange that civilised communities
should produce a certain percentage of adults who commit actions reputed
injurious to society and punishable by law. It is only an atavistic
phenomenon, the return to a former state. In the criminal, moreover, the
phenomenon is accompanied by others also natural to a primitive stage of
evolution. These have already been referred to in the first chapter,
which contains a description of many strange practices common to
delinquents, and evidently of primitive origin--tattooing, cruel games,
love of orgies, a peculiar slang resembling in certain features the
languages of primitive peoples, and the use of hieroglyphics and
pictography.
=FIG. 22
TERRA-COTTA BOWLS
Designed by a Criminal
(see page 135)=
The artistic manifestations of the criminal show the same
characteristics. In spite of the thousands of years which separate him
from prehistoric savages, his art is a faithful reproduction of the
first, crude artistic attempts of primitive races. The museum of
criminal anthropology created by my father contains numerous specimens
of criminal art, stones shaped to resemble human figures, like those
found in Australia, rude pottery covered with designs that recall
Egyptian decorations (Fig. 22) or scenes fashioned in terra-cotta (Fig.
23) that resemble the grotesque creations of children or savages.
The criminal is an atavistic being, a relic of a vanished race. This is
by no means an uncommon occurrence in nature. Atavism, the reversion to
a former state, is the first feeble indication of the reaction opposed
by nature to the perturbing causes which seek to alter her delicate
mechanism. Under certain unfavourable conditions, cold or poor soil, the
common oak will develop characteristics of the oak of the Quaternary
period. The dog left to run wild in the forest will in a few generations
revert to the type of his original wolf-like progenitor, and the
cultivated garden roses when neglected show a tendency to reassume the
form of the original dog-rose. Under special conditions produced by
alcohol, chloroform, heat, or injuries, ants, dogs, and pigeons become
irritable and savage like their wild ancestors.
This tendency to alter under special conditions is common to human
beings, in whom hunger, syphilis, trauma, and, still more frequently,
morbid conditions inherited from insane, criminal, or diseased
progenitors, or the abuse of nerve poisons, such as alcohol, tobacco, or
morphine, cause various alterations, of which criminality--that is, a
return to the characteristics peculiar to primitive savages--is in
reality the least serious, because it represents a less advanced stage
than other forms of cerebral alteration.
The aetiology of crime, therefore, mingles with that of all kinds of
degeneration: rickets, deafness, monstrosity, hairiness, and cretinism,
of which crime is only a variation. It has, however, always been
regarded as a thing apart, owing to a general instinctive repugnance to
admit that a phenomenon, whose extrinsications are so extensive and
penetrate every fibre of social life, derives, in fact, from the same
causes as socially insignificant forms like rickets, sterility, etc. But
this repugnance is really only a sensory illusion, like many others of
widely diverse nature.
=FIG. 23
ART PRODUCTION FROM PRISON
(see page 135)=
=FIG. 24
A COMBAT BETWEEN BRIGANDS AND GENDARMES
Designed by a Criminal
(see page 135)=
_Pathological Origin of Crime._ The atavistic origin of crime is
certainly one of the most important discoveries of criminal
anthropology, but it is important only theoretically, since it merely
explains the phenomenon. Anthropologists soon realised how necessary it
was to supplement this discovery by that of the origin, or causes which
call forth in certain individuals these atavistic or criminal instincts,
for it is the immediate causes that constitute the practical nucleus of
the problem and it is their removal that renders possible the cure of
the disease.
These causes are divided into organic and external factors of crime: the
former remote and deeply rooted, the latter momentary but frequently
determining the criminal act, and both closely related and fused
together.
Heredity is the principal organic cause of criminal tendencies. It may
be divided into two classes: indirect heredity from a generically
degenerate family with frequent cases of insanity, deafness, syphilis,
epilepsy, and alcoholism among its members; direct heredity from
criminal parentage.
_Indirect Heredity._ Almost all forms of chronic, constitutional
diseases, especially those of a nervous character: chorea, sciatica,
hysteria, insanity, and above all, epilepsy, may give rise to
criminality in the descendants.
Of 559 soldiers convicted of offences, examined by Brancaleone Ribaudo,
10% had epileptic parents. According to Dejerine, this figure reaches
74.6% among criminal epileptics. Arthritis and gout have been known to
generate criminality in the descendants. But the most serious, and at
the same time most common, form of indirect heredity is alcoholism,
which, contrary to general belief, wreaks destruction in all classes of
society, amongst the rich and poor without distinction of sex, for
alcohol may insinuate itself everywhere under the most refined and
pleasant disguises, in liqueurs, sweets, and coffee.
According to calculations made by my father, 20% of Italian criminals
descend from inebriate families; according to Penta the percentage is 27
and in dangerous criminals, 33%. The Jukes family, of whom we shall
speak later, descended from a drunkard.
The first salient characteristic in hereditary alcoholism is the
precocious taste for intoxicants; secondly, the susceptibility to
alcohol, which is infinitely more injurious to the offspring of
inebriates than to normal individuals; and thirdly, the growth of the
craving for strong drinks, which inevitably undermine the constitution.
_Direct Heredity._ The effects of direct heredity are still more
serious, for they are aggravated by environment and education. Official
statistics show that 20% of juvenile offenders belong to families of
doubtful reputation and 26% to those whose reputation is thoroughly bad.
The criminal Galletto, a native of Marseilles, was the nephew of the
equally ferocious anthropophagous violator of women, Orsolano. Dumollar
was the son of a murderer; Patetot's grandfather and great-grandfather
were in prison, as were the grandfathers and fathers of Papa, Crocco,
Serravalle and Cavallante, Comptois and Lempave; the parents of the
celebrated female thief Sans Refus, were both thieves.
The genealogical study of certain families has shown that there are
whole generations, almost all the members of which belong to the ranks
of crime, insanity, and prostitution (this last being amongst women the
equivalent of criminality amongst men). A striking example is furnished
by the notorious Jukes family, with 77 criminal descendants.
Ancestor, Max Jukes: 77 criminals; 142 vagabonds; 120 prostitutes; 18
keepers of houses of ill-fame; 91 illegitimates; 141 idiots or afflicted
with impotency or syphilis; 46 sterile females.
A like criminal contingent may be found in the pedigrees of Chretien,
the Lemaires, the Fieschi family, etc.
_Race._ This is of great importance in view of the atavistic origin of
crime. There exist whole tribes and races more or less given to crime,
such as the tribe Zakka Khel in India. In all regions of Italy, whole
villages constitute hot-beds of crime, owing, no doubt, to ethnical
causes: Artena in the province of Rome, Carde and San Giorgio Canavese
in Piedmont, Pergola in Tuscany, San Severo in Apulia, San Mauro and
Nicosia in Sicily. The frequency of homicide in Calabria, Sicily, and
Sardinia is fundamentally due to African and Oriental elements.
In the gipsies we have an entire race of criminals with all the passions
and vices common to delinquent types: idleness, ignorance, impetuous
fury, vanity, love of orgies, and ferocity. Murder is often committed
for some trifling gain. The women are skilled thieves and train their
children in dishonest practices. On the contrary, the percentage of
crimes among Jews is always lower than that of the surrounding
population; although there is a prevalence of certain specific forms of
offences, often hereditary, such as fraud, forgery, libel, and chief of
all, traffic in prostitution; murder is extremely rare.
ILLNESSES, INTOXICATIONS, TRAUMATISM
These causes, although apparently as important as heredity, are in fact,
decidedly less so. Both disease and trauma may intensify or call forth
latent perversity, but they are less frequently the cause of it. There
are, however, certain cases in which traumatism meningitis, typhus, or
other diseases that affect the brain have undoubtedly evoked criminal
tendencies in individuals hitherto normal. Twenty out of 290 criminals
studied by my father with minute care had suffered from injury to the
head in childhood; and recently a case came under his notice in which a
youth of good family and excellent character received an injury to his
head at the age of fourteen and became epileptic, developing
subsequently into a gambler, thief, and murderer. Such cases, however,
are not very common.
There is one disease that without other causes--either inherited
degeneracy or vices resulting from a bad education and environment--is
capable of transforming a healthy individual into a vicious, hopelessly
evil being. That disease is alcoholism, which has been discussed in a
previous chapter, but to which I must refer briefly again, because it is
such an important factor of criminality.
Temporary drunkenness alone will give rise to crime, since it inflames
the passions, obscures the mental and moral faculties, and destroys all
sense of decency, causing men to commit offences in a state of
automatism or a species of somnambulism. Sometimes drunkenness produces
kleptomania. A slight excess in drinking will cause men of absolute
honesty to appropriate any objects they can lay their hands upon. When
the effects of drink have worn off, they feel shame and remorse and
hasten to restore the stolen goods. Alcohol, however, more often causes
violence. An officer known to my father, when drunk, twice attempted to
run his sword through his friends and his own attendant.
Among Oriental sects of murderers, as is well known, homicidal fury was
excited and maintained by a drink brewed for the purpose from hemp-seed.
Buechner shows that dishonest instincts can be developed in bees by a
special food consisting of honey mixed with brandy. The insects acquire
a taste for this drink in the same way as human beings do, and under its
influence cease to work. Ants show similar symptoms after narcosis by
means of chloroform. Their bodies remain motionless, with the exception
of their heads, with which they snap at all who approach them.
The above cited cases show that there exists a species of alcoholic
psychic epilepsy, similar to congenital epilepsy, in which after
alcoholic poisoning, the individual is incited to raise his hand against
himself or others without any due cause. But besides the crimes of
violence committed during a drunken fit, the prolonged abuse of alcohol,
opium, morphia, coca, and other nervines may give rise to chronic
perturbation of the mind, and without other causes, congenital or
educative, will transform an honest, well-bred, and industrious man into
an idle, violent, and apathetic fellow,--into an ignoble being, capable
of any depraved action, even when he is not directly under the influence
of the drug.
When we were children, a frequent visitor at our house was a certain
Belm... (see Fig. 16, Chap. III.), a very intelligent man and an
accomplished linguist. He was a military officer, but later took to
journalism, and his writings were distinguished by vivacious style and
elevation of thought. He married and had several children, but at the
age of thirty some trouble caused him to take to drink. His character
soon underwent a complete change. Although formerly a proud man, he was
not ashamed to pester all his friends for money and to let his family
sink into the direst poverty.
SOCIAL CAUSES OF CRIME
_Education._ We now come to the second series of criminal factors, those
which depend, not on the organism, but on external conditions. We have
already stated that the best and most careful education, moral and
intellectual, is powerless to effect an improvement in the morally
insane, but that in other cases, education, environment, and example
are extremely important, for which reason neglected and destitute
children are easily initiated into evil practices.
At Naples, "Esposito" (foundling) is a common name amongst prisoners, as
is at Bologna and in Lombardy the name "Colombo," which signifies the
same thing. In Prussia, illegitimate males form 6% of offenders,
illegitimate females 1.8%; in Austria, 10 and 2% respectively. The
percentage is considerably larger amongst juvenile criminals,
prostitutes, and recidivists. In France, in 1864, 65% of the minors
arrested were bastards or orphans, and at Hamburg 30% of the prostitutes
are illegitimate. In Italy, 30% of recidivists are natural children and
foundlings.
This depends largely on hereditary influences, which are generally bad,
but still more on the difficulty of finding a means of subsistence,
owing to the state of neglect in which these wretched beings exist, even
when herded together in charity schools and orphanages--both of which
are even more anti-hygienic morally, than they are physically.
A depraved environment, which counsels or even insists on wrong-doing,
and the bad example of parents or relatives, exercise a still more
sinister influence on children than desertion. The criminal family
Cornu, finding one of their children, a little girl, strongly averse to
their evil ways, forced her to carry the head of one of their victims in
her pinafore for a couple of miles, after which she became one of the
most ferocious of the band.
_Meteoric Causes_ are frequently the determining factor of the ultimate
impulsive act, which converts the latent criminal into an effective one.
Excessively high temperature and rapid barometric changes, while
predisposing epileptics to convulsive seizures and the insane to
uneasiness, restlessness, and noisy outbreaks, encourage quarrels,
brawls, and stabbing affrays. To the same reason may be ascribed the
prevalence during the hot months, of rape, homicide, insurrections, and
revolts. In comparing statistics of criminality in France with those of
the variations in temperature, Ferri noted an increase in crimes of
violence during the warmer years. An examination of European and
American statistics shows that the number of homicides decreases as we
pass from hot to cooler climates. Holzendorf calculates that the number
of murders committed in the Southern States of North America is fifteen
times greater than those committed in the Northern States. A low
temperature, on the contrary, has the effect of increasing the number of
crimes against property, due to increased need, and both in Italy and
America the proportion of thefts increases the farther north we go.
_Density of Population._ The agglomeration of persons in a large town is
a certain incentive to crimes against property. Robbery, frauds, and
criminal associations increase, while there is a decrease in crimes
against the person, due to the restraints imposed by mutual supervision.
"He who has studied mankind, or, better still, himself [writes my
father], must have remarked how often an individual, who is
respectable and self-controlled in the bosom of his family, becomes
indecent and even immoral when he finds himself in the company of a
number of his fellows, to whatever class they may belong. The
primitive instincts of theft, homicide, and lust, the germs of
which lie dormant in each individual as long as he is alone,
particularly if kept in check by sound moral training, awaken and
develop suddenly into gigantic proportions when he comes into
contact with others, the increase being greater in those who
already possess such criminal tendencies in a marked degree."
In all large cities, low lodging-houses form the favourite haunts of
crime.
_Imitation._ The detailed accounts of crimes circulated in large towns
by newspapers, have an extremely pernicious influence, because example
is a powerful agent for evil as well as for good.
At Marseilles in 1868 and 1872, the newspaper reports of a case of child
desertion provoked a perfect epidemic of such cases, amounting in one
instance to eight in one day.
Before Corridori murdered the Head-master of his boarding-school, he is
said to have declared: "There will be a repetition of what happened to
the Head-master at Catanzaro" (who had been murdered in the same way).
The anarchist Lucchesi killed Banti at Leghorn shortly after the murder
of Carnot by Caserio, and in a similar manner. Certain forms of crime
which become common at given periods, the throwing of bombs, the cutting
up of the bodies of murdered persons, particularly those of women, and
frauds of a peculiar type may certainly be attributed to imitation, as
may also the violence committed by mobs, in whom cruelty takes the form
of an epidemic affecting even individuals of mild disposition.
_Immigration._ The agglomeration of population produced by immigration
is a strong incentive to crime, especially that of an associated
nature,--due to increased want, lessened supervision and the consequent
ease with which offenders avoid detection. In New York the largest
contingent of criminality is furnished by the immigrant population.
The fact of agglomeration explains the greater frequency of homicide in
France in thickly populated districts.
The criminality of immigrant populations increases in direct ratio to
its instability. This applies to the migratory population in the
interior of a country, specially that which has no fixed destination, as
peddlers, etc. Even those immigrants whom we should naturally assume to
be of good disposition--religious pilgrims--commit a remarkable number
of associated crimes. The Italian word _mariuolo_ which signifies
"rogue" owes its origin to the behaviour of certain pilgrims to the
shrines of Loreto and Assisi, who, while crying _Viva Maria!_ ("Hail to
the Virgin Mary!") committed the most atrocious crimes, confident that
the pilgrimage itself would serve as a means of expiation. In his
_Reminiscences_ Massimo d' Azeglio notes that places boasting of
celebrated shrines always enjoy a bad reputation.
_Prison Life._ The density of population in the most criminal of cities
has not such a bad influence as has detention in prisons, which may well
be called "Criminal Universities."
Nearly all the leaders of malefactors: Maino, Lombardo, La Gala,
Lacenaire, Soufflard, and Hardouin were escaped convicts, who chose
their accomplices among those of their fellow-prisoners who had shown
audacity and ferocity. In fact, in prison, criminals have an
opportunity of becoming acquainted with each other, of instructing those
less skilled in infamy, and of banding together for evil purposes. Even
the expensive cellular system, from which so many advantages were
expected, has not attained its object and does not prevent communication
between prisoners. Moreover, in prison, mere children of seven or eight,
imprisoned for stealing a bunch of grapes or a fowl, come into close
contact with adults and become initiated into evil practices, of which
these poor little victims of stupid laws were previously quite ignorant.
_Education._ Contrary to general belief, the influence of education on
crime is very slight.
The number of illiterates arrested in Europe is less, proportionally,
than that of educated individuals. Nevertheless, although a certain
degree of instruction is often an aid to crime, its extension acts as a
corrective, or at least tends to mitigate the nature of crimes
committed, rendering them less ferocious, and to decrease crimes of
violence, while increasing fraudulent and sexual offences.
_Professions._ The trades and professions which encourage inebriety in
those who follow them (cooks, confectioners, and inn-keepers), those
which bring the poor (servants of all kinds, especially footmen,
coachmen, and chauffeurs) into contact with wealth, or which provide
means for committing crimes (bricklayers, blacksmiths, etc.) furnish a
remarkable share of criminality. Still more so is this the case with the
professions of notary, usher of the courts, attorneys, and military men.
It should be observed, however, that the characteristic idleness of
criminals makes them disinclined to adopt any profession, and when they
do, their extreme fickleness prompts them to change continually.
_Economic Conditions._ Poverty is often a direct incentive to theft,
when the miserable victims of economic conditions find themselves and
their families face to face with starvation, and it acts further
indirectly through certain diseases: pellagra, alcoholism, scrofula, and
scurvy, which are the outcome of misery and produce criminal
degeneration; its influence has nevertheless often been exaggerated. If
thieves are generally penniless, it is because of their extreme idleness
and astonishing extravagance, which makes them run through huge sums
with the greatest ease, not because poverty has driven them to theft. On
the other hand the possession of wealth is frequently an incentive to
crime, because it creates an ever-increasing appetite for riches,
besides furnishing those occupying high public offices or important
positions in the banking and commercial world with numerous
opportunities for dishonesty and persuading them that money will cover
any evil deed.
_Sex._ Statistics of every country show that women contribute a very
small share of criminality compared with that furnished by the opposite
sex. This share becomes still smaller when we eliminate infanticide, in
view of the fact that the guilty parties in nearly all such cases should
be classed as criminals from passion. In Austria, crimes committed by
females barely constitute 15% of the total criminality; in Spain 11%;
and in Italy 8.2%.
However, this applies only to serious crimes. For those of lesser
gravity, statistics are at variance with the results obtained by the
Modern School, which classes prostitutes as criminals. According to this
mode of calculation, the difference between the criminality of the two
sexes shows a considerable diminution, resulting perhaps in a slight
prevalence of crime in women. In any case, female criminality tends to
increase proportionally with the increase of civilisation and to equal
that of men.
_Age._ The greater number of crimes are committed between the ages of 15
and 30, whereas, outbreaks of insanity between these ages are extremely
rare, the maximum number occurring between 40 and 50. On the whole,
criminality is far more precocious than mental alienation, and its
precocity, which is greater among thieves than among murderers,
swindlers, and those guilty of violence and assault is another proof of
the congenital nature of crime and its atavistic origin, since precocity
is a characteristic of savage races.
Seldom do we find among born criminals any indication of that so-called
criminal scale, leading by degrees from petty offences to crimes of the
most serious nature. As a general rule, they commence their career with
just those crimes which distinguish it throughout, even when these are
of the gravest kind, like robbery and murder. Rather may it be said that
every age has its specific criminality, and this is the case especially
with criminaloids. On the borderland between childhood and adolescence,
there seems to be a kind of instinctive tendency to law-breaking, which
by immature minds is often held to be a sign of virility. The Italian
novelist and poet Manzoni describes this idea very well in his _Promessi
Sposi_, when speaking of the half-witted lad Gervaso, who "because he
had taken part in a plot savouring of crime, felt that he had suddenly
become a man."
This idea lurks in the slang word _omerta_ used by Italian criminals,
which signifies not only to be a man but a man daring enough to break
the law.
CHAPTER II
_THE PREVENTION OF CRIME_
The curability of crime is an entirely novel idea, due to the Modern
Penal School. As long as, in the eyes of the world, the criminal was a
normal individual, who voluntarily and consciously violated the laws,
there could be no thought of a cure, but rather of a punishment
sufficiently severe to prevent his recidivation and to inspire others
with a salutary fear of offending the law.
The penalties excogitated in past centuries were varied: flogging, hard
labour, imprisonment, and exile. During the last century they have been
crystallised in the form of imprisonment, as being the most humane,
although in reality it is the most illogical form, since it serves
neither to intimidate the offender nor to reform him. In fact, although
prison with its forced separation from home and family is a terrible
penalty for those honest persons, who sometimes suffer with the guilty,
it is a haven of rest for ordinary criminals, or at the worst, in no
wise inferior to their usual haunts. There is a certain amount of
privation of air, light, and food, but these disadvantages are fully
counterbalanced by the enjoyment of complete leisure and the company of
men of their own stamp.
If imprisonment does not serve to intimidate instinctive criminals,
still less is it a means of rehabilitation. In virtue of what law,
should any man, even if he be normal, become reformed after a varying
period of detention in a gloomy cell, where he is isolated from the
better elements of society and deprived of every elevating
influence--art, science, and high ideals; where he loses regular habits
of work, the disciplining struggle with circumstances, and the sense of
responsibility natural to free citizens and is tainted by constant
contact with the worst types of humanity?
The autobiographies of criminals show us that far from reforming
evil-doers, prison is in reality a criminal university which houses all
grades of offenders during varying periods; that far from being a means
of redemption, it is a hot-bed of depravity, where are prepared and
developed the germs which are later to infect society, yet it is to this
incubator of crime that society looks for defence against those very
elements of lawlessness which it is actively fostering.
In his book _Prison Palimpsests_ my father has made a collection of all
the inscriptions, drawings, and allegories scratched or written by
criminals while in prison, on walls, utensils, and books. Of
lamentations, despair, and repentance, scarcely a trace, but innumerable
imprecations, plans of revenge against enemies without, project of
future burglaries and murders, and advice for the sound instruction of
criminals.
Although the Modern School has demonstrated the uselessness, nay the
injuriousness of prison, it has no desire to leave society suddenly
unprotected and the criminal at large. Nature does not proceed by leaps,
and the Modern School aims at effecting a revolution, not a revolt, in
Penal Jurisprudence. It proposes, therefore, the gradual transformation
of the present system, which is to be rendered as little injurious and
as beneficial as possible. Such has been the course pursued by the
modern science of medicine, which from the original absurd remedies and
equally absurd empirical operations, has now succeeded in placing the
cure of diseases on the more solid basis of experience.
The Modern School aims at preventing the formation of criminals, not
punishing them, or, failing prevention, at effecting their cure; and,
failing cure, at segregating such hopeless cases for life in suitable
institutes, which shall protect society better than the present system
of imprisonment, but be entirely free from the infamy attaching to the
prison. The Modern School proposes the cure of criminals by preventive
and legislative measures.
PREVENTIVE INSTITUTIONS FOR DESTITUTE CHILDREN
The cure of crime, as of any other disease, has the greater chance of
success, the earlier it is taken in hand. Attention, therefore, should
be specially concentrated on the childhood of those likely to become
criminals: orphans and destitute children, who as adults contribute the
largest contingent of criminality. A community seriously resolved to
protect itself from evil should, above all, provide a sound education
for those unfortunate waifs who have been deprived of their natural
protectors by death or vice. The greatest care must be exercised in
placing them, whenever it is possible, in respectable private families
where they will have careful supervision, or in suitable institutes
where no pains are spared to give them a good education and, more
important still, sound moral training.
In order to attain this end, the State cannot do better than follow in
the footsteps of philanthropists of rare talent like Don Bosco, Dr.
Barnardo, General Booth, Brockway, and many others, who have been so
successful in rescuing destitute children.
Don Bosco, the Black Pope, as he was familiarly styled at Turin, where
he lived during the latter half of the last century, was a Roman
Catholic priest who founded numerous institutes for orphans in all parts
of Italy and many parts of both Americas, especially South America. The
psychological basis on which he founded the training of children in
these schools, was mainly derived from experience, and proved so
successful in practice that it is worthy of quotation:
"Most neglected and abandoned children [he said], are of ordinary
character and disposition, but inclined to changeableness and
indifference. Brief, but frequent exhortations, good advice, small
rewards, and encouragements to persevere are very efficacious, but
above all the teacher must show perfect trust in his charges, while
being careful never to relax his vigilance. The greatest solicitude
should, however, be reserved for the unruly characters, who
generally form about one fifth of the whole number. The teacher
should make a special effort to become thoroughly acquainted with
their dispositions and past life and to convince them that he is
their friend. They should be encouraged to chatter freely, while
the conversation of the master should be brief and abound in
examples, maxims, and anecdotes. Above all, while showing perfect
confidence in his pupils, he should never lose sight of them.
"Occasional treats of a wholesome and attractive nature, picnics
and walks, will keep the boys happy and contented. Lasciviousness
is the only vice that need be feared; any lad persisting in immoral
practices should be expelled.
"Harsh punishments should never be resorted to. The repressive
system may check unruliness, but can never influence for good. It
involves little trouble on the part of those who make use of it and
may be efficacious in the army, which is composed of responsible
adults, but it has a harmful effect on the young, who err more from
thoughtlessness than from evil disposition. Far more suitable in
their case is the preventive system, which consists in making them
thoroughly acquainted with the regulations they have to obey and in
watching over them. In this way they are always conscious of the
vigilance of the Head-master or his assistants, who are ready to
guide and advise them in every difficulty and to anticipate their
wants. The pupils should never be left to their own devices, yet
they should have complete freedom to run, jump, and enjoy
themselves in their own noisy fashion. Gymnastics, vocal and
instrumental music, and plenty of outdoor exercise are the most
efficacious means of maintaining discipline and improving the boys,
bodily and mentally."
Only children over seven were admitted to the Institutes founded by Don
Bosco. Dr. Barnardo, on the other hand, who rescued thousands of orphans
and destitute children in London and was able to witness a decided
decrease in the criminality of that capital, concentrated his beneficent
efforts on destitute children from their earliest years, with the idea
of removing them as soon as possible from the bad environment in which
they were born. He was, moreover, desirous that they should share with
more fortunate children the boon of happy childhood, and resolved that
up to the age of seven they should be brought up without educational or
other restraints, save the affection of those appointed to watch over
them during the first years, so that they might imbibe sufficient love
and joy for the rest of their lives. Such is the rule followed in the
buildings set apart for the infants, Bird Castle, Tiny House, and Jersey
House, which are perfect nests of happy birds.
In spite of the seeming impossibility of obtaining individual education
in a school, thanks to a system devised by Dr. Barnardo, the older
children actually enjoy this advantage. New-comers are placed in a
special department until facts relative to their past life are
ascertained and an idea formed of their individuality. The results of
these preliminary inquiries determine in which school the boy shall be
placed and what trade he shall follow. Moreover, any boy desiring to
change his occupation is encouraged to do so. Every year a
re-distribution is made according to the aptitudes shown by the lads in
study and manual work and their physical and intellectual development,
special care being taken that the younger children should not be put
with those who have arrived at a more advanced stage of physical and
mental evolution. Free development of the various individual aptitudes
is thus secured, while avoiding that common defect of schools, the
turning out of numerous lads all made after one regulation pattern.
Having come to the conclusion that life in an institute, in spite of all
these precautions, is unsuited to girls, Dr. Barnardo founded a village
at a short distance from London with cottage homes for children of both
sexes. Each cottage contains from fifteen to twenty children and forms a
family, the domestic duties of the homes being discharged by the girls.
Dr. Barnardo realised, however, that the placing of children in private
families is the best means of effecting their salvation, and he made
great efforts in private and public to induce benevolent persons to
adopt his proteges. Finally, he organised a regular emigration of lads
to Canada, where a special agent provides them with situations on farms
or in factories.
America certainly does not lag behind Europe in the number and
excellence of its organisations for rescuing the little derelicts of its
cities. In every town of the United States visited by me, I had the
pleasure of inspecting such institutions, all of which are kept with
extraordinary care, and in some cases, with elegance. Amongst others, I
may mention the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society in New York City and
the George Junior Republic at Freeville, near Ithaca, both of which
seemed to me the most original of their kind.
The Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society is an orphanage for the Jews,
managed with rare insight and intelligence by Mr. Lewisohn. The
Institute being founded for orphans only, there is no limit as to age or
condition. Infants and young people, diseased and healthy, intelligent
and mentally deficient, normal and abnormal, good and bad, are all
welcome. In order to prevent the overcrowding of the institution and to
provide homes for as many children as possible, a committee has been
organised for the purpose of finding homes in private families for all
children under six years of age and for those who are sickly and
delicate. A certain proportion are adopted, and others are boarded out,
but the sum paid for their keep is always less than it would cost to
place them in a school; and there is, moreover, always a chance of their
being adopted later. At the age of six, all healthy and robust children
enter the Institute, which becomes their home, providing them with
board, lodging, clothing, moral and religious instruction, and training
in some kind of work, but in order that they shall mix with other
children, they are educated at the public schools, and the consequent
saving in money and space enables the Institute to receive a larger
number of children than it otherwise could.
Instead of the uniform customary in such institutions which serves to
accentuate in a humiliating way the contrast between the inmates and
more fortunate children who possess parents and homes, the clothing worn
by the orphans of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society is varied in
colour and style. Girls skilled in the use of their needle alter their
dresses to suit their individual tastes, and are allowed to sew, either
gratis or for payment, for the boys and other girls of the Institute,
who are unable or unwilling to make these alterations themselves. When
school-tasks are finished, boys and girls of over twelve are allowed to
engage in light occupations--needlework, writing, etc., supplied by the
Institute to enable them to earn a little pocket-money and learn to
spend it properly.
When the boys and girls have passed all the standards of the elementary
schools, they enter trade schools, where they remain until they are
proficient in some craft which will enable them to earn a living. Those
who show decided intellectual or business aptitudes are sent to colleges
or commercial schools.
The children are encouraged to take an interest in social and political
life by the foundation of a miniature republic, or rather two separate
republics, one for the boys and the other for the girls, each with its
president, a boy or a girl according to the case. In reality, however,
they are under the management of a lady, who devises various
amusements for the children, reading, games, etc., teaches them music
and drawing, and helps the little President to organise entertainments
to which outsiders, relatives, and schoolfellows are invited.
=FIG. 17
Signatures of Criminals=
The George Junior Republic (America) is a very different institution,
having been founded for unruly and turbulent boys, who are beyond their
parents' control. It is a species of Reformatory, not a Home for Waifs.
Mr. George, the founder of the Republic, a man of original and
intelligent cast of mind, if I may judge of his individuality from
hearsay, decided on its establishment after many attempts of a similar
nature. Being anxiously concerned for the future of so many unruly
youths who, left to their own devices during the summer vacations,
degenerate into rowdies, he invited about a hundred of these lads to
spend the summer months on his estate at Freeville, near Ithaca, and
tried to influence them for good. The attempt did not meet with much
success at first. Mr. George soon realised that however easy it is to
exercise a beneficial influence on one or two boys by adopting gentle
methods, it is extremely difficult to manage hundreds in this way. He
had, however, observed how fair and rigidly honest boys generally are in
their games and how ready they are to condemn any meanness, and he
conceived the idea of making his charges look after each other. Thus
each one would feel himself a responsible judge of his companions'
actions.
At the end of the summer holidays in 1895, when the time came for the
boys to return home, five remained behind at Freeville in a cottage
standing on three acres of land; the next year the number of lads
remaining was doubled or trebled. A miniature Republic was founded, of
which the lads were the citizens, and in this capacity, were obliged to
make laws and to insist on their being respected. The Republic proved to
be a great success, the temporary colony became a permanent one capable
of reforming wild, unruly boys, who if allowed to wander about in the
streets and to mix with older and more vicious lads, would possibly have
been ruined. A recent census of the Republic showed that it possessed
150 citizens, 82 boys and 68 girls, three hundred acres of land,
twenty-four buildings, a chapel, prison, school, and court of justice.
=FIG. 20
Brigand Gasparone=
In order that the colonists should not completely lose touch with the
outside world, but should in some measure be prepared for the social
exigencies of their future lives, the colony is organised like a
miniature town. The children, boys and girls, are divided into so many
families, each consisting of ten or twelve members presided over by two
adults, who take the place of parents and look after the household. The
greater part of the population is engaged in agriculture, in cultivating
the land belonging to the Republic, but a certain proportion adopt the
arts and crafts necessary to every community: joinery, book-binding,
printing, shoemaking, or shop-keeping. The colony coins its own money
and possesses a bank run by the boys themselves, where the colonists can
deposit their savings. All labour and produce are paid for separately.
The colony has its own laws sanctioned by its Parliament, its Tribunal,
the members of which, chosen from amongst the citizens, are charged with
enforcing the laws. The Parliament, composed without distinction of sex,
of boys and girls, decrees the holidays, organises the games and
entertainments, and establishes the public expenditure, revenue, and
taxes, etc. (see Figs. 19 and 20).
The results of this system appear to be excellent; most of the
ex-colonists have turned out well, and in view of this fact, republics
on similar lines are being organised in various parts of the United
States. This Republic admits only children over twelve, who remain in
the colony about three years.
PREVENTIVE INSTITUTIONS FOR DESTITUTE ADULTS
Besides institutions for the careful training of the young, methods for
preventing crime also include all attempts to help young or adult
persons at any crisis in their lives when they are friendless and out of
work, for it is precisely then that they are most exposed to temptation.
People's hotels, shelters for emigrants or strangers, reading-rooms,
inexpensive but wholesome entertainments, evening classes for
instruction in manual work, labour bureaus, organisations for assisting
emigrants, etc., are the most efficacious institutions of this kind. And
in this connection, I must refer to the work done by the Salvation Army,
which from what I was able to observe in America, seems to me the best
organised of all existing benevolent associations, since by means of a
thousand arms it reaches every form of poverty and misery and seeks to
make all its institutions self-supporting. It fights drunkenness by
lectures, recreation rooms, and temperance hotels; it fights poverty by
investigating each individual case of destitution, visiting poor
families, dispensing sympathy and help, providing shelter for the night
at a minimum price and industrial homes for those who are out of work.
Sometimes the rooms are turned into recreation halls for drunkards or
industrial schools for the girls of poor mothers who are obliged to go
out to work, or temporary hospitals for some urgent case which, owing to
bureaucratic formalities, the hospitals are unable to attend to
immediately, or rooms with moving pictures for friendly gatherings on
holidays, thus grafting one benevolent work on to another so as to
obtain the best results at the smallest cost.
That interesting book _Where the Shadows Lengthen_ gives an account of
the different institutions founded by the Salvation Army in the United
States. There are sixty-five Industrial Homes, where unemployed of all
classes can apply for work. In these Homes refuse and worn-out articles
collected from individual homes of their respective towns are
disinfected and transformed into useful articles, which are sold at low
prices to the neighbouring poor, thus benefiting purchasers,
work-people, and society in general. During one year these Homes gave
employment to 8696 men, distributed 1,318,044 meals (work-people who
are temporarily employed in these Homes have a right only to board and
lodging), and gave a night's shelter to 463,550 persons.
In addition, the Army has seventy-seven Hotels where the working-classes
find a night's lodging at a low price (just sufficient to cover the
maintenance of the Shelter), and 7990 Accommodations which in one year
supplied a night's rest to 2,114,037 persons. It has, besides, three
colonies with 420 inhabitants, two boarding-houses for servants and
shop-girls out of employment, where for a few pence they may have a bed,
cook their own meals, wash and mend their clothes, and are assisted to
find work.
The Salvation Army has also 22 Rescue Homes, where young girls condemned
by the Juvenile Court and generally more neglected than vicious, are
reformed with a little care and affection, and 3599 Accommodations to
which during one year 1701 girls were admitted.
To ensure careful supervision of all the poor quarters, the Salvation
Army has divided them into twenty slums, in each of which they have
established their Headquarters and send out their soldiers to
investigate and assist cases of poverty and misery of every kind. Each
slum Headquarters is provided with halls for meetings, rooms for the
officials, a Kindergarten, and Dormitories which also serve as shelters
or hospitals for urgent cases. In one year 26,290 families were visited
by the Army and 38,290 received assistance. Employment, temporary and
permanent, was found for 66,621 persons.
All poor of whatever condition, nationality, or religion, whether honest
or criminal, on applying to the nearest of these Headquarters may be
sure of finding sympathy and help.
Five Homes have been founded by the Army for waifs and children whose
mothers are obliged to go out to work, and 225 Accommodations where
children may find a temporary or permanent home.
A special squad of soldiers has recently undertaken work amongst
prisoners with great success. In two months they visited 43 prisons,
wrote 1732 letters to prisoners, and distributed 10,000 pamphlets.
19,882 prisoners attended meetings held in the prisons, 194 articles of
clothing were distributed, 128 persons provided with work on their
release and 300 with sleeping accommodation.
In South America the Army has founded similar institutions, which
embrace others, such as hospitals, etc., suited to the needs of each
place.
Other benevolent organisations which seem to me admirable, are the
Sisterhoods founded twenty years ago by the Rabbi Gottheil. These
Sisterhoods, as may be assumed from the name, are entirely directed by
women. They consist of premises, sometimes annexed to the synagogue; at
others, situated independently, which form a species of Headquarters for
the philanthropical work done in the surrounding districts. The
Sisterhood is open day and night to all the poor who are in need of help
of any kind. There is a resident Directress, under whose orders a number
of ladies take turns in helping applicants. The Sisterhoods were founded
on the principle that human beings are capable of doing the maximum
amount of good to others when they follow their own particular
tendencies and try to utilise their individual talents in satisfying the
intellectual, moral, or recreative needs of the poor. Some of the ladies
devote themselves to simple legal questions, tracing an absent husband
or wife, registering births, taking unruly children to the Juvenile
Courts, or looking after them, etc. Others take charge of medical
matters, arrange for the admission of children or adults to the
hospitals, etc.; others organise entertainments, teach singing, drawing,
needlework, and cooking classes. The premises are used in turn by
working-girls learning sewing, or others rehearsing some play or opera
chorus. Almost all the Sisterhoods possess a permanent Kindergarten for
the children of women who are obliged to work outside their homes, and
an employment bureau. All the ladies, except the Directress, give their
services gratis. For all help given by the Sisterhood, except in the
case of the very poor, a small fee is demanded, and this enables the
Sisterhood to pay its way without depending much on donations and
subscriptions from private persons, and to spread and increase its work
without difficulty.
"The Educational Alliance" of New York, founded to give assistance to
Jewish emigrants arriving at that city from all parts of the world, is
another institution deserving of mention. This "Alliance" has a large
building in the Jewish quarter near the docks, where emigrants can
obtain instruction in gymnastics, cookery, domestic economy, English,
needlework, etc. There are also recreation rooms, baths, a library, and
rooms where school children can prepare their lessons. Men and women are
assisted in obtaining employment and receive medical and legal aid.
There is also a species of tribunal for settling petty disputes in cases
where the parties interested object to applying to the ordinary courts.
It was crowded when I saw it, and I was not surprised to learn that it
is of great service to the emigrants. For public holidays, the Alliance
organises concerts, excursions, and lectures, and during the summer
vacations it opens a number of boarding-houses in the country.
All these benevolent institutions, schools, rescue homes, orphanages,
and shelters, organised with so much care for the prevention of crime
and adopted in America by all communities of whatever religion,
regardless of cost, have given excellent results. Bosco and Rice (_Les
Homicides aux Etats-Unis_) and my father (_Crimes, Ancient and Modern_)
have demonstrated statistically that in States like Massachusetts, where
there is no great influx of immigration nor a large coloured population,
the diminution in the number of crimes has been very rapid, the
percentage of homicides being about equal to those of England, that is,
lower than the majority of European States.
It must be confessed in honour to the people of the United States, that
they are very ready to admit their own short-comings and constantly
regret the large proportion of crimes in their country. But when they
reflect that the constant stream of immigration contains many lawless
elements, that the different laws in force in the different States make
evasions of justice in many cases easy, that the construction of houses
with the fire-escape communicating directly with the public thoroughfare
provides an easy means of ingress and egress, and that an enormous
proportion of the dense population of their cities is composed of people
from all parts of the world, accustomed to varying moral codes, they
may realise with pride that the percentage of crime in the United States
is certainly lower than it would be in any Continental State under
similar conditions.
CHAPTER III
_METHODS FOR THE CURE AND REPRESSION OF CRIME_
Preventive methods, the careful training of children, and assistance
rendered to adults in critical moments of their lives, may diminish
crime, but cannot suppress it entirely. Such methods should be
supplemented by institutions which undertake to cure criminals, while
protecting society from their attacks, and by others for the segregation
of incurable offenders, who should be rendered as useful as possible in
order to minimise in every way the injury they inflict on the community.
Although unjustly accused of desiring to revolutionise penal
jurisprudence, criminal anthropologists realised from the very beginning
that laws cannot be changed before there is a corresponding change in
public opinion, and that even equitable modifications in the laws, if
too sudden, are always fraught with dangerous consequences. Therefore,
instead of a radical change in the penal code, their aim was to effect
a few slight alterations in the graduation of penalties, in accordance
with age, sex, and the degree of depravity manifested by culprits in
their offences. They also counselled certain modifications in the
application of the laws, the reformation according to modern ideas, of
prisons, asylums, penal colonies, and all institutions for the
punishment and redemption of offenders, and an extensive application of
those penalties devised in past ages as substitutes for imprisonment,
which have the advantage of corrupting the culprit less, and costing the
community very little.
_Juvenile Offenders._ Young people, and, above all, children, should be
dealt with separately by special legislative methods.
With the exception of England, where quite recently a children's court
has been opened at Westminster, special tribunals for the young are
unknown in Europe. However, in modern times, the penal codes of nearly
every European State make marked allowance for the age of offenders, and
where there is no differentiation in the laws, the magistrate uses his
own discretion and refuses in many cases to convict juvenile offenders,
even when they are guilty of serious offences.
These instinctive methods of dealing with the young have many drawbacks:
1. Without special courts, children guilty of simple acts of
insubordination or petty offences (thefts of fruit or riding in trams
and trains without paying the fare) which cannot be separated by a hard
and fast line from ordinary childish pranks, come into contact with
criminal types in court or in prison, and this is greatly detrimental to
them morally. If naturally inclined to dishonesty, they run the risk of
developing into occasional criminals and of losing all sense of shame:
or if really honest, contact with bad characters cannot fail to shock
and perturb them, even though their stay in prison be only a short one.
2. The magistrate has no legal powers to supervise juvenile offenders,
nor when their actions show grave depravity, to segregate and cure them
to prevent their developing into criminals. It has already been shown
that born criminals begin their career at a very early age. In one case
cited in a previous chapter, a morally insane child of twelve killed one
of his companions for a trifling motive--a dispute about an egg; in
another, a child of ten caused the arrest of his father by a false
accusation; he had previously attempted to strangle a little brother.
Children of this type, notwithstanding their tender age, are a social
danger, and the moral disease from which they suffer should be taken in
hand at once. In any case they should be carefully segregated until a
cure appears to be effected.
Minors require a special code, which takes into consideration the fact
that certain offences are incidental to childhood and that children who
have committed these offences may still develop into honest men. It
should also contain provisions for dealing with born criminals,
epileptics, and the morally insane at an early age, by segregation in
special reformatories where they cannot corrupt juvenile offenders of a
non-criminal type, and where a thorough-going attempt to cure them may
be made.
An excellent reform of this character has been effected in many of the
United States of America with the adoption of the probation system and
juvenile courts which protect children from the corruption of prison
life and contact with habitual offenders. The juvenile court, this
tribunal exclusively instituted for minors, has been brought to great
perfection in many of the United States. In some, special buildings have
been erected for the hearing of cases against children, by which means
all contact with adult criminals is avoided: in others, where this is
not practicable, a part of the ordinary court is set aside for them with
a separate entrance.
Nor are juvenile offenders judged according to the common law; their
offences are tried by special magistrates, who deal with them in a
paternal, rather than in a strictly judicial spirit, and the penalties
are slight, varied, and suited to children. The magistrates are assisted
by officers, who obtain information from teachers, parents, and
neighbours as to the character, conduct, faults, and good qualities of
the culprit, and with these indications the magistrate is able to essay
the correction, not of the particular offence which has brought the
child within his jurisdiction, but his general organic defects. The
punishments do not include imprisonment, and are drawn from practical
experience and common-sense, not from any article of the penal code.
I was present at the hearing of a case against a lad, who was accused of
having travelled on a subway without paying. He was sentenced to copy
out the by-laws twenty times, to learn them by heart and repeat them a
month later at the same court. In the case of more serious offences,
children may be sent to some public or private reformatory, according to
the circumstances of the parents. However, none of these punishments are
infamous, and parents themselves, when unable to control their children,
have recourse to the juvenile court.
It is supplemented in a very efficacious manner by the probation system,
the organisation of a number of men and women who undertake the
supervision of children when the court decides that they require it.
These protectors use every means at their disposal to prevent their
charges falling into bad ways and assist them in every possible way to
correct their defects.
This system has proved to be so efficacious, and at the same time so
devoid of any drawbacks, that its unconditional adoption by all the
States of Europe and America would be of great social advantage.
INSTITUTIONS FOR FEMALE OFFENDERS
The weighty reasons which call for separate courts and reformatories for
juvenile offenders are equally valid in the case of female law-breakers,
for whom special tribunals and legislation should be provided.
The percentage of criminality among women is considerably lower than
that of men, and in nearly all cases offenders belong to the category of
criminaloids.
My father's work _The Female Offender_ demonstrates that prostitution is
the true equivalent of criminality. When we except this class of
unfortunates, there remain only hysterical and occasional offenders,
guilty generally of petty larceny (particularly of a domestic nature) or
of harbouring criminals and acting as more or less passive accomplices;
and criminals from passion, who commit infanticide or kill faithless
husbands and lovers. In all these cases, imprisonment should not be
resorted to; in fact, the greater number might be dealt with by a
magisterial reprimand or the granting of conditional liberty. In view
also, of the important part played by dress, ornaments, etc., in the
feminine world, penalties inflicted on vanity--the cutting off of the
hair, the obligation to wear a certain costume, etc., might with
advantage be substituted for imprisonment.
The milder nature of feminine criminality, the usefulness of women in
the home, and the serious injury inflicted on the family and society in
general by the segregation of the wife and mother (if only for a short
period), are reasons for advocating the institution of special tribunals
for dealing with the offences of women and special legislation which
would take into consideration their position in the family and the fact
that they are rarely a violent social danger.
At present, in Europe at least, no such differential treatment exists.
The reduction of penalties is left entirely to the discretion and
humanity of judges, who in many cases, it is true, are instinctively
disposed to be more indulgent towards women and to take these
conditions into account. But it would be a far more satisfactory state
of things if legislation paid due regard to such circumstances, just as
in Italy in enrolling recruits for compulsory military service,
allowance is made for social and family relations, the only sons of
widowed mothers, men of delicate constitution, etc., being exempted.
In spite of the low percentage and, generally speaking, trifling
importance of the crimes committed by women, there are a small number of
female delinquents, some of whom show an extraordinary degree of
depravity, as though all the perversity lacking in the others were
concentrated in these few. They are true born criminals, epileptics, and
morally insane subjects.
These serious anti-social elements, murderers, poisoners, and swindlers,
might be secluded in a small reformatory with compulsory labour and
silence as additional penalties. Separate cells, however, are not
necessary. All reformatories for women should be provided with a nursery
where children born in prison could be nursed by their mothers, thereby
diminishing the social injury which must result from the imprisonment of
any mother, and fostering the growth of the sublime and sacred maternal
sentiment, which is unfortunately so often lacking in criminals.
The Reformatory Prison for Women at South Framingham, near Boston, under
the management of Mrs. Morton, is an excellent example of an institution
conducted on the lines laid down by criminologists. The Reformatory is
situated at about an hour's journey by rail from Boston, in the midst of
fields which are cultivated by a part of the convict population. No high
walls surround the building and separate it from the outer world, nor is
it watched by guards. A broad avenue leads to the entrance, where, in
answer to my ring, I was welcomed by neat white-clad attendants and
shown into a charming room looking out upon a lovely garden. I passed
through corridors, unmolested by the sound of keys grating in locks,
from this room to the dining-rooms, dormitories, recreation and work
rooms.
As soon as prisoners enter the Reformatory, they are carefully examined
by an intelligent and pleasant woman physician, who is in charge of the
infirmary where the anthropological examination takes place. When the
prisoner has been declared able-bodied, she is placed in one of the
work-rooms to learn and follow the trade indicated by the medical
officer as the best adapted to her constitution and aptitude. At night,
she is conducted to a second-class cell situated in a large,
well-lighted corridor. The cell is furnished with a table, bed, chair,
pegs to hang clothes on, a calendar, a picture, and a book or two.
Work is compulsory and done by the piece, and when each prisoner has
finished her allotted task, she is at liberty to work for herself or to
read books supplied from the library. If unskilled, she receives
instruction in some manual work, and the payment for her labour is put
aside and handed over to her on her release, with the small outfit she
has prepared and sewed during detention.
Women with children under a year, or those who give birth to a child in
the Reformatory, are allowed to have their little ones with them during
the night and part of the day. When they go to work every morning, the
babies are left in the nursery, which adjoins the infirmary, and is
under the direct supervision of the doctor. The nursery, a large,
well-lighted room, spotlessly clean and bright with flowers, is a
veritable paradise for the little ones.
At noon, the prisoner is permitted to fetch her baby, feed, and keep it
near her during dinner-hour. At two o'clock she resumes work until five,
when she again takes charge of her baby till next morning. A cradle is
placed in her cell for the infant, and she is provided with a small
bath.
A series of trifling rewards encourage moral improvement. Those who show
good conduct during the first two months are transferred to the first
class with its accompanying privileges, a better and more spacious
cell, a smart collar, the right to correspond with friends and to
receive visitors more frequently, to have an hour's recreation in
company with other good-conduct prisoners and to receive relatives in a
pretty sitting-room instead of in the common visitors' room.
The final reward for uninterrupted improvement and untiring industry on
the part of the prisoner is her ultimate release, which since the
sentence is unlimited, may take place as soon as the Directress
considers her competent to earn an honest living. But released prisoners
are not left to their own devices with the risk of speedily succumbing
to temptation. A commission of ladies interested in the Reformatory (one
of whom, Mrs. Russell, was my guide on the occasion of my visit there)
are consulted before the release of each prisoner and undertake to
furnish her with suitable employment, and to guide and watch over her
during the first few months so that she may be sure of advice and
assistance in any difficulties.
INSTITUTIONS FOR MINOR OFFENDERS
Punishments should vary according to the type of criminal, distinction
being made between criminals of passion, criminaloids, and born
criminals.
_Criminals of Passion._ The true criminal of passion suffers more from
remorse than from any penalty the law can inflict. Additional
punishments should be: exile of the offender from his native town or
from that in which the person offended resides; indemnity for the injury
caused, in money, or in compulsory labour if the offender is not
possessed of sufficient means. Recourse should never be had to
imprisonment, which has an injurious effect even upon the better types
of law-breakers; and criminals from passion do not constitute a menace
to society. On the contrary, they are not infrequently superior to
average humanity and are only prompted to crime by an exaggerated
altruism which with care might be turned into good channels.
This applies equally to political offenders, for whom exile is the
oldest, most dreaded, and most efficacious punishment, and the disuse
into which it has fallen does not appear to be justified, since it
admits of graduation, is temporary, and an adequate check on any attempt
at insurrection.
_Criminaloids._ Repeated short terms of detention in prison should be
avoided and other penalties substituted for petty offences against
police regulations, cheating the Customs, etc., when committed by
criminaloids who are not recidivists and have no accomplices. A short
term of imprisonment, which brings this type of offender into contact
with habitual criminals, not only does not serve as a deterrent, but
generally has an injurious effect, because it tends to lessen respect
for the law, and, in the case of recidivists, to rob punishment of all
its terrors; and because criminaloids, when once branded with the infamy
of prison and corrupted by association with worse types, are liable to
commit more serious crimes.
For all minor offences, fines are more efficacious than imprisonment
and, in the case of the poor, should be replaced by compulsory labour at
the discretion of the magistrate. Binding over under a guarantee to make
good the injury done, corporal punishment, confinement to the house,
judicial reprimands and cautions are applicable to offenders of this
type, as is also the system of remitting first offences used in France
with great success by Magnaud. Under this system, the offender is
sentenced to an adequate penalty, which, however, is only inflicted in
the case of recidivation.
An efficacious, and at the same time, more serious method of dealing
with criminaloids, is by means of the probation system and indeterminate
sentence. The offender is sentenced to the maximum penalty applicable to
his particular offence, but it may be diminished after a certain time if
he shows signs of improvement. During this interval he is on probation,
that is, under supervision, much in the same way as juvenile offenders.
The probation system is extensively and successfully adopted in America,
either singly or in conjunction with other penalties, as shown above.
THE PROBATION SYSTEM
This is an ideal manner of dealing with offenders of a less serious
type, minors and criminaloids, who have fallen into bad ways, since,
instead of punishing them, it seeks to encourage in them habits of
integrity and to check the growth of vices by means of a benevolent but
strict supervision. The offender is placed under the guidance of a
respectable person, who tries in every way to smooth the path of reform
by providing his charge with employment if he has none, or putting him
in the way of learning some trade if he is unskilled, by isolating him
from bad company, by rewarding any improvement, and reporting progress
to the central office, which has to decide whether the period of
probation is sufficient, or, in cases where it has not been efficacious,
to have recourse to sterner measures.
The only drawback to this system is the difficulty of applying it,
because it is not always possible to find in every town a number of
persons of high moral standing, who are able and willing to exercise
vigilance over offenders. However, to the honour of the United States
it must be said that in many States this supervision is organised in a
truly admirable manner. At Boston I visited the Probation Office
organised and managed by Miss Mary Dewson, which undertakes the
supervision of girls and is a model worthy of imitation from the general
arrangement down to the smallest details.
The relations between the officers and their charges are in most cases
very cordial. The little girls write most affectionate letters, in which
they narrate their joys and sorrows, express penitence for their
shortcomings and ask advice and help as of guardian spirits. The
officers in their turn show themselves to be affectionate protectors and
are scrupulous in the fulfilment of their duties towards the central
office. Upwards of one hundred lockers were opened at my request, and I
was able to examine the documents relating to each of the children with
their antecedents, improvement, or the reverse, methodically entered up
to a few days previous to my visit.
The splendid results obtained everywhere by this system are leading to
its gradual adoption in nearly all the States of the Union and in many
parts of Australia and England, in dealing with young people, adults,
and all first offenders convicted of petty infractions of the law,
drunkenness, disturbance of the peace, and disorderly conduct, and also
for prisoners released on ticket-of-leave. The probationer is obliged to
report himself every fortnight, or at any time the probation officer may
desire. The officer is empowered to supervise the conduct of the
probationer at home and in his place of employment, and to threaten him
with legal proceedings should his conduct be unsatisfactory.
The supervision of adults, as may be supposed, is a far more delicate
and complicated matter than that of children, and however discreetly the
officer proceeds in order to keep the matter hidden from neighbours and
employers, the position is such a humiliating one for adults that many
prefer imprisonment to supervision. I was told that special
reformatories have been established at Boston for the detention of those
who prefer prison to vigilance.
Perhaps this aversion of adult offenders in America to the probation
system is due to the fact that the probation officer is vested with
powers almost exceeding those of any magistrate. If he thinks fit, he
may extend the period of supervision almost indefinitely or convert it
into imprisonment. Moreover, the feeling that every movement and action,
however innocent, is being watched is very galling to a grown-up person.
However, these drawbacks could no doubt be remedied.
In England, supervision is replaced by a pledge of good behaviour
guaranteed by the culprit or a surety, who is induced to exercise
vigilance by the knowledge that he will lose the sum deposited in the
case of recidivation. The magistrate is obliged by English law to fix
the period of probation, which cannot be extended without another
sentence. In France, Belgium, and Australia, the probation system
appears to have given good results.
_Corporal Punishment._ Although repugnant to civilised ideas, the
various forms of corporal punishment, fasting, cold shower-bath, or even
the rod, are very suitable substitutes for imprisonment in the case of
children guilty of petty offences, because not only are these
punishments inexpensive and have the advantage of creating a deeper and
more immediate impression, but they do not corrupt minor offenders nor
do they interrupt their regular occupations, whether work or study.
Fines should always be inflicted for slight infractions of the law and
in all cases of petty larceny, frauds, and forgeries committed by
minors. The fines should be proportioned to the means of the individual
and the gravity of the offence, and replaced by compulsory labour in the
case of those who refuse to pay.
_Indemnity._ The obligation to make adequate compensation for the injury
caused would be an ideal punishment, but is extremely difficult to put
into practice. The magistrate, however, should do his utmost to make
suitable use of this penalty, and the victim should be legally entitled
to receive a part of the proceeds from work done by the culprit during
detention.
REFORMATORIES
Minors convicted for the first time of such serious offences that
supervision becomes an insufficient guarantee against recidivation,
should be relegated to reformatories or other institutions which
undertake to punish offences and to segregate and correct offenders.
For the truly magnificent scale on which such reclaiming institutions
are conducted in North and South America, both continents merit special
mention.
The oldest and most celebrated of these reformatories, that founded at
Elmira by Brockway, owed its inspiration to my father's book _Criminal
Man_ and is the first reformatory that has been instituted on similar
principles.
The convicts admitted to Elmira are young men between the ages of
sixteen and thirty, convicted for the first time of any offence, except
those of the most serious kind. The Administrative Council is invested
with unlimited powers for determining the period of detention and may
release prisoners long before the expiration of their sentence.
Each newcomer has a bath, dons the uniform of the Institute, is
photographed, registered, medically examined, and finally shut up in a
cell to meditate upon his offence. During this time the superintendent
obtains all the available information concerning his character,
environment, and the probable causes that have led to his crime, and
this information serves as a basis for the cure. According to the
aptitude and culture of the prisoner, he is placed in a technical or
industrial class, where he learns some trade which will enable him to
become honestly self-supporting on his release. He is immediately
acquainted with his duties and rights and the conditions under which he
may regain his liberty.
Education in the Reformatory consists of instruction in general
knowledge and special training in some trade. Moral and intellectual
progress is stimulated by the publication of a weekly review, _The
Summary_, which gives a report on political matters and the news of the
Reformatory.
The convicts are divided into three categories: good, middling, and bad.
The transference from the second to the first class entails certain
privileges, especially those respecting communication with the outer
world, the right to receive visitors, to have books, and to eat at a
common table instead of partaking of a solitary meal in a cell. Those
who obtain the highest marks for good conduct are at liberty to walk
about the grounds and are entrusted with confidential missions, such as
the supervision of the other convicts. Bad conduct marks cause prisoners
to be transferred from a higher to the lowest division, where they are
obliged to perform the rudest labour.
First-class convicts are purposely exposed to temptations of various
kinds, and when they have passed through this ordeal triumphantly, they
obtain a conditional release. This cannot take place, however, until the
prisoner is provided with regular employment of some kind, procured by
his own exertions, through friends, or by the director of the
Reformatory.
For six months after his release he is obliged to give an account of
himself regularly in the manner prescribed by the Director; after one
year absolute liberty is regained.
In order to reduce the working expenses of the Reformatory as much as
possible, all posts, even that of superintendent or teacher in the
technical schools, are filled by the convicts.
PENITENTIARIES
Although born criminals, habitual criminals, and recidivists should be
carefully isolated from minor offenders, they nevertheless require
institutes conducted on nearly similar principles. A prison, which is to
punish, but at the same time to correct and redeem, demands strict
discipline: in fact, milder punishments have very little effect and
their constant repetition is harmful, although any exaggeration of brute
force is more injurious than useful. Harshness may cow criminals, but
does not improve them: on the contrary, it only serves to irritate them
or to convert them into hypocrites. Even the adult offender should be
looked upon in the light of a child or a moral invalid, who must be
cured by a mixture of gentleness and severity, but gentleness should
predominate, since criminals are naturally prone to vindictiveness and
are apt to regard even slight punishments as unjust tortures. Even a too
rigid adherence to the rule of silence may have a detrimental effect on
the character of the prisoners. An old convict once said to Despine:
"When you winked at slight offences against the rules, we used to talk
more, but there was no harm in what we said. Now we talk less, but when
we do, we blaspheme and plot evil."
In Danish prisons under rigorous discipline, infractions of prison
regulations amounted to 30%; more recently under milder rule such
infractions only amount to 6%.
In order to strengthen the sense of justice which, as we have said, is
little developed in criminals, if indeed it is not altogether suffocated
by ignoble passions, it is often advisable to appeal to their vanity and
self-esteem to aid in maintaining discipline and increasing industry, by
constituting them judges of each other's conduct. Obermayer used to
divide the convicts into small groups and ask them to elect their own
superintendents and teachers, thus establishing a spirit of
good-comradeship and rendering possible a system of detailed and
individual instruction, the sole kind that is really efficacious. The
385 convicts at Detroit showed the highest percentage of efficiency,
because they were divided into 21 classes with 28 teachers, all of whom,
with the exception of one, were prisoners. It was noticed that the worst
convicts were the best teachers (Pears, _Prisons and Reform_, 1872),
which proves that even the most perverse elements may often be utilised
for the improvement of others.