CRIME
The problem of crime is one of the great problems of social pathology.
There have been developed, in order to deal with this problem
scientifically, a number of subsidiary sciences, especially Criminology
and Penology, which are sciences dealing with the causes, nature, and
treatment of crime. We cannot therefore deal with this problem
adequately in this chapter, but again must refer the student to the
literature on the subject.
The Definition of Crime.--The best definition of crime and the simplest
is that it is a violation of law. It is evident from this definition
that crime is primarily a legal matter; and as laws vary from age to age
and from country to country, so too the definition of crime varies.
Nevertheless, because crime is a variable quantity that does not make it
impossible of scientific treatment; for law itself is only one aspect or
phase of the social life, namely, that which has to do with the control
of conduct through organized social authority. Therefore, while crime is
primarily a legal matter, it is also a social matter and has at the same
time psychological and biological implications. While crime is an
expression of social maladjustment defined by the law differently under
different circumstances, it nevertheless has psychological and
biological roots; and these we must take into account in a scientific
study of crime.
The simplest and best definition of the criminal accordingly is a
violator of the law. However, because the criminal lacks social
adjustment the causes of this lack of adjustment are very often in
certain psychological and biological conditions of the individual. While
the criminal is defined by the law differently from age to age, he is
nevertheless under all circumstances the socially peculiar and sometimes
the psychologically and biologically peculiar person. Under all
circumstances he is a variation from his group; and whether the causes
of his variation are psychological or biological is the problem that
concerns us.
But in the group of socially maladjusted persons whom we call criminals
are many classes and it is necessary to note the chief of these classes
before we can understand the many causes of crime.
_The classification of criminals_. The legal classification of
criminals according to the nature of their crime is manifestly of no use
for scientific purposes. What we need is a classification of criminals
according to their own peculiar nature. Inasmuch as the nature and
conduct of a criminal person is largely a matter of his psychology the
most scientific classification of criminals must be upon a psychological
basis; and a simple psychological classification can be made upon the
basis of habit, that is, as to whether the habit of crime is inborn,
acquired, or not yet formed. According to this classification then there
are three main classes of criminals: (i) The instinctive or born
criminal. This is a person in whom the tendency to crime is inborn, and
this inborn tendency is always due to some congenital defect. The most
common type of the instinctive or born criminal is the moral imbecile, a
person only slightly mentally defective who cannot distinguish right
from wrong. It is evident that in the instinctive or born criminal
biological causes of crime predominate. This class is however relatively
small among the general criminal class, and it is estimated by experts
that it constitutes not more than from 10 per cent to 15 per cent of our
prison population. (2) The habitual criminal. The habitual criminal is a
normal person who has acquired the tendency to crime from his
environment. The most marked type of the habitual criminal is the
professional criminal, who is frequently a person above the average in
ability and who deliberately chooses a career of crime, taking the risks
of his calling. It is evident that the professional criminal class is
the most dangerous class of criminals with whom society has to deal. A
more common type of habitual criminal, however, is the occasional
habitual criminal, a weak person who drifts into crime through
temptation and who has not strength of character enough to throw off the
habit. It is estimated that habitual criminals of both types mentioned
constitute from 40 per cent to 50 per cent of our prison population. (3)
The single offender. The single offender is a normal person who commits
only a single crime through some sudden stress or temptation, but lives
ever after a law-abiding life. The two types of the single offender are
the criminal by passion and the accidental criminal. The criminal by
passion is a moral, and oftentimes a conscientious, person who commits a
crime through some sudden stress of passion, under great provocation.
The accidental criminal, on the other hand, is the weak type of moral
person who yields once through some sudden temptation, but who regrets
it ever afterward. It is estimated that single offenders constitute from
40 per cent to 50 per cent of our prison population. Strictly speaking,
they are only legal criminals, and not criminals in the sociological
sense, being relatively moral and law-abiding citizens whose variation
from the normal is confined to some single offense. Nevertheless, single
offenders constitute, as we have already seen, a very considerable
proportion of our prison population.
If this classification of criminals is correct, it is evident that it is
very important both in studying the causes of crime and in devising
practical measures for dealing with the criminal class; for the
instinctive criminal, the habitual criminal, and the single offender
manifestly need very different methods of treatment. One of the gravest
faults of the criminal law and of penal institutions hitherto is that
they have not provided for the different treatment of different classes
of criminals.
The Extent of Crime in the United States.--According to the United
States census there were in prisons on June 30, 1904, a total of 81,772
prisoners above the age of five years serving sentences. Of this number
77,269 were males and 4503 were females; again, 55,111 were whites, and
26,661 were colored. Classified according to the prisons in which they
were found, 53,292 were in state penitentiaries, 7261 were in state
reformatories, 18,544 were in county jails, and 2675 were in city
prisons. These were only the persons serving prison sentences. An
unknown number were in county and city jails awaiting trial and serving
out fines. Again, it must be remembered that this was simply the prison
population on a single day, June 30, 1904. During 1904 there were,
according to the census, 149,691 persons committed to prisons to serve
sentences. To all of the above we must add also the 23,034 juvenile
delinquents who were found, on June 30, 1904, in the juvenile
reformatories of the United States.
Unfortunately we have no figures from previous censuses with which we
can compare the above, as the census of 1890 and previous censuses
included prisoners awaiting trial. In 1890, however, there were,
deducting the 15,526 awaiting trial and serving out fines, 66,803
persons above the age of five years serving sentences.
These prison statistics, however, give us little idea of the actual
amount of crime in the United States, because they include only the
persons committed to prison to serve sentences, and do not include the
vast number who escape the meshes of the law or who simply receive
fines, or whose sentences are suspended. It is estimated by competent
authorities, basing their estimate upon the number of known convictions
of crime in certain large cities, that there are not less than 1,000,000
convictions for crime, annually, in the United States--including, of
course, convictions for both felonies and misdemeanors. That this is not
an excessive estimate may be indicated by the fact that in the state of
New York alone in 1900, a year before the custom of suspending sentence
on probation came so largely into vogue, there were nearly 100,000
commitments to prison.
All these figures, however, fail to give us any very correct idea of the
amount of serious crime in the United States--the prison statistics,
because they understate the matter, the statistics of convictions,
because they overstate. A peculiarity about serious crime in the United
States, it must be remembered, is that so many persons escape through
the meshes of the law, and this is particularly true in the case of the
characteristic American crime of homicide. An enterprising newspaper,
_The Chicago Tribune_, has for years, with the help of the
Associated Press, collected statistics of homicide and suicide in the
United States. While these statistics seem relatively incomplete and
inaccurate for the earlier years, since 1892 they present every
appearance of great accuracy, and have not been seriously impugned.
According to these statistics the United States has had for the last
dozen years from six to ten thousand cases of homicide annually,
including all cases where one person has killed another. In 1896 the
number was 10,652, in 1899, 6225; in 1900, 8275; in 1904, 8482; in 1906,
9350; in 1908, 8592. The census of 1904 showed only 2444 persons
committed to prison for homicide in that year, but these figures are not
in conflict with those of _The Chicago Tribune_, because the census
statistics omit the vast number of persons who committed homicide but
who escaped, were not convicted, were killed, or for some other reason
failed to show up in the statistics of commitment. Accepting _The
Chicago Tribune's_ figures as relatively accurate, it may be remarked
at this point that the number of homicides is far greater in the United
States than in other civilized countries, with the exception of Italy,
Spain, and some other countries of the Mediterranean region. England,
for example, has only between three and four hundred cases of homicide
annually as compared with our six to ten thousand, although England's
population is about 30,000,000 as against over 80,000,000 for the United
States. The greatest number of these homicides take place in the
Southern and Western states, Texas leading, according to the statistics,
with about one thousand homicides annually. This suggests that to some
extent our high homicide rate is due to the survival of frontier
conditions in a large number of the states, although it is probably even
more due to American individualism and lawlessness, the tendency of
every man to take the law into his own hands.
There can be no doubt that the amount of serious crime in the United
States is relatively high, although there is no reason to believe that
the serious crimes against property are proportionate to the serious
crimes against persons.
_The Cost of Crime in the United States_. The Hon. Eugene Smith, a
lawyer of New York city, in a paper read before the National Prison
Association in 1900, estimated that the criminal population of the
United States costs not less than $600,000,000 annually. He based his
estimate upon the cost of crime in New York city and other large cities
of the country. He found that the probable expenses of government in the
United States attributable to crime, that is, the cost of police,
criminal courts, prisons, and other institutions connected with the
prevention and repression of crime, amounted to about $200,000,000 per
year. This is the amount paid by the taxpayers for the repression and
extirpation of crime annually. In addition there is the cost of the
criminal class through the destruction of property, their plunder, and
the like. Mr. Smith estimated that there were no less than 250,000
dangerous criminals in the United States and that each such criminal
cost the people of the United States, on the average $1600 annually.
Accordingly, the 250,000 criminals would cost a total of $400,000,000
annually, which, added to the $200,000,000 paid out in taxes for the
repression of the criminal class and protection against crime, makes a
total of $600,000,000 paid out every year by the people of the United
States as the cost of supporting the criminal class. While this figure
seems enormous, careful students of the matter consider that it is an
underestimate rather than an overestimate of the total cost of crime. We
may compare the amount with certain other figures. The cost of public
education in the United States is about $350,000,000 annually; the
annual value of our wheat crop is about $600,000,000, and of our cotton
crop about the same. It is evident that the problem of crime is worthy
of serious study even from a financial standpoint alone.
_Is Crime Increasing?_ How we answer this question will, of course,
depend upon the length of time considered. We have no statistics going
back further than fifty years in this country. Moreover, it is entirely
possible to hold that while crime has decreased during the historic era
among civilized peoples, it has increased during the last twenty-five or
fifty years. All statistics of crime in the United States seem to show
that it has increased. In 1850 for example, the number of prisoners was
6737 which was one prisoner to every 3442 of the population. But the
census of 1850 was seriously defective, and we would better take the
census of 1860 as the basis of our comparison. In 1860 the census showed
a total prison population of 19,086, which was one prisoner to every
1647 of the population. In 1890 the census showed 82,329 prisoners in
the total population, which was one in every 757. In other words,
between 1860 and 1890 the total population of the country just doubled,
while the number of prisoners quadrupled. Inasmuch as the census of 1904
was taken upon an entirely different basis, we cannot bring the
comparison down to that year.
The value of these statistics has often been questioned, but it has been
questioned chiefly by people who have not taken other corroborative
evidence into account. The chief corroborating evidence is to be found
in the statistics of prisoners in our state prisons from 1880 to 1904.
Now only those are sent to state prisons who are guilty of felonies, and
the length of term of sentence in our state prisons has steadily
shortened during the last twenty-five years, while within the last few
years the practice of suspending sentence on probation for first felons
has been largely introduced. We should expect, therefore, a decrease in
the state prison population in proportion to the general population. But
we find that the number in state prisons rose from 30,659 in 1880, to
45,233 in 1890, an increase of 47.5 per cent, while the general
population increased only 24.86 per cent. Again the number rose in 1904
to 60,553, an increase of 33 per cent, while the general population
increased about 30 per cent. Apparently, therefore, the amount of
serious crime in the United States is increasing more rapidly than the
population. Corroborating evidence is also found from Massachusetts
statistics, which indicate that between 1850 and 1880 the prison
population increased twice as rapidly as the general population. Other
evidence could be cited, but the statistics of our state penitentiaries
may be considered conclusive when all facts are taken into
consideration. There is apparently no escape from the conclusion that
serious crime between 1880 and 1904 increased more rapidly than the
population.
The amount of minor offenses, every one admits, has increased. The
statistics of all European countries show this, and there is no reason
to suppose that the United States is an exception in this regard.
England is the only country of the civilized world in which there has
been apparently a decrease in proportion to population of both serious
crimes and minor offenses. This decrease of crime in England may be
attributed largely to England's excellent prison system, and also to the
swiftness and certainty of English courts of justice.
The Causes of Crime.--The causes of crime may be classified best, as we
classified the causes of poverty, into objective and subjective.
Objective causes are those outside of the individual, in the
environment; subjective causes are causes in the individual, whether in
his bodily make-up or his mental peculiarities.
_The Objective Causes of Crime_. The objective causes of crime may
be divided into causes in the physical environment and causes in the
social environment. The causes in the physical environment are
relatively unimportant, but are worthy of note as showing how many
various factors enter into this social phenomenon of crime. Climate and
season seem to be the two chief physical factors that influence crime;
and in connection with these we have two general rules, abundantly
verified by statistics; namely, crimes against the person are more
numerous in southern climates than crimes against property; and again
crimes against the person are more numerous in summer than in winter,
while crimes against property are more numerous in winter than in
summer. All this is of course simply an outcome of the effect of climate
and season upon general living conditions.
The causes of crime in the social environment are of course much the
most important objective causes of crime, and, many students think,
altogether the most important causes of crime in general. Let us briefly
note some of the more important social conditions that give rise to
crime.
(1) Conditions connected with the family life have a great influence on
crime; indeed, inasmuch as the family is the chief agency in society for
socializing the young, perhaps domestic conditions are more important in
the production of crime than any other set of causes. We cannot enter
into the discussion of the matter fully, but we have already seen in
former chapters that demoralized homes contribute an undue proportion of
criminals. It is estimated by those in charge of reform schools for
delinquent children that from 85 to 90 per cent of the children in those
institutions come from more or less demoralized or disrupted families.
Illegitimate children notoriously drift into the criminal classes, while
dependent children who grow up in charitable institutions are prone also
to take the same course. Domestic conditions have of course an influence
on the criminality or non-criminality of adults. This is best shown
perhaps by the fact that the great proportion of criminals in our
prisons are unmarried persons. Thus the United States prison census of
1904 showed that 64 per cent of all prisoners were single persons.
Statistics from other countries are practically the same. This means
that, on the one hand, the family life is a preventive of crime, and on
the other that the socially abnormal classes who drift into crime are
not apt to marry.
(2) Industrial conditions also have a profound influence upon criminal
statistics. Economic crises, hard times, strikes, lockouts, are all
productive of crime. Quetelet, the Belgian statistician, thought that
the general rule could be laid down that, as the price of food
increases, crimes against property increase, while crimes against
persons decrease. At any rate, increase in the cost of the necessities
of life is very apt to increase crimes of certain sorts.
The various industrial classes show a different ratio of criminality. In
general among industrial classes the least crime is committed by the
agricultural classes, while the most crime is committed by the
unemployed or those with no occupation. The census of 1904 showed that
50 per cent of all prisoners that year were non-agricultural laborers or
servants.
(3) The demographical conditions, conditions concerning the distribution
and density of the population, have an influence upon crime. In general
there is more crime in the cities than in the country districts. The
statistics of all civilized countries seem to show about twice as great
a percentage of crime in their large cities as in the rural districts.
(4) The influence of race and nationality seems to be marked in criminal
statistics. We have already noted that the ratio of criminality among
the negroes in the United States is from four to five times higher than
among the whites. We have also seen that among our recent immigrants the
Southern Italians have a pronounced tendency to crime, especially
serious crime. Among our older immigrants the Irish on the other hand,
owing largely to their love of liquor, have a pronounced tendency toward
minor offenses. Even in 1904, 36.2 per cent of the foreign-born
prisoners were Irish, while the Irish constituted but 15.6 per cent of
the total foreign-born population.
(5) Defects in government and law are among the most potent causes of
crime. These are so numerous that we cannot attempt even to mention all.
It is obvious that such things as too great leniency on the part of our
judges and shortness of sentence if convicted; difficulty or uncertainty
in securing justice in criminal courts; costliness of obtaining justice
in our civil courts; bad prison systems in which first offenders and
hardened criminals mingle; lack of police surveillance of habitual
criminals; corrupt methods of appointing the police; partisanship in the
administration of government, and the like, all conduce to crime. And
many of these things, we may add, have been especially in evidence in
America.
(6) Educational conditions have undoubtedly a great influence upon
crime. While education in the sense of school education could never in
itself stamp out crime, still defective educational conditions greatly
increase crime. This is shown sufficiently by the fact that illiterates
are much more liable to commit crime than those who have a fair
education. The prison census of 1904 showed that 12.6 per cent of the
prisoners were illiterate, while only 10.7 per cent of the general
population were illiterate; and of the major offenders not less than 20
per cent were illiterate.
The defects in our educational conditions which especially favor the
development of crime in certain classes are chiefly: lack of facilities
for industrial education, lack of physical education, and lack of
specific moral instruction. The need of these three things in a
socialized school system need not here be more than emphasized.
The influence of the press as a popular educator must here be mentioned
as one of the important stimuli to crime under modern conditions. The
excessive exploitation of crimes in the modern sensational press no
doubt conduces to increase criminality in certain classes, for it has
been demonstrated that crime is often a matter of suggestion or
imitation. When 75 per cent of the space in our daily newspapers is
taken up with reports of crime and immorality, as it is in some cases,
it is not to be wondered at that the contagion of crime is sown
broadcast in society.
(7) The influence of certain social institutions in producing crime must
be mentioned. Here comes in especially the lack of opportunity for
wholesome social amusements among our poorer classes, particularly in
our large cities. Lacking these, the masses resort to the saloon,
gambling-houses, cheap music and dance halls, and vulgar theatrical
entertainments. The influence of all of these institutions is
undoubtedly to spread the contagion of vice and crime among their
patrons.
(8) The influence of manners and customs upon crime cannot be
overlooked. The custom in certain communities, for example, of carrying
concealed weapons undoubtedly has much to do with the swollen homicide
statistics of the United States. Vicious and corrupting customs, such as
compulsory social drinking, and the like, undoubtedly greatly influence
crime. Even the luxury and extravagance of the rich might easily be
shown to have a demoralizing effect, both upon the upper and the lower
classes of society.
The list of causes of crime in the social environment might be
indefinitely extended until the student would perhaps think that
practically everything was a cause of crime in one way or another; and
it is true that everything that depresses men in society is a cause of
crime. However, if the student has gained an impression of the great
complexity of the causes of crime, that is the main thing.
A question may here be raised whether it is possible to reduce all the
causes of crime to causes in the social environment--that is, all
subjective causes to objective. Many writers have contended that this is
possible, but we shall see that there are causes in heredity and causes
in psychological conditions, to say nothing of some possible free will
in individuals, which cannot be derived from social conditions and which
would produce crime quite independent of objective social conditions,
unless these subjective factors were also controlled. There is no reason
to believe that a perfectly just social organization which did not
attempt to control heredity and the moral character of individuals would
succeed in eliminating crime. On the contrary, biological variation
alone arising from influences independent of the environment would
produce a certain amount of crime. Crime, in other words, is, to a
certain extent, like pauperism, an expression of the elimination of the
inferior variants in society, and will continue to exist as long as we
allow the process of evolution by natural selection to go on.
Nevertheless, it is true in a certain sense, as Lacassagne says, that
"every society has the criminals it deserves;" that is, every society
could, by taking proper means, practically eliminate crime and the
criminal class. This would have to be done, however, by something more
radical than a mere reorganization of human society in an industrial
way. Three things are necessary for society practically to eliminate
crime: first, the correction of defects in social conditions,
particularly of economic evils in society; second, the proper control of
physical heredity by a rational system of eugenics; third, the proper
education and training of every child for social life from infancy up.
_The Subjective Causes of Crime._ In order to see all that is
involved in the above program let us study somewhat the subjective
causes of crime. These may be divided into biological and psychological.
Among the biological causes of crime, and one which certainly cannot be
reduced to the environment, is sex. As we have already seen, crime is a
social phenomenon which is chiefly confined to the male sex. In 1904,
for example, 94.5 per cent of the prison population in the United States
were males, and in the statistics of convictions it is estimated that
ninety-one men are convicted for every nine women. The statistics for
all civilized countries show practically the same conditions, although
in most European countries the proportion of female prisoners is
somewhat higher, owing, undoubtedly, to certain influences in the social
environment.
Another subjective factor in crime, which again cannot be reduced to
environment, is age. Practically all crime falls in the active period of
life, and the bulk of it between the ages of twenty-one and forty years.
The average of men in our state penitentiaries is frequently not above
twenty-seven or twenty-eight years.
Other subjective biological conditions that cause crime may be summed up
under the word "degeneracy." These abnormal conditions, however, we
shall examine later.
Among the psychological conditions of the individual that give rise to
crime the most common are habits, aims, and ideals. Of peculiar interest
among personal habits that have an influence upon crime is intemperance,
and this is such an important cause of crime that we must stop to
examine it in some detail. It is often said that 95 per cent of the
crime of our country results from this cause alone. The Committee of
Fifty, however, investigated the cases of 13,402 convicts with reference
to this matter, and found that intemperance was a cause of crime in the
cases of 49.95 per cent. It was a chief cause of crime, however, only in
the cases of 31.18 per cent. In the remaining cases the intemperance was
that of ancestors or associates. Other investigators have found that
intemperance figures as a cause of crime in from 60 to 80 per cent of
the cases, but these investigations were not so full as that of the
Committee of Fifty, and it is safer to conclude, for the present at
least, that intemperance figures as a cause in about fifty per cent in
the cases of serious crime. The wonder is that any one cause could
figure in so many cases when there are so many varied influences in
society depressing men. Of course intemperance can, as has already been
said, in large part be ascribed to the influence of external stimuli in
the environment, but it has also causes in the biological and
psychological make-up of certain individuals that cannot be easily
reduced to environmental factors.
_Influence of Physical Degeneracy upon Crime_. By degeneracy we
mean, to use Morel's definition, "a morbid deviation from the normal
type." That is, degeneracy is such an alteration of organic structures
and functions that the organism becomes incapable of adapting itself to
more or less complex conditions. Ordinary forms of degeneracy that are
well recognized are feeble-mindedness, chronic insanity, chronic
epilepsy, congenital deaf-mutism, habitual pauperism, and the like. Now
there can be no doubt that criminality in some of its forms is related
to these functional forms of degeneracy. Even ordinary people have
noticed its similarity to insanity, while Lombroso has traced an
elaborate parallel between criminality and epilepsy. Without accepting
extreme views, it may be claimed that criminality is, in some cases, a
form of biological degeneracy for the following reasons:
(1) The investigations of criminal anthropologists have established the
fact that criminals as a class present a much larger number of
structural and functional abnormalities than does the average man. The
prisoners in our state prisons, for example, with few exceptions, could
not measure up to the requirements laid down by the United States Army
authorities for the enlistment of soldiers.
(2) Investigations, like that of the Jukes family by Dr. Dugdale, have
established the fact that criminals, paupers, imbeciles, drunkards,
prostitutes, and other degenerates frequently spring from the same
family stock. A very large percentage of the prisoners in our prisons
have come from more or less degenerate family stocks.
(3) Criminals more often show other forms of degeneracy than criminality
than does the average population; that is, criminals often belong to one
of the well-recognized degenerate classes, such as imbeciles,
epileptics, and insane.
These three arguments may be considered to be conclusive proof that
criminality is in some cases a manifestation of physiological
degeneracy; but they do not show that the bulk of criminals come from
physiologically degenerate stocks. On the contrary it is highly probable
that the marks of physiological degeneracy are not to be seen in from
more than 25 to 30 per cent of our criminal class. These marks of
degeneracy are of course especially common among the instinctive or born
criminals, and to some extent they are found among the habitual
criminals also.
_The Influence of Heredity on Crime_. A word must be said about the
influence of heredity on crime. The student will remember that,
according to the modern theory of heredity, acquired characters, or
characteristics, are not transmissible. Accordingly, when we find crime
running in a family for generations, as in the Jukes or Zero families,
we must assume either that the criminal tendency is transmitted by the
social environment or that it is due to some congenital variation in
some ancestor. In other words, if a person is a criminal by hereditary
defect, if the criminal tendency is born in him, as it is in the
instinctive criminal, he will transmit the tendency toward crime to his
offspring; but if a normal person becomes a criminal by acquired habit
he will transmit no tendency toward crime to his children, although his
children may of course acquire the tendency from their social
environment.
This is not saying, however, that in such cases as habitual drunkenness
and habitual vice an impaired constitution may not be transmitted to
offspring. But this, strictly speaking, is not the transmission of any
specific acquired characteristic, but only a general transmission of
impaired vitality which may show itself in crime and in various forms of
degeneracy. The germ cells are of course a part of the body, and
anything that profoundly impairs the nutrition of the body generally,
such as alcoholism and constitutional diseases, would also impair the
nutrition of the germ cells, and result in a weakened constitution in
offspring.
_Lombroso's Theory of Crime_. Lombroso, and the Italian school of
criminologists generally, attribute crime chiefly to atavism, that is,
reversion to primitive types. They claim that the criminal in modern
society is merely a biological reversion to the savage type of man; that
the criminal constitutes therefore a distinct "anthropological variety";
and that there is a marked "criminal type" which can be made out even
before a person has committed a crime. They say further that the
criminal type is marked physically by having five or more of the
stigmata of degeneration, and that it is marked mentally by having the
characteristics of the savage or nature man. We cannot stop to criticize
in full this completely biological theory of crime which is offered by
Lombroso and his followers. Undoubtedly crime has biological roots, and
these we have attempted to point out in discussing the influence of
degeneracy upon crime. But to claim that the criminal constitutes a
well-marked "anthropological variety" of the human species, as Lombroso
argues, is to set up a claim for which there is no foundation. What
Lombroso thinks are the marks of the criminal are simply the marks
belonging to the degenerate classes in general. That is, they are found
among the insane and feeble-minded, for example, as well as in some
classes of criminals. There is then no criminal type which clearly
separates the criminal from other classes of degenerates, and which will
mark a man out as belonging to the criminal class even before he has
committed a crime. Lombroso and some of his school have altogether
overemphasized the physical and anatomical side of the study of the
criminal, and slighted the sociological side of such study. Moreover,
Lombroso's statements, which he makes in very general terms, apply, if
they apply at all, not to criminals as a class, but only to instinctive
criminals, as indeed he himself has acknowledged.
Remedies for Crime.--The remedies for crime are dealt with by the
subsidiary science of penology, which may be regarded as a branch of
scientific philanthropy. We can only direct the student's attention here
to the vast literature on the subject and remark that the cure for crime
consists not in some social panacea or in social revolution, but in
dealing with the causes of crime so as to prevent the existence of the
criminal class. In a general way, we have already indicated in
discussing the remedies for poverty and pauperism what the steps must be
to eradicate crime. In order practically to wipe out crime in society,
as we have already said, three things are necessary. First, every
individual must have a good birth; that is, heredity must be controlled
so that only those who are physically and mentally sound are allowed to
marry and reproduce. The difficulties of doing this we have already
noted. Second, every individual must have a good training, both at home
and at school, so as to adjust him properly to the social life. His
education must fit him to take his place among other men, make him able
to take care of himself, and to help others; and make him, in every
possible way, acquainted with the social inheritance of the race. Last
but not least, just social conditions must be provided. Everything in
the social environment must be carefully looked after in order to insure
the best development of the individual and to prevent his environment
from being in any way a drawback to him.
These things, if it were possible to bring them about, would wipe out
crime, or, at least, minimize it to the lowest terms. Of course, this
cannot be done in a generation, perhaps not in many generations, but it
is evident that the problem of crime is in no way an insoluble problem
in human society. With time and care and scientific knowledge, crime, as
well as poverty and pauperism, could be wiped out.
But curative measures are important, also, in dealing with the criminal,
and each distinct class must be dealt with differently. We noted in the
beginning of the chapter the three great character types in the criminal
class: the instinctive criminal, in whom the tendency toward a life of
crime is inborn; the habitual criminal, who acquires the habit of crime
from his surroundings; and the single offender, who, while committing a
single offense, never becomes a criminal in the strictest sense. These
three distinct classes of criminals, whom we might style the
degenerates, the derelicts, and the accidental offenders, need to be
recognized in our criminal law and to be dealt with differently by our
criminal courts and correctional institutions. The instinctive criminal
can scarcely be adjusted to normal social life. He is, as we have
already seen, essentially a defective, usually more or less
feeble-minded. Reformation in the fullest sense of the word is almost
out of the question in his case. The proper policy for society with
reference to the instinctive criminal class, which constitutes but a
small portion of our total criminal population, would be segregation for
life. Practically, of course, this may have its difficulties until we
perfect our means of discovering slight mental defects in individuals
which make them incapable of social adjustment, but practically, also,
we have found means of recognizing this type by such marks as
incorrigibility, recidivism, and the stigmata of degeneracy.
The habitual criminal, who originally was a normal person, can be, at
least in the early part of his career, fully reformed. Children and
adolescents, even though habitual offenders, are easily susceptible of
reformation, but this is difficult with the adult habitual offender past
thirty years of age who has a long criminal record behind him. Like the
instinctive criminal, he is scarcely capable of reformation. Hardened
habitual offenders, and especially professional criminals, should,
therefore, be sentenced upon indeterminate sentences, terminable only
when adequate evidence of their reformation has been secured. This can
best be accomplished by what is known as the "habitual criminal act,"
providing that persons guilty of three or four felonies shall be sent to
prison for life, to be released only upon satisfactory evidence of
reformation.
The single offender, who is usually a reputable citizen who commits
crime through passion or through great temptation, can usually best be
dealt with outside of prison walls. The young single offender, if not
properly handled, may be easily transformed into an habitual criminal.
On the whole, a young single offender who has had no criminal record is,
perhaps, best dealt with by the system of probation which we will note
later. On the other hand, certain single offenders past thirty years of
age, such as bribe-givers and bribe-takers, society may have to punish
in order to make an example of. Exemplary punishment is, undoubtedly,
still necessary in some cases, and in the main it should be reserved for
this class of mature offenders in society who have otherwise lived
reputable lives. Just how far exemplary punishment should be used in
society as a deterrent to crime is a disputed question among
penologists. Whether, as in cases of homicide, it should ever go to the
extent of capital punishment or not depends very much upon the
civilization of the group. In a civilization like ours, where blood
vengeance is so often demanded by mobs, it is probably unwise, for the
present at least, to seek the abolition of capital punishment for murder
in the first degree.
_The Prison System._ Every state should have at least six distinct
sets of institutions to deal with the criminal class.
1. County and city jails for the detention of offenders awaiting trial.
2. Reform schools for delinquent children under sixteen years of age who
require institutional treatment.
3. Industrial reformatories for adult first offenders between sixteen
and thirty years of age who require institutional treatment.
4. Special reformatories for vagrants, inebriates, and prostitutes.
5. A hospital prison for the criminal insane.
6. County and state penitentiaries for incorrigible, hardened criminals.
If any one of these sets of institutions is lacking in a state, it is
impossible for the state to deal properly in a remedial way with the
problem of crime. All these institutions, of course, need to be manned
by experts and equipped in the best possible way. The present condition
of our jails, of our penitentiaries, and to some extent of our reform
schools, frequently makes them schools of crime. Nothing is more
demoralizing in any community than a bad jail where criminals of all
classes are herded together in idleness. Again, the administration of
some of our state penitentiaries with an eye to profit only, makes them
places for the deformation of character rather than for its reformation.
Again, the lack of special institutions to deal with habitual vagrants,
drunkards, and prostitutes, is one of the great reasons why we find it
so difficult to stamp out crime. Into the details of the organization,
construction, and management of these institutions we cannot go in this
book. It is sufficient to say that all these institutions should furnish
specialized scientific treatment for the various delinquent classes with
which they deal, and to do this they should aim to reproduce the
conditions and discipline of free life as far as possible. These
institutions, in other words, with the exception of the penitentiaries
and other institutions for segregation, should aim at overcoming
defective character in individuals. Their work is mainly, therefore, a
work of remedying psychical defects in the individual which prevent his
proper adjustment to society. In the case of penitentiaries, however,
the work is one mainly of segregation, of providing humane care under
such conditions as least to burden society, and at the same time give
such opportunity as there may be for reformation.
_Substitutes for Imprisonment._ We have already noted that some
classes of offenders may be reformed outside of prison walls. This is
especially true of children, of the younger misdemeanants, and of those
who have committed their first felony. It has been found that by
suspending sentences in such cases, giving the person liberty upon
certain conditions, and placing him under the surveillance of an officer
of the court who will stand in the relation of friend and quasi-guardian
to him, that reformation can, in many cases, be easily accomplished.
This is known as the probation system. It has been characterized as "a
reformatory without walls." Originating in Massachusetts, it has been
increasingly put into practice of recent years in many states with much
success. The system, however, will not work well without trained
probation officers to watch over those who are given conditional
liberty. The practice of placing upon probation without probation
officers is a questionable one and is liable to bring in disrepute the
whole system. Probation is not mere leniency, as some suppose, but is
rather a system of reformation in line with the most scientific approved
methods.
Coupled with probation should often go fines and restitution to injured
parties. In such cases, when the person is placed upon probation, the
fine or restitution may often be paid in installments, and it has been
found to have a decidedly reformatory effect upon the character of the
offender. Fines without probation are, however, but little more than
retribution, or exemplary punishment.
_Delinquent Children._ The treatment of delinquent children
constitutes a special problem in itself. It has recently come to be well
recognized that criminal tendencies nearly always appear in childhood,
and that if we can overcome these tendencies in the delinquent child, we
shall largely prevent the existence of an habitual criminal class.
Strictly speaking, of course, the child is a presumptive rather than a
real criminal. The delinquent child is socially maladjusted and is
scarcely ever to be considered an enemy of organized society. Delinquent
children should be dealt with, therefore, as presumptive rather than as
genuine criminals. In general, therefore, they should not be arrested,
should not be put in jail with older offenders, and should be tried by a
special court in which the judge representing the state plays the role
of a parent. For the most part, delinquent children may be dealt with,
as we have already seen by putting them upon probation under the care of
proper probation officers. When the home surroundings are not good, such
children may often be placed in families and their reformation more
easily secured than if placed in institutions. In any case, they should
never be sent to the reform school except as a last resort. The parent
or guardian, also, should be held responsible for the delinquency of the
child if he is contributory thereto by his negligence or otherwise.
We may sum up this chapter, then, by repeating that the problem of crime
is in no way an insoluble problem in human society, though, perhaps, a
certain amount of occasional and accidental crime will always exist.
The solution of the problem, as we have seen, only demands that man
should secure the same mastery over his social environment and over
human nature that he has already practically achieved over physical
nature; and the gradual development of the social sciences will
certainly make this possible some time in the future.
SELECT REFERENCES
_For brief reading:_
ELLIS, _The Criminal._
WINES, _Punishment and Reformation._
BOIES, _The Science of Penology._
_For more extended reading:_
BARROWS, _The Reformatory System in the United States._
BARROWS, _Children's Courts in the United States._
DRAHMS, _The Criminal._
FERRI, _Criminal Sociology._
MORRISON, _Crime and Its Causes._
MORRISON, _Our Juvenile Offenders._
PARMELEE, _Anthropology and Sociology in Relation to Criminal Procedure._
TRAVIS, _The Young Malefactor._