TYPES IN PRISONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19929, 24 April 1928, Page 14

TYPES IN PRISONS.

CHANCE-MADE MURDERER. THE' HABITUAL CRIMINAL. PRODUCT OF FREQUENT LAPSES. An interesting analysis of criminal types, was made by the Rev. C. Chandler, assistant city missioner and prison chaplain in Auckland, in an address at the weekly luncheon of the Auckland Rotary Club yesterday. "Selfishness lies at the bottom of all criminality, except the political variety," said the speaker. The political criminal belonged to the highest type, his offence often being no crime in the accepted sense of the word, as was shown by the fact that some of the greatest political criminals of history had later, come to be regarded as the greatest heroes. The instinctive criminal was the most hopeless. He was simply unmoral and was entirely without feeling for others. It was men of this type who belonged to the razor gangs, which were operating in Australia.

The best type of man in prison was tho murderer whose act was a crime of passion, committed under provocation, causing him to lose his self-control. "Many of us do not know how we should act in similar circumstances," said Mr. Chandler. "I do not say it is not right he should be in gaol, but it is well for us to realise that he is a man vei-y like you and me."

"It is the occasional criminal out of whom wo make the habitual criminal," he said- "Weak at the beginning and giving way to temptation when circumstances pressed, each succeeding conviction has a cumulative effect. Segregation from instinctive criminal types to be the solution. Mount Eden is a wonderful gaol. 1 am not blaming anybody, but it is the system that is turning out habitual criminals."

Mr. Chandler said there was a distinct preponderance in prisons of fair-haired, blue-eyed men of distinctly Nordic type. This was probably due to a combination of predatory instincts with inherited audacity and love of adventure. Baldheaded men, he said, were seldom seen in prisons or asylums.