HABITUAL CRIMINALS.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XXVII, Issue 8162, 29 June 1895, Page 1

HABITUAL CRIMINALS.

The Tear Book of the New York State.. Reformatory gires,ah accodnt.of the ' social surroundings of the class from which the habitual criminal springs. According to this return, 52. per : cent of the inmates of that came, from homes which were .positively., bad,andonly 7 per cent from hqmea.wWcli.were really good.' In addition i^tu|s»'"4l per cent of the juveniles left home soon after : or.before>eaching the agoof fourteen, and only, one and a fraction per cent were surrounded by wholesome influences at the, time of their fall. We are con* fronted with a very similar set of suits when we come to enquire into the social condition of juveniles committed to reformatory schools in England. Tho social condition of the juvenile prison population of our large cities is .equally bad, In a high per centage of cases they have either no homes or no parents, and are without skilled occupation in any shape. A population living under conditions of this character will never be deterred from entering upon the crooked paths of crime by the terrors of the law, however- atrocious these terrors may be made. A life of crime is almost the inevitable outcome of the surroundings in ■■;■..: which they have been born and have to live. It. is produced amongst .these wretched creatures in exactly the same manner in which smallpox and typhoid fever are produced amongat them. We are all more or less aware of the fact that the, criminal is the outcome of a wretched set |of surroundings. But it is nob so clearly recognised that the habitual criminal is in many case 3 the victim of physical, mental, and pathological anomalies. Lombroso has devoted a laborious life to-the investigation::of - : these conditions. Criminal anthropoid ogy, as he has termed his investigations, is reallyanenquiryon scientific principles into.the physical, mental, and jpatholbgi- , cal characteristics of the : criminal popu- ,' lation, One of the results of his prolonged and patient enquiries is to show " that the individual constitution of the ■ habitual offender is, in many cases, a very defective r one. Malformations of the skull, the brain, the face, are of frequent occurrence, The organs of sense and the organs of movement are the'seat of many anomalies. We have also • sexual peculiarities, such as femininism in men, masculinism in woraeifj and infantilism - inboth.- Where a of deep-seated physicial .anomalies]:fire /,. found in combination in,the saraeindi.vidnal, wo usually find that they-are accompanied by nervous and mental anomalies of a more or less merbid character., These mental anomalies aie exhibited among the habitual criminal population in defective moral sehsibiiity.ro general instability of character, in excessive irritability, a love of revenge, and, as far as habits and customs are concerned, a: descent to enstoms and pleasures akin in their nature lp the orgies 6f>niicivjlised tribes. In-; shorty the habitual.criminal:;' in many cases stands midway between the lunatic and the savage, and'.ijepreV . sents a special type .of the human race. It must be admitted that mmy of Dr, Lombroso's conclusions are confirmed .by.; ,' the results of the last census of English convict prisons. In these establishments it was found, that thirty male cOhyicts per thousand were suffering from weak mind, insanity, or epilepsy. It was also fonnd that 109 per thousand Were suffering from scrofula and chronic diseases of the lungs and heart, and that 231 per thousand were afflicted with congenital or acquired .deformities and defect?. More minute investigation would.heighten all those percentages, font as they stand they clearly show that the criminal population - has & high ratio of adwree biological condjiipA?.- <Our existing methods of penal law and administration make no' serious attempt tp deal with ih?se deformities. We do not, proceed upon the Wiple so Nearly laid down by Benth'm- of adjusting W raet K s of P e ° a " trcrtment to t^T of > 6 ° ff" asitflai to the nature & '«tyj">«.Till ttis principle is recognised ,7 fl , sure lohave a steady and uninterrupted ! „ incrcase'of recidivism, a failure of '''' . law and prison treatment as instruments'' of s aal de'enco, a continuous growth of expenditure in connection with the repression of crime.