THE HEREDITY OF CRIME.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVII, Issue II, 11 July 1896, Page 34

THE HEREDITY OF CRIME.

Of late we have come to understand that there are individuals who seem to be unable to conform to the general rules of society as we understand it. The criminal whom we wish to deal with is not the insane, but the depraved type. Yet it is hard to mark the line between insanity and depravity. I recollect the case of a boy whose father was insane, and who in a moment of ill-feeling broke his sister’s skull with a hammer. This was a case of one on the borderland betwixt insanity and crime.

To the normal mind criminal temptations are merely passing thoughts But there are other forms of minds which dwell upon such thoughts. Little by little the

man or woman goes on and on until at last a point is reached when crime becomes natural. The great mass of human beings may be divided into three categories : First, those who could never become criminals ; second, those who are, so to speak, both criminals ; and lastly, those who may or may not develop into criminals. The heredity of criminality is proved beyond all possibility of doubt. A certain great criminal in New York has given to the country over 700 descendants, most of whom are thoroughgoing criminals. As a rule the heads of criminals are either pointed or sugar-loaf shaped, or flattened ; the cheek bones high and the chin thrust forward. Generally speaking, there is a sort of family resemblance among criminals of all classes. In the practice of tattooing, many criminals seem to rejoice. Sometimes the designs tattooed on the bodies of criminals are religious in character, though they are often immoral in their nature.

Inability to blush has always been thought an indication of criminality. Lambroso, by scientific investigation, found that the most powerful emotional disturbances in criminals were caused by cowardice and vanity, not by shame. Sometimes cruelty is a favourite amusement of criminals. Lambroso relates that a man killed his own father in order to gain possession of the family funds ; and not finding them, he roasted his mother’s feet over hot coals in order to oblige her to acknowledge where the money was concealed. Among criminals the perpetrators of great crimes are regarded as aristocrats, so to speak, and as objects deserving of emulation. This fact is plainly evinced by criminal statistics in all countries. Also the love of cards and drink is frequently noted among these depraved specimens of the human race. Superstition and religion are often met with among criminals. The murderer will sometimes make the sign of the cross with a hand yet moist with his victim’s blood. But these fanatical practices are not to be confounded with the reasonable and well-ordered devotional exercises of law-abiding religionists, since the former use prayer and fasting as a sort of fetish worship, while the latter make use of them as means of refreshing their profound religious sentiment. Geographically speaking, it is curious to note that theft is more common in wealthy countries than in poor ones. England, France, and Scotland are the richest nations, per capita, in Europe ; yet in Spain we find one-fourth the thieving that there is in Scotland. Facts and figures might be cited in great profusion to prove that the criminal is born rather than made, and that it is better to cure him if possible than to punish him.