A Puzzle for Sociologists.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIX, Issue 13, 26 March 1913, Page 12

A Puzzle for Sociologists.

What is society.l9 make of sneli a. case as that of a 'man indicted as an habitual criminal at the Middlesex Sessions the other day. When arrested he candidly confessed to the detective that he had been “thieving since 1902,” that die had (lone no work since that time, and that “three and five” (three years' penal servitude und five yeans' preventive detention) would “suit” him. When the chairman commented on his caadotrr, he said: “I’d rather be in than out.”

Open eoafcesioa may be good for the soul, but whatever benefits this creature may derive from his candour, it only leaves us in a state of mental confusion. This sort of criuunalit.y confounds all the sociologists, and is calculated to cause the normal being to take refuge <iu bad language, or inspire visions of lethal chambers, for it seems impossible that any reclamation machinery could “make a good job" of such a person. There is, indeed, something quite uncanny iu such a type of humanity. There as not even au much as a love of freedom and relief from irkaome discipline upon which to work. Criminals may be bred in a hundred ways - by environment, by stress of circninstances,

by the temptations of great gain, by W3 giamotir of a life of adventurous idleness, and so on. But a being who is “suited’’ by “three and five,” who would “rather be in than out,” is outside any ordinary category of criminal instinct. The question is whether he is a rara avis, or whether there are many of his kind within our prison walls. We ks-ow only too well that there are many poor wretches who would “rather be in than out,’* because prison at least means food and shelter, and who will, when hard .pressed, commit some petty crime in order to be locked up for a brief spell. But thus man, apparently, actually prefers prison life, and asks to be put away practically for eight years! What hope is there for a creature who can look forward to eight years to be. spent within prison walls?