are somewhat more prevalent among the delinquent boys. Conditions that touch the emotional life-chorea, hyperthyroidism, petty nervous defects, excessive or premature sexual development1-states, on the whole, somewhat exceptional in their nature, are to be noted principally among the delinquent girls. In general, however, physical defect is far less prominent in the criminal groups here analysed than in the populations examined in prisons and reformatories by earlier investigators. Further, it should be observed, that, to be operative as a contributory factor, a physical condition need not necessarily be an abnormality or a defect. Such gifts as a vigorous physique, good looks, deft fingers, and keen senses, may prove definite assets in a career of crime, particularly to the weak-minded; and may often assist the young culprit, not only to perpetrate his delinquency, but also to avert suspicion and escape arrest. Stigmata, numerous or well-marked, were present in 7.6 per cent. of my delinquent cases and in 2-5 per cent. of the non-delinquent. But the excess in the former group was due almost exclusively to the disproportionate number of defectives, of the temperamental as well as of the intellectual type. There was no evidence whatever that the delinquent child, otherwise normal in mind and body, is specifically distinguished by anomalies of anatomical development. IV. PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS. A crime is a conscious action. Hence, its immediate if not always its main cause, must be a psychological one. And it is not surprising to find that, in the table, psychological causes figure as by far the most numerous (Table VIII). But in all this long list of psychological pre-conditions is there any that is fundamental and all-pervading? Is there any inborn factor, simple and central, underlying the manifold forms of criminal activity, analogous to those central factors now held to underlie all intellectual activities on the one hand, and all emotional activities on the other? Plainly, there 1 I connect the prevalence of mild or suspected choreic conditions with the prevalence of rheumatism; and the prevalence of rheumatism with the recurrence of chronic catarrh. Doubtless other toxines have similar effects upon the nervous system; and the cases of hyperthyroidism suggest a causal relation between delinquency and the disturbances of endocrine balance. This, and the conditions alluded to in the preceding note, indicate suggestive fields for future research. Meanwhile, it must be noted that my own conclusions respecting physical factors apply only to the more obvious defects, such as are observed during an ordinary medical inspection in the school. 1 All feeble-minded cases in the sense of the Defective and Epileptic Children Act: mental ratios being between 40 and 70 per cent.,-usually nearer the latter (or upper) limit. 2 Marked inborn retardation in general intelligence not amounting to mental deficiency: mental ratios between 70 and 85 per cent. All the dull are also backward. Marked retardation in educational attainments: educational ratios of 85 per cent. or less. The numbers for dulness are included in those for backwardness; but backwardness is only entered as a major cause where dulness was not a major cause. 4 Mental ratio over 115 per cent. Marked defects of memory or attention, without corresponding defect of intelligence. Marked defect of manual dexterity. • Extreme emotional instability, existing from birth or an early age. So-called introverts. Also entered under Instability and Temperamental Deficiency. This group includes cases of mild neurosis-chiefly compulsion-neurosis, anxiety-neurosis, and anxiety-hysteria. (Figures in brackets are, as usual, not included in totals.) So-called extroverts (?). Also entered under Instability and Temperamental Deficiency. • Including constitutional laziness.' 2.7 2.0 4.1 4.6 1.4 2.0 12.2 0.5 7.3 56.9 4.2 37.8 55-7 2.7 2.5 4.1 4.6 3.0 1.4 1.6 6.5 3.3 1.4 1.4 2.5 4.1 8.6 1.4 1.4 Total 16.0 14.5 15.2 10 With boys-fun-fairs, travelling in trams, toys, sport, theatres, etc. With girls-restaurants, theatres. 11 Petty love-affairs having no relation to delinquency are not included: figures for normals, therefore, are hardly comparable. 12 Only noted in children of at least average ability. *No actual homosexual practices encountered. † Not tested experimentally. 1 13 Masturbatory, with guilt. 14 Includes sense of being an "unwanted child" (often justified). 15 Castration-type. 2.7 4.1 5.4 1.4 2.7 2-7 4.1 1.4 4.1 2.7 12.2 9.5 10.8 8.1 -- 0.5 2.7 1.0 6.8 8.1 4.1 1.5 1.4 3.5 2.0 2.0 2.0 4.6 1.0 3.0 1.0 6.6 4.1 5.4 4.6 1.0 5.1 3.5 6.1 9.6 2.0 13.5 5.4 3.5 3.0 1.0 6.6 6.6 11.7 13.7 4.1 3.5 1.4 2.5 2.7 1.5 13.7 162.9 152.6 8.6 2.0 16 Including female relatives or guardians acting in that capacity. 17 Chiefly jealousy of infant children; but includes one instance of jealousy of a petted older brother 18 The child being actually illegitimate or a step-child. 19 Repressed experiences only; unrepressed experiences are not included. 20 Includes one pubescent girl with morbid fear of pregnancy. 21 By obscene words or stories heard; or obscene pictures or conduct witnessed. is none1. Apart altogether from the varying background of bad heredity, bad environment, and bad physique, each at times quite independent of the rest, the psychological defects are themselves most diversesometimes intellectual, sometimes temperamental, in some cases congenital, in others acquired. The criminal is far from constituting a homogeneous psychological class. (A) INTELLECTUAL FACTORS. States of general intellectual weakness are, beyond question, of great importance in the causation of crime. Mental deficiency, together with natural dulness not amounting to definite deficiency, stands among the commonest of all the major factors. Of the delinquent boys nearly 10 per cent. owe their delinquency primarily to one or other of these conditions; and, in a further 25 per cent., dulness or deficiency appears as a subordinate factor. Nevertheless, the defectives alone form no very large proportion; and the coefficient of association is much higher between crime and educational backwardness than between crime and mere deficiency. Specific intellectual disabilities seem quite unimportant; indeed, they are perhaps as often the consequence as the cause of youthful laxity. The totals for intellectual abnormalities are, with the present groups, slightly higher among the male delinquents than among the female. Had the majority been, not school cases, but after-school cases, the incidence of intellectual deficiency, like that of intellectual dulness, would doubtless have fallen more heavily upon the girls. And it is suggestive that, in almost every feminine case where dulness or deficiency was the predominating factor, the girl was an adolescent, and the offence a sexual misdemeanour. In comparing the effects of intellectual weakness among the boys and girls respectively, a difference emerges similar to that remarked in the case of physical weakness. The dull, the defective, and the backward 1 If there is any central factor underlying criminality, it is neither simple nor inborn. Examined by the usual statistical procedure, criminal tendencies appear to be correlated positively one with another, and the table of coefficients shows some approximation to a hierarchy. But any central factor that may be thus implied must be a highly composite one, and dependent quite as much upon environmental influences as upon innate, and quite as much upon extrinsic factors as upon psychological. 2 For a fuller discussion of the connection between intellectual weakness and delinquency, see Mental and Scholastic Tests, pp. 184-190; and Psyche, loc. cit. Vol. II. No. 3, pp. 233–243. It is to be noted that the average association coefficient (Table IV) for the intellectual conditions enumerated in the detailed table (Table VIII) is reduced by the negative correlation between delinquency and the presence of supernormal intelligence. |