78 THE TREND OF THE RACE 



like something found in another, do not necessarily have any 

 connection with reversion at all, but are simply the consequences 

 of an abnormal inheritance, or the toxins of disease. 



To the extent that the born criminal deviates from normal 

 man his peculiarities are to be regarded as the result of aberrant 

 rather than reversionary development. The biometric studies of 

 the English convict by Goring have shown that these deviations 

 are much less frequent than is commonly represented by the 

 positive school. Goring's work was based upon careful measure- 

 ments of three thousand criminals committed to prisons for 

 various kinds of crime. A comparison was made of thirty-seven 

 physical attributes in five different classes of criminals with the 

 end of ascertaining whether or not these classes could be distin- 

 guished by any average differences of structure. For the most 

 part when allowance was made for average age and other differ- 

 ences in the classes compared, the differences in the physical 

 characters of the five groups were so small that no particular 

 significance could be attached to them. In certain respects, 

 however, differential characteristics were found. Those convicted 

 of crimes of violence are superior to other kinds of criminals and 

 to the general population of corresponding age in physical strength 

 and health. Next come the sexual offenders; thieves and burglars 

 occupy an intermediate position; while those guilty of forgery, 

 fraud and damage to property are least developed in muscular 

 strength and have the poorest health. Criminals convicted of 

 forgery and fraud are of the greatest average height, while thieves 

 and burglars are inferior in stature as well as weight and "puny in 

 their general bodily habit." Aside from general differences in 

 physique, such as height, weight, obesity, strength and health, 

 there are no anatomical peculiarities which differentiate criminals 

 of different types or which serve to distinguish criminals in general 

 from the average run of mankind. 



The criminal anthropologist might urge that the variations 

 among criminals, which are admittedly in all directions, might 

 tend to cancel one another in the statistical average and hence fail 

 to reveal the greater preponderance of physical anomalies that 



