no. 3] PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINING IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY. 805 



Table 356. — Products-moments coefficients of correlation between intelligence and education of Leavenworth prisoners. 



Crime g:oup. 



Non-conscientious objectors 



Conscientious objectors 



Combined 



0.696 

 .712 



O.O0S 

 .015 

 .007 



Both the percentage tables and the correlation coefficients indicate a close relationship 

 between intelligence and education. It is especially noticeable that the larger part of the E 

 men got little or no schooling, while of the A men only about 13 per cent failed to get at least a 

 common school education. 



Section 3. — Recidivism and its relation to intelligence. 



Data for the study of recidivism among the military prisoners at Leavenworth became avail 

 able through records obtained in the psychiatric survey which took place coincidently with 

 the mental testing. The records of the man's previous criminal history were obtained by the 

 psychiatrists in an interview and are perhaps not altogether trustworthy. It was the general 

 belief, however, among the men who did the examining that the prisoners were for the most 

 part truthful in their reports. Another source of error in the figures given here lies in the fact 

 that some of the worst cases were in isolation or solitary confinement and so could not be exam- 

 ined by either psychiatrists or psychologists. It is more than likely that some of the worst 

 recidivists were in this group. 



On the basis of the records the prisoners were classed into what may be called, for want of 

 a better term, recidivist groups. These groups were as follows: (1) Men reporting no previous 

 criminal history; (2) men who had been found guilty of minor delinquencies, such as drunken- 

 ness, disorderly conduct, violation of the traffic regulations, and who had been punished by 

 fines or short sentences in jails, workhouses, and such institutions; (3) men who had been sen- 

 tenced to reformatories; (4) men who had served time for serious offenses in prisons and peni- 

 tentiaries. In case a man's record was such that he would fall in two or more of these groups 

 he was classified according to his worst offense. 



It became apparent as soon as the figures were examined that the results were affected by 

 the inclusion of the political prisoners. Because of this fact tables were prepared giving sepa- 

 rately data for conscientious objectors and ordinary prisoners, as well as a combination including 

 the entire group. A comparison of the recidivist records of the conscientious objectors and 

 other prisoners (see table 357) shows that very few of the former have gotten into difficulties 

 previous to their becoming a part of the military establishment. It should be noted that these 

 previous difficulties were probably also the result of political or religious beliefs and activities. 



Table 357. — -Percentage comparison of previous criminal records of conscientious objectors and nonobjectors. 



Previous criminal history. 



No criminal history . . . 

 Minor delinquencies . . . 



Reformatory 



Prison or penitentiary 



Number of cases 



Non- 

 objectors. 



60.0 

 29.4 

 7.3 

 3.2 



2,320 



Objec- 

 tors. 



93- 5 



5.9 



0.6 



.0 



Combined 

 group. 



65.7 

 25.3 

 6.5 

 2.7 



2,795 



Tables 358, 359, and 360 show the distribution of recidivist groups of men making each 

 intelligence rating. It is quite clear that the A men and the E men have less difficulties than 

 others, for among the A men 82. 1 per cent, and among the E men 7S.9 per cent, admit no previous 

 criminal history. However, a fair percentage of the E men did get into minor difficulties. It 

 is hard to choose from the other intelligence groups the one which contains the greater per cent 

 of repeated offenders. The C, B, and D men have slightly higher records of recidivism, but 

 the C + and C men are not very different. The facts seem to be practically the same both for 



