394 HUMAN BIOLOGY 



that only very recently have the immensely important 

 studies of mental capacities and aberrations and the more 

 dynamic elements of mental hfe been introduced; that 

 sociological science, as correlated with psychiatric work, 

 is only just beginning and was almost entirely wanting in 

 the picture presented by earher theoretical criminology. 



Noting the Hmitations which observations of incarcerated 

 criminals represent, yet we find that recent better studies 

 of them go far towards deciding for or against some crimino- 

 logical theories. And studies of juvenile delinquents, a 

 goodly proportion of whom go on to adult criminaKty, 

 as we indicated above, offer a very much better range of 

 facts upon which to base conclusions. 



In considering the theory that "the criminal" is a peculiar 

 type of individual from a biological standpoint, "a degen- 

 erate," "an atavistic phenomenon," etc., it can be said 

 at once that with practical scientific workers in the field 

 this older idea finds almost no place. The anthropometric 

 investigations of Goring in England on a large group of 

 inmates of a prison of the penitentiary type seem quite 

 to upset the notion that the criminal, even the caught 

 criminal, represents an abnormal type biologically. Having 

 been educated in the Lombroso tradition, I myself undertook 

 a very careful survey of young offenders as they came to 

 us in the Chicago Juvenile Court, many of them very serious 

 definquents, from the standpoint of biological anomahes. 

 To my utter surprise, I found nothing in the least corrobora- 

 tive of the biological theory. Indeed, the proportion of 

 stigmata of degeneracy among these offenders appeared 

 fittle, if any, greater than among the general population. 

 It is true that if one observes the inmates of certain peni- 

 tentiaries fifing past, one certainly sees an inordinate number 

 of pecufiar appearing men, but again I assert that these 

 are highly selected groups. We cannot fairly draw conchisions 

 concerning criminals in general, to say nothing of the make- 

 up of those who are otherwise serious social offenders, by 

 observing such a group. Without any idea of being merely 

 cynical, I insist that penitentiary sentences are being served 

 for the most part by those not endowed with shrewdness 

 enough "to get away with" crime, not well enough off to 



