THE HABITUAL CRIMINAL 51 



the harmful conditions added together which decides 

 whether the trigger of crime wiU or wiU not be puUed. The 

 criminal is a man of the same kind as his neighbom's, 

 differing from them only in degree or in luck. 



There are some persons who think that natural pre- 

 dispositions need not be considered, and that attention 

 should be concentrated on the surroundings either of the 

 child when at home or of the man later in life. Those who 

 look on the matter thus may beheve that, if all children were 

 taken away from bad homes, aU the bad effects of the bad 

 home might be wiped out. One of the consequences certain 

 to result from the adoption of such a poKcy is, however, 

 generally overlooked ; and that is that it would result in 

 more children issuing from bad homes. There are several 

 reasons why this would be the case. Both birth control 

 and abortion are practised because the family is big enough 

 already. Take away a child, and these ways of preventing 

 parenthood will be less likely to be used and more children 

 will be born. Again, the fewer children there are at home, 

 the more care they will get, and the fewer will die from want 

 of attention. This is a good result in itself; but it does 

 follow that the removal of children from bad homes wiQ 

 increase the number comiug out of them. Children cannot 

 be taken from their parents, however undesirable, without 

 some harm as well as some good being done. 



It is, moreover, impossible to deny that many natural 

 quahties that help to promote crime are often passed on by 

 parents to their descendants. No one who has studied the 

 subject doubts that this is true of feeble-mindedness. And, 

 when criminals are examined, a number are invariably 

 found to be feeble-minded. There have been considerable 

 differences of opinion as to the proportion of those who on 

 first conviction should thus be described. In America the 

 proportion is said to be much higher than the figures given 

 for this country; this being because the term "feeble- 

 minded" is there held to cover many comparatively mild 

 ailments. In any case, the experts in England agree that, 

 besides the feeble in mind, a very large proportion of young 



