CRIMINOLOGY 



1638 



CRIMINOLOGY 



atories, industrial schools and the like. Thus 

 it overlaps and merges with sociology, ethics, 

 psychology, mental and physical hygiene, the 

 study of heredity in fact, the whole science 

 of man. 



Lombroso, the Pioneer. As a science crim- 

 inology had its beginnings in 1876, when an 

 Italian professor named Cesare Lombroso 

 (1836-1909) published his famous work entitled 

 Criminal Man. After close study of a large 

 number of prisoners he announced his belief 

 that a criminal is not a normal, civilized 

 man, but belongs to a special type that re- 

 verts to the primitive savage state. To de- 

 scribe this class he originated the term crim- 

 inal by nature, or by instinct. By way of 

 proving his theory he made a detailed analy- 

 sis of the physical characteristics of the crim- 

 inals he had observed, and pointed out that 

 certain abnormal features were common to all, 

 whatever their nationality. Among these he 

 cited the large, prominent jaw, retreating fore- 

 head, peculiarly-shaped head and ears, heavy 

 hair, early wrinkles, scanty beard and frequent 

 left-handedness. 



Lombroso's work aroused much opposition, 

 but it had the great merit of starting investi- 

 gation. His opponents argued that if a man 

 committed murder because of a barbarous 

 nature for which he was not to blame, it 

 would not be just to hold him to account; 

 and that this view allowed no hope of reform- 

 ing criminals through right prison training or 

 of lessening crime by giving children the 

 proper education and environment during the 

 character-forming years. 



Classes of Criminals. Later investigation 

 and statistics have shown that only about ten 

 per cent of the criminal class can be put in 

 Lombroso's group of born criminals. The 

 great majority come under the heads of occa- 

 sional criminals, that is, those yielding to 

 temptation or opportunity, and professional 

 criminals. Insane criminals constitute a special 

 group, on which borders also the large class of 

 mental defectives. The least abnormal divi- 

 sion is that of criminals by passion, which in- 

 cludes those whose criminal acts spring from 

 some sudden blinding passion, such as anger, 

 jealousy or avarice. 



Some Causes of Crime. Want has been called 

 "the mother of crime"; poverty is a large 

 factor in the problem, particularly in cities," 

 where the contrast with wealth is so sharply 

 emphasized. Statistics show that crimes against 

 property are most numerous in cold seasons 



and cold climates, and that they increase with 

 "hard times" brought on by strikes, wars, 

 business crises and the like. The largest per- 

 centage of crime is naturally among those 

 without regular trade or employment. The 

 last factor links itself logically with igno- 

 rance, another tremendously-important cause of 

 crime. It is significant that the higher we go 

 in the scale of education and occupation, the 

 smaller the ratio of criminality becomes. 



The French philosopher, LaBruyere, once 

 wrote: "If poverty is the mother of crimes, 

 want of sense is the father of them." In de- 

 fying law and order, the criminal proves him- 

 self lacking in balance and ability to adapt 

 himself to his social environment. Every 

 insane or mentally defective individual is a 

 potential criminal. A report of the Virginia 

 State Board of Charities made in 1916 and 

 based on five years of careful study, indicated 

 feeble-mindedness in sixty per cent of the jail 

 population of the state, and in sixty-eight per 

 cent of all children passing through its juvenile 

 courts and industrial schools. 



Vicious environment is a fruitful source of 

 criminality, and environment in turn is the 

 outgrowth of existing social and economic con- 

 ditions. However, it is the feeble-minded who 

 are most susceptible to the influence of evil 

 associates and surroundings. Drunkenness is 

 responsible for a large proportion of crime ; and 

 this vice not only acts directly, but creates 

 future criminals among the rising generation. 

 It. is a matter of record that ninety per cent 

 of the backward children in schools come from 

 homes where drunkenness is common. 



Among other causes of crime may be men- 

 tioned crowded living conditions, political cor- 

 ruption, and sensational newspaper stories' of 

 crime, for notoriety appeals to the vain and 

 abnormal nature of the criminal. It is also a 

 proved fact that very hot weather and hot 

 climates engender crimes, particularly those 

 against the person, the extreme temperature 

 having an exciting effect upon the emotions. 



Protection Against Crime. The great prin- 

 ciple which the science of criminology has de- 

 veloped is that the aim in the treatment of 

 crime should be help, not punishment; the 

 means, education and hope, not intimidation. 

 Ruskin says, "Punishment is the last and worst 

 instrument in the hands of the legislator for 

 the prevention of crime." Z. R. Brockway, 

 the man who made the Elmira (N. Y.) Re- 

 formatory a practical experimental laboratory 

 for prison-reform methods, has declared, "The 



