? 



8o THE TREND OF THE RACE 



The truths that have been overlooked are that these deviations, 

 described as significant of criminality, are the inevitable concomi- 

 tants of inferior stature and defective intelligence : both of which 

 are the differentia of the type of persons who are selected for im- 

 prisonment. The thief who is caught thieving, has a smaller head 

 and narrower forehead than the man who arrests him; but this is 

 the case, not because he is more criminal, but because, of the two, 

 he is the more markedly inferior in stature. The incendiary is 

 more emotionally unstable, and more lacking in control, more 

 refractory in conduct, and more dirty in habit, etc., than the thief; 

 and the thief is more distinguished by the above peculiarities 

 than the forger; and all criminals display these qualities to a more 

 marked extent than does the law-abiding public; not because any 

 one of these classes is more criminal than another, but because of 

 their interdifferentiation in general intelligence. On statistical 

 evidence one assertion can be dogmatically made: it is, that the 

 criminal is differentiated by inferior stature, by defective intelli- 

 gence, and, to some extent, by his anti-social proclivities; but that 

 apart from these broad differences, there are no physical, men- 

 tal, or moral characteristics peculiar to the inmates of English 

 prisons." 



The influence of heredity in the production of crime according 

 to Goring is very strong. Criminality, as most other students of 

 the subject have found, shows a marked tendency to run in 

 families. To the question whether heredity or environmental 

 factors are the most potent in producing criminals, Goring re- 

 marks: *' We think our figures, showing the comparatively insig- 

 nificant relation of family and other environmental conditions 

 with crime, and the high and enormously augmented association of 

 feeble-mindedness with conviction for crime, and its well-marked 

 relation with alcoholism, epilepsy, sexual profligacy, ungovern- 

 able temper, obstinacy of purpose, and willful anti-social activ- 

 ity — every one of these, as well as feeble-mindedness, being heritable 

 qualities — we think that these figures, coupled with those showing 

 the marked degree of ancestral resemblance in regard to the fate 

 of imprisonment, go far to answering this question." 



