556 



Popular Science, Monilily 



of a prison sentence. When they are 

 discharged they are Hkely to repeat the 

 offense at the earUest possible moment, 

 and society is compelled to foot the bills 

 for their frequent trials and commit- 

 ments. 



When Police Commissioner W^oods be- 

 came satisfied that 

 a percentage of 

 criminals should be 

 dealt with as 

 psychopathic pa- 

 tients rather than 

 as normal men who 

 have chosen to com- 

 mit crime, he deter- 

 mined to test this 

 idea. So it was 

 that after a certain 

 amount of experi- 

 mental observation 

 the Psychopathic 

 Laboratory at Po- 

 lice Headquarters 

 came into being. 



Before the laboratory was finally es- 

 tablished we devoted forty-nine days to 

 observations. Each day the prisoners 

 at headquarters are "lined up" so that 

 the detectives may recognize any familiar 

 faces. At these daily "line-ups" we 

 picked out men who appeared to be suf- 

 fering from some men- 

 tal defect and gave 

 them a thorough men- 

 tal and physical exam- 

 ination. 



During this experi- 

 mental period, four hun- 

 dred and nine prisoners 

 were observed. Of this 

 number, fourteen were 

 found to be feeble- 

 minded, one insane, two 

 constitutional inferiors, 

 two drug habitues, one 

 hopelessly immoral, one an alcoholic. 

 Only eight were normal. Out of the 

 twenty-nine selected for examination, 

 twenty-one were found to be defective 

 mentally. Seven per cent of those ap- 

 pearing at the line-up were examined 

 and five per cent were found to be ab- 

 normal. 



The average number of daily arrests 

 during the period of our preliminary ob- 

 servation was six hundred and twenty- 



The blocks must be placed in their proper 



openings — easy for you, but difficult for a 



defective 



A defective 



takes time to 



puzzle out what 



is missing 



three and the total number of arrests was 

 thirty thousand, five hundred and thirty. 

 We feel assured that observations ex- 

 tending over forty-nine days are suffi- 

 ciently comprehensive to warrant us in 

 assuming that what we found indicates a 

 condition which exists the year around. 

 And as six hundred 

 and twenty-three is 

 the average number 

 of arrests which take 

 place every day and 

 five per cent of 

 those arrested are 

 abnormal, thirty- 

 one persons who are 

 unbalanced mental- 

 ly are locked up eve- 

 ry day. These pris- 

 oners suffer from all 

 sorts of mental ills 

 ranging from dan- 

 gerous forms of in- 

 sanity to the pitiful 

 condition of a grown 

 man with the brain development of a 

 child. 



Criminals of this type cannot be im- 

 proved through the ordinary corrective 

 methods. They serve their sentences 

 and return to so- 

 ciety only to re- 

 peat the offense 

 and pass again 

 through the Po- 

 lice Department, 

 the courts, the 

 District-Attor- 

 ney's offices back 

 to prison from 

 which t h e \^ 

 emerge each time 

 more dangerous. 

 This means that 

 they not only con- 

 stitute a constant 

 menace to society but are a needless ex- 

 pense as well. Their constant reappear- 

 ance in the courts soon mounts up to a 

 very considerable sum. Also, it goes 

 without saying, prison treatment is far 

 from humane in the case of such per- 

 sons. Where their difficulty is one 

 which may be cured, they require hos- 

 pital treatment and where it is incurable 

 they should be committed to an institu- 

 tion wherein they would be protected 



A defective finds 

 it difficult to trace 

 the course of this 

 maze with a pencil 



