Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-07-11
PEOPLE BORN TO CRIME
Some Curious Points Respecting . Science
New to the World.

New to the World.
CRIMINAL ANrHRoPoLoGr" AND WHAT IT rs Try
ING TO AccoEPLisH-xvrI. DOORS A CLASS
APART, TO BE DEALT WITH AS MORALLY INSANE
how TO TELL A BORN CRIMINAL At A GLANCE.
Written for The Evening Star.
ST ORD, HOW DO LOVE TO STEAL,
~ II had thousands, I would still be a
thief"
The exclamation was made by young Jail
bird in the hearing Of DR.. Robert Fletcher.
who gu oted it by way Of illustration in the
course OF u lecture delivered the other day on
the relation Of the criminal TO society.
Many facts were adduced by the lecturer to
| show that criminals are not usually agitated by
any feelings OF remorse for their offenses.
There is popular notion to the effect that
murderer is necessarily pursued by the furies
OF regret and repentance; but the truth seems
to be that such feelings are rarely entertained
by the offender. Surgeon Bruce Thomson of
the general prison of Scotland says that Of the
ooO murderers lac has known only three could
De ascertained to have exhibited any remorse-
| ful symptoms. The true criminal is unre-
| strained by moral perception from crime and
the same lack OF sensibility forbids contrition.
| VANITY THE STRONGEST SENTIMENT.
famous Russian writer, who passed many
years among convicts says Of them: This
strange family had an air of strong resem-
Dlance. All OF them were morose, curious.
presumptuous and insufYerably vain. Vanity
was at the bottom OF all their sentiments. Dur
ing all the period of nv observation never
sa" the slightest sign of repentance or even Of
uisqulet on account of their crimes"
french writer, speaking Of old men con-
oemned to the galleys for HE, says that he
often struck with their venerable air." They
mad an air of repose, doubtless. because. with
daily food insured for life and with minds in
content
Habitual criminals are born such. Their oc-
cupatlon Is to them natural and enjoyable;
| they pursue 1t just artisans follow their
trades. When they are locked up in prison
they behave admirably, often work hard and go
| out with an accumulation of savings and i'm
medlately thereupon return to their vocation
OF EVIL doing. II honest work be got for them
they run away from it and go back to their
preferred mode Of life, even though they know
mat they cannot earn as much money by it.
In the cities, towns and villages of the civil
lzed world every year thousands of unoffending
! men, women and children are slaughtered,
| m!!illons OF money are carried away by the de-
Vastator and incendlary fires light his pathway
OF destruction. ''Who is this devastator!'' asks
DR.. Fletcher. "The criminal In nine great
countries Of the world, including the United
States. more than 10000 cases of homicide are
recorded each year and the number of murders
actually done is vastly greater. Society does
us utmost to suppress the evil but. in spite of
all. the criminal becomes more numerous. He
breeds and multiples."
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CRIMINAL.
VI late years there has sprung up new
science, which seeks to investigate tine natural
| history OF the criminal 1t regards the criminal
| as variety Of the human species which has de-
generated physically and morally. The most
eminent living authority on this subject thus
describes the two great criminal classes: 1.-The
murderer" he says, %'has q cold, concentrated
look; the nose is often aquiline or hooked, al
ways large; the ears long; the Jaws power
ful; the cheek bones widely separated; the hair
is crisp and abundant; the canine teeth well
developed and the lips thin: often the eve ap-
pears bloodshot, and a nervous contraction on
| one side OF the face uncovers the canine teeth,
producing sardonic effect" The thief,
| he asserts, has less brain capacity than the as
sassin; he has remarkable mobility of counte-
nance; the eye is small and restless; the eve
brows thick; the nose fat and the for ehead
4 low and retreating. Another writer on the
same topic declares that one visiting prison
can, by the aid Of these outline descriptions,
distinguish those condemned for murder from
| those convicted of theft.
The belief Of this school Of anthropologists
| is that the criminal section of mankind is dis
tingushed by certain definite physical charac-
| terlsilcs which are susceptible of study and
| SNsosihSotAou. NtHtTdily speaking, Iley assert,
| the habitual evil-doer is understood. his weight
being disproportioned to his height, with ten
dency to hat-footedness. He is heavy in his
movements, lacking anatomical symmetry and
| beauty. Particularly, his head is not sym-
metrical. Indeed, want of symmetry as TO the
head and face is surprisingly pre- yalent in Grim
inals, as 1t Is also in the insane. 1t il SO usual
| that collection OF portraits of thieves and
murders has all the effect of a series Of carica-
lures The sugar-loaf shape Of head is the pre-
Is Ant and he -, Al
| the face are both excessive. Curiously enough
the average weight Of the murderers Uranium
| Is greater than that of the non-criminal type.
BONE CHARACTERISTICS.
Large fiat ears standing out prominently
from the head are strongly characteristic of
the criminal type. Such aural appendapes
bear a certain resemblance to those of ares
| and the observation has been made that this
organ is among the first which exhibit a ten
dency to degenerate in man. 1t is very inter-
esting that the arched, or Roman nose should
have been found remarkably frequent among
| murderers. peculiar illustration Of the sup,
posed relation of this organ to character is
| found in Arabia, where horses with arched
noses are not admitted to the breeding stables
| lest they transmit an evil temper to their Off
spring.
In general way It has been found that Grim.
inals customarily exhibit abpormalities of
physical structure which it is songh to classify
for the purpose of studying to better advantage
| the natural history of the wicked Hitherto it
has been supposed that the bad man was made
| such chiefly by his unfortunate environment in
youth, with possibly tinge of influence, innate
and inherited; but this new science seeks to
prove that the criminal is born such, though
| doubtless matured by unhealthy moral condi-
tons. Criminal anthropology" therefore is
| the study Of the being who, in consequence of
physical conformation, hereditary faint and
surroundings Of vice, yields to temptation and
begins a career Of crime. As for the influence
| of heredity in this matter better reference
cannot be made than to the case Of the Jukes,
SO infamous in history In seventy-five years
the descendants of q single pair-1, 200 persons
all became devoted to life of crime. 1t has
been estimated that over q, $50, 900 of loss was
caused by them, without taking into account
the entailment Of pauperism and crime upon
| subsequent generations. Speaking Of the in
fuence of heredity, it is worth mentioning
| that, according to eminent Psychologists, the
| offspring Of parents who marry late in life are
more apt to turn out criminals than other
| children.
1t seems to have been shown that the mere
senses Of criminals q class less acute than
those Of normal human beings. Twice as many
of them in a thousand are color-blind; they
have a less acute taste; their power of smell il
less developed and their hearing is not so
acute. Furthermore, their sensibility to pain
is less, 90 that the malefactor is apt to recover
rapidly from wounds which would be dam