The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-09-02

pr. Gorln9, Medlcal OHicer OF EnglISh
Prison, Gives Results of Twelve
Years Study of ronsdoers-crimi-
mails Are Defective, but Only by Con-
trast With Normal People.
"As individuals criminals possess no
characteristics, physical or mental,
which are not shared by all people.
The only difference is one of degree"
Such is the conclusion reached after
a remarkable statistical investigation
based upon measurements Of prison
ers in Parkhurst prison, England,
which began In 1901, now set forth
by DR.. Goring, the medical officer of
the prison, in monograph which Is of
extraordinary scientific and human in
terest.
DR.. Gorings measurements shatter
the theory propounded by Lombroso
that there is a definite criminal type
and that 1t is even possible to know
the various kinds of criminals by
their faces. The nose Of the thief is
not, as Lombroso taught, "short and
large" the eye of the homicide mot
CLASSY, cold and fixed" Crime does
not reveal itself in mans outward
visage.
The general characteristics of the
English convict are those of a defec
tive He is defective in physical
strength, weight, stature and mental
capacity. 1t is found that in height
and bodily weight he is very marked
ly inferior to the general average of
the population. This is the only solid
fact ascertained which might suggest
the existence of criminal type.
T. Highbrows and Lowbrows.
One venerable superstition laid to
rest by DR.. Goring is that a low fore
head connotes criminality and high
forehead Intelligence.
The different classes of criminals, he
shows, do not differ markedly among
themselves or vary much, except in
height and weight, from the standard
of population, while hospital inmates
who are quite free from crime, but of
weak physique, in many characteris-
tics signally resemble the malefactor.
Thieves and burglars, it is true. are
unusually puny, while fraudulent of
tenders are commonly as tall and
heavy as the average man, but this is
because the fraudulent offender is
drawn from a higher class of the pop
ulation than the thief.
The remarkable inferiority of the
criminal in height and weight is ex-
planned very simply. Stature and ply
sique are endowments which enable a
man readily to obtain an honest occu
patton. I'VE might easily produce sta
tistics," says DIR. Goring, "to show
that, all other things being equal, the
poor mans physique serves frequently
as the casting vote determining wheth-
er he can easily find employment or be
unemployable." 1t is for this reason
apparently and no other that crime Is
to some extent hereditary, low stature
being transmitted by parents to their
progeny.
Causes of CriminaIity.
The criminals health appears to
have no effect upon his proclivity to
crime, nor is it true that drink is the
cause OF cr1me, except III Ine caSe VI
violent offenses against the person. So
cial inequality, often paraded as the
true cause, appears to have even less
to do with making a criminal, but a
low standard of intelligence, often
amounting to mental deficiency, has
been found in the vast majority of
criminals.
DR.. Goring concludes: "The chief
source of the high degree Of relation
ship between weakmindedness and
crime is probably beside the fact The
thing which we call criminality and
which leads to the perpetration of
many if not most anti-social offenses
today is not inherent wickedness. but
natural stupidity"
The volume is epoch making In that
it is "the first attempt to arrive at
results in criminology by the statistical
treatment of facts. which in a crude
form are without scientific value"
FORMS A ONE MAN TRUST.