Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-09-28
THROWING A NEW LIGHT ON CRIME--lV
ny FREDERIC J. HAsKIN

CHICAGO. September 27.-1n the light
Of such study of criminals and delin-
qucnts as is being made in the psyche
pathic laboratory OF the Municipal
Court here, are going to he forced
to revise good many Of our Ideas
about crime and nov TO deal with IL.
Most of us do not worry much about
crime. we pay heavy taxes to be poo
tectcd from the criminal and the feeble
minded and the insane, and We think
about them AS little az possible. But
they are there just the same. ever
present menace. and dealing with ;hcm
has always been one of the great prob
lens of every nation.
New ideas in the modern world--as
Emerson pointed out some time ago
do not seem to originate with any one
man. When the time is ripe. they
spring up simultaneously in a dozcn
places. II * this Way with the latest
developments In cr!m!noio;,% When
Chief Justice olson. OF the Municipal
Court 'hcre III Chicago. was public
prosecutor in the District Attorneys
Office he began to study III" hundreds
OF cases that passed through his hands
and wondered whether the men who
committed them were normal men.
And at the same time Eracpelin and
i1lauler ana half a dozen other Euro
pean alicnistS We're beginning to work
on the criminal mind from the stand
point OF the medical doctor aud th..
alicnist When Chicago called for =
psychopnthic laboratory, the new
science had advanced FAR enough for
on" 10 be established with the assur-
ance that II would go ancnd on the
right track.
There are a dozen such laboratories
in the United states now. Boston has
been doing comprehensive work In the
last two years: laboratory has Just
been established In connection with
Sing Sing New York city has opened
one to work with the police depart
mcnt: Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Gin
cinnati and Cleveland have all fallen In
line. Owing TO the size OF the city and
the Capitalization OF cascs in tn. NM
nicipal Court. Chicagos laboratory Is
still the largest
The laboratory'S work shows that n
large percentage of criminals and de-
linquents have brain trouble Either
their minds stopped growing long be-
fore their bodies. and they walk sur
rounded by laws that they cannot com
prehend, or they have more positive and
dangerous arrangements. What is So
cie;y going to do about it?
This state of affairs presents
tougher problem than the ola one. Re-
gard a criminal as An intelligent enemy
OF society and YOU arrest him. try him,
sentence him--he is off your hands for
six months or twenty years rs tho case
may be. True, these criminals have a
way OF showing up in court again and
again after their release, until the
''repcatcrS" Outnumber the first term
men. Certain aEitators take this un-
doubted fact to mean that the law
takes ~ malicious delight in playing
With criminal--lctting him go and
catching him up again like cat with
mouse
But, perhaps the same cause that
made him break the law the FIRST time
makes him break il n second and "A
third time. and. perhaps, he is so con-
stitutcd that the certainty of punish
meit has no cffec. on his actions. THEN
he presents problem somewhat more
;horny to handle consclentiously
IL is possible to say that If the Grim
inal Is indeed a creature Of this sort
then his prison sentences are all right
anyway. They put him where he can
do no harm TO respectable people who
are paying taxes to he guarded against
him. such view will find few de-
Tenders in this enlightened nge. The
question will have TO he approached
in new way. What have the lahora-
tories who are diagnosing the disease
to say about Il cure?
Scientists who are working in new
fields are always uitra-conservativc
They are treadlng on uncertain ground,
and they like to pile up data until they
can gencraliZe with certainty. But
the message of the laboratories can
already be interpreted from the re-
suits of their work, and 1t is at once
hopeless and hopeful
1t Is hopeless as applied to the re-
form of many of the criminals that
we have on our hands to day. There is
no cure for eeble-mindedness. You
cannot reform "a delinquent who has
something the matter with his brain
by cutting out adenoids or filing teeth.
These unfortunatcS are national bur
den and will have to be regarded as
such. That is the hopeless side of it,
The hopeful side lies in the fact that
if the laboratories are right. much
crime and disease can be stamped out
These brain troubles belong In large
part to the group of ills that are he
reditary. It may not be possible to
cure existing cases. but il will be pos
siblc to provide for Il future generation
that will be free from the plague. The
doctors qualify tho statement that the
disordered brain which leads TO crime
certain percentage Of the cases arc
due to injuries to the brain at birth
or I'm early childhood. But such cases
present no menace to the future, be-
cause their trouble, being acquired and
accidental instead Of Unborn, will not
crop out in future generations.
For n practical method OF dealing
with these criminals who are criminals
because their minds arc stuntcd or dis
eased, tho establishment OF fnrm coll
onics where they can live comfortably
hut apart Is suggested. These colo
MES I'm the ease of tho feeble minded
can be made like any country colony