Evening star., 1916-09-30
NEW LIGHT on CRIIB.
N-The Outlook.
Ry Frederio ]. Haskiu.

CHICAGO. Ill. September 1s-In the
light Of such study Of criminals and
delinquents as Is being made in the
psychopathic laboratory Of the mu-
nicipal court here. we are going to be
forced to revise . good many OF our
ideas about orime and how to deal with
it. Most Of US do not worry much
about crime. We pay heavy taxes to
be protected from the criminal and the
feeble-minded and the insane and we
think about them as little as possible.
But they are there just the same. an
ever-present menace, and dealing with
them has always been one Of the great
problems Of everY>>tion-
New ideas in the modern world-as
do not seem to originate with any one
man. Whom tho time Is ripe, they
spring UP simultaneously in a dozen
places. 1t is this way with the latest
developments in crimfnology. When
Chief Justice Olson Of the municipal
court here in Chicago was public prose-
cutor in the district attorneys onioe he
began to study the hundreds Of cases
that passed through his hands and
wonder whether the mon who commit
ted them were normal mon. And at
the same time Kraepelin and Bleuler
and half q dozen other European alien
lists were beginning to work on the
criminal mind from tho standpoint of
the medical doctor and the alientst
When Chicago called for . psyoho-
advanced far enough for one to be o.
tablihed with the assurance that 1t
would go ahead on tho right track.
There are q dozen such laboratories
in tho Omitted States now. Boston ha.
been doing
Dozen Such ON prehen'
Laboratories in o. s. tn. the last two rs
years: laboratory has just been estab-
nshed in connection with Sing Sing
New York city has opened ono to work
with the police department; Phfladel-
phia and Pittsburgh. Cincinnati and
Cleveland have all fallen in line. Ow-
ing to the size Of the city and the cen
tralization OF cases in tho municipal
court. Chicago's laboratory is still the
largest
The laboratory's work shows that 9
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. Wha
is society going to do about It?
This state of affairs presents {
tougher problem than the old one. Re
gard a criminal as an Intelligent enc
my of society and you arrest him, tr!
him. sentence him-he is of you
hands for six months or twenty years
nails have a way of showing up IL
court again and again after their re-
lease. until the "repeaters" outnumbe
the frst-term men. Certain agitator
take this undoubted fact to mean tina
the law takes a malicious delight II
playing with criminal-letting hin
go and catching him up again like
cat with mouse. But perhaps tn
same cause that made him break tn,
law the first time makes him break 1
a second and a third time. and perhap
he is SO constituted that the certaint.
OF punishment has no effect on his &C
tions. Then he presents problem
somewhat more thorny to handle con
scientiously.
1t is possible to say that II the crimi
nal Is indeed creature OF this sort
then his prison sentences are all righ
anyway. They uut him where he car
do no harm to respectable people wht
are paying taxes to be guarded agains
him. Such a view will find few defend
ers In this enlightened age. The Ques
tton will have to be approached in
new way. What have the Laboratories
who are diagnosing the disease to sa!
about q cure7
Scientists who arc working in new
fields arc always ltra-conservative
They ar,
Message Is Both treadins OF
Hopeless and Hopeful. rrenn ' :
and they like to pile UP data until the.
can generalixe with certainty. But tn,
message Of the laboratories>can alread,
be interpreted from the results Of thei,
work. and It is at once hopeless ant
hopeful.
It is hopeless as applied to tho re-
form Of many Of tho criminals that ",
have on our hands today. There IL NJ
cure for feeble-mindedness. You can.
not reform a delinquent who has some
thing the matter with his brain by cut
ting out adenoids or filing teeth. Thes,
unfortunates are a national burden, ant
will have to be regarded as such. Tha
is the hopeless side Of 1t.
The hopeful side lies in the fact tha
II the laboratories are right, mucl
crime is a disease, and disease can b,
stamped out. These brain troubles be
long in large part to the group of i'll.
that are hereditary. It may not be pos
sible to cure existing cases, but 1t will
be possible to provide for q future gen
Grafton that will be free from tn,
plague. The doctors qualify tn,
statement that the disordered braiI
which leads to crime Is hereditary b,
pointing out that a certain percentage
Of the cases are due to injuries to the
brain at birth or in early childhood
But such cases present no menace te
the future, because their trouble, beina
acquired and accidental instead of in.
born. will not crop out in future gen.
erations.