Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-10-02
REFORMS OF CRIMINALS
By H. Arlington Bruce

N recent number of the Boston Medical and
Surgical Journal DR.. v. " Anderson issues
= report bearing illuminatingly on the I'M
portant problem Of reforming criminals.
DIR. Anderson, who is connected with the Bos-
ton municipal court director of med1cal service
recognizes the necessity of dealing with criminals
not class but as individuals. He recognizes
further that many criminals are mentally d1sor-
dered, and that in all such special treatment
is needed If the individual problems they present
to be satisfactorily and justly solved.
In the present report he insists more particu-
larly the Importance of carefully discriminating
between criminals who are feeble-minded and
those of abnormal rather than subnormal mental
ity. To aid court authorities in discriminating
between the two types he has made comparative
study of a hundred feeble-mnded criminals and
hundred psychopathic ones.
Here briefly, are his findings
A majority of the feeble-mnded-6S per cent
never got beyond the fifth grade in school,
while 50 per cent of the psychopaths got beyond
that grade. a.
from grammar school, 22 per cent went to high
school, per cent graduated from high school, and
8 per cent went to college.
Again, studying their later records, DR.. An
derson found that seven times as many psyche
paths feeble-minded were steadily employed.
He comments:
jority of these industrially inefficient, and
are not capable of holding down positions for
any length of time.
But the psychopaths as class in the
majority of these fairly efficient ndustrially;
capable of holding positions for much longer pc
rods: and, when they lose SUCH do so more be-
cause of their temperamental pecularities, their
emotional instability etc. than any real lack OF
industrial efficiency"
Continuing DR.. Anderson notes that the hun
dred feeble-minded criminals studied by him were
arrested 1925 times, average of 1925 ar
rests for each The hundred psychoDaths were
~.@~,; 3G9 times, average of 3.69 ar
rests for each pyschopathic criminal.
In the light of these findings it becomes evil
dent that if wrongdoer's mentality is under sus-
picion, and if his life history shows he
extreme duIlard in boyhood, unemployable in
manhood, and has been repeated offender, the
chances that he is of defective rather than
aberrant mentality.
In which case. according to DR.. Anderson, It
is of little to put him on probation. Of the
feeble-minded criminals studied by the Massachu-
sets specialist only twenty-five could be consid-
cred satisfactory probation cases.
But with the psychopathetic type the situation
is reversed. Says DR.. Anderson:
''Twenty-one per cent of the probation periods
of the predetermined were successful, while more
than twice that number (49 per cent? of the pro-
baton periods Of the psychopaths successful.
''The chances are better than two to one in
favor OF the psychopaths. and this without any
special effort directed toward training them TO
cornteract the difficulties of personality most
sponsible for their failure.
1T is quite likely that more can be done for
tho psychopaths through probation than through
any other agency. provided their treatment be
'guided b. a knowledge of their temperamental
pecuIiaTities their personality maadjustments,
that their environment be suitably influenced
or chosen for them, and. they themselves trained
10 inhilit their impulses"
In this report, clearly, there is food for trough
by those who lawyers, judges, penal officials,
social workers much into contact with Of
tenders against society. .r.
Copyright, 1917, by the Associated Newspapers.l