Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1920-06-16
SCIENCE PIAVES
Way FOR CURE
OF f5RIlIIHIlIINALITY
Specialist Declares That Most
Criminals Are Not Respon-
sibIe for Acts.
Need MEDICAL TREATMENT
Connection Is FOUND Between Mental
irregularities and Blood Disturb
sr2cas-Rapid Strides Ia Study
of Mental Deficiency.

! New York.-The elimination Of 90
! per cent. of the crimfnality in the Uni
ted States by proper medical attention
given to children is the prediction of
Or. Max G. Schlapp of this city, an ex-
pert and specialist in mental deficiency
eases and professor of neur0pathology
at the POSTGRADUATE hospital.
! In an article published in the cur
rent issue Of the Medical Record Doc
tor Schlapp goes into detail to show
/ that in most cases of crime the person
/ involved is not responsible for his acts,
and moreover abhors the doing of the
very things that have caused him to be
4 sent to the state institutions of pun
! isHment and reform.
Briefly, Doctor Schlapp declares,
there has been discovered a direct con-
necticn between mental Irregularities
and physical disturbances caused by
chemical impurities in the blood,
and it also has been found that these
eases respond to counter-stimulation
the principles of which are in certain
( chemicals and the extracts of animal
+ glands.
New tests are being tried out con-
stanuy," lie told a reporter from the
! New York Tribune, ''but it is neces-
sary to c0-4iuct exhaustive research
/ before each defective and criminal
type can be identified and the correct
Treatment established"
Nyw Field Opened.
! lie made it plain that he did not
claim Il cure-alI for mental deficiency
o. criminality has been found, but his
object was rather to state certain OBJ
! servations and conclusions based on
the examination of 1900 cases which
/ open a new field of hae-an abnormali-
ties.
tEn5u2ip chas been accomplished in
/ he clearing house for mental deficien-
! cies a5si,e, POSTGRADUATE hospital" he
/ .decareq, TO warrant high hopes that
;he way las been pointed by which So
/ ciety can With assurance. attack in
irmafld t5uicommon sense manner the
sreatest Gifts lPreblemls-cr
r. 1t is To- fhd end that hospitals may
I De substituted' for prisons and treat
nent f5r punishment in the cases Of
+ these lmfortunates who are not re-
I eponsibIe foJi,their acts and, who cam
! not help themselves that this work has
been cpnductGd for the last eight years
/ by Doctor schlapp.
In his arefGe Doctor Schlapp says,
in part, sp
eve still nudge criminals and delin-
{ OF fn
large extent dispose of them legally
on this basis. The general public, and
/ even the courts, believe that person
OF normal intellect can control his ac-
lions, and consequently that the ac-
/ tions of any person of normal intellect
i are premeditated, or at least controlled
( completely by the intellectual mental
makeup, and that therefore the person
is responsible.
no Question of AItruism.
ain the light of well established
facts, known to psychiatrists for the
last half century, this method Of plac
ing responsibility for criminal acts is
basfcally erroneous and should be re-
viseJ. We must learn to comprehend
many abnormal classes hitherto unrec-
ognized by society us subjects for
study, control or aid.
''There is no question of altruism in
volved; a proper understanding and
attitude toward these people who have
no innate power of adjustment to their
environment will make every home and
family more nearly safe.
"You are cquainted-perhaps too
well-with the boy who, surrounded
/ by an affectionate family in q hcine of
:, ease, runs away repeatedly, undergoes
unnecessary hardships. and when
brought back can never give any ex-
PLANTATION for Lis acts except that he
just wanted TO get away
Juvenile Delinquency.
''You doubtless also have come into
contact with those. other well known
types Of juvenile delinquency-childre
who lie and practice petty thievery
from their earliest years, later forge
checks and generally involve their fam.
: lies in serious situations and in whose
genealogical history. there is no dis
ceinible trace of family propensity for
cimilar actions.
"In another class are the thousancs
of tramps, possessing what is common
fly called an aversion to work, who
: form an almost alien stratum of soci-
ETY., useless to themselves, and liable
at any time TO become menace to the
communities through which they pass
"Still another class is composed o.
those unfortunate persons who be-
cause of abnormal emotional trends
or phobias are forced to commit acts
over which they have no intellectual
! control.