Evening star., 1925-08-24
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL y. COLLINS.

The cause of the present crime
wave sweeping over America Is psy-
Geological" not the weakness of po-
lice or courts. A Chicago psycholo-
gtst has made this discovery.
In the psychopathic laboratory OF
the Chicago Municipal Court is a
new dispensation which proposes to
displace the "out-of-date method or
treating crime" as If 1t were repre-
hensible and with malice aforethought
against society. Instead, crime is TO
be recognized as something like brain
fever; it, therefore, needs to be
treated as a disease. The criminal,
being afflicted with a crime complex,
no matter how punished. goes right
out and does some other devilment,
seven times as bad as that for which
he was penaliZed. So they argue,
what is the use of penalties for the
''disease"f
Are these psychologists generalizing
from two few particulars? There Is
a murder in Chicago daily. There are
20 burglaries every night ana ~
highway robberies. with more or less
violence, not to count the frauds and
other crimes. But all that Is manifes-
tation of disease mastery or
a. diseased subconsciouSness-ac
ing to the new psychologists. These
scientists last year saw in their own
courts, where 81 justices are sitting.
not less than $4,000 civil cases and
225 900 criminal cases. That was the
raw material for the psychopathic
laboratory.
DR.. Hickson, the chief expert in the
clinic, concludes that mental de
bility is the primary factor in crime,
nf ha
a problem more of psychology than in
the efficient administration of thou
sands of police with quick trigger
fingers.
DR.. Hickson formerly lived in Bal
timore, and a Baltimore authority on
the subject points out that he should
have considered the famous Loeb and
Leopold murder in connection with
mental training, when he observed
that go per cent OF the crime OF
Chicago is attributable to some form
of mental debility usually not ap-
parent to layman."
The Baltimore critic adds that DR..
Hickson also overlooks the same young
criminals when saying: THE large
majority Of persons convicted Of maj.
or crimes, such as murder, robbery
and assault, have been in court pre-.
viously-some many times-for minor
OhenSeS.
Loeb and Leopold had never before
been accused. Are they exceptions
then, to the rule? Or had their moral
characters degenerated, regardless of
court or immunity? 1t is asked, What
course of psychological treatment is
recommended in such cases as a sub.
stitute for present legal restraint?
DIR. Hickson states emphatically:
Punishment Is not a deterrent of
crime, in the eyes of most criminals
The degree of viciousness and brutal
ity in revolving crimes is in fixed
relation to the degree and nature OF
the mental arrangement"
According to the evidence of the
trial, it would be hard to find a more
heartless, cruel murder than that by
Loeb and Leopold of the unoffending
child of a neighbor, although the muir.
derers were geniuSes in science and
bird lore, brilliant scholars in the Chi
cago University, where psychology is
specialized.
"Would a postgraduate course in
psychology make society safer from
Loeb and Leopold than do the prison
bars?" asks a critic.
That there Is vast realm of re.
search in psychology Is recognized in
every college. Every character, say
the teachers, is composed of completes
of all it's ancestors, and subconscious
a strong will may overrule its control
st. Paul testified that he was dual
personality when he confessed: