Evening star., 1925-08-16
PSYCHOLOGY URGED
AS CURE FOR CRIME.
Chicago Psychopathic Ex-
perts Make Rapid Strides
in Determining Causes.
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
CHICAGO, August 15.-The psy
chologist and the policeman make
battery against criminals which eX-
perts anticipate eventually Will re-
.duce outlaws to a no-hit game In
American cities.
Through the psychopathic labora-
tory of the Municipal Court of Chi
cago, the old-line, hard -shelled Grim
inologist whose faith was in brass
knuckles and the Landmarks rope
gradually is being replaced by expo
nentS of new dispensation, who re-
gard crime as an effect of psychic
irregularities and work for its eradi-
cation through science rather than
shotguns and sentences.
A brief summary of the major COM
clusion of the laboratory directors,
based on the II years history of the
institution, is the statement that the
whole American system of criminal
Jurisprudence is long overdue at the
junk pile.
Offender Made Patient.
For the present order in criminal
procedure they would substitute Il
scheme, based upon the accepted fun
damentals of psychology, wherein the
offender is a patient instead of
prisoner.
The laboratory is a branch of the
municipal court, which is unique as
the largest court in the world. In
1924 there went on this courts docket
90 900 civil and 225, 600 criminal cases
for the consideration of its 81 justices.
Chief Justice Harry Olson estab-
lished the laboratory after 20 years
experience as assistant prosecutor and
criminal courE Judge in Cook County,
to test his hypothesis that crime is I'm
damentally a problem of the mental
and emotional disorders. As prosecu-
tor of thousands of criminals he had
observed that most offenders were re-
peaters and that a large majority of
men sentenced to the gallows suffered
various degrees of mental debility.
Has Thousands of Histories.
DIR. William ]. Hickson, widely
known criminal psychologist and his
wife, Mrs. Marie HiCkson, have been
directors of the laboratory since its
foundation in 1914.
AS the largest. clearing house for
criminal mental detectives in the
world, the clinic attracts police magiS-
tartes and students of criminology
from all parts Of the world. Its rec
ords constitute a Veritable gold mine
of sourcematerial for psychologists.
Thousands of personal histories Corre-
lated with criminal records, have been
characterized by reputable authorities
as "the largest body of data on crime
which ever has been put together un-
der scientific auspices"
Here are the conclusions DIR.
Hickson draws from his II years
experience in the laboratory:
ID Mental debility is the primary
factor in crime, and the elimination
of the criminal is a problem more in
psychology than in tlBe efficient ad-
ministration of thousands of police
with quick trigger fingers.
BIames Mental Deficiency.
(2) Virtually all criminals are
short rt-changed on mental equipment
or emotional stability.
go In reference to the number of
offenses, 80 per cent of the crime in
Chicago is attributable to some form
of mental debility, usually not ap-
parent to laymen.
(D In more than 80 per cent Of the
criminally inclined mental weaklings,
the delinquency is manifested before
the period Of adolescence.
(5) Crime could be completely
wiped out in one generation by prop
erly caring for youths of criminal in
clinations.
(6)rA large majority of persons
convicted of major crimes, such as
murder, robbery and assault, have
been In court previously, some many
times, for some minor offense. In
most cases they have been fined, sem
fenced to short terms. or put on pro-
baton, only to return to face some
more serious charge.
Punishment Not Deterrant.
:. Punishment is not a deterrant
to crime in the eyes of most criminals
8. Criminal inclination in mental
weaklings is a dominant impulse
quite as irresistible as the healthy
social impulses of normal individuals,
and the criminal, because of his de-
bility. does not regard punishment as
retribution. but merely as a conspiracy
of society to rob him of his right to
self expression.
8. The degree of viciousness and
brutality in revolving crimes IS in a
fixed relation to the degree and nature
of the mental arrangement.
A number of case histories are cited
by DR.. Hickson in support of each
conclusion.
The direction in which the court is
leading Chicago is indicated by COM
parison of the three principal crimes
in 1919 and 1928. In the former year
there were $50 murders, 6,108 burg
laries, 2,912 robberies. These had de-
creased In 1923 to 270 murders, 3,019
burglaries, ,402 robberies.