Evening star., 1934-05-10
Habitual Criminal Is Charming
Fello,u, DR.. John E.. Lind Finds
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

C4ldI ullllS ACAOW
DR.. John E. Lind. senior medical
officer In charge Of Howard Hall at
St. Elizabeths Hospital. whose popu-
lation of criminal insane is recruited
largely from the psychopathic person.
ality class to which the majority of
habitual criminals belong. told some
curious things about this type at the
conference of the Washington Insti-
tute for Mental Hygiene last night
Sometimes, DR. Lind said. when
man is transferred to ST. Elizabeth's
from some Federal prison, there Is a
good deal of doubt as to the diagnosis.
Then the doctors have a consultation
and sometimes adopt very rough but
workable criterion. If they all like
the man from their first contacts,
they usually agree that he must be
psychopathic personality. If they
don't like him. they question this
| diagnosis and are apt to decide the
fellow is worth trying to cure and
reform.
For, said DR.. Lind, the strongest
weapon of the psychopathic person.
ality who goes through life commits
ting crime after crime is his almost
invariably ingratiating personality.
! Doctors, judges. policemen, welfare
workers, clergymen and even his vic
! Tins like him, are conscience-stricken
at dealing harshly with him, and are
confident they can cure him.
But DR.. Lind, than whom few men
living have had more contact with
| this particular type of individual has
been fooled too often. He described
the psychopathic personality as prac-
/ tically hopeless and incurable, in the
| present state of knowledge. Nobody
knows what is responsible for him.
He often comes to St Elizabeth's
because he is especially prone to de-
velop in prison mental conditions
specifically indistinguishable from
the major psychoses. The chief diff
ference is that these soon clear up.
| Doubts That Dillinger
Fits Into Glass.
Quite a different sort of criminal
DR.. Lind said, is man like John
Diilinger He probably doesn't fit in
the psychopath class at all, but Dr.
/ Lind has had among his patients quite
few who were products of about
the same process.
Dillinger, according to all accounts,
appears to be a rather likable fellow,
If the person he runs up against
doesn't happen to wear uniform or
! represent the law. But there has
been built up in his mind-probably
through the medium of unjust judges
and jail guards-a picture Of society
itself as an evil and hateful thing.
He has declared war on this society,
not on any individual member of it.
He seems to have set up an ideal
| in this war against society. This is
directly. contrary to the mental
process of the psychopath. His diff
Guilty Is that he cannot resist the
temptation of the moment or follow
| out any long time plan of any kind.
Il suppose" DR.. Lind said. the
only thing to do now is to kill Dillin-
ger But there probably was a good
deal of good in him if his mind hadn't
been twisted as it was"
Follow Same Patterns
Year After Year.
There are four of five pretty well
defined classes of psychopaths which
pass through Howard Hall, DR.. Lind
| said, and they tend to repeat year
after year the same behavior patterns.
regardless of what is done for them.
! Neither punishment nor kindness have
any effect in altering these patterns.
! First, and perhaps most numerous,
is the nomad. He gets into difficult
ties and gets out from under them by
| running away He is the fellow who
! piles up lot of debts and then skips
town. Often, at the end of his re-
sources, he joins the Army or Navy,
Then he deserts, is captured, and
! eventually lands in st. Elizabeth's.
Second is the criminal type be-
longing in about the middle class of
the hierarchy of the underworld The
idea of the rather rigid gradation Of
criminal society is borne out by the
conversation around Howard Hall. 1t
ranges from the aristocratic and
snooty confidence man who swindles
millionaires down to the despised
Jack rollers" who rob drunks in the
| SuIpCl dlld Vic otAA to"SA AAAoAA
busSers" who snatch womens pocket
books
I The psychopath. Dr. Lind said, be-
longs in the class of store robbers
and swindlers He seldom commits a
crime against crime, but often
against property. Then there is the
i, drug addict type and the type who
| 60 in for sexual offenseS,
/ In all these cases, DR.. Lind said,
the personal histories follow about the
same pattern The individuals usu-
=. ally started getting into trouble as
small boys. left school early or were
expelled, never were able to hold a
] job more than a few months, and
soon developed propensity to par
ticular kind of crime which they fol-
low with little variation through life,
They get into Jail time after time.
but repeat the same of1enSes as soon
as they are out
The ingratiating way the psyche
path almost always develops, said Dr.
Lind. constitutes one of the difilcul-
ties OF dealing with him.
Even the hard-boiled warden is
sorry to see such a splendid fellow
in jail and tries to make things easy
for him. Visiting clergymen and well
fare workers spend their time on him.
But the rat-like fellow in the next
cell, who naturally arouses dislike and
who gets all the dirty deals and no
favors, may have far more funda-
mental good in him.
War Produced Many
Pathological Liars.
One of the most interesting types