The Physical Stigmata of the Criminal

     Dr. W. Norwood East, the deputy medical officer in the Convict Prison, at Portland, England, believes, evidently, that the criminal carries with him some physical signs of his degeneracy. In the Journal of Mental Science, for October, he contributes a carefully written paper on “Physical and Moral Insensibility in the Criminal.” Dr. East, like every sensible man, knows that there are criminals and criminals. In other words, the various criminal classes must be distinguished and differentiated. The accidental criminal is one kind; the occasional criminal is another; and the professional criminal is still another. These facts are, of course, patent to scientists, but the average declaimer against “sin” and “materialism” fails to distinguish them. A case in point is that of the assassin, Czolgosz, who was an “occasional” criminal and in no sense a “professional” one. He offended on one particular occasion only and then in obedience to a vicious dogma which had been preached into him. He was in every sense sane and responsible, and has been pronounced so by every alienist who has studied him or his history. In such a criminal the stigmata of degeneracy would not necessarily be found, and, even if they were found, would not necessarily indicate his irresponsibility.
     Dr. East found in 100 convicts at Portland Prison that the three classes, (1) accidental, (2) occasional, and (3) professional criminals, represent three degrees of moral and physical sensibility, and that the difference in these respects is on the whole greater between the first and second than between the second and third for moral sensibility, and the reverse for physical sensibility. Dr. East’s general conclusion is that sensibility is impaired in the criminal, and most so in the professional criminal; and this is quite in accord with the inexpert observation of most persons. In the brain of the professional criminal the number of conscious sensory elements is reduced, and hence the range of ideation is less. The paper has value as a contribution to both the physiology and psychology of crime.