University of Virginia Library

THE INDIVIDUAL DELINQUENT. By William Healy, A. B., M. D. (Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1915.)

It is a rare and pleasant experience to meet a book on such a general topic as delinquency, which has not as its raison d'etre the exploitation of some over-worked hypothesis. The Director of the Psychopathic Institute of the Juvenile Court in Chicago has, however, not only avoided this danger but has given psychologists, jurists, and penologists such a report of his five years work as not one of them can afford to overlook. As the title of the work implies, the material is drawn from the individual study of the delinquent. He presents the results of the unbiased investigation of the discoverable factors in the production of criminality in 1000 recidivists, who were mostly, though far from exclusively, adolescents—the period when factors, both internal and external, are most easily determined and modified.

A careful perusal of the introductory chapter on methods reveals both the thoroughness and open-mindedness of the author. He demonstrates that no satisfaction was gained by the finding of any special mental or physical abnormality, unless a more direct relation could be shown with the crime committed than is established by mere coincidence. It is particularly satisfying to note the precautions taken in the application of set tests, how careful Dr. Healy and his assistants have been to determine the completeness of cooperation on the part of the subject and to weigh this factor in evaluating the results. One soon reaches the conclusion that the author's own series of tests are much more likely to lead to reliable diagnosis than the series of Binet, which demands so much of the rather specialized capacity of abstract formulation. Healy's tests, on the other hand, deal fairly with the primitive, untaught mind and that which has an unequal and deceptive development of language ability. In connection with these tests, it is interesting to note, by the way, that he finds irregularity in results (or cooperation) to be so often associated with epilepsy and depletion from sex over-indulgence that it may be taken as a suggestive diagnostic feature.

The value for the reader in discovering the eclectic view-point and critical conservatism of an investigator lies in the confidence which these qualities beget in the reliability of results. One can read most of "The Individual Delinquent" to learn facts without the distraction of critical uncertainty. With this in mind, therefore, a few of his conclusions, picked mostly at random, may be

quoted. An important factor in the production of delinquency he finds to lie in the premature appearance of adult sex development—a precocity which he regards as dangerous because it seems to be correlated with a stimulation of sex instinct before adult inhibitions appear. In girls (not in boys) he finds a distinct tendency to general physical over-development as compared with the norm of the same age. In this connection it is striking to find how many of his cases, which seem to exhibit ingrained criminal tendencies, are delinquents only during the period of adolescent instability. The various statistics are naturally also of extreme interest, particularly since they are the result of examination of 1,000 cases, chosen for this purpose only when there were sufficient data secured to make the individual study relatively complete, and since they are so at variance with the publications of others who have approached criminal statistics to prove a theory rather than to learn facts. He finds alcoholism in one or both parents in 311 cases. He cannot determine any direct inheritance of criminal tendencies as such, but regards them as indirectly of great importance as there were 61% who showed distinct defects in the family antecedents. He thinks that stigmata of degeneration are probably better correlated with mental defect and also with nutritional or environmental conditions than with criminalism as such. Followers of Lombroso will be disappointed to read that he found only 83 epileptics, or possible epileptics, among his 1,000 cases. A full two-thirds of the cases presented no symptoms of mental abnormality while only one tenth were definitely feeble-minded. These are but scattered data; no digest, which might be taken as substitute for the book itself, would be advisable.

It is to be expected, of course, that psychologists (and particularly those interested in dynamic psychology) will find mixed pleasure in reading this work. The section on "Mental Conflicts" must appeal to all with its practical demonstration of what can be done by psychological analysis to abolish anti-social tendencies in many puzzling cases. There will undoubtedly be disappointment in his failure to make general psychological formulations, but, as the critics would differ amongst themselves as to what these formulations should be, Dr. Healy's silence is here probably a wise conservatism. At the same time there is certainly exhibited a tendency to be rather too individual and give too few generalizations. This is evidenced by his failure to regard as a factor in one case what has been admitted as such in a slightly more obvious instance. To cite one example: On page 192, he speaks of the inheritance of hypersexual tendencies; on page 166, we find: ". . . immodest behavior and use of obscene language on the part of a parent, which we have so frequently found to be one of the main causes of a girl going wrong . . . " Somewhat similar results are thus ascribed once to heredity and again to environment. At this stage of our knowledge it would, of course,

be foolish to eliminate any specific inheritance as a factor, but it is surprising that in the former case he does not consider environment as a factor, although he elsewhere gives striking evidence of unconscious influence proceeding from one individual to another via sex initiation.

It is possible that this lack of a broad psychological view point—this example chosen is far from isolated—is connected with a specific, and most definitely serious, defect in the book. The treatment of the psychoses is distinctly unsatisfactory. Apparently the author has had to rely on the literature for his preparatory experience and has been fortunate only in some cases, if we may judge by his references. The most satisfactory group he describes is that of the traumatic psychoses and there he follows Meyer's admirable study. On the other hand, in introducing the Dementia praecox group, he makes no specific mention of any one of the cardinal symptoms of disassociation or shallowness of affect, scattering of thought, and delusions or hallucinations. His nearest approach is when he says: "Variations in the way of excitement, with dullness and paranoidal excitement are seen during the course of the disease." This is followed by the description of a case which he says contains the symptoms typical of the psychosis but in which no pathognomic abnormality is mentioned except negativism—a vague term whose meaning varies with the observer.

Not unnaturally with such unfamiliarity, the psychosis is a "dispensation of Providence." There is no evidence that to him psychiatry is as much a problem of every day life as it is of institutional care of the insane. We can, therefore, find such a statement as this:

"The mental findings and the conduct determined the fact of aberration and that is all that should be necessary for immediate court purposes. Further business of diagnosis should be left to a psychopathic hospital."

It is true that responsibility may and should be evaded when the psychosis is full-blown; but how about the innumerable cases of incipient psychotic disturbance which grade over into the "mental conflicts?"

In harmony with this diffidence is the repeated hope for aid from the Abderhalden. or some similar reaction. For instance:

"The newer methods of diagnosis of Dementia praecox we look forward to for help in one place where discrimination is important."

But surely a psychologist cannot hope to predict conduct by physical findings! If Dementia praecox postulated criminality, the situation might be different, but, as it stands, the reaction would only be of value in the doubtful cases—cases which are so many of them non-institutional.

With this vague conception of the psychoses it is not surprising

to find that diagnosis used faute de mieux. For instance, in describing Case 169, of "pathological lying," he says:

"We could not in any way find evidence of mental peculiarity but we did question his story because of intrinsic improbability." Rather conflicting statements! Later on, he explains, the case was diagnosed as one of "epileptic psychosis" because the subject developed convulsions, although there is no evidence, or even claim, presented that the lying was an equivalent, or in any way correlated with the epilepsy except as a coincidence!

Such faults in a book of this sort are serious but only in so far as the work is theoretical. The main object of the book is to present facts in an unbiased way and for the first time we have them in anything like completeness. The importance of Dr. Healy's labors cannot, then, be overestimated. His publication will be eagerly welcomed by the army of workers who see a few cases at various stages of delinquency and who long to know authoritatively what the types are, how they develop, what the outlook is, and how that may be modified by appropriate treatment. We owe him much.

JOHN T. MACCURDY.