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Our study of psychoses developing among penitentiary prisoners has shown two general groups of mental disorders. One differs in 110 way from the psychoses occurring outside of prison. The other at least shows definite prison coloring and not a few distinct symptoms peculiar to and apparently excited by the prison milieu. After eliminating those common forms of psychoses which developed before or during imprisonment there remains a large group which we have designated as, Acute Episodic Psychoses of Prisoners and Chronic Degenerate Psychoses of Prisoners. The Acute Episodic Psychoses include a small group of those developing in the course of somatic disease. The Acute group is a small one. The Chronic Degenerative Psychoses make up a large group of prison disorders. Seventy-five per cent of them occur in recidivists. These men are repeated offenders against prison discipline, have suffered serious physical injuries and sickness before admission and are, before their mental break-down, contentious and resistant to imprisonment. Their delusional ti-end indicates that long sentences, close restraint, continual observation and solitary punishment are exciting factors not only in individual cases, but in groups of cases. In addition homosexual practices and other perversions are prominent factors in another relatively large group. The delusional trend and hallucinatory experiences are universally paranoid and persecutory in nature. The majority of these cases terminate in a symptomatic picture of Dementia Praecox. Note: This is one of a series of articles by members of the Illinois Institute for Juvenile Research, Chicago. Series C, No. 115. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the administration of judicial system with respect to the repeated offender. When offenders are repeating not only five or ten, but even twenty, fifty, eighty and more times, and when the total number of individuals who repeat runs into the hundreds and even thousands in a given city each year, it will be seen that the grind of the administrators of justice upon this class of cases is heavy. It is the fact that those who have repeated as many as four times only are, up to almost 100 per cent of certainty, beyond the possibility of correction. This is indicated by Austrian statistics, and by a report from the Michigan City prison in Indiana. The secret of the matter in Austria and Indiana lies in the fact that these oft repeaters are in such a status mentally and physically that they cannot adjust themselves to a normal mode of life. Fear of incarceration for them is dulled and the public is protected against their depredations only whilst they are in confinement. The administration of justice should provide specialized treatment for the repeater.

The article focuses on the report, prepared by a committee, related to the mental abnormality as a factor in the causation of crime. That a very considerable proportion of delinquency is associated with mental abnormality is very strongly emphasized by army experience during the war. Using the experience of previous war and peace armies it was officially estimated that the disciplinary barracks would be called upon to care for 50,000 prisoners. Studies of prisoners in civil penal institutions, especially of recidivists, reveal a large proportion of persons showing mental anomalies similar to those upon which exclusion from military service was based. The prime objects of society in relation to criminals are the prevention of crime and the reformation of the criminal. Punishment may be termed preventive when it takes the culprit's life or shuts him up within prison walls permanently. Delinquencies of exactly the same nature as offenses against the law may be the result of either personal or environment inadequacy or both.

The article discusses one of the newer methods, which European law students have proposed to aid in the detection of criminals. There are one or two elementary principles to which attention must be directed. In the first place, the bulk of crime, certainly of crime against property, is committed by those who have previously been in the hands of the police. The chief problem of a detective bureau is furnished by the professional or habitual criminal, by the man upon whom the possibility of another prison sentence exercises little restraint. From this principle that the bulk of crime is committed by the habitual criminal another principle is derived. Habitual criminals are very rarely versatile in their crimes. They tend to commit the same kind of crime over and over again; they do not often venture upon forms of crime with which they are unfamiliar. The simple and more probable reason why an habitual criminal adheres to one form of crime is that he is used to that form and thinks that he is safest in doing what he knows best how to do.

This article presents the results of a study of 100 recidivists in the United States, all of whom have been convicted at least four times. Number of convictions is 697. Number of years served in prison exclusive of time served in jails and workhouses is 1,221. Number admitting the excessive use of alcoholic beverages is 93. 83 professed some sort of religion. 74 admitted having had gonorrhea. 65 admitted having had both gonorrhea and syphilis. 56 admitted history of mental defect in immediate family, including insanity, feeblemindedness, epilepsy, and crime. 41 admitted a history of tuberculosis in the immediate family. 12 have had tuberculosis at some time. Eight admitted the use of narcotic drugs, such as morphine and cocaine. Mental status categories include: insane, feebleminded, constitutionally inferior, psychopaths, and epileptics.

The article reports that the International Congress of Criminal Anthropology, which has held six meetings, was organized largely through the initiative of the late Professor Lombroso, the leader of the so-called Italian school of criminologists. The first congress met at Rome on November 16, 1885, at the same time as the International Penal Congress. Lombroso detailed before the first congress his theories of the physical anomalies of criminals and his classification of criminals as "born criminals," criminals by occasion and mattoids. A number of interesting papers under the heads of ethology, sociology and economics are summarized by Dr. Papillault. The bands of criminals, so common in Italy, was one point of attention. M. Prins stated that crimes committed by such bands were on the increase. Dr. Angiolella spoke of the societies of brigands, noting the persistence of the Camorra in the province of Bari under the name of Malavita, and the organization of a new band in Calabria under the name of Piccioteria. The professional criminal as recruited from the servant class was the subject of a communication.

The article focuses on persistent offenders and preventive detention. It is a common belief that the most serious crimes are committed by the persistent offender. It is more than strange that this assumption does not seem ever to have been put to the test. A search has failed to reveal any rigorous study of offenders which could justify this belief, nor indeed any studies which could be taken as proving otherwise. However, it must be agreed that whether or not more serious crimes are committed by recidivists, recidivists are considered to present a serious problem to society. In looking at the system in England and Wales with regard to the treatment of recidivists, it must be emphasized that there is no restriction on the use of probation. Probation may be used if the court so decides, instead of any other sentence that might be imposed. Preventive detention may be ordered only by a higher court. Persons subject to preventive detention must be given notice of the fact. It is also not an infrequent practice for a court, in sentencing an offender for an offense prior to one which might render the offender liable to preventive detention, to warn him of the preventive detention possibility.

Follow-up data on criminal offenses and psychiatric rehospitalization were obtained for adult male patients discharged 1956-early 1962 from a state-wide security unit who had been committed as "not guilty by reason of insanity" (NGRI group, N = 44) or as "criminal sexual psycho-paths" (CSP group, N = 43). Comprehensive search procedures were employed. All subjects were located. Excluding deaths, rates of failure (new felony and/or psychiatric rehospitalization) were: NGRI group--16% in 1 year, 43% in 3 years, 52% in 5 years; CSP group--5% in 1 year, 18% in 3 years, 25% in 5 years. In the small samples studies, two statistically significant prognostic relationships (3-year follow-up) were found for the NGRI group, none for the CSP group. NGRI subjects were more likely to fail if (a) they had 2 or more previous offenses, or (b) their criminal record (past or present) included one or more economic offenses. Comparison with published data suggested close similarity of the NGRI group to discharged prison inmates in criminal-recidivism rates, predominance of economic offenses, and type of background variables prognostic of recidivism. Outcome data were equivocal on similarity to other psychiatric patients; dissimilarity was suggested by findings on prognostic variables. CSP recidivism rates were significantly lower than NGRI rates, and were almost identical with published rates of a comparable, larger California sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study differences in age, personality functioning, family background, nature of offenses, and behavior problems between potential recidivists and nonrecidivists at the time of their first commitment as delinquents were analyzed, an attempt was made to determine which variables were most predictive of institutional adjustment and which were most predictive of recidivism. Older boys (when first committed), and boys with more positive personality prognosis ratings, showed the fewest behavior problems in the institution, while older boys with more positive personality prognosis ratings, and in particular those who adjusted well in the institution, showed the lowest recidivism rate. Home environment was not found to be significantly related to institutional adjustment or recidivism. Some implications of the above findings were discussed, and some tentative recommendations based upon these findings were made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two approaches to the problem of the prediction of recidivism among youthful and adult offenders have been described. These include "blind sorts" of the admission and prerelease MMPI profiles of fairly large groups of offenders and an attempt to derive a practically useful recidivism scale from the available data. Neither approach was successful in accomplishing its intended purpose. Conclusions have been reached as a consequence of work done, and reasons have been advanced to explain the negative results obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to determine the age distribution of runaways, to identify any recidivist patterns, to determine the length of time they remain away from home and to determine what impels a child to leave home. To gain some insight into this runaway problem, a study of two hundred sixty-two cases was conducted. These cases originated in six precincts located in the southwest section of Brooklyn, New York City, an area comprised in the main of families in the middle to low income range, with the lower middle income group most prevalent. Housing is approximately evenly distributed between one and two family houses and apartment buildings. The major ethnic groups are: German, Irish, Italian, Jewish, and Scandinavian. It is recognized that the information contained here is not complete since it is impossible to know how many children run away and are not reported. Many previously unreported cases are disclosed when cases reported for the first time reveal prior instances, and when unreported cases are picked up while wandering the streets. Information pertaining to age, recidivism and duration was readily compiled and illustrated. While it is often expedient to state that a subject left home because of a specific reason, as a rule, such a conclusion is inaccurate.

This study ascertains what sort of offense sequence patterns were followed by adult recidivists who began their official criminal histories prior to age eighteen. The literature of juvenile delinquency emphasizes that many adult criminal careers start with juvenile delinquency. This study is concerned with those whose criminal activities continue into the adult years. Pursuant to this objective, a grid charting technique was devised to show just how such criminal sequences develop from initial juvenile offenses, and what sort of offense sequences follow. This paper is an outgrowth of a study made by the writer in 1952 of 319 official criminal histories of recidivists in Indiana prisons. These 319 cases were drawn from inmate files of the Indiana Reformatory and the Indiana State Prison. The information was compiled from U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation records, case summaries, and community reports. Only cases were drawn which showed a prior criminal history, and these were selected on a random sampling basis.

Two groups of adult male prisoners, one comprised of maladjusted recidivists, and the other of relatively well adjusted first offenders, were compared for aberrant behavior traits revealed during the life histories. The conclusions follow: 1. Recidivists who are occupationally unstable to a marked extent, and who have outstanding migratory tendencies, are quite likely to have additional personality or character inadequacies which make them nuisances or menaces to the welfare of others and to the peace of the community. 2. The psychopaths studied seem to have passed through a relatively characteristic development from infancy; a development carrying with it expressions of anomalous behavior patterns lacking desirability from a social stand-point; patterns which have the semblance of social unresponsiveness. 3. For the purpose of diagnosis or of evaluating the degree of psychopathic tendency, an index score might be computed from weights assigned to individual behavior traits of an anomalous nature. Such index scores might also be used in prognosis. 4. Social workers, probation officers and officials of penal institutions can probably achieve more valuable results if they take the trouble to have their problem cases studied for psychopathic conditions and handle them accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The data (presented here) indicate that non-recidivists differ significantly from recidivists in their employment patterns: regularity of work, type of work and occupational mobility; their family life, particularly in terms of the conjugal family and their social relationships. The statistics, of course, do not indicate whether this difference is the cause or the effect of criminal activity. The interviews themselves however, strongly suggest that in many cases the factors described here have a causal relationship to recidivism. The author feels that in any case the differences between recidivists and non-recidivists as discussed in this paper are sufficiently large to warrant further study. This paper therefore provides further evidence that the adjustment of ex-convicts to law-abiding society depends on the social conditions under which this adjustment takes place. The particular conditions examined here are all subject to some extent to external control. This means that the ex-convict's chances of successful adjustment can be increased by guidance and help in providing him with work which is related to his capacities and interests, by providing counseling both to himself and his family; and by seeing to it that he is actively integrated into law abiding communities. (For the last point the support of community organizations might be enlisted.) AU this points to the desirability of parole as against straight release provided that real parole supervision is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the challenge posed by prejudicial evidence to the prosecution of habitual criminal acts. One of the most difficult problems confronting criminal authorities and the courts is the method of dealing with the habitual criminal. The original view was that the solution lay in special legislation imposing aggravated penalties for subsequent convictions of criminal offenses. The U.S. federal government and all but five states have adopted habitual criminal acts. These statutes vary regarding the penalties imposed, the nature of the crimes necessary to invoke them, and the number of offenses required for them to be applicable. It is permissible in all jurisdictions having habitual criminal provisions to allege both the past convictions and the instant offense in the same indictment or information. In a majority of states the prior convictions must be alleged in the same pleading if the habitual statute is to be invoked. The remaining jurisdictions provide some alternative method. However, the method by which the habitual charge is made does not necessarily determine whether evidence of a defendant's past convictions will be admitted under prejudicial circumstances. It is therefore necessary to examine the protective devices employed in the various jurisdictions.

The article examines the development of Corrective Training since it came into force in April 1949 in England. The first attempt in this century to deal with the persistent offender in England was made under the Prevention of Crime Act in 1908, as a result of which the two systems of Borstal and Preventive Detention were introduced, the one for the young offender, the other for the habitual criminal. The recommendations of the Departmental Committee on Persistent Offenders had a considerable influence on subsequent penal legislation, and in particular on the Criminal Justice Act of 1948. No definition of habitual criminality is attempted by the act, but eligibility for Corrective Training requires the fulfillment of certain conditions. The two main issues involved are first, methods of training and second, eligibility. Though in theory separate, they are in practice closely related. The Persistent Offenders' Committee had recommended the provision of positive and progressive systems of training for all such offenders as are likely to respond to such treatment, including particularly those between the ages of 21 and 30. With the great variety of types of offender eligible for Corrective Training within section 21 of the act, it is natural that there could be no homogeneous method of training. The work of classification and of allocation is in consequence of the greatest importance.

The article presents information on a report, which is based on the clinical records of 286 male psychopathic federal offenders who are admitted to and later discharged from the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners at Springfield, Missouri. All were received by transfer from other federal penal and correctional institutions. On the basis of Federal Bureau of Investigation reports, as of the first six months of 1945, 42 per cent of the subjects had become recidivists, that is, either had served time or were serving time in city, county, state, or federal penal institutions subsequent to release from the Medical Center. On the other hand, 58 per cent were still presumably out of trouble. The recidivists and non-recidivists were then compared for various factors in an effort to find differential criteria. The findings are more or less what one would expect. The article also includes information on details of factors involving statistical significance that are found to have some value in distinguishing a recidivist from a non-recidivist and vice versa.

This article examines the crimes committed by recidivists in Memphis, Tennessee. A study of the police records indicate that there were several crimes committed by persons with previous criminal records. The figures reflects the inadequate and unsatisfactory administration of the criminal jurisprudence and penal institutions in the city. Society need to solve the problem of its habitual, instinctive, professional, recidivistic type of criminal social outlaw.

The article presents information about several legal cases related to indictment and information in the U.S. In the case John Gund Brewing Co. v. U. S., it was held that an indictment charging defendant with engaging in the business of a wholesale dealer in malt liquors without having paid the tax was not demurrable because the tax was not referred to as a "special tax" as in the statute. In the case People v. Smith in Illinois, it was ruled that the variance between an indictment charging a crime against nature, and alleging the Christian name of the victim to be "Rosetta," and the proof that her name is "Rosalia," is fatal, and the question of variance need not be raised on the trial to be available, since the proof shows a crime, if any, against a person other than the one named in the indictment. In the case People v. Rosen in New York, it was provided that a person convicted of a felony, who has previously been convicted in this state of any other crime or convicted of a misdemeanor after having been five times convicted of a misdemeanor in this state, may be adjudged in addition to any other punishment, to be an habitual criminal.

This article presents information on a study related to sentences of imprisonment. The main purpose of this elaborate study is to prove by means of the statistical method what really no longer requires proof, that in a certain number of cases definite sentences of imprisonment do not meet the requirements of society, whether it be the question of its protection or the reformation of the individual. In an elaborate introduction, a series of theses is propounded, only one of which contains an especially noteworthy recommendation. In this, the author demands that in the case of offenders who through repeated anti-social acts and punishment have shown themselves to be habitual criminals the courts shall turn them, over without trial to an administrative board to which he gives the name of penal guardianship commission. He would give to the same commission charge of the juvenile delinquents who are first offenders, and in consequence this board should work in close co-operation with juvenile courts. Much of the material utilized relates to the Canton Bern and covers a period of ten years. Throughout the chief tables a distinction is maintained between first offenders, recent recidivists and old recidivists, who are, respectively, designated as singularists, new-pluralists and old-pluralists.

The article reports that the separate system (Einzelhaft) in the Prussian law means life in a cell day and night, sleeping or working, although in exercise and church attendance isolation is not absolute. A report shows that 4,998 cells were provided for 11,200 prisoners in the prisons for serious crimes, or 44.6 per cent; in the prisons for less serious offenses there were 7,804 cells for 9,314 prisoners, or 83.8 per cent. Since 1869 the number of cells have been increased from 3247 to 12,802. The older congregate prisons are preferred for recidivists; the cells are reserved as far as practicable for the younger and more hopeful; the theory being that the corrupting association of convicts should not be inflicted on those who give some promise of amendment.

This article explains the pre-release treatment of persistent offenders. Among its other provisions the Criminal Justice Act, 1948 created new classes of sentence for persistent offenders. One such classification was established by the sentence of preventive detention. In practice the sentences of men imprisoned in this way have been divided into three stages. The first stage, is passed in a local prison and in the case of a well-behaved prisoner lasts about one year. On transfer to the second stage, the prisoner is moved to one of four central prisons at Chelmsford, Northallerton, Nottingham or Parkhurst. Entry into the third stage is by selection. Selection for the third stage brings with it two major privileges. In the first place the prisoner becomes eligible for release after serving two-thirds of his sentence, compared to five-sixths which would be normal for men who remain in the second stage. The second privilege relates to the transfer to the Bristol Hostel of a chosen group of third stage prisoners. The hostel has been built in the grounds of Bristol Prison. It is a self-contained building containing sleeping cubicles, a comfortably furnished lounge and a separate bathroom and kitchen. Supervision is in the hands of an Assistant Governor who acts as warden of the hostel and who is responsible for the needs and social welfare of the men. The rationale behind the hostel system is that experience in freedom is necessary in training men for freedom and its responsibilities. This note is struck at the outset for, on arrival, the prisoner is given a small sum of money and told to go down the road and buy shaving utensils, notepaper and other small articles which may be needed. Once in the hostel, the preventive detention men do not come into contact with the other prisoners at Bristol Prison. Before arrival arrangements are made to secure them employment outside the walls in regular positions in the city of Bristol.