On Moral Insanity and its Relation to Criminology

Extract

It is an undoubted fact that the diagnostic terms moral insanity and obsessions have been the cause of serious misconceptions in science and in criminal practice; and, further, that such misconceptions may paralyze justice and menace the moral standard and even the safety of society. It nevertheless marks a great advance in the progress of psychology to have recognized that many criminal and vicious acts result from congenital defects. These defects are sometimes accompanied by atypical anatomical forms of the body, and especially of the skull; but the value of these abnormalities is relative, not absolute.