spects of life, such as art, poetry,
religion, folklore, and mythology, cannot fail to furnish some very
helpful discoveries for the problem of criminology. As far as
pathological stealing is concerned a number of very suggestive studies
have already appeared, a review of which Albrecht has prepared for the
Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology. The
fact that rich, or at least well-to-do, women are sometimes guilty of
theft in the big Department stores has always received a certain amount
of attention. Studies of this phenomenon have been made by Duboisson,
Contemps, Lasegue and Letulle. In each case examined the woman
declared that some unknown power had suddenly compelled her to touch
some object, and put it in her pocket.

Stekel,[8] a Viennese psychotherapeutist, claims to have repeatedly
proved to himself by psychoanalysis that the root of all these cases of
kleptomania is ungratified sexual instinct. These women fight against
temptation. They are engaged in a constant struggle with their desires.
They would like to do what is forbidden, touch something that doesn't
belong to them. We cannot give here the analyses reported in the
literature, though I assure you that they carry convincing proof of the
tremendous role sexuality plays directly or indirectly in the causation
of pathological stealing. This is not confined only to thieving
connected with fetichism, numerous cases of which have been reported in
the literature. But even less radical Freudians than Stekel admit the
importance of sexuality in pathological stealing. Thus Healy, who is
eminently fit to speak authoritatively on the subject of recidivism, and
who is unusually conservative in his statements, has the following to
say:--

"The interpretation of the causes of this impulse to steal is of great
interest. We have shown in our chapter on mental conflicts how it may be
a sort of relief phenomenon for repressed elements in mental life. The
repression is found often to center about sex affairs." Again, "The
correlation of the stealing impulse to the menstrual or premenstrual
period in woman, leads us to much the same conclusion. Gudden, who seems
to have made the most careful studies of the connection between the two
phenomena, maintains that practically all cases of shoplifters whom he
has examined were, at the time of their offense, in or near their period
of menstruation." Healy does not go beyond this. He is as yet not read