ave long known that
there were causes for the abnormality of conduct and that there were
various more or less satisfactory remedies for many cases. Still the
time that scientists have worked on the problem is short and the data
imperfect, and many years of patient study will be needed before there
can be worked out the broad theories of responsibility for and treatment
of crime which will replace the long accepted doctrines of original sin,
and the expulsion of devils from the wicked by cruelty and punishment.

By far the largest part of the population of prisons is made up of the
insane, feeble-minded, morons, defectives or victims of diseases that
seriously influence conduct. This is especially shown by the increased
percentage of the clearly defective that are repeaters, over those in
prison for their first offense. There is no lack of statistics as to the
various groups of defectives, but these figures cannot be reconciled. No
two authorities agree as to percentages; the classifications are more or
less uncertain; the dividing lines between the different groups are
vague, one class easily fading into another. The investigations have
largely been made by those not trained for the work, and above all the
conclusions as to treatment are at variance, doubtful and necessarily
not yet satisfactory. That the clearly insane and the plainly
feeble-minded should not be punished would doubtless be admitted by all
who speak in public or write for others to read. Many persons speaking
in private, acting on juries and connected with the machinery of
"justice" say that these should be punished like the rest. Still for a
starting point, it may be assumed that most men would agree that these
classes should be restrained rather than punished.

The chief difficulty is that between the most violently insane and the
least emotional man are infinite numbers of gradations blending so
closely that no one can mathematically or scientifically classify all
the various individual units. While there are cases of insanity that can
be clearly traced to injury or disease, the degree of sanity in most
cases is still impossible to determine. Most insane people are sane on
some things, generally on most things and are sane a part or most of the
time. The periods of sanity and insanity can be distinguished only by
conduct. How far any specific insanity may impair the brain and affect
the inhibitions, is impossible to foretell.

When it comes to the