Section 2.—Two Distinct Questions.
Before proceeding to the subject-matter of the Committee's investigations and the conclusions arrived at it is necessary to point out as clearly and emphatically as possible that the questions submitted to the Committee were entirely separate and distinct from each other. It is true that a certain proportion of mental defectives show their lack of self-control in regard to sex instincts and functions as in other respects. This is particularly the case with mentally defective girls, and constitutes one of the chief difficulties in dealing with them satisfactorily. Some of this class find their way into prison on account of sexual offences, but it is very far from correct to suppose that all feeble-minded persons are sexual offenders, or that all sexual offenders are mentally defective. On the contrary, among sexual offenders of the worst type, those convicted of unnatural offences, are occasionally found to be persons possessing intellectual and artistic powers above the average. There is something wrong in their mental, moral, and emotional balance, as will be pointed out in the proper place, but, as a rule, it is not the "intelligence quotient" which is at fault.