The popular mind draws little or no distinction between criminals. In it there exists the idea of a criminal caste, all the members of which are prepared to commit any and every act of a criminal nature. In the popular mind, although it is just a question whether a man is bad enough to commit the greater crimes, yet thieves, violators, swindlers, forgers and murderers are all assumed to fall into the same category. In one sense they do, that is, that they are all anti-social beings, or rather they all possess certain anti-social qualities; but as soon as we proceed further we find that there exists a very great distinction in criminals. Criminals are first classified according to the motive of their crime. This classication ranges them under five different headings, the political criminal, the occasional criminal, the criminal of passion, the instinctive criminal, and the habitual criminal or recidivist.
Again they are classified, according to the nature of their crime, into thieves, robbers, violators, assassins, murderers, swindlers, etc. These again are sub-classified, e.g., thieves are classified as housebreakers, those who rob with violence, those who use weapons, those who rob from the person, and those who break safes. Murderers may also be classified according to the nature of their murderous instinct, illustrated by the instrument of destruction that they employ, whether it be the knife, firearms, poisons or other means, and again a classification exists between those who commit murder themselves and those who employ agents. All these classifications are entirely different, and although some criminals may range under more than one heading, yet it is generally the case that a criminal adopts both a certain form of crime and also a particular method for carrying it into execution.
The Political Criminal.—This man's offence is not against morality but against the governmental institutions of the country. He holds advanced ideas upon matters of government and upon the constitution of society, and in his attempt to propagate these he becomes a political criminal. The political criminal, as distinguished from all other criminals, never commits violence, his morals may even approach perfection; but he holds "ideas," ideas which are not acceptable to the government under which he lives.
The despotic rule of the Oriental countries is most favourable to the production of the political criminal: Russia and Germany are not without their representatives. Occasionally bands of political criminals are formed, and then, in the midst of demonstrations, unpremeditated violence may be committed. The Stundists and the Young Turkish Party are examples.
The Occasional Criminal.—"Economic conditions are generally responsible for the production of the occasional criminal. His crime is committed in order to satisfy his present wants. In him the sensual instincts may not be stronger than usual, and the social element, though weaker than usual, need not be absent. Weakness is the chief characteristic of the occasional criminal. When circumstances are not quite favourable he succumbs to temptation." (The Criminal, p. 18.) The occasional criminal is clearly a subject for educational treatment. He needs to cultivate greater power of self-control, to strengthen his moral sense, and above all to be thoroughly equipped for the battle of life. Imprisonment will frequently ruin him and be the cause of his becoming a confirmed or habitual criminal.
The Criminal of Passion.—He is generally of considerable culture and of keen moral sensibility. His crime proceeds from a sense of righteous indignation which, for the moment, completely blinds him. Personal insults cannot disturb his calm, but the sight of a child being abused or a defenceless one being attacked, will so infuriate him that he may even commit murder. Premeditation is never present, he acts under the powerful inspiration of the moment, and his crime is an isolated event quite unconnected with his conduct in general.
The Insane Criminal.—Insane persons who commit criminal acts, show rather a variation of insanity than of criminality. It would be more exact to describe them as "criminal lunatics" than as "insane criminals." Two classes exist, a fact which is often overlooked, for there are both criminal-lunatics and insane-criminals. In the first case, criminality is the product of insanity, but in the second case insanity is the product of criminality. Not an hereditary product in either case, but a product resulting from a cause within the person's mental or moral self.
The pronounced lunatic, the incapable, irresponsible person whose actions are beyond his power to understand or control, is regarded by society as a being too dangerous to be at large. Of him we do not here speak to any extent, he is too well recognized. It should always be borne in mind, however, that he commits crime because he is a lunatic, and that although his confinement is absolutely necessary, yet there is no warrant whatever that it should be made penal in character.
Although it is not possible in a work of this kind to deal largely with the subject, the writer would urge upon the notice of society and upon the special notice of jurists that there are a number of persons whose crimes should excite for them the greatest sympathy instead of, as is the case, the greatest detestation. Men there are who, perfectly sane in the ordinarily accepted sense, and who have not only a clear conception of the immorality of their conduct, but also an intense abhorrence and shame for it, find themselves performing the most revolting acts under influences that are absolutely irresistible. The sensualist has no justification, but our laws are excessively cruel in their dealings with this class to which allusion is made. To be brief, no man charged with sadism (lust-murder) pederasty or the related crimes, should have his case made public until a most complete diagnostic examination (including his family and personal history) has been made by competent persons.
A careful study of Krafft-Ebing's monumental work upon the subject should convince our lawyers that they could not proceed in these cases without the assistance of the alienist and of those who are experts in the diagnosis of the various forms of patho-sexualism. The cases of insane criminals, that is, of the criminals whose vice is the cause of their insanity, is also divisible into two classes. There is that uninteresting class who on account of their irregular, immoral and excitable life become insane, and there is another class. These latter frequently escape the penalty of their crimes. Insanity is disclosed and they have no criminal record, therefore they are discharged. It would be a nice point to decide whether and to what degree, if any, responsibility exists. To give an example not altogether uncommon—a man who will not brook opposition or hindrance of any sort. On every such occasion he cherishes most spiteful, even murderous, feelings towards his opponent. He would do him any injury, even go to the length of killing him, but he dare not.