In his work, “Genèse normale du crime”, Professor Manouvrier expresses himself as follows upon the crime of rape. “Every normally constituted man would be a born violator if the sexual appetite could find no other means of satisfaction than rape. The crime is rare, however, and we know why; there are women for the ugliest and the poorest. However, famine may come; there is also opportunity, and many devils capable of leading into temptation the brute that every man is at his birth. For the ‘criminologists’ must not delude themselves upon this point if they wish to make criminal anthropology truly scientific. If we were to take a well-born child of a distinguished European family, and isolate him from his birth from all the influences of environment except those strictly necessary for the preservation of his life, we do not know what strange beast he would turn into. On the other hand we do know that behind our acquired polish our natural brutality still persists.”[472] Here in a few words is the environment theory applied to the origin of the most serious sexual crimes. Let us consult some facts to see whether the theory is correct.

First of all it must be remarked that this crime is not the act of a pervert but of a brute. It is important not to forget this since perversion does play a part in the crimes which we shall take up under C. Some authors do not make a distinction between these two kinds of crimes, which prevents their giving a really fundamental treatment of the etiology of them.

Let us see what the movement of this crime teaches. Its curve in the different months shows that it rises towards spring, to reach its maximum in summer, after which it regularly decreases, reaching its minimum in winter. An example of this is given in the following table, which includes also crimes committed against children.[473] [[613]]

France, 1827–1869.

Months.Sexual Crimes Committed UponDays of Conception
1863–1871.
Adults.Children.
Absolute Figures. %Absolute Figures. %Absolute Figures. %
January 584 7.09 1,106 5.57 2,603 7.84
February 563 6.84 1,041 5.23 2,661 8.02
March 643 7.82 1,366 6.88 2,608 7.85
April 608 7.39 1,700 8.56 2,887 8.69
May 904 10.98 2,175 10.95 3,000 9.21
June 1,043 12.67 2,585 13.03 3,018 9.08
July 860 10.45 2,459 12.42 2,911 8.76
August 794 9.64 2,208 11.13 2,742 8.25
September 653 7.93 1,773 8.93 2,810 8.46
October 523 6.46 1,447 7.29 2,625 7.91
November 514 6.24 983 4.95 2,620 7.89
December 534 6.49 939 5.05 2,665 8.02

The movement of sexual crimes does not tell us much about their etiology. It is plain that the opportunity of committing them occurs much oftener in summer than in winter, and the chance of catching the criminal “in flagrante delicto” is also much greater during the hot months. Even without statistics we should know that the temptation to these acts is greater in warm weather, and further, the rise of temperature towards spring probably increases the sexual tendencies. But all this does not explain the origin of this class of crimes, for if it is true that the sexual tendencies in man are increased by the rise of the temperature toward spring, this affects the sexual life in general, and not the sexual criminality alone (as is shown by the column of the days of conception).

In the same way we learn little of the etiology of these crimes from their movement in the course of the years. In the first part of this work we have given some statistics on this question, which we recapitulate here with additional data.

England.

The author of the English criminal statistics of 1899 fixes attention upon the fact that the maximum of sexual crimes was reached in 1893 and 1894, when the price of wheat was very low (p. 48). [[614]]

France, 1825–1878.