CONCERNING THE DYNAMICS OF CRIME By Alice E. Psychiatrist
in the
Johnson,
Municipal
Court
M.D. of Philadelphia
an accepted dictum of the mental hygienist begins in childhood. In the same way, and degree, it is true that criminality has its beginnings
It is
disease
that mental in an equal
in the very earliest years. The criminal and the neurotic show the same deviation from the normal in the developmental process. In both there is a failure of the integrative forces in the personality. Whether we assign the cause of this failure to a defect in the germ plasm, to vitiated bio-
chemistry, or to untoward influences in the external environment, to all three, the dynamics of the failure is the same in all cases. In the neuroses psychiatrists pretty generally understand that there is an energetic conflict between the various instinctive trends, and that these forces mutually inhibit each other to such extent that no adequate action can be produced by any amount of energy or
that may be expended. In the well-developed neurotic state none of the instinctive wishes get satisfying expression, and the psychic tension produced by the pull of one wish against another causes the distress of that The condition, then, of the neurotic is characterthe absence of direct action towards the satisfaction of Such action as is achieved appears erratic and "queer";
mental state. ized
by
desire. it is
mainly symbolic, a mere gesture. All his fighting is shadowboxing. For his most imperious appetites the patient can find only Barmecide feast. To every "Yes" in his mind he opposes an equally powerful "No." Unless a compromise can be effected that a
satisfy both sides the struggle may go on indefinitely, with no relief except such as those gestures called symptoms afford. In a person who is called antisocial, misdemeanant, or criminal, the energy in one of his instincts does get into direct action, at the
will
expense of the others.
The
beaten
back,
the action
are
which would naturally oppose and for the time, at least, cannot offer
impulses
the resistance that would inhibit or modify the action. Such conduct is sure to be "bad" for the individual, because any 196
THE DYNAMICS OF CRIME
197
action is bad when it can be accomplished only by withdrawing "Excess" is always energy that is needed in another direction. destructive. Any organism is in a state of dysfunction when a part is stronger than the whole. But from the standpoint of soci-
ety there is
a more important reason why it is bad. It is the selfis instinct that in since this is the the serving supreme beginning, need of In of this the infant. order some to greatest energy swing into the channels that will serve his other developing needs the
must have some endurance of stress. Training is against the line of least resistance. In those who can not or do not accept training the purely egotistical impulses retain their supremacy. In the event of conflict between the impulses in such a case there
organism
be no doubt which will win out and determine the action. Since this conflict takes place, as a rule, below the threshold of the person's own awareness, he is, often enough, surprised and puzzled by his own conduct. He is speaking with truth when he
can
It is says he did not mean to do it, does not know why he did it. not quite so true when he claims he did it against his own will. And yet the struggle here is not one between abstract "good" and "evil." The instincts are nature's expression of the organic needs of the individual. As Spinoza says, "Every instinct is a device
developed by nature to preserve the individual or the speSince they are all necessary they must be good. We can not with truth speak of "high" and "low," "good" and "bad" instincts. It is only when they are dissociated and one gets an undue advantage of another, only when there is an unfair distribution of energy between them, that evil results. It is not desirable that this energy be distributed equally among them at all times, cies."
but that it be accessible at any time to whichever one will best serve the whole personality under the existing condition. The difference in personality make-up of the neurotic and of the criminal lies in their differing ability to bear stress, that is, in the ease with which the character elements will become completely dissociated. The criminal does not bear stress well. He is constitutionally incapable of sustained effort or strain. He must do something at once to get relief. Since there is every degree of this power of endurance, it occurs that people with strongly conflicting desires may be neurotic up to
point, and with a little added pressure, may break out in Comfort and relief are actually attained by this action. unsocial of freedom and power takes the place of stress. sense A outbreak. a
certain
198
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC
So
long as he can continue to express his energy along this channel the criminal is not unhappy. It is a mistake to believe that evildoers are miserable. They are so only when they are driven back on their neuroticism by obstruction to action. In confinement where they have no freedom to action that will satisfy their egoistic it is not unusual that actual psychosis develops. An state called prison psychosis. It is doubtful if this could occur in a so-called "innocent" man. It certainly could not happen in one who had no neurotic conflicts
strivings
example of this is the mental
in the background. Nobody wants to go to jail, yet we have historical examples of people who have been very happy there. In any case, for the criminal, so long as his instinctive trends are dissociated, the alternative to crime is not the good life of the normal person, but neuroticism. He, in fact, escapes from neuroti''
cism into criminality, and if he is to reform,'' it will be necessary for him to go back through the neurotic state of stress to reach the normal condition of balanced forces. We have heard before of the primrose and the earliest folk-wisdom path, But when we think seems to have held the concept of "penitence." of the problem in terms of its dynamics we can more readily underThis is not and the
a new
straight
idea. and
narrow way;
why so few of the inmates of penitentiaries?alleged placesof-penitence?actually reform, and why so many come back.
stand
The newspapers have recently carried a story of a man who a forgery several years ago, escaped, and now volunback and gives himself up?a dramatic story, but comes tarily It is a natural action for one who not surprising to the initiated. committed
escapes from his neurotic stress by a criminal action, only to be thrown back to his former state when threatened with arrest and
disgrace.
The crime and the surrender represent two efforts to
escape from unbearable tension. Effective effort to reduce the incidence of crime and the number of criminals must be directed to the prevention of excessive tension
in the individual. This means that the work must be done for litchildren, before tension arises. A child can not be taught what he needs most to know by com-
tle
by argument directed to the intellect, because his reaction formed long before the critical faculties are developed. patterns He must learn through his senses. Moral precept can not teach a
mand
or
are
child the meaning or value of right conduct, unless at the same time he is made to comprehend through his own experience the relation of an act to its consequences. If he is allowed to believe the un-
THE DYNAMICS OF CRIME of his conduct of his parents
199
only from the disteachers he may change his conduct in order to avoid such punishment, but this sort of training in itself can not balance his instinctive wishes. His morality, in such a case, will remain second-hand, and will be dependent pleasant
consequences
approval
or
punishment
upon the action of others.
of second-hand
morality.
come
or
Criminals and neurotics have plenty all "know" what is right and
They
wrong.
An individual with first-hand morality sees the consequences act as inherent in the act itself and by no possibility to be avoided. He has therefore an inner compulsion to act as well as he can. This is the only kind of moral teaching that can inhibit bad
of
an
conduct without
producing some degree of neurosis. Since the demand for right conduct comes to a child in the first place from an external source he is slow to identify this demand with his own need. It does not seem to be his own will but that of some external authority. It is somebody else's idea. It is just here in his development that the dissociation of perbetween '11 want'' and want." And this failure of identification is, I believe, the of the "evil" in human nature.
sonality begins.
It is the
antagonism
''
they origin
Rightness has an absolute sanction. Parents, teachers, policemen, judges, various people, are in a position of authority in relation to a child; they are not the source of authority. The natural law itself is the original source of all authority?not civil laws, nor rules of conduct, nor moral codes, nor public opinion, but a universal law of which these may or may not be authentic expressions. It is this law which '' never lets you down and never lets you off.'' An individual must be in relation to the source of authority if he is to be safe from neuroticism, misconduct and unhappiness. This law is not against any natural impulse but includes them all. From
infancy a child may be taught, little by little, and in various ways, when he may exercise any impulse and to what end, and when not, why. It is only thus that the conflict between good and bad, between the social and the egoistical instincts can be kept at a normal level of intensity. In our clinic at the Municipal Court in Philadelphia where each year we examine thousands of children, adolescents and adults, the common denominator of all our delinquents is found to be a marked dissociation between the egoistical desires and the individual's own, but second-hand, idea of right. We have dozens of children brought in on a complaint of incorrigibility who are quite willing
200
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC
to admit the fact of their misconduct, and it is wrong, but hardly one has any idea
equally willing to admit Bewhy it is wrong. cause you will get pinched," "You will be put away," "It don't get you anywhere"; these are the stock answers to the question, Why is it wrong to steal, or run away from home, or set fire to a house, or play truant? None of these cases has any feeling that The other kid made me do the action originates in his own wish. it," or "I got in with bad company" is to them a perfectly satisfactory excuse. The parents of these children give these same excuses, and the children, with no critique of their own, have no "
11
doubt of their truth. A boy of twelve with normal intelligence and no physical defect comes into the consulting room with
appreciable a
look of
a
happy martyr. To a question as to the nature of his trouble, he I steal everything I can get my hands on." It is answers glibly, just as if he said, "I break out with hives every night." To his mind it is some misfortune that has befallen him from causes wholly ''
outside himself. A girl of eleven
runs away from home, sleeps on door-steps at night. She shows an exaggerated interest in sex play with both girls and boys. Why? "I suppose I must be bad." The exam-
ination bores her. The affair has no relation to herself. A boy of sixteen is arrested for shoplifting. "I wanted some He had been given a job, and left it money to go to the movies." after two days. "I didn't like that sort of work." Oh, yes! it is "It is very wrong, he thinks. What do you mean by wrong? what you get punished for." In all cases of this kind there can be found environmental and emotional determinants. These are important for the purpose of But the way they determine is by energizing certain treatment. wishes and increasing the tendency to dissociation. We
develop
can not say
into
a
of any
criminal.
one
of
our
children that he will
Many of them
are
certainly
still young enough to try to get for them.
be amenable to the good training which we Some, however, have definitely the set-up for a criminal career, with the two elements necessary for habitual misconduct, intolerance of stress and instincts so far apart as to make stress inevitaThe first of these elements is due to the natural constitutional make-up of the child, although proper early discipline could inble.
crease to some extent
ent upon the child's wrong.
the tolerance. The other element is dependacquired idea of the meaning of right and
THE DYNAMICS OF CRIME
201
A man need not be insane or feeble-minded to commit a crime. And he need not be an all-around bad citizen. Our Court dockets One need onlyare crowded with cases that prove this is true. have his instinctive goals so far apart that he does not function as whole at any time. Our laws do not recognize any such condition. And if they did, what could they do about it? No laws and no conceivable administration of any law will cure crime. Indeed, this is not the function of law. Its function is to '' safeguard society,'' and what it does to the criminal is incidental.
a
Dealing can
with the
not be
citizen has
problem delegated to
as
of crime is
society's
own
business,
and it
The most insignificant group. any much to do with it as has the Chief Justice of the one
Supreme Court. The first step toward
an effective program is a complete change of attitude toward the whole matter. The problem can not be solved by emotion of any kind. The hatred of society for the criminal is itself but a neurotic gesture. Sentimentality and cyni-
cism alike are ways of evading the issue. To make any progress toward our goal it will be necessary to adopt the objective, impersonal, patient attitude of the scientist in the laboratory and field. So far there has been a woeful lack of this objectivity in our work on the subject. We think of men as good and bad. We talk of the freedom of the will, and of absolute responsibility. These
meaning in fact than the evil eye or the influence of the stars on human destiny. I believe we must stop thinking about trying to make people "good," and concentrate on developing ways of integrating them into whole, harmonious personalities, with each instinct as free as the others will allow. If this is done we will certainly have good human beings. In our approach to this endeavor some of the subjects which present themselves for immediate study are: better eugenics; early training that will recognize the absolute right of a child to the development of a well-rounded, self-reliant personality; adequate nourishment and facilities for play for every child, regardless of his family's social or economic status; education that will fit a child to
terms have
no more
think for himself, whether he can learn from books or not; a rational sex morality based on the individual's physiological, psychological and social needs. If in trying to develop these things we find it necessary to revise our long accepted ideas of the function of the State in relation to its citizens, then let the change be made.
in the
Johnson,
Municipal
Court
M.D. of Philadelphia
an accepted dictum of the mental hygienist begins in childhood. In the same way, and degree, it is true that criminality has its beginnings
It is
disease
that mental in an equal
in the very earliest years. The criminal and the neurotic show the same deviation from the normal in the developmental process. In both there is a failure of the integrative forces in the personality. Whether we assign the cause of this failure to a defect in the germ plasm, to vitiated bio-
chemistry, or to untoward influences in the external environment, to all three, the dynamics of the failure is the same in all cases. In the neuroses psychiatrists pretty generally understand that there is an energetic conflict between the various instinctive trends, and that these forces mutually inhibit each other to such extent that no adequate action can be produced by any amount of energy or
that may be expended. In the well-developed neurotic state none of the instinctive wishes get satisfying expression, and the psychic tension produced by the pull of one wish against another causes the distress of that The condition, then, of the neurotic is characterthe absence of direct action towards the satisfaction of Such action as is achieved appears erratic and "queer";
mental state. ized
by
desire. it is
mainly symbolic, a mere gesture. All his fighting is shadowboxing. For his most imperious appetites the patient can find only Barmecide feast. To every "Yes" in his mind he opposes an equally powerful "No." Unless a compromise can be effected that a
satisfy both sides the struggle may go on indefinitely, with no relief except such as those gestures called symptoms afford. In a person who is called antisocial, misdemeanant, or criminal, the energy in one of his instincts does get into direct action, at the
will
expense of the others.
The
beaten
back,
the action
are
which would naturally oppose and for the time, at least, cannot offer
impulses
the resistance that would inhibit or modify the action. Such conduct is sure to be "bad" for the individual, because any 196
THE DYNAMICS OF CRIME
197
action is bad when it can be accomplished only by withdrawing "Excess" is always energy that is needed in another direction. destructive. Any organism is in a state of dysfunction when a part is stronger than the whole. But from the standpoint of soci-
ety there is
a more important reason why it is bad. It is the selfis instinct that in since this is the the serving supreme beginning, need of In of this the infant. order some to greatest energy swing into the channels that will serve his other developing needs the
must have some endurance of stress. Training is against the line of least resistance. In those who can not or do not accept training the purely egotistical impulses retain their supremacy. In the event of conflict between the impulses in such a case there
organism
be no doubt which will win out and determine the action. Since this conflict takes place, as a rule, below the threshold of the person's own awareness, he is, often enough, surprised and puzzled by his own conduct. He is speaking with truth when he
can
It is says he did not mean to do it, does not know why he did it. not quite so true when he claims he did it against his own will. And yet the struggle here is not one between abstract "good" and "evil." The instincts are nature's expression of the organic needs of the individual. As Spinoza says, "Every instinct is a device
developed by nature to preserve the individual or the speSince they are all necessary they must be good. We can not with truth speak of "high" and "low," "good" and "bad" instincts. It is only when they are dissociated and one gets an undue advantage of another, only when there is an unfair distribution of energy between them, that evil results. It is not desirable that this energy be distributed equally among them at all times, cies."
but that it be accessible at any time to whichever one will best serve the whole personality under the existing condition. The difference in personality make-up of the neurotic and of the criminal lies in their differing ability to bear stress, that is, in the ease with which the character elements will become completely dissociated. The criminal does not bear stress well. He is constitutionally incapable of sustained effort or strain. He must do something at once to get relief. Since there is every degree of this power of endurance, it occurs that people with strongly conflicting desires may be neurotic up to
point, and with a little added pressure, may break out in Comfort and relief are actually attained by this action. unsocial of freedom and power takes the place of stress. sense A outbreak. a
certain
198
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC
So
long as he can continue to express his energy along this channel the criminal is not unhappy. It is a mistake to believe that evildoers are miserable. They are so only when they are driven back on their neuroticism by obstruction to action. In confinement where they have no freedom to action that will satisfy their egoistic it is not unusual that actual psychosis develops. An state called prison psychosis. It is doubtful if this could occur in a so-called "innocent" man. It certainly could not happen in one who had no neurotic conflicts
strivings
example of this is the mental
in the background. Nobody wants to go to jail, yet we have historical examples of people who have been very happy there. In any case, for the criminal, so long as his instinctive trends are dissociated, the alternative to crime is not the good life of the normal person, but neuroticism. He, in fact, escapes from neuroti''
cism into criminality, and if he is to reform,'' it will be necessary for him to go back through the neurotic state of stress to reach the normal condition of balanced forces. We have heard before of the primrose and the earliest folk-wisdom path, But when we think seems to have held the concept of "penitence." of the problem in terms of its dynamics we can more readily underThis is not and the
a new
straight
idea. and
narrow way;
why so few of the inmates of penitentiaries?alleged placesof-penitence?actually reform, and why so many come back.
stand
The newspapers have recently carried a story of a man who a forgery several years ago, escaped, and now volunback and gives himself up?a dramatic story, but comes tarily It is a natural action for one who not surprising to the initiated. committed
escapes from his neurotic stress by a criminal action, only to be thrown back to his former state when threatened with arrest and
disgrace.
The crime and the surrender represent two efforts to
escape from unbearable tension. Effective effort to reduce the incidence of crime and the number of criminals must be directed to the prevention of excessive tension
in the individual. This means that the work must be done for litchildren, before tension arises. A child can not be taught what he needs most to know by com-
tle
by argument directed to the intellect, because his reaction formed long before the critical faculties are developed. patterns He must learn through his senses. Moral precept can not teach a
mand
or
are
child the meaning or value of right conduct, unless at the same time he is made to comprehend through his own experience the relation of an act to its consequences. If he is allowed to believe the un-
THE DYNAMICS OF CRIME of his conduct of his parents
199
only from the disteachers he may change his conduct in order to avoid such punishment, but this sort of training in itself can not balance his instinctive wishes. His morality, in such a case, will remain second-hand, and will be dependent pleasant
consequences
approval
or
punishment
upon the action of others.
of second-hand
morality.
come
or
Criminals and neurotics have plenty all "know" what is right and
They
wrong.
An individual with first-hand morality sees the consequences act as inherent in the act itself and by no possibility to be avoided. He has therefore an inner compulsion to act as well as he can. This is the only kind of moral teaching that can inhibit bad
of
an
conduct without
producing some degree of neurosis. Since the demand for right conduct comes to a child in the first place from an external source he is slow to identify this demand with his own need. It does not seem to be his own will but that of some external authority. It is somebody else's idea. It is just here in his development that the dissociation of perbetween '11 want'' and want." And this failure of identification is, I believe, the of the "evil" in human nature.
sonality begins.
It is the
antagonism
''
they origin
Rightness has an absolute sanction. Parents, teachers, policemen, judges, various people, are in a position of authority in relation to a child; they are not the source of authority. The natural law itself is the original source of all authority?not civil laws, nor rules of conduct, nor moral codes, nor public opinion, but a universal law of which these may or may not be authentic expressions. It is this law which '' never lets you down and never lets you off.'' An individual must be in relation to the source of authority if he is to be safe from neuroticism, misconduct and unhappiness. This law is not against any natural impulse but includes them all. From
infancy a child may be taught, little by little, and in various ways, when he may exercise any impulse and to what end, and when not, why. It is only thus that the conflict between good and bad, between the social and the egoistical instincts can be kept at a normal level of intensity. In our clinic at the Municipal Court in Philadelphia where each year we examine thousands of children, adolescents and adults, the common denominator of all our delinquents is found to be a marked dissociation between the egoistical desires and the individual's own, but second-hand, idea of right. We have dozens of children brought in on a complaint of incorrigibility who are quite willing
200
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC
to admit the fact of their misconduct, and it is wrong, but hardly one has any idea
equally willing to admit Bewhy it is wrong. cause you will get pinched," "You will be put away," "It don't get you anywhere"; these are the stock answers to the question, Why is it wrong to steal, or run away from home, or set fire to a house, or play truant? None of these cases has any feeling that The other kid made me do the action originates in his own wish. it," or "I got in with bad company" is to them a perfectly satisfactory excuse. The parents of these children give these same excuses, and the children, with no critique of their own, have no "
11
doubt of their truth. A boy of twelve with normal intelligence and no physical defect comes into the consulting room with
appreciable a
look of
a
happy martyr. To a question as to the nature of his trouble, he I steal everything I can get my hands on." It is answers glibly, just as if he said, "I break out with hives every night." To his mind it is some misfortune that has befallen him from causes wholly ''
outside himself. A girl of eleven
runs away from home, sleeps on door-steps at night. She shows an exaggerated interest in sex play with both girls and boys. Why? "I suppose I must be bad." The exam-
ination bores her. The affair has no relation to herself. A boy of sixteen is arrested for shoplifting. "I wanted some He had been given a job, and left it money to go to the movies." after two days. "I didn't like that sort of work." Oh, yes! it is "It is very wrong, he thinks. What do you mean by wrong? what you get punished for." In all cases of this kind there can be found environmental and emotional determinants. These are important for the purpose of But the way they determine is by energizing certain treatment. wishes and increasing the tendency to dissociation. We
develop
can not say
into
a
of any
criminal.
one
of
our
children that he will
Many of them
are
certainly
still young enough to try to get for them.
be amenable to the good training which we Some, however, have definitely the set-up for a criminal career, with the two elements necessary for habitual misconduct, intolerance of stress and instincts so far apart as to make stress inevitaThe first of these elements is due to the natural constitutional make-up of the child, although proper early discipline could inble.
crease to some extent
ent upon the child's wrong.
the tolerance. The other element is dependacquired idea of the meaning of right and
THE DYNAMICS OF CRIME
201
A man need not be insane or feeble-minded to commit a crime. And he need not be an all-around bad citizen. Our Court dockets One need onlyare crowded with cases that prove this is true. have his instinctive goals so far apart that he does not function as whole at any time. Our laws do not recognize any such condition. And if they did, what could they do about it? No laws and no conceivable administration of any law will cure crime. Indeed, this is not the function of law. Its function is to '' safeguard society,'' and what it does to the criminal is incidental.
a
Dealing can
with the
not be
citizen has
problem delegated to
as
of crime is
society's
own
business,
and it
The most insignificant group. any much to do with it as has the Chief Justice of the one
Supreme Court. The first step toward
an effective program is a complete change of attitude toward the whole matter. The problem can not be solved by emotion of any kind. The hatred of society for the criminal is itself but a neurotic gesture. Sentimentality and cyni-
cism alike are ways of evading the issue. To make any progress toward our goal it will be necessary to adopt the objective, impersonal, patient attitude of the scientist in the laboratory and field. So far there has been a woeful lack of this objectivity in our work on the subject. We think of men as good and bad. We talk of the freedom of the will, and of absolute responsibility. These
meaning in fact than the evil eye or the influence of the stars on human destiny. I believe we must stop thinking about trying to make people "good," and concentrate on developing ways of integrating them into whole, harmonious personalities, with each instinct as free as the others will allow. If this is done we will certainly have good human beings. In our approach to this endeavor some of the subjects which present themselves for immediate study are: better eugenics; early training that will recognize the absolute right of a child to the development of a well-rounded, self-reliant personality; adequate nourishment and facilities for play for every child, regardless of his family's social or economic status; education that will fit a child to
terms have
no more
think for himself, whether he can learn from books or not; a rational sex morality based on the individual's physiological, psychological and social needs. If in trying to develop these things we find it necessary to revise our long accepted ideas of the function of the State in relation to its citizens, then let the change be made.
