ARE CRIMINALS RESPONSIBLE?

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3001, 7 February 1881, Page 4

ARE CRIMINALS RESPONSIBLE?

A writer in the " Phrenological Magazine" says : —Having visited a great many noted criminals in prison, and having examined them phrenologicnlly in order to satisfy my mind as to what has been the cause of their lapsing into crime, I long since came to the conclusion that the majority of criminals are such from the defective condition of their mental organisation. Where one man is led into the committal of a great crime by a sudden and overpowering temptation,' ninety-nine lapse into crime through tho overbearing action of some faculties and the weakness of others ; that is, the moral or restraining powers. The passions and propensities are generally strong, while the organs of conscientiousness,. benevolence, veneration, &c, are defective, so that there is not that humane feeling, that consciousness of a superior power, or that sense of right and wrong which are the usual higher checks upon the -human conduct. Hence sometimes deliberately, often in tits of desperation, these men commit deeds of violence, and are quite of results or consequences. Some are deficient in all the above points ; others in only one ; and the majority have counterbalancing or redeeming qualities which would enable them to lead a moral life if they were so inclined. Though the animal passion and propensities may greatly predominate, and the moral sense be feebly developod, yet it is not entirely absent. I grant man may stunt its growth, harden the tender feelings of his soul, weaken tho sense of right and wrong, live only in the gratification pf passion, without the least regard' for the future or the well-boing of the community.