SPECIALISED CRIME.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1277, 28 July 1914, Page 4

SPECIALISED CRIME.

HOW THE CRIMINAL FAILS

Some interesting side-lines on the mind of the law breaker, and showing how he gives himself away, were recently given by Judge Swann, of the Court ot General Sessions, U.S.A. Thai: criminals specialise in their acts ot violence, he says, is known *o everyone who is interested in detective work. But that they

also specialise in their methods of committing particular crimes, is not so generally recognised. Yet, by means ot certain earmarks, so iv speak, that they quite unconsciously make, a well-informed detective is enabled very often to lay his bauds on the perpetrators of certain acts when a less experienced man would fail for lack of more denifite clues.

One store burglar, for. instance, will always enter through the fanlight over the front door, another by breaking in at the back. One will pry open the iron bars of the back window ; another will prefer to come down through the skylight in the roof. Moreover, they will all repeat the same act in the same general neighbourhood and at or about the same hour of the day or night, as the case may be, with results disastrous to themselves, and satisfactory to the representatives of the law. It may be easily seen, then, how a detective with a long experience and a wide acquaintance with the most active crooks and their methods will find the task ot tracking down bis man comparatively simple. The crime itself generally suggests tbe gang responsible for its commission ; the | exact methods may actually indicate the individual.

Many a time when a burglary has occurred and the criminal has vanished, leaving apparently no marks by which he can be traced, police officials have been able to produce him in court within a few days, to the utter astonishment of all concerned.

And here, it may be remarked, is one particular in which at least the lower order ot criminal seems to differ from the ordinary man—in the matter of brain. In this he is abnormal, the parts of his mental mechanism being seemingly in some way defective, or at least not co-ordinating in such a manner as to render his acts logical. It is to his interest, if to anybody’s, to conceal his identity, and to avoid mannerisms or fads from which a keen intellect might de-

duce his participation in any given occurrence or scheme. Yet this he seems unable to do. Of course he must needs specialise in one particular branch of crime, for any career, lawless or otherwise, requires a certain amount of training, and every man’s capacity for work is limited.

For instance, an accomplished safe blower will rarely be a good pickpocket, or a gunman an expert forger. Each action requires native ability as well as special preparation. But there is no reason, psychological or otherwise, why the crook should not vary his methods. Yet this he fails to do, leading, in consequence, to his own detection. Were it not that criminals repeat their misdeeds in substantially the same way each time, and incidentally betray their personal habits of thought and action, it would be impossible for the police officials to follow up and convict as many lawbreakers as they do.