Criminal Types

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 382, 16 June 1928, Page 10

Criminal Types

There is every reason why the public should have followed eagerly all the incidents in the discovery and trial of the murderers of Police-con-stable Gutteridge, says an English exchange. From the very first the savage brutality of the murder aroused the indignation of the public and the strong desire that no stone should be left unturned to track ‘the authors of it to their lairs. The activity of the police .and the pursuit of one clue after another added the familiar elements of a detective story. Finally, the characters of the accused men mysteriously fitted this garish tale of war to the knife between society and crime. Scotland Yard and the police generally have given reassuring proof of their tenacity, courage and high competence in dealing with a sensational case, stretching all their energies. Searching Tests They made the utmost use of the clues which the criminals recklessly left, and by submitting everything to to the most searching tests, including the microscopic examination of weapons and bullets, they accumulated incriminating evidence. The major charge against Browne and the arrest of Kennedy were deferred till they had fully prepared their case. Both these men were confirmed criminals with bad records, and of the two Browne was far the more dangerous. The majority of habitual criminals are men of inferior physique

ABILITY AND KINKS

Fierce War on Society

and low mentality—creatures below par all round. But there is another class, men who are deliberate enemies of society, who appear to take to this kind of war from choice rather than weakness, and embark on crime with the skill of professionals. Incurably Criminal Browne belonged to the latter, and he was an exceptional example of it. He possessed many qualities fitting him for highly useful citizenship if his criminal kink had not turned them all to abominable ends. His amazing strength gave him power and confidence in criminal actions. His distaste for drink and even smoking gave him the valuable reputation of a temperate man. His extraordinary mechanical inventiveness afforded him means of outwitting the law. Ail his talents were subordinated to purposes which seem to have been incurably criminal. That there should exist in our midst men of confirmed criminal habits —men strong, like Browne, weak, like Kenned}-, and in other cases wholly diseased—is one of the social problems which society has as yet scarcely touched. Men like these, whose, characters are well known, every year leave prison and are let loose upon society to do their worst until they are caught out again. Hospitals for them, asylums, remote islands, have not yet been arranged to cure them or keep them out of mischief. At large, they are dangerous and infectious.