THE CRIMINAL IMBECILE
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
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MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
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THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO
Jean Gianini.
(Upper picture taken in jail. Printed by permission of Zintsmaster
and Jones, Herkimer, N. Y., Photographers.)
THE
CRIMINAL IMBECILE
AN ANALYSIS OF THREE
REMARKABLE MURDER CASES
BY
HENRY HERBERT GODDARD
DIRECTOR OF DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH
VINELAND TRAINING SCHOOL
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1915
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1915,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1915.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
PREFACE
This book is offered to the public in the belief that the three casesherein described are typical of a large proportion of criminal cases andthat the analysis and discussion attempted will help to make clearimportant points which are often misunderstood, points relative to thecriminal and to the imbecile.
A clear conception of the nature of the imbecile and of his relation tocrime will inevitably result in a most desirable change in our criminalprocedure.
It should be noted that we use “imbecile” in the legal sense whichincludes the moron and often the idiot as scientifically classified. Thisusage is justified since much of the literature still describes all mentaldefectives as imbeciles, idiots, or feeble-minded—according to thepreference of the writers.
These cases are unique in that they were the first court cases in whichthe Binet-Simon tests were admitted in evidence, the mental status ofthese persons under indictment being largely determined by this method.
[Pg vi]It happens, also, that these cases well illustrate three phases of theworkings of defective minds. Jean Gianini shows the criminal imbecile ofhigh grade and of loquacious type working by himself. Roland Pennington,equally high grade but of a quiet, phlegmatic temperament, shows how adefective mind works under suggestion. Finally, Tronson shows the crudebrutality of a somewhat lower grade defective.
In the chapter on Responsibility we have tried to indicate the differencebetween verbal morality and deep-seated, appreciated, moral principle. Achild may have the former but the latter comes only with experience andthe age at least of the adolescent.
We would remind the reader that in the confessions and the appendices wehave had at hand only stenographic reports.
If this book shall help the lawyer to make a more su