It is true that insane asylums, homes for the feeble-minded, and
hospitals are not what they should be, nor what they will be some day.
All of this is not due to the attitude of the mind of the public, but is
due to the method of administration which is not within the scope of
this book. If justice and humanity shall ever have to do with the
treatment of the criminal, and if science shall ever be called upon in
this, one of the most serious and painful questions of the ages, it is
necessary, first, that the public shall have a better understanding of
crime and criminals.




III

RESPONSIBILITY FOR CRIME


It is only lately that we are beginning to find out anything about the
origin and nature of man. Laws have come down to us from old customs and
folk-ways based on primitive ideas of man's origin, capacity and
responsibility. It has been generally assumed that man was created
different from all the rest of animal life; that man alone was endowed
with a soul and with the power to tell good from evil; that in the
beginning man was perfect but yielded to temptation, and since then has
been the subject of an everlasting contest between the powers of light
and the powers of darkness for the possession of his soul; that man not
only knew good from evil, but was endowed with "free will," and had the
power to choose between good and evil; and that when he did wrong he