Apart from their organic and psychological characteristics, innate
or acquired, there are two bio-sociological symptoms which seem to
me to be common, though for distinct reasons, to born criminals
and habitual criminals. I mean precocity and relapse. The
occasional crime and the crime of passion do not, as a rule, occur
before manhood, and rarely or never lead to relapse.

Here are a few figures concerning precocity, derived from
international prison statistics:--


PRISONERS UNDER 20 YEARS OF AGE. Male. Female.
__________________________________________________________________
p.c. p.c.
Italy (1871--6) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 8.8 6.8
France ('72-5) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 10 7.6
Prussia ('71-7--not over 19 years) ... ... ... 2.8 2.6
Austria ('72-5) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 9.6 10.6
Hungary ('72-6) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 4.2 9
England ('72-7 )--not over 24) ... ... ... ... 27.4 14.8
Scotland ('72-7) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 20 7.8
Ireland ('72-7) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 9 3.2
Belgium ('74-5) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 20.8 ---
Holland ('72-7) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 22.8 3.7
Sweden ('73-7) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 19.7 17
Switzerland ('74) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 6.6 7
Denmark ('74-5) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 9.9 9.6
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