Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/143

 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 1 29

question always arises, Are we dealing with something inherited from remote ancestry, or with a simple imitation atavism produced in the course of variation ? While atavism does not indicate a disintegration of the organism, is not necessarily patho- logic, and need not be connected with a general and deep-seated inferiority of the whole being, exactly the reverse is true of degeneration, which invariably results in a final and complete extinction of the, line unless crossed with pure blood. This mixing with pure blood is the only source from which help can come to arrest the process of degeneration. Since degenerates are mutually more attracted to each other than to normal folk, and since it is only through crossing with wholesome blood that the fatal course of degeneration can be stayed, it falls out that, biologically conceived, degenera- tion is a potent instrument of natural selection, furnishing a ready means by which the unht may hasten their own extinction. While it is true that degeneration and marks of degeneration usually vary directly together, instances are not unknown where the two are dissociated, and we have a high degree of degeneracy present with few or none of the stigmata appearing, or many apparent stigmata with little or no real degeneracy. Although signs of degeneration are undoubtedly more numerous and more pronounced among the criminal and the insane than among normal individuals, thus giving room for the supposition that there is some intimate connection between criminality and insanity upon the one hand and degeneracy upon the other, it is none the less true that in concrete cases the process of inferring from the presence of stigmata the exist- ance of a criminal or of an insane person is something to be undertaken with extreme circumspection. Whether it is true, as maintained by many authors, that degeneration parallels civilization is a difficult question. There are too many hopeful elements in modern life to allow us unreservedly to accept the evil forebodings of such prophets.— (. N.\CKE "Degeneration, Degenerationszeichen und .\tavibmus," Archiv f. Kriminal- Antkropologie u. Knviinalistik, Band I, Heft 3.

The Influence of Marriage on the Criminality of Men. — .\n investigation, conducted chiefly with regard to criminal statistics, reveals certain facts concerning the respective relations of married and of unmarried men to different classes of crime. These facts may be epitomized briefly as follows : Property rights of all kinds are more generally respected by the married than by the single. The graver offenses against property — robbery, extortion, fraud, etc. — are committed by the married man with comparative infrequency. When he is driven to the unlawful acquirement of wealth or of material goods, he generally chooses some of the less dangerous methods of so doing. Receiving stolen goods, breaking of laws relative to trade, commerce, and public health, forcible detention of pieces of property, bankruptcy, etc., are the forms which offenses against property usually assume among married men. Among those married at an extremely early age (eighteen to twenty-five) trespasses against the rights of property are much more common than among the unmarried of a correspond- ing age. This is probably explained by the fact that in such marriages poverty, if not a concomitant, IS frequently a result. Incendiarism is most largely found among the unmar- ried, the greatest proportion falling to the account of widowers and single men between the ages of thirty and sixty years. Apart from pimping, bigamy, and incest, the unmarried far outrun the married in the commitment of offenses against morality. In the sphere of crime and offense against human life, the unmarried are greater sinners than the married, though not so markedly so as in the offenses against prop- erty rights. Only in the matter of careless and negligent killing and wounding do the married surpass the unmarried. The difference in the criminality of the married and the unmarried grows less with advancing years. Between the ages of fifty and sixty years it is small ; after that period it is still less. Only in delicts relative to morality is this not the case. The curves representing the participation of the married and unmarried, respectively, in crime present a very different appearance until an advanced age is reached. With the former the course of the curve is gradually down- ward from the beginning ; there are but few exceptions to this rule. Among the latter the direction of the curve varies with the particular class of offenses we may consider. Generally speaking, however, the curve rises sharply at the beginning, pro- ceeds at about the height attained for some time, then slowly falls. There is a note- worthy difference between the behavior of the curve representing the participation of the unmarried in offenses against property and that figuring their share in crimes