Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/695

 STUDY OF WOMEN CRIMINALS 679

unwholesome, and they have more degenerate habits which enthrall them. There is more abandon among this class. Sup- plementing the records I found in my tests that nearly two-thirds were recidivists. Some of them answered my queries regarding previous arrests thus : "Oh my, yes," "Of course," "Lots of times," "Sure." They often seemed surprised that I should find it necessary to ask. The penitentiary class are less frequently recidivists, are less frank, and often seemed insulted at the query and wept a negative reply.

It is a prevailing opinion that when women are criminal they are more degraded and more abandoned than men. From the observation of the two sexes, this seems due rather to the dif- ference in the standards which we set for the two sexes. We say woman is worse, but we judge her so by comparison with the ideal of woman, not with a common ideal. For instance, I have included swearing and use of tobacco as bad habits among women; among men we should not consider them in the same light. These make a deeper impression by reason of the require- ments of our ideal, not in the light of plain fact. Licentious- ness in conversation and manner, uncleanlincss in habits and person, do exist to a high degree ; but the men and women come from the same classes, have the same standards, and know the same life. Thus from this point of view the woman is not more degraded than the man. Judged from the effect upon our ideals and upon society's life of, for instance, an intoxicated man or woman, the degradation seems more extreme.

Closely related to this is needed a word upon the moral sense of these women. Among the penitentiary class it is more intel- ligent, more wholesome. Granting that many are immoral because of perversity of instincts, because of desires, there is a large number for which deficient moral training is responsible. It is impossible to secure adequate moral training when the mental has not preceded it and opened the way for its comprehension. Here again the reform-school facts are most instructive. Many of the girls ranging between the ages of ten and sixteen have to be taught what morality means. A child born in or out of wed- lock has for them the same meaning. It is not the theoretical