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The Morbid Psychology of Criminals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2018

David Nicolson*
Affiliation:
Her Majesty's Convict Prison, Portsmouth

Extract

Emotional Display in Prisoners.—In proceeding with, our investigation into the rationale of their angry and destructive outbursts, it will be necessary for us to keep in view the exceptional circumstances in which prisoners are placed, and the fact that their passionate demonstrations are frequently but repetitions of the same series of acts in consequence of the limited scope of action afforded by prison life. The readiness with which such emotional conditions are stirred up, and the extravagant results to which they lead, are among the best evidences of mental inferiority among criminals as a class. Indeed, wherever we find such a relative want of proportion and adjustment between states of feeling and their cause on the one hand, and states of outward activity and their consequences on the other, we must look upon it as an indication of inferiority.

Type
Part 1.—Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1873 

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