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18 The Criminal Type in Women and Its Atavistic Origin

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Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman
This chapter is in the book Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman
18The Criminal Type in Womenand Its Atavistic OriginsFrequency of the TypeThe mere frequency of degenerative traits is insufficient to give us an exact idea ofthe criminal type among women; that type emerges clearly only when we studyvarious characteristics in combination. We can refer to a complete type when wefind four or more degenerative traits; a half-type when at least three such traitsare present; and zero type when the offender exhibits only one or two physicalanomalies or none whatsoever.Of the female criminals examined, 52 were Piedmontese, in the prison of Turin;another 234, sentenced to the female penitentiary,49came from other Italian prov-inces, especially the south. Thus we ignored ethnic characteristics pertaining toprisoners’ areas of origin.50We studied the criminal type in these offenders, in the150 prostitutes we had previously examined, and in another 100 prostitutes fromMoscow whose photographs were sent to us by Tarnowsky. Finally, to get com-parative results, we applied our classification system to data supplied by Marro,Grimaldi, and Tarnowsky. The results appear in table 23.A single glance at table 23 demonstrates the tremendous agreement among theresults. The penitentiary prisoners resemble those we saw in the Turin prison;and our own results are close to the averages of the other observers, allowing forpersonal differences in the assessment of a single trait.51These are the key results:(1) The criminal type is a rarity in female compared to male criminals. In ourhomogeneous group (286 cases),52the proportion of those with the com-plete type is 14 percent, a figure that rises to 18 percent when one takesinto consideration the other data in the table.53Even this is a small figure,
© 2020 Duke University Press, Durham, USA

18The Criminal Type in Womenand Its Atavistic OriginsFrequency of the TypeThe mere frequency of degenerative traits is insufficient to give us an exact idea ofthe criminal type among women; that type emerges clearly only when we studyvarious characteristics in combination. We can refer to a complete type when wefind four or more degenerative traits; a half-type when at least three such traitsare present; and zero type when the offender exhibits only one or two physicalanomalies or none whatsoever.Of the female criminals examined, 52 were Piedmontese, in the prison of Turin;another 234, sentenced to the female penitentiary,49came from other Italian prov-inces, especially the south. Thus we ignored ethnic characteristics pertaining toprisoners’ areas of origin.50We studied the criminal type in these offenders, in the150 prostitutes we had previously examined, and in another 100 prostitutes fromMoscow whose photographs were sent to us by Tarnowsky. Finally, to get com-parative results, we applied our classification system to data supplied by Marro,Grimaldi, and Tarnowsky. The results appear in table 23.A single glance at table 23 demonstrates the tremendous agreement among theresults. The penitentiary prisoners resemble those we saw in the Turin prison;and our own results are close to the averages of the other observers, allowing forpersonal differences in the assessment of a single trait.51These are the key results:(1) The criminal type is a rarity in female compared to male criminals. In ourhomogeneous group (286 cases),52the proportion of those with the com-plete type is 14 percent, a figure that rises to 18 percent when one takesinto consideration the other data in the table.53Even this is a small figure,
© 2020 Duke University Press, Durham, USA

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. List of tables ix
  4. List of illustrations xi
  5. Acknowledgments xiii
  6. Editors’ Introduction 1
  7. Author’s Preface 35
  8. PART I. The Normal Woman
  9. 1 The Female in the Animal World 41
  10. 2 Anatomy and Biology of Woman 46
  11. 3 Senses and Psyche of Woman 58
  12. 4 Cruelty, Compassion, and Maternity 65
  13. 5 Love 73
  14. 6 The Moral Sense 77
  15. 7 Intelligence 82
  16. PART II. Female Criminology
  17. 8 Crime in the Animal World 91
  18. 9 Crimes of Savage and Primitive Women 95
  19. 10 The History of Prostitution 100
  20. PART III. Pathological Anatomy and Anthropometry of Criminal Woman and the Prostitute
  21. 11 The Skull of the Female Offender 107
  22. 12 Pathological Anomalies 114
  23. 13 The Brains of Female Criminals and Prostitutes 118
  24. 14 Anthropometry of Female Criminals 121
  25. 15 Facial and Cephalic Anomalies of Female Criminals and Prostitutes 127
  26. 16 Other Anomalies 131
  27. 17 Photographs of Criminals and Prostitutes 135
  28. 18 The Criminal Type in Women and Its Atavistic Origin 144
  29. 19 Tattoos 151
  30. PART IV. Biology and Psychology of Female Criminals and Prostitutes
  31. 20 Menstruation, Fecundity, Vitality, Strength, and Reflexes 159
  32. 21 Acuteness of Sense and Vision 165
  33. 22 Sexual Sensitivity (Lesbianism and Sexual Psychopathy) 171
  34. 23 The Female Born Criminal 182
  35. 24 Occasional Criminals 193
  36. 25 Crimes of Passion 201
  37. 26 Suicides 209
  38. 27 The Born Prostitute 213
  39. 28 The Occasional Prostitute 222
  40. 29 Insane Criminals 227
  41. 30 Epileptic Criminals and the Morally Insane 231
  42. 31 Hysterical Criminals 234
  43. Appendix 1: Comparing Three Editions of La donna delinquente 241
  44. Appendix 2: Illustrations in the Earlier Editions 256
  45. Notes 259
  46. Glossary 285
  47. References 291
  48. Index 297
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822385592-023

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. List of tables ix
  4. List of illustrations xi
  5. Acknowledgments xiii
  6. Editors’ Introduction 1
  7. Author’s Preface 35
  8. PART I. The Normal Woman
  9. 1 The Female in the Animal World 41
  10. 2 Anatomy and Biology of Woman 46
  11. 3 Senses and Psyche of Woman 58
  12. 4 Cruelty, Compassion, and Maternity 65
  13. 5 Love 73
  14. 6 The Moral Sense 77
  15. 7 Intelligence 82
  16. PART II. Female Criminology
  17. 8 Crime in the Animal World 91
  18. 9 Crimes of Savage and Primitive Women 95
  19. 10 The History of Prostitution 100
  20. PART III. Pathological Anatomy and Anthropometry of Criminal Woman and the Prostitute
  21. 11 The Skull of the Female Offender 107
  22. 12 Pathological Anomalies 114
  23. 13 The Brains of Female Criminals and Prostitutes 118
  24. 14 Anthropometry of Female Criminals 121
  25. 15 Facial and Cephalic Anomalies of Female Criminals and Prostitutes 127
  26. 16 Other Anomalies 131
  27. 17 Photographs of Criminals and Prostitutes 135
  28. 18 The Criminal Type in Women and Its Atavistic Origin 144
  29. 19 Tattoos 151
  30. PART IV. Biology and Psychology of Female Criminals and Prostitutes
  31. 20 Menstruation, Fecundity, Vitality, Strength, and Reflexes 159
  32. 21 Acuteness of Sense and Vision 165
  33. 22 Sexual Sensitivity (Lesbianism and Sexual Psychopathy) 171
  34. 23 The Female Born Criminal 182
  35. 24 Occasional Criminals 193
  36. 25 Crimes of Passion 201
  37. 26 Suicides 209
  38. 27 The Born Prostitute 213
  39. 28 The Occasional Prostitute 222
  40. 29 Insane Criminals 227
  41. 30 Epileptic Criminals and the Morally Insane 231
  42. 31 Hysterical Criminals 234
  43. Appendix 1: Comparing Three Editions of La donna delinquente 241
  44. Appendix 2: Illustrations in the Earlier Editions 256
  45. Notes 259
  46. Glossary 285
  47. References 291
  48. Index 297
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