Abstract
This study surveys a quarter of a century of continuous opera tion of the Psychiatric Clinic of the Court of General Sessions of New York County.
The statistical findings are based on some 71,000 examinations of approximately 57,000 persons involved in felonies.
Most of these persons are not significantly psychotic, neurotic, or even intellectually deficient in the ordinary clinical sense. Approximately 1.5 per cent are psychotic; less than 1 per cent are significantly neurotic; about 2.5 per cent are mental defec tives. Thus, only about 5 per cent of all persons convicted of felonies need to be considered for special treatment for psychotic, neurotic, or mentally deficient states. The remaining 95 per cent of serious offenders—at least in our jurisdiction—tend to show more or less severe character disorders.
Over the 26-year period of this study, the only significant fluc tuation in incidence of major character disorders occurs in the group psychiatrically designated as pathologic (or sociopathic) personalities. The percentage of pathologic personalities appre hended for felonious crimes tends to fluctuate in accordance with sociologic, economic, and legal factors, rather than as a result of any significant variation in the personality configuration of the delinquency-prone population.
The personality classifications developed by the Clinic are listed and described in two categories: Major Character and Behavior Disorders (seven subgroups), and Lesser Character and Behavior Disorders (twelve subgroups).
1 Walter Bromberg and Charles B. Thomp son, "The Relation of Psychosis, Mental Defect and Personality Types to Crime," Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, May-June, 1937, pp. 70-89.
2 John H. Cassity, "Personality Study of 200 Murderers," Journal of Criminal Psycho pathology, Jan., 1941, pp. 296-304.
3 The words psychoneurosis and neurosis are used interchangeably—a standard psychi atric practice. They refer to degrees of nerv
ous disorder which do not significantly im pair an individual's contact with, or appre ciation of, reality.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.