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The Morbid Psychology of Criminals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2018

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

“Look to the needle of your compass, I beseech you, good Sir Astrophel, and tell us, if yon can, whence comes this storm ?”

We now come to the consideration of the last of the three forms of weakmindedness among prisoners, viz., states of mental exaltation. We looked upon the first form, simple mental weakness, as a state of “want of mind,” a negative or irresponsive condition of mind. The second form, states of mental depression, we took as a condition in which there is general inertia of mind with a prominent activity (positive action) in the direction of painful depression.

Type
Part I.—Original Articles
Information
Journal of Mental Science , Volume 21 , Issue 94 , July 1875 , pp. 225 - 250
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 1875 

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References

∗ “On Mental Diseases,” p. 273.Google Scholar

∗ And so, it may be said, does the lunatic. Yes ! but the sanity of the prisoner lies in his adhering to disorderly conduct with as much consistency as could possibly be given to orderly conduct. He has but a Hobson's choice, order or disorder. The latter is what he at present wills, desires or likes, and he is able to carry it out by reason of his conscious knowledge of the former. In fact, his knowledge of what is right enables him to do what is wrong; under the circumstances it even directs and guides his conduct.Google Scholar

∗ Maudsley, —“Physiology and Pathology of the Mind,” p. 124.Google Scholar

∗ “Unsoundness of Mind in Relation to Criminal Acts,” p. 22.Google Scholar

∗ “Feigned Insanity, with Cases.”—Journal of Mental Science, Jan., 1870.Google Scholar

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