The psychology of the criminal / by M. Hamblin Smith.

  • Maurice Hamblin Smith
Date:
[1922]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The psychology of the criminal / by M. Hamblin Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    in the unravelling of some problems in delinquency. But we should still have been groping in the dark had it not been for the latest achievement of psychology, the hypothesis of the “ unconscious mind ”, and the methods of its investigation. This, the greatest achieve¬ ment of modern times, perhaps of all times, will be dealt with, after an elementary fashion, in Chapters III and IV. The dependence of conduct upon mental life has, of course, long been recognized in certain practical bear¬ ings, although its basis is only just beginning to be investigated. The demagogic politician, the popular newspaper, the religious leader, the advertising agent, have long made use of this dependence. We now claim that the science of psychology indicates the road which we must follow in our study of delinquents, the only road which we can follow with the hope of attaining ultimate peace, because the only road which leads us to the study of what the delinquent really is. If we consider for a moment the immediate antece¬ dents of any example of delinquency, we see at once how intimately related are conduct and mental life. One man kills another, and the action was the result of the emotion of anger produced by what the victim had said or done. Or, again, in a burglary the action was the result of a deliberately formed mental plan. Or, yet again, a man has yielded to some sudden impulse which prompted him to the gratification of some desire. So it is abundantly clear that the one way to investigate the causes of an offence is to ascertain, as far as may be done, the mental processes which have produced the delinquent action. To overlook this mental factor, is a sure way to the formation of erroneous conclusions. It is thus that the general causation theories have led to so much misapprehension. This is why the easy “explanation” of assigning some external cause for delinquency has led so often to mistaken conclusions.