Criminal Man, According to the Classification of Cesare LombrosoLombroso, Gina
Science
Criminal Man, According to the Classification of Cesare Lombroso
Lombroso, Gina
Criminal anthropology; Criminology
The born criminal is an epileptic, inasmuch as he possesses the
anatomical, skeletal, physiognomical, psychological, and moral
characteristics peculiar to the recognised form of epilepsy, and
sometimes also its motorial phenomena, although at rare intervals. More
frequently he exhibits its substitutes (vertigo, twitching, sialorrhea,
emotional attacks). But the criminal epileptic possesses other
characteristics peculiar to himself; in particular, that desire of evil
for its own sake, which is unknown to ordinary epileptics. In view of
this fact this form of epilepsy must be considered apart from the purely
nervous anomaly, both in the clinical diagnosis and the methods of cure
and social prophylaxis.
Moreover, the nervous anomaly, which in the case of criminals appears on
the scene from time to time, accentuating the criminal tendency till it
reaches the atavistic form and producing morbid complications which
sometimes prove fatal, serves to point out the true nature of the
disease and to emphasise the fact that while it is attenuated so far as
motor attacks are concerned, it is aggravated on the other hand by
criminal impulses, which render the patient semi-immune and permit him a
longer and less troubled existence, but provoke a constant brain
irritation, which clouds and disturbs his intellectual and moral nature.
In order better to understand these two forms of epilepsy, we must
recall two analogous forms of another and equally multiform disease,
tuberculosis in its forms of quick consumption and scrofula. The
etiology is identical and the symptoms frequently alike, but while the
latter proceeds very slowly and allows the patient a long life, the
former is rapid and severs life in its prime.
In motory epilepsy, the irritation is manifested on a sudden, but leaves
the mind healthy in the interval, although the attacks may lead to rapid
dementia. In criminal epilepsy this irritation does not break out in
violent seizures and is compatible with a long life, but it changes the
whole physical and psychic complexion of the individual.
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