Pathology of Lying, Accusation, and Swindling: A Study in Forensic PsychologyHealy, William
Science
Pathology of Lying, Accusation, and Swindling: A Study in Forensic Psychology
Healy, William
Criminal psychology; Swindlers and swindling
It is necessary to have knowledge of the heredity and
environmental background to understand this case. Almost nothing
is known of the maternal family. After losing his first wife,
the father was twice remarried, and even the third wife has
divorced him. He had a brother who, after going insane and
killing two laborers, committed suicide. His grandmother, and
probably also a cousin, were insane. Two of his sisters were of
a nervous and hysterical type and said to have attacks of
aphonia. A child by his second wife is epileptic. This man
gives us a long account of his own defective heredity and of his
own physical ailments. He does not recognize the fact, however,
that he also is mentally below par. We have seen him on numerous
occasions and known of his great activity in the courts, and have
attempted to size him up. He is undoubtedly a constitutional
inferior, in poor general physical condition and subject to
episodic mental states. One would be inclined to call him a
semi-responsible individual with mild delusions, defective
reasoning ability, great energy in self-assertion, and of
combative disposition. This latter shows itself in his voluble
emphasis on the alleged ill treatment of himself and family, even
by his wives. He is never physically violent. On account of
false accusations, whether delusional or not, he got at least one
pastor into a peck of trouble, and, strangely enough, his wives
have been involved in some other church embroilments when his own
character was called severely into question. On one occasion we
were interested to enumerate an astonishing list of people and
organizations which, he stated, had treated him and his family
unfairly. It seemed to us that during the last two or three
years he must largely have lived in the courts to carry on his
transactions there. His concern for his daughter seemed genuine
and her delinquency led him to seek the law more than ever. Some
of the good people who have become interested in his affairs tell
us that his is the strangest story they have ever heard. His
veracity is often in question. On more than one occasion with us
he has dwelled on his nervous states, and on the fact that he is
subject to times of mental confusion, but he defends his own
judgment and actions on all occasions with great vigor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account