Crime -- Great Britain; Criminals -- Great Britain; Psychology, Pathological
I have watched the progress of boys born to an epileptic mother or
father, and again, they are strange beings. I have not found them to be
the equal of girls in lying or dishonesty, but I have found them to be
idle and shiftless; incapable of giving sustained attention to study or
work; sometimes becoming drunkards and vagrants before the days of full
manhood were reached.
So far as my experience goes, I have not found that the children of an
epileptic suffer from “fits” or manifest seizures. They do not bear
on their bodies the cuts, wounds and bruises that are often found on
the bodies of those who do suffer, but I have found, and certainly my
experience does not stand alone, that they are often irresponsible
creatures possessing strange minds, clever in certain directions and
those directions not for good; capable of serious crime, but never
exhibiting any sorrow, fear or remorse when convicted of any offence.
They generally insist upon their absolute innocence, but go to prison
just as unconcernedly as they would go elsewhere.
Not very long ago a wealthy gentleman wrote to me about his daughter,
a beautiful and accomplished woman of twenty-two. He told me that she
had been in prison and was again in the hands of the police, charged
with fraud. His letter led to an interview; he candidly told me that
his daughter had been untruthful and dishonest for many years, but now
he was ashamed to say that she was grossly immoral.
He had been compelled to remove her from every educational
establishment in which she had been placed, for her lies and dishonesty
could not be tolerated. He had placed her with more than one private
governess, but while she made excellent progress with her studies, and
especially with music, even for liberal payment no one could be found
to give her a home and supervision beyond a very short period.
The grief and shame of both father and mother were apparent; their
daughter being in the hands of the police, they knew that I could not
save her; but they wanted some hope and some guidance for the future.
“Can nothing be done?” they repeatedly asked. I could give them but
little comfort; I dared not create hope, for I had learned during our
conversation that the mother herself suffered at intervals, sometimes
longer and sometimes shorter, from epileptic “fits.” In my heart I felt
sure that this was the real cause of the daughter’s strange behaviour;
I did not, however, add to their sorrow by telling them what I thought.
My experience of epileptics has been much larger than the ordinary run
of my life would lead any one to imagine, for outside my police court
and prison experience I have had frequent opportunities for gaining
knowledge and forming judgment. Probably few men have a more varied
post-bag than myself; rightly or wrongly, large numbers of people
believe that I can give them advice or help in family and other matters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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