The Criminal

Name: The Criminal
Author: Ellis, Havelock

Ellis, Havelock

Criminal anthropology; Criminology

But cannot a person be a slave to passion and to other qualities of
    mind as well as to persons?

    Yes.

    Then your definition is obviously incorrect. I would define slavery as
    a state in which one’s actions are regulated by some power over which
    he has no control. Would you agree with me?

    Well, I think I would.

    Very well. Having agreed upon a definition of slavery, we will discuss
    whether life in prison is slavery. Now, let me ask, why are men sent
    to prison?

    Usually for violating the law.

    Well, do you believe that men steal, for instance, voluntarily?

    Undoubtedly.

    Your tone is rather confident, so I daresay you can tell me _why_ men
    steal?

    In order to get certain articles that will enable them to live more
    comfortably, or which they desire to have.

    That is, you mean that they have certain feelings--such as laziness,
    love of gain, etc.--which they wish to gratify?

    Well, yes.

    But if a man had not these feelings he would not steal?

    I think not.

    Then these feelings regulate his conduct in stealing?

    It seems so.

    But you agreed that he whose conduct is regulated by some power other
    than his own free will is a slave.

    Well, I am afraid you have caught me again.

    But do you admit it?

    I do.

    Then he who prevents this man from stealing is emancipating him, not
    enslaving him?

    I see you are right.

    Then one who is in prison for wrong-doing is a free man, not a slave?

    Yes. But suppose that the man has been sent to prison unjustly; what
    then?

    To answer your question, I should have to know what your conception of
    true freedom is. True freedom is, as it appears to me, the triumphing
    of the spirit or better part of man over the flesh or weaker part;
    that is, acting according to one’s highest conception of what is
    right. Do you agree with me?

    I do.

    Then do you not think that the truly righteous man, be he in prison or
    out, is free? Do you not see that a man who does right, even though he
    lose fortune or life by doing so, is freer than the one who allows his
    conduct to be regulated by fear, malice, or other passions? Remember
    that a man may be free in a dungeon and bound down with chains, and
    that he may be an abject slave and be clothed in purple.”

The _Summary_ perhaps does something to encourage priggishness, but
priggishness, it need scarcely be said, indicates a far higher moral level
than the vacuous brutality which lies behind so large a proportion of
prison inscriptions.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The CriminalEllis, Havelock

Science

The Criminal

Ellis, Havelock

Criminal anthropology; Criminology

But cannot a person be a slave to passion and to other qualities of
    mind as well as to persons?

    Yes.

    Then your definition is obviously incorrect. I would define slavery as
    a state in which one’s actions are regulated by some power over which
    he has no control. Would you agree with me?

    Well, I think I would.

    Very well. Having agreed upon a definition of slavery, we will discuss
    whether life in prison is slavery. Now, let me ask, why are men sent
    to prison?

    Usually for violating the law.

    Well, do you believe that men steal, for instance, voluntarily?

    Undoubtedly.

    Your tone is rather confident, so I daresay you can tell me _why_ men
    steal?

    In order to get certain articles that will enable them to live more
    comfortably, or which they desire to have.

    That is, you mean that they have certain feelings--such as laziness,
    love of gain, etc.--which they wish to gratify?

    Well, yes.

    But if a man had not these feelings he would not steal?

    I think not.

    Then these feelings regulate his conduct in stealing?

    It seems so.

    But you agreed that he whose conduct is regulated by some power other
    than his own free will is a slave.

    Well, I am afraid you have caught me again.

    But do you admit it?

    I do.

    Then he who prevents this man from stealing is emancipating him, not
    enslaving him?

    I see you are right.

    Then one who is in prison for wrong-doing is a free man, not a slave?

    Yes. But suppose that the man has been sent to prison unjustly; what
    then?

    To answer your question, I should have to know what your conception of
    true freedom is. True freedom is, as it appears to me, the triumphing
    of the spirit or better part of man over the flesh or weaker part;
    that is, acting according to one’s highest conception of what is
    right. Do you agree with me?

    I do.

    Then do you not think that the truly righteous man, be he in prison or
    out, is free? Do you not see that a man who does right, even though he
    lose fortune or life by doing so, is freer than the one who allows his
    conduct to be regulated by fear, malice, or other passions? Remember
    that a man may be free in a dungeon and bound down with chains, and
    that he may be an abject slave and be clothed in purple.”

The _Summary_ perhaps does something to encourage priggishness, but
priggishness, it need scarcely be said, indicates a far higher moral level
than the vacuous brutality which lies behind so large a proportion of
prison inscriptions.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Criminal

The Criminal

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