Crime -- Great Britain; Criminal anthropology; Punishment -- Great Britain
Apart from those who are led into sportive acts when they are in liquor,
there are some who take to theft pure and simple. X 13 was a most
respectable man about thirty years of age. He was honest and industrious,
and except that he occasionally gave way to intemperance he appeared to
have no faults or follies. He was not very fond of company, and after his
work was done he spent most of his time at home in his lodgings, where he
had the reputation of being a quiet, peaceable, and somewhat studious man.
He was arrested one night when under the influence of drink, in possession
of property which had been stolen by him. On his room being searched the
proceeds of several thefts were found, and the remains of articles which
had been stolen and partially destroyed. It became apparent that he had
been responsible for quite a number of thefts from public places during
the two preceding years. His story was that he had no recollection of
stealing; and on the Sunday morning after his first theft he was horrified
to find a bag containing articles of clothing in his room. He ascertained
from his landlady that he had brought it home the night before, and he
told her some story to explain his questions. He made no attempt to sell
the property, but destroyed it in detail. He kept off drink for a time,
but falling in with some old friends one night, he took too much and again
he stole. It preyed on his mind to such an extent that he went on a spree,
with the same result. He could tell nobody of his trouble, and he got into
despairing and reckless moods in which he flew to drink, nearly always
returning with something. He was remonstrated with on account of his
growing intemperance, but with very little result; and it was a relief to
him when he was found out. How many thefts he had committed was never
known, but he had never made a penny by them. He was not a kleptomaniac
when sober, and his case is an uncommon one in respect more to the freedom
he enjoyed from arrest than to the nature of the impulse which he obeyed;
for there are a good many occasional thieves who are quite honest when
sober.
Others have fallen from a position as law-abiding citizens, and have lost
their self-respect, as well as their position, through habitual
intemperance. Their one passion is drink, and they will do anything to get
it. They cannot get work and could not keep it if they did, because of
their unsteadiness; so they live off others by begging or by stealing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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