Note 26 — Chapter III · OPPOSITION TO LOMBROSO’S VIEWS—WOMAN AS CRIMINAL—THE POLITICAL CRIMINAL—CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY

The born criminal is, invariably, utterly destitute of the feeling that he is doing wrong. Murderers frequently describe their misdeeds as trifles, as pardonable errors of youth, and they are astonished and indignant that they are so severely punished. To the true criminal, the pangs of conscience are entirely unknown, and a brutish indifference to death is a most frequent manifestation. This is shown very clearly in the turns of phrase met with in the jargon of criminals in relation to the punishment of execution. One of the most sensational trials in recent days—the trial of Heinze and of the prostitute with whom he lived—served to acquaint the general public with the phrase “cut the cabbage” for decapitation. The expression “to sneeze in the sack” corresponds to this (the guillotined head, when severed by the falling knife, is received in a sack); and there are many others. Lombroso gives numerous examples of a perfect equanimity persisting up to the very moment of death. One of his reports (Archivio di psichiatria, 1891, Section 4) tells us of a murderer who, whilst awaiting his execution, drew caricatures of the spectators. Allied to this indifference, appears to be the puzzling impulse of professional murderers before the commission of a crime to speak openly of their plans, and even to describe the actual details of the proposed murder. Troppmann, although he lied in court during the trial, while confined in his cell made drawings of the way in which he had committed the murder.