Feeble-Mindedness and Criminal Conduct

Lack of agreement among investigators regarding the relationship between feeble-mindedness and criminal conduct is found to be due primarily to a variability in standards for feeble-mindedness and in the estimates of the amount of feeble-mindedness in the non-criminal population. Prominent studies in apparent disagreeement are found to be corroboratory when reinterpreted in terms of relatively constant standards. Criminals are found to be decidedly inferior when compared with the traditional standards of Terman and slightly inferior when compared with the United States Draft Army. The United States Draft Army is shown to be the best available standard for the noncriminal population.