Abstract
IN a recent paper (Quart. J. Studies on Alcohol, 2, 686 ; 1942) Dr. Ralph S. Banay, chief psychiatrist to Sing Sing Prison, New York, records his experience of this subject based on detailed examinations, laboratory studies, social investigations and years of follow-up in confinement or supervision on parole. Statistical data showed that the principal difference between the alcoholic criminal and the non-alcoholic criminal was the high incidence of assault among the former, while in the latter crimes against property took precedence. This seemed to suggest that the primarily intemperate individual was drawn into crime not only for the need of money but also by the increased irritability, irascibility and pugnacity of the protracted alcoholic state. In conclusion, Dr. Banay deplores the fact that though a large number of all types of alcoholic offenders are passing through many corrective institutions throughout the United States, little is done for the study, understanding, prevention and treatment of them.
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Alcoholism and Crime. Nature 150, 428 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/150428c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/150428c0