In this book Dr. Karpman has collected the life histories of five criminals. He uses their autobiographical material as an important basis of his study of the causation of crime and the personality of the criminal. This the author has supplemented with information from social agencies and from fellow inmates of the criminals. His mode of approach and admirable patience enabled him to make excellent clinical observations. The author admits that the histories probably contain much fantasy and sound like romantic fiction. Nevertheless, these very fabrications help us to understand the psychogenesis of crime.

From these studies the author tries to make it evident that the established attitude of present-day law is 'persecution' rather than a 'protection' of the criminal, and that an attitude of understanding and co-operation should replace the punishment of and