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The case of a middle-aged woman who had been repeatedly sentenced on account of her innumerable thefts, her first crime being committed at the age of fifteen. The patient acted under an overwhelming compulsion. The thefts were practically all carried out in exactly the same way in accordance with an elaborate technique (as appeared later); they were preceded by feelings of depression, accompanied by orgasm, and succeeded by a sense of relief. The author, whose duty it was on more than one occasion to take charge of the case in his professional capacity as 'Politiadvokat', became more and more convinced that psycho-analytical treatment was indicated. Recollecting that Dr. Naesgaard had lectured and written on Freud's work, he referred this 'criminal' to him (May 1928).
The greater part of the paper consists of a report drawn up by Dr. Naesgaard after some ten months of treatment for the benefit of the authorities, with the object of inducing them not to punish the patient for further thefts committed while the treatment was suspended during the holiday period. It achieved its aim. Dr. Naesgaard expressed the view that a complete cure would be a matter of months and in fact the patient's career of crime appears to have been ended once and for all. The treatment was successful in other respects too.
The report is in the form of a case-history. It cannot in any sense claim to contribute anything new to the psychological analysis of crime But one can hardly imagine a case more likely to impress the magistracies of the remaining civilized communities with the possibilities of psychological treatment and the futility of punishment.