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This book reports a study of male and female homosexuals, most of them prisoners in the New York County Penitentiary and the Women's Workhouse. The object of the study was to diagnose homosexuality among the prisoners and to investigate the psychological status of homosexuals. The writer describes the methods used to lead the prisoners to an admission of homosexuality, reports family, past, and personal histories with particular attention to physical illnesses, venereal diseases, drug addiction, occupation, sexual habits and gives records of psychometric examinations.
His findings indicate that most of the individuals studied were members of large families in which there were emotional disturbances, marital difficulties and sometimes the early death of one or both parents. In the group studied nothing unusual in the way of physical illnesses was noted. Venereal disease among them was rare. Most of the homosexuals studied were drug addicts. The results of the psychometric examinations showed that the intelligence of the homosexuals in the prison was somewhat higher than that of the non-homosexual inmates. The large majority did not complete a grammar school education. An appendix to the book contains letters from one homosexual to another, records of case histories, and reports of psychometric examinations.
The writer summarizes various theories concerning the causes and development of homosexuality and describes other perversions. Unfortunately