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A collection of previously published articles, with three hitherto unpublished, is presented in this volume. They summarize the author's criminological studies, covering sixteen years as a prison staff psychiatrist. They range from brief articles prepared for lay readers (pp. 78 and 112) to a psychoanalytic case report of a sodomist. The writings fall into three groups: general articles on delinquency and criminality, articles on psychiatric and administrative classification of criminals and of prison inmates, and psychoanalytic studies. The book is described by the author as a summary of his reactions and observations in a field, the further development of which he now leaves to others.
In the introductory general article, The Massive Structure of Delinquency, the author struggles with a definition of crime. He gives three chief etiological factors in the 'criminoses'—severe trauma in infancy or early childhood, the existence of want or need not satisfied in the home, but 'otherwise satisfiable', and hidden participation of family and, later, of society in the criminal behavior. His psychologically sound observations are set within a philosophical discussion of what is considered crime in societies. The author