Letters to the Editor

• Author: Joseph S. Roucek
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716251274001111
• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Date: 01 March 1951
• Subject Matter: Articles

273

Manacorda

were

dropped

by

the

govern-

ment.

The

volume,

in

a

pleasing

style

and

in

the

form

of

a

fitting

tribute,

depicts

clearly

the

character,

achievements,

and

ideas

of

a

,pre-eininent

Uruguayan

of

the

20th

century,

Dr.

Jacobo

Varela

y

Acevedo.

ROSCOE

R.

HILL

Washington,

D.

C.

LETTERS

TO

THE

EDITOR

Dear

Sir:

For

the

information

of

the

readers

of

THE

ANNALS

I

should

appreciate

it

if

you

would

publish

the

following

comparisons

between

statements

made

in

the

review

of

my

monograph,

The

Criminality

of

Women,

which

was

published

in

the

November

1950

issue,

with

the

pertinent

passages

of

the

text

(italics

mine

in

all

instances).

Review:

&dquo;Woman,

according

to

Pollak,

is

basically

deceitful,

and

deception

is

the

prominent

characteristic

of

female

as

com-

pared

to

male

offenses.

Does

this

mean

that

we,

men

commit

our

crimes

honestly

and

openly?&dquo;

Text:

&dquo;It

would

be

an

endless

task

to

trace

the

complaint

about

woman’s

deceit-

fulness

through

the

literature

of

the

cen-

turies,

but

there

is

no

doubt

that

it

still

captures

the

interest

of

scholars

and

lay-

men,

and

that

an

impressive

array

o f

crimi-

nologists,

including

Healy,

Arthur

Griffiths,

H.

Ashton-Wolfe,

Lombroso,

Ferrero,

Mele-

gari,

Aschaffenburg,

Buschan,

M.

H. Goer-

ing,

and

Gross,

consider

deceitfulness

as

the

outstanding

characteristic

of

female

offend-

ers&dquo;

(pp.

8-9).

&dquo;Almost

all

criminals

want

to

remain

undetected,

but

it

seems

that

women

offenders

are

much

better

equipped

for

achieving

this

goal

than

are

men&dquo;

(p.

11).

Review:

&dquo;The

’biological

factor’

account-

ing

for

woman’s

criminality

is

penis

envy

(pp.

126f.).&dquo;

Text:

&dquo;...

menstruation ...

destroys

their

hope

ever

to

become

a

man,

which

until

then

they

may

have

preserved,

and

intensifies

any

feeling

of

inferiority

which

they

may

have

had

about

their

sex&dquo;

(p.

127).

Review:

&dquo;He

also

relies

heavily

upon

rationalism

to

support

his.

speculations:

it

is

only

’natural’

or

’logical’ . (pp,

140, .159,

160),

or

’obvious’

(p.

17),

or

’it

cannot

be

denied’

(p..10),

that

woman’s

generative

phases

and

social

position

’must’

(pp.

157-

58)

-lead

to

crime.&dquo;

Text:

&dquo;In

summary,

it

can

be

said that

the

material

so.

far

is

more

valuable

re-

garding

its

suggestiveness

than

regarding

its

actual

results.

Carefully

planned

sta-

tistical

investigations

of

offender

samples

with

respect

to

the

influence

of

menstrua-

tion

and

pregnancy

upon

female

crime

are

/ar~/y

~M.y.KM~

and

it

!M//

6c

a

~M~

/o~

largely

missing,

and

it

will

be

a

task

for

further

research

to

follow

the

leads

which

the

material

so

far

suggest&dquo;

(p.

135).

Context

o f

&dquo;natural&dquo; p.159.

&dquo;The

gen-

eral

sex

repression

which

characterizes

our

culture

is

particularly

strict

with

regard

to

women.

Violations

of

sex

morality

meet

with

much

stronger

disapproval

if

they

are

committed

by

women

than

if

they

are

com-

mitted

by

men.

This

double

standard

adds,

therefore,

to

the

burden

of

frustration

of

the

sex

urge,

the

burden

of

discrimination.

It

is

only

natural

that

women

should

pro-

test

against

the

situation,

and

they

seem

to

do

so

in

various

ways.&dquo;

Context

o

&dquo;logical&dquo;-p.

140.

&dquo;A

man

is

supposed

to

be

faithful

to

his

wife,

but

if

he

is

not,

he

finds

understanding.

A

woman

is

supposed

to

be

faithful

to

her

husband,

and

if

she

is

not,

she

is

condemned.

That

such

a

situation

is

hard

to

bear,

and

must

result

in

a

certain

amount

of

compensation

or

protest,

is

only

logical.&dquo;

Context

of

&dquo;obvious&dquo; p.

17.

&dquo;The

poi-

sons

which

women

employ

in

their

homi-

cidal

attacks

on

human

life

are

rather

few

in

number....

The

reasons

for

the

fre-

quency

with

which

arsenic

is

used

are

the

following:

...

Perhaps

more

important

than

all

these,

it

has

the

endorsement

of

history,

which

makes

it

the

obvious

poison

for

the

lay

person.&dquo;

Context

of

&dquo;it

cannot

be

denied&dquo;-p.

10.

It

cannot

be

denied

that

this

basic

physio-

logical

difference

may

well

have

a

great

in-

fluence

on

the

degree

of

confidence

which

the

two

sexes

have

in

the

possible

success

of

concealment

and

thus

on

their

character

pattern

in

this

respect.&dquo;