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Criminology and Common Sense

1926; Volume: 16; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1134415

2160-0023

John Rathbone Oliver,

Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment

During the past year, although there has been no sign of any reviving interest in Tholas De Qfiincey, there has been abundant evidence of new interest in murder.Perhaps, not in "Murder as a Fine Art."For "the arts," especially the "fine" ones, have never had much general appeal to that class of human beings, described as the "great reading public."But, in murder, as a crime, as an emotional experience; in murder as a means of providing amusement for the reader, and reasonable hope of emolument for publisher and compiler.In my criminological collection, on the shelf devoted to "recent additions," there stands a whole array of new "murder books.""Studies in Murder,"' "Unsolved Murder Mysteries," ' 2 "Murder and Its Motives," 3 to name only a few.When it comes to the murderer's conflict with the law, there are still more."The Trial of Thomas Neill Cream," 4 "Famous Judges and Famous Trials," 5 "Dramatic Days at the Old Bailey," 6 "Famous Poison Trials.' 7 For the murderer himself as a personality, as a psychological problem, there is less interest.The public appears to be more attracted to the lesser villains.To "Rogues and Scoundrels," 8 or to "Seven Splendid Sinners" (female). 9No really good book of this type has appeared since Mr. H.B. Irving's "A Book of Remarkable Criminals." 10 All of these have been written, more or less, for the home consumption of the tired business man or the weary domestic woman.But there have been other books, unfortunately' only too many of