Not only is there periodicity in criminal conduct, but even within the
normal range of good and bad conduct seasonal periodicity may still be
traced. In his _Physical and Industrial Training of Criminals_, H.D. Wey
gives charts of the conduct of seven prisoners during several years, as
shown by the marks received. These charts show that there is a very
decided tendency to good behavior during summer and winter, while in
spring (February, March, and April) and in autumn (August, September and
October) there are very marked falls to bad conduct, each individual
tending to adhere to a conduct-curve of his own. Wey does not himself
appear to have noticed this seasonal periodicity. Marro, however, has
investigated this question in Turin on a large scale and reaches results
not very dissimilar from those shown by Wey's figures in New York. He
noted the months in which over 4,000 punishments were inflicted on
prisoners for assaults, insults, threatening language, etc., and shows the
annual curve in Tavola VI of his _Caratteri dei Delinquenti_. There is a
marked and isolated climax in May; a still more sudden rise leads to the
chief maximum of punishment in August; and from the minimum in October
there is rapid ascent during the two following months to a climax much
inferior to that of May.
The seasonal periodicity of bad conduct in prisons is of interest
as showing that we cannot account for psychic periodicity by
invoking exclusively social causes.
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