Criminal Propensities: Psychiatry, Classification and Imprisonment in New York State 1916-1940

Abstract

This article investigates the introduction of psychiatric classification into the New York penitentiary system from 1916 (when the first clinic was established) till 1940. It focuses on the growing influence of theories of psychopathology and personality disorder in the understanding of criminality and maps their impact by a close reading of individual case files. In doing so it argues that, while the language of psychiatry held powerful sway on parole board decisions, psychiatric diagnosis itself was heavily dependent on older technologies of social investigation arising out of practices of urban surveillance and social case work. Thus psychiatry had a significant influence within the penitentiary system but that influence was contingent upon the success of social analysis not psychiatric theory.