The Mental Attitude of Murderers With Commuted Sentences
Abstract
The Mental Attitude of Murderers With Commuted Sentences SAGE Publications, Inc.1937DOI: 10.1177/003288553701700305 Prison Chaplain Lehman Waldheim, Germany *Translation from "Gefaenguis Kunde." This article presents an interesting series of facts concerning the group of 57 men and 6 women who were given the death penalty for murder and whose sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. The institution is located near Dresden. This group was sentenced between 1917 and 1934 during which period the death penalty was suspended. The largest number admitted in one year was 11 in 1921 and 8 in 1928. After 1934 there was a marked decrease due, no doubt, to the restoration of the death penalty. A wide variety of personalities is represented in the group, as to age, heredity, occupation, character and mental attainments. The oldest among them is 64 and the youngest was 19 years of age when admitted. The majority of inmates are between 40 and 50. According to occupation they range from simple farm laborers to the wife of a professor; from a tramp to the most substantial of citizens. One man had served 12 previous sentences, a smaller number had served one or two sentences, and the overwhelming majority were first