Conduct is ruled by emotion, and actions depend not upon whether one has
learned to classify certain conduct as right or wrong, but whether from
education, life or otherwise, the thought of a certain act produces a
quick and involuntary reaction against doing it. No one believes or
feels that it is always really wrong to violate some statutes, and most
men indulge in many practices that are wrong and repulsive but not
forbidden by the criminal code.

Furthermore, the insane and subnormal are influenced by punishment and
fear. Even the animal responds to both. It is possible that in many
instances those who are insane and subnormal are influenced by fear more
than the intelligent and normal. The most that can be said is that they
have not the same power of resistance that is given stronger men. This
means only that they have not stored up the experiences of life so well;
that their nervous system has not so well conveyed impressions, or that
their power of comparison is less; this, in turn, means that it will
take greater stress or harder environment to overcome the inhibitions of
the sane than the insane. The treatment of the insane and the defective
is an acknowledgment that all conduct comes from a direct response of
the machine to certain stimuli and the machine can act only in a way
consistent with its mechanism.

In other cases, the courts often recognize the strength of hereditary
defects in nullifying environment with its strict ideas of right and
wrong. The kleptomaniac is generally recognized as being a well-defined
class of the insane. Most of the shop-lifters are women. This is
especially a female crime. It is useless to explain why. It is not a
daring crime; it is secretive in its nature; it requires more stealth
than courage; it especially appeals to women on account of their taste
for the finery exhibited at stores. The kleptomaniac, however, is
generally a rich or influential woman. She steals something she does not
need, and she is therefore held to be a kleptomaniac and not
responsible.

The poor woman who steals something she actually needs is not a
kleptomaniac. I have no doubt that the rich woman who could not resist
shop-lifting is a kleptomaniac. I have just as little doubt that the
poor woman, with an imperfect make, found her environment such that she
was forced to act as she did. If a rich woman is irresponsible and
cannot resist when she steals something she does not need, I can see no
reas