V. PATHOLOGICAL SEXUALITY IN ITS
LEGAL ASPECTS.
The laws of all civilized nations punish those who commit perverse sexual acts. Inasmuch as the preservation of chastity and morals is one of the most important reasons for the existence of the commonwealth, the state cannot be too careful, as a protector of morality, in the struggle against sensuality. This contest is unequal; because only a certain number of the sexual crimes can be legally combated, and the infractions of the laws by so powerful a natural instinct can be but little influenced by punishment. It also lies in the nature of the sexual crimes, that but a part of them ever reach the knowledge of the authorities. Public sentiment, in that it looks upon them as disgraceful, lends much aid.
Criminal statistics prove the sad fact that sexual crimes are progressively increasing in our modern civilization.[1] This is particularly the case with immoral acts with children under the age of fourteen. The moralist sees in these sad facts nothing but the decay of general morality, and in some instances comes to the conclusion that the present mildness of the laws punishing sexual crimes, in comparison with their severity in past centuries, is in part responsible for this.
The medical investigator is driven to the conclusion that this manifestation of modern social life stands in relation to the predominating nervousness of later generations, in that it begets defective individuals, excites the sexual instinct, leads to sexual abuse, and, with continuance of lasciviousness associated with diminished sexual power, induces perverse sexual acts.
It will be clearly seen, from what follows, how such an opinion is justified, especially with respect of the increasing
- ↑ Comp. Casper, Klin. Novellen.—Lombroso, Goltdammer's Archiv, Bd. xxx.—Oettingen, Moralstatistik, p. 494.
