ABSTRACT
In the search for the true nature of that conflict the psychopathologist looks for a representative situation in the life of the individual which contained elements of all subsequent experiences and all subsequent inhibitions. Such a situation is found in the triangular relationship of father, mother and son in early childhood, commonly referred to as the Oedipus situation. Emphasis is laid by the psycho-pathologist on the criminal's failure to integrate the aggressive impulse into the structure of his mental life, and on the fact that the break from the normal path occurred very early in life. Perhaps the psycho-pathologists' most valuable contribution to the study of crime lies just in this clarification of aetiological factors, for when these are confused the work of the lawyer, eugenist and sociologist is painful, uncertain and wasteful. In the normal person the discharge of instinctual tension is carried out in the fields of sexual relations and work.
