ABSTRACT
The discussion has to be divided into two main aspects: physical factors affecting human environment, from which the individual can escape by changing his environment, and those affecting man himself. The former are the subject of physical geography, while the latter belong to human anthropology and biology. As far as the physical characteristics of delinquents are concerned, it is sometimes overlooked that here, too, we have to deal with two different, though related, problems: first, the question how far the physical health of an individual may be a factor in his criminal behaviour, and, second, whether criminals belong to distinct physical types. It is the first of these questions which will be discussed in the present chapter (II), whereas the typological problem will be treated in Chapter 12.
