Paul Näcke

He received his doctorate in 1873 in Würzburg, titled (English title translated): "About intestinal perforation and typhoid abdominalis". He worked in various Parisian hospitals; later he took an interest in psychiatry. In 1912 he became the director of the psychiatric hospital at Colditz Castle.[3] Näcke, along with Hans Gross, a professor of criminology, founded the archive of criminal anthropology and criminology in Dresden in 1898.[4] In 1884 Näcke wrote the first monograph on women's crime in Germany. He suggested a "sensible emancipation of women", which was groundbreaking for the time, but did not mean equal rights. Näcke is considered a strong opponent of Positive criminology, that was founded by Cesare Lombroso. Näcke described Lombroso's work as marked by "arbitrariness, exaggerations, [and] jumping to conclusions" [5] According to Näcke, criminals are the product of external influences,[6] and not only biological influences as thought by Lombroso. This does not mean that Näcke disapproved of a biological basis for crime altogether. His argument is that every human being is a "latent criminal". Näcke was one of the first advocates of the sterilization of "degenerate criminals" and "degenerates" in general.[7] He saw it as a public duty to make "degenerates" infertile. By 1900, he published a work entitled The castration of certain classes of degenerates as an effective way of social protection (title translated)[8] Näcke wrote on the subject of a Jewish character, which was described only in vague and general features, and considered that character as a reason for crimes committed by Jews.[9] Näcke stated his position in 1899: "the State has the holy duty to intervene... and to prevent through legislation the increase of the degenerated elements. Such an intervention would aim at the removal of a big cancer in our national body". He asserted that only castration could guarantee that this task was fulfilled both effectively and in the "easiest, cheapest way".[10] In 1912, Näcke wrote against the then common diagnosis of "moral insanity". He developed the idea that homosexuality should not be regarded as a mental illness, but as an innate natural property. He described male menstruation as clear evidence of a continuum between male and female sexuality.[11][12]

Paul Näcke was born in 1851, the son of a German father and a French mother. Näcke is said to have mastered seven languages. Näcke was married since 1886 and had several children. Throughout his life he suffered from a neurasthenia, also known as Effort syndrome. Näcke died on 18 August 1913 of heart failure due to atherosclerosis.[4]

• Crime and madness in the woman, 1894
• On Criminal Psychology, 1896
• Literature report. Criminal anthropology and prison science / journal for criminal science, 1897
• Criminal Anthropology / Annual Report for Neurology and Psychiatry, 1898
• Castration in Certain Classes of Degenerates as an Effective Social Protection / Archive for Criminal Anthropology and criminology, 1900
• The accommodation of mentally ill criminals, 1902
• About so-called "Moral Insanity", 1902
• Émile Zola. His relationship to crime anthropology and sociology / Archive for Criminal Anthropology and criminology, 1903
• Are the signs of degeneration really worthless? Quarterly Journal of Judicial Medicine and Public Sanitation, 1905
• On the alleged degeneration of Romanesque peoples, 1906
• About family murder by mental patients, 1908
• Classification of Homosexuals / General Journal of Psychiatry, 1908
• About Homosexuality in Albania, 1908
• The brain surface of paralytic, 1909
• The Diagnosis of Homosexuality, 1909
• On the Shakespeare Bacon Question, 1910
• Warning about the sudden adoption of sadism and masochism / Archive for Criminal Anthropology and criminology, 1911
• Auto-Sadism and Suicide / Archive for Criminal Anthropology and criminology 1911