THE FOLLOWING MANUSCRIPT HAS been made available through the cooperation of its author, Dr. Dmitri Rubicoff, psychiatrist, with offices at 535 East Seventy-third Street, New York City. It is a portion of a speech Dr. Rubicoff delivered on the evening of 13 December, 1968, at a meeting of the Psychopathology Society of New York. This is an informal association of psychiatrists and psychologists in the New York area, which meets at irregular intervals to dine at one of the larger Manhattan hotels, to exchange “shop talk,” and to hear an address by one of its members which then becomes the subject of a round-table discussion.
The speech from which the following remarks are excerpted (with the permission of Dr. Rubicoff) was delivered by him at the meeting of the society held in the Hunt Room of the President Fillmore Hotel. It is quoted exactly from the typed transcript of the speech made available to the author by Dr. Rubicoff.
“Madam Chairman—although I have long thought that title something of a sexual anomaly!
(Pause for laughter)
“Fellow members, and ladies and gentlemen. After such a dinner, a belch might be more in order than a speech!
(Pause for laughter)
“May I interject at this time that I feel we all owe a vote of thanks to the Entertainment Committee which arranged such a Lucullan feast.
(Pause for applause)
“Indeed, I’m certain you’ll sympathize with me if I question whether their motive was to feed you well or to dull your sensibilities to my remarks that follow!
(Pause for small laughter)
“In any event, it is now my turn to offer the intellectual dessert to such a delightfully physical meal, and I shall do my best.
“As some of you, I’m sure, are aware, I was recently one of the victims of a crime which took place in the City of New York during the late evening and early morning of August 31 and September 1 of this year. My remarks this evening shall concern my thoughts about that crime, about crime in general, and what our profession can contribute to the amelioration of crime in our society.
“I can assure you my remarks will be brief—very brief!
(Possible pause for applause)
“These thoughts I offer to you are pure theory. I have done no research on the subject. I have consulted no hallowed authorities. I merely offer them as what I feel are original ideas—reactions to my experience, if you will—that will serve as subject for the discussion to follow. Needless to say, I shall be extremely interested in your reactions.
“First, let me say that it is hardly new to suggest that sexual aberrations are the underlying motivations for criminal behavior. What I would like to suggest at this time is a much closer relationship between sex and crime. In fact, I suggest that crime—in modern society—has become a substitute for sex.
“What is crime? What is sex? What have they in common? I suggest to you that both share a common characteristic—a main characteristic—of penetration. The bank robber forces his way into a vault. The housebreaker forces his way into a house or apartment. The mugger forces his way into your wallet or purse. Is it his intention to penetrate your body—your privacy?
“Even the more complex crimes include this motive of penetration. The confidence man invades his victim’s wealth—be it wall safe or savings account. The criminal accountant rapes the firm for which he works. The public servant bent on fraud invades the body of society.
“Indeed, a term used for the most common of crimes—breaking and entering—is a perfect description of the deflowering of a virgin.
“So I suggest to you this evening that the commission of a crime is a substitute for the sexual act, committed by persons who consciously, unconsciously, or subconsciously derive extreme pleasure from this quasi-sexual activity.
“The crime having been committed—what then? The sex act having been finished—what then? In both cases, what follows the penetration is similar. Escape and withdrawal. Getting out. Frantic departure and sometimes a difficult disentangling, be it physical or emotional.
“I suggest to you that the commission of the sex crime—and I am convinced that all crimes are sex crimes—is easiest for the disturbed protagonist. The withdrawal, the escape, is much more difficult.
“For, considering the puritanical hang-up of most Americans, the withdrawal or escape involves recognition of guilt, an emotional desire for punishment, a terrible, nagging wish to be caught and publicly exposed.
“Sex and crime. Penetration and withdrawal. It seems to me they are all ineradicably wedded. Now, if you will allow me, I would like to expand upon. …”