Hear it pronouncedImbecile
Imbecile was a controversial term used to classify a type of mental retardation, as well as a type of criminal. The term is closely associated with psychology, psychiatry, criminology, and eugenics.
It derives from the Latin word imbecillus, meaning weak, or weak-minded. "Imbecile" was once applied to people with an IQ of 26-50, between "moron" (IQ of 51-70) and "idiot" (IQ of 0-25).
The term was further refined into mental and moral imbecility.[1][2] The concepts of "moral insanity," "moral idiocy," and "moral imbecility," led to the emerging field of eugenic criminology, which held that crime can be reduced by by preventing "feeble-minded" people from reproducing.[3]
"Imbecile" as a concrete classification was popularized by psychologist Henry H. Goddard.[4] The term imbecile quickly passed into vernacular usage as a derogatory term, and it fell out of professional use in the 20th century.
[ References
- ^ Kerlin, Isaac N. (1889) Moral imbecility. Proceedings of thee Association of Medical Officers of American Institutions for Idiotic and Feeble-minded Persons, 15-18.
- ^ Fernald, WE (1909). The imbecile with criminal instincts. American Journal of Psychiatry
- ^ Rafter, Nicole Hahn (1998). Creating Born Criminals. University of Illinois Press, ISBN 9780252067419
- ^ Goddard, Henry H. (1915). The Criminal Imbecile; an Analysis of Three Remarkable Murder Cases. The Macmillan Company.
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