Sociologist Richard Louis Dugdale (1841-1883), one of the first investigators to study familial feeblemindedness and criminality, is chiefly known as the author of The Jukes: A Study in Crime, Pauperism, Disease, and Heredity.

Richard Dugdale was born in Paris of English parentage. He came to New York City with his parents in 1851, where he attended the public schools until, at the age of 14, having shown some ability in drawing, he was employed briefly as a sculptor. At the age of 17 he went with his parents to live on a farm in Indiana. Unable to perform manual labor because of heart trouble, Dugdale learned shorthand. In 1860 he obtained employment as a stenographer in New York City.

Dugdale attended night school at Cooper Union. He developed an overriding interest in sociological questions and was determined to be a social investigator. Since he lacked the academic degrees necessary for a university...