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CRIMINOLOGY
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CRIMINOLOGY , the name given to a new See also:branch of social See also:science, devoted to the discussion of the See also:genesis of See also:crime (q.v.), which has received much See also:attention in See also:recent years. The expression is one of See also:modern coinage, and originated with the speculative theories first advanced by the school of sociologists which had the See also:Italian savant, See also:Professor See also:Lombroso, at its See also:head. He discovered or was supposed to have discovered a criminal type, the " instinctive " or " See also:born " criminal, a creature who had come into the See also:world predestined to evil deeds, and who could be surely recognized by certain stigmata, certain facial, See also:physical, even moral birthmarks, the See also:possession of which, presumably ineradicable, foredoomed him to the See also:commission of crime. Dr Lombroso, in his ingenious See also:work L' Uomo delinquente, found many attentive and appreciative, not to say bigoted followers. Large See also:numbers of dissentients exist, however, and the conclusions of the Italian school have been warmly contested and on very plausible grounds. If the doctrines be fully accepted the whole theory of See also:free-will breaks down, and we are faced with the See also:paradox that we have no right to punish an irresponsible being who is impelled to crime by congenital causes, entirely beyond his See also:control. The " instinctive " criminal, under this reasoning, must be classed with the lunatic whom we cannot justly, and practically never do, punish. There are other points on which See also:proof of the existence of the criminal type fails absolutely. The whole theory illustrates a modern phase of psychological See also:doctrine, and the subject has exercised such a potent effect on modern thought that the claims and pretensions of the Lombroso school must be examined and disposed of. The alleged See also:discovery of the " born-criminal " as a See also:separate and distinct genus of the human See also:species was first published by Dr Lombroso in 1876 as the result of See also:long continued investigation and examination of a number of imprisoned criminals. The See also:personality of this human See also:monster was to be recognized by certain inherent moral and physical traits, not all displayed by the same individual but generally appearing in See also:conjunction and then constituting the type. These traits have been defined as follows: various See also:brain and cerebral anomalies; receding foreheads; massive jaws, prognathous chins; skulls without symmetry; ears long, large and projecting (the See also:ear ad See also:ansa); noses rectilinear, wrinkles strongly marked, even in the See also:young and in both sexes, See also:hair abundant on the head, scanty on the cheeks and See also:chin; eyes feline, fixed, See also:cold, glassy, ferocious; See also:bad repellent faces. Much'stress is laid upon the See also:physiognomy, and it is said that it is See also:independent of See also:nationality; two natives of the same See also:country do not so nearly resemble each other as two criminals of different countries. Other peculiarities are: See also:great width of the extended arms (l'envergure of the See also:French), extraordinary See also:ape-like agility; See also:left-handedness as well as ambi-dexterism; obtuse sense of See also:smell, See also:taste and sometimes of See also:hearing, although the eyesight is See also:superior to that of normal See also:people. " In See also:general," to quote Lombroso, " the born criminal has projecting ears, thick See also:Indian See also:code of criminal See also:procedure. See also:Foreign codes. hair and thin See also:beard, projecting frontal eminences, enormous jaws, a square and protruding chin, large cheek bones and frequent gesticulation." So much for the anatomical and physiological peculiarities of the criminal. There remain the psychological or See also:mental characteristics, so far as they have been observed. Moral insensibility is attributed to him, a dull See also:conscience that never pricks and a general freedom from remorse. He is said to be generally lacking in intelligence, hence his stupidity, the want of proper precautions, both before and after an offence,which leads so often to his detection and See also:capture. His vanity is strongly marked and shown in the See also:pride taken in infamous achievements rather than See also:personal See also:appearance. No sooner was this new theory made public than the very existence of the supposed type was questioned and more See also:evidence demanded. A French savant declared that Lombroso's portraits were very similar to the photographs of his See also:friends. See also:Save for the dirt, the recklessness, the weariness and the misery so often seen on it,the See also:face of the criminal does not differ from that of an honest See also:man's. It was pointed out that if certain traits denoted the criminal, the converse should be seen in the honest man. A pertinent objection was that the deductions had been made from insufficient premises. The criminologists had worked upon a comparatively small number of criminals, and yet made their discoveries applicable to the whole class. The facts were collected from too small an See also:area and no definite conclusions could be based upon them. Moreover, the criminologists were by no means unanimous. They differed amongst themselves and often contradicted one another as to the characteristics exhibited. The controversy was long maintained. Many eminent persons have been arrayed on either See also:side. In See also:Italy Lombroso was supported by Colajanni, See also:Ferri, Garofalo; in See also:France by J. A. Lacassagne. In See also:Germany Lombroso has found few followers; Dr Naecke of See also:Hubertusburg near See also:Leipzig, one of the most eminent of See also:German alienists, declined to admit there was any See also:special See also:animal type. See also:Van Hamel of See also:Amsterdam gives only a qualified approval. In See also:England it stands generally condemned, because it gives no importance to circumstance and passing temptation, or to domestic or social environment, as affecting the See also:causation of crime. Dr See also:Nicholson of Broadmoor has said that " if the criminal is such by See also:predestination, See also:heredity or accidental flaws or anomalies in brain or physical structure, he is such for See also:good and all; no cure is possible, all the plans and processes for his See also:betterment, See also:education, moral training and disciplinary treatment are nugatory and vain." No See also:weight can then be attached to evil example, or unfavourable social surroundings, in moulding and forming See also:character, particularly during the more plastic periods of childhood and youth. The pertinent question remains, has the study and development of criminology served any useful purpose? Little perhaps can come of it in its restricted sense, but it has taken a wider meaning and embraces larger researches. It has inquired into the See also:sources and causes of crime, it has collected criminal See also:statistics and deduced valuable lessons from them, it has sought and obtained guidance in the best methods of prevention, repression, and forms of procedure. The champions of See also:law and See also:order have been greatly aided by the criminologist in carrying on the continual combat with crime, and in dealing with the most complicated of social phenomena. The new science has, in fact, by accumulating a number of curious details, in recording the See also:psychology, the See also:secret desires, the springs of the criminal's nefarious actions, his corrigibility or the See also:reverse, " prepared the way to his sociological explanation " (See also:Tarde). Thanks to the labours of the criminologist we are moving steadily forward to a future improved treatment of the criminal, and may thus arrive at the increased morality and greater safety of society. Very appreciable advance has been made in the increased attention paid to juvenile and adult crime, the See also:acceptance of the theory, now well established, that there is an especially criminal See also:age, a See also:period when the moral fibre is weaker and more yielding to temptation to crime, when happily human nature is more malleable and susceptible to improvement and reform. The study of criminology has, however, gone far to satisfyus that the true genesis of crime is not to be sought in the anatomical anomalies of individuals, or in the fact that there are people who under " any social conditions whatever and of any nationality at no See also:matter what See also:epoch, would have undoubtedly become murderers and thieves." On the contrary it may be safely assumed that many such would have done no wrong if they had, e.g., been born See also:rich, had been free from the pressing needs that drove them into crime, and had escaped the evil influences of their surroundings. The criminologists have strengthened the hands of administrators, have emphasized the See also:paramount importance of See also:child-See also:rescue and judicious direction of adults, have held the See also:balance between penal methods, advocating the moralizing effect of open-See also:air labour as opposed to prolonged See also:isolation, and have insisted upon the desirability of indefinite detention for all who have obstinately determined to wage perpetual See also:war against society by the persistent perpetration of crime. See also:fur das Untersuchen von Verbrechen (Leipzig, 1904) ; F. H. Wines, See also:Punishment and See also:Reformation (New See also:York, 1895); C. Perrier, See also:Les Criminels (See also:Paris, 1905) ; G. See also:Mace, Femmes criminelles (Paris, 1904) ; E. See also:Carpenter, Prisons, See also:Police and Punishment (1905) ; R. R. Rentoul, Proposed Sterilization of certain Mental and Physical Degenerates (1904) ; R. See also:Sommer, Kriminalpsychologie and strafrechtliche Psychoathologie auf naturwissenschaftlic.her Grundlage (Leipzig, 1904) ; F. Kitzinger, See also:Die Internationale kriminalistische e Vereinigung (1905); Reports of See also:Committee on the best mode of giving efficiency to Secondary Punishments (1831–1832); Reports of the See also:House of See also:Commons Committee of 1853, of the royal commission of 1884, of the departmental committee of 1895, and the See also:annual reports of H. M. inspectors for Great See also:Britain and See also:Ireland. (A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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