Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/546

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526 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

more or less constant criminal agents ; predisposing, which push these ill- proportioned and viciously developed organizations toward crime.'

8. Basing crime on scientific grounds, criminal anthropology has for its purpose a fundamental study of the actual criminal and his crimes as ordinary phenomena, which it must investigate throughout their whole extent, from their genesis to their free growth and development ; and thus the phenomenon of crime is united with great social questions and legal systems. Based upon these principles, criminal anthropology logically recognizes an absence of reason in the repressive measures determined in advance, as to their duration and specific character. On the contrary, it affirms the necessity of studying individual characteristics before rendering decisions. The terms of punish- ment should endure so long as the causes exist which necessitate them, but they should cease with the causes.

g. Biological and anthropological studies are indispensable for placing penal legislation upon a solid foundation.

10. The certainty, not the severity, of punishment operates as a deterrent in crime, prevention being the object of punitive measures.

Upon theories and conclusions so radically different as those of criminal jurisprudence and criminal anthropology it is diflficult to see a means of reconciliation. The hope lies in the fact that the theories are more diverse than the methods of practical work, since jurists are to some extent recognizing the same evils and recommending similar remedies. In theory the one system is scientific, the other legal ; one considers the individual and his environment, the other considers only the act ; one is the result of a comparatively modern study of man and institutions, the other is based upon necessity and relies on the precedent of centuries and on rules venerable for their antiquity; the one is revolutionary, the other conservative ; one is the result of the study of society and individuals, and consists largely of theories or propositions, the value of which is unknown, as they are mainly untested, while the other arises from the necessity of protecting society, and has already demonstrated its priority and efficiency in the matter of protection.

' In his admirable work upon Punishment and Reformation, Mr. F. H. Wines, among many other classifications, divides the causes of crime into individual, social, and cosmical. In enumerating the causes, he adopts an excellent method by using first those relating to the individual, as physical and mental desires; then broadening into those relating to the family, as education, discipline, etc. Following this are those of the community, as poverty, wealth, density of population, employment, rural or urban life, etc.; and from this into the social and political whole, which includes legislation, government, war, etc.