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The Language of Criminal Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2009

L. Radzinowicz  and
J.W.C. Turner
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Extract

I.—Until quite modern times the expression ‘Criminal Science’ was taken to mean no more than study of criminal law. The nature and the method of criminal science at this stage is best illustrated by the well-known dictum of Carrara, one of the chief exponents of the classical school of criminal law, that ‘crime is not an entity in fact but an entity in law; it is not action but infraction’ (‘il delitto non è un ente di fatto ma un ente giuridico, è una infrazione e non un’azione’). The personality of the delinquent, the origin of crime, the nature and the efficacy of punishment, the relationship between society and criminal justice,—problems which now constitute such an important part of criminal research—for many decades remained completely outside the scope of criminal science as then understood.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Cambridge Law Journal , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , July 1941 , pp. 224 - 237
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Law Journal and Contributors 1941

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References

1 For the history of these early investigations see Antonini, , ‘I precursori di Lombroso’, Torino, 1930;Google ScholarEttinger, S.A., ’Das Verbrecherproblem in anthropologicher und soziologischer Beleuchtung’, Bern, 1909;Google ScholarBonger, W.A., ‘An Introduction to Criminology’, pp. 26 ff., London, 1936.Google Scholar

2 See Lombroso, , ‘L'Uomo delinquente’, 1898;Google ScholarFerri, , ‘Sociologia Criminale’, 1884Google Scholar (title given to the third edition of his book: I nuovi orizzonti del diritto penale); Garofalo, , ‘La Criminologia’, 1884.Google Scholar

3 Compte general d'administration de la justice criminelle pour l'anné 1825, publié en 1827, Imprimerie Nationale.

4 Quetelet, A., ‘Sur l'homme et le developpement de ses facultés ou Eesai de physique sociale’, Paris, 1835.Google Scholar

5 The contribution of the French criminological school with its eminent representative G. Tarde, is particularly noteworthy. Good service has been also rendered by the German school founded by Franz von Liszt (Junge Deutsche Kriminalschule) while the scientific and practical activity pursued by the L'Union Internationale de Droit Penal, has been of great value.

6 Since the last war a great contribution has been made and is being made by American science.

7 See Liszt, von, ‘Strafrechtliche Aufsätze und Vorträge', Berlin, 1905, vol. ii, p. 296.Google Scholar

8 See Parmelee, M., ‘Criminology’, New York, 1919, p. 5.Google Scholar

9 See Ferri, E., ‘Criminal Sociology’, Boston, 1917, p. 536Google Scholar and Ferri, , ‘Principii di Diritto Criminale’, Rome, 1928,Google Scholar p. 100 ff.

10 See Vargha, J., ‘Die Abschaffung der Strafrechtschaft', Graz, 1898, vol. i, p. 174.Google Scholar

11 See for the best known classifications Ferri, , ‘Criminal Sociology’, Boston, 1917,Google Scholar p. 553 ff. and ‘Principii di Diritto Criminale’, Roma, 1928Google Scholar, p. 100 ff.; Liszt, , ‘Strafrechtliche Aufsätze und Vorträge', Berlin, 1905, vol. i, pp. 290–467,Google Scholar vol. ii, pp. 230–250, idem pp. 284–318; Gross, , ‘Handbuch für Untersuchungsrichter als System der Kriminalistik’, Münich, 1904, 2nd ed. vol. i, pp. ii–xii;Google ScholarVargha, , ‘Die Abschaffung der Strafknechtsschaft‘, Graz, 1898, vol. i, pp. 173–194;Google ScholarGrispigni, P., ‘Introduzione alla Sociologia Criminale’, Torino, 1928, pp. 3–90Google Scholar and ‘Corso di Diritto Penale’, Padua, 1933, vol. i,Google Scholar p. 29 ff.; Garraud, K., ‘Precis de Droit Criminel’, 14th ed.Paris, 1926, pp. 8–16;Google ScholarVidal et, G.Magnol, J., ‘Cours de Droit Criminel et de Science Penitentiaire’, Paris, 1928,Google Scholar 7em ed. p. 70 ff.; Donnedieu de Vabres, H., ‘Traité Elementaire de Droit Criminel et de Legislation Penale Comparée’, Paris, pp. 11–13;Google ScholarBonger, W.A., ‘An Introduction to Criminology’, London, 1936, pp. 7–9;Google ScholarSelig, , ‘Kriminologie’ in ‘Handwörterbuch der Kriminologie’, Berlin, 1936, vol. II, pp. 67–77.Google Scholar

12 See Ferri, , ‘Criminal Sociology’, Boston, 1917, p. 556;Google ScholarGrispigni, , ‘Introduzione alia Sociologia Criminale’, Torino, 1928, p. 84 ff.Google Scholar

13 See Bally, Charles, ‘Le Langage et la Vie’, Paris, 1928, p. 63.Google Scholar

14 Becquart, J. writes in his work ‘Les mots à sens multiples dans le droit civil Francais’, Paris, pp. 16–17:Google Scholar A juger equitablement il faut convenir que, si la langue n'est pas toute la science, si peut–etre elle n'est pas une partie de celle–ci elle en conditionne la formation, la conservation et I'expansion.’

15 It has, for instance, long been believed that criminal statistics can provide us with a complete explanation of the origin of crime. See among others the opinion of Rawson, W., ‘An Inquiry into the Statistics of Crime in England and Wales’, Journal of Statistical Society, vol. ii, 1839, p. 318.Google Scholar

16 We use this term ‘constitution’ in the sense used by Brugsch, , ‘Einfuhrung in die Konstitutionslehre’ in Brugsch–Levy: ‘Die Biologie der Person’, Berlin, 1926, vol. i,Google Scholar p. 21 if. As regards text–books on criminal biology see di Tullio, , ‘La Costituzione Delinquenziale nella Btiologia e Terapia del delitto’, Roma, 1929;Google ScholarLenz, , ‘Grundriss der Kriminalbiologie’, Wien, 1927;Google ScholarRohden, von, ‘Einfuhrung in die kriminalbiologische Methodenlehre’, Berlin, 1933;Google ScholarHealy, W., ‘The Individual Delinquent’, London, 1915.Google Scholar

17 It will thus be seen that criminal biology in this meaning includes such subjects as criminal psychology, criminal psychiatry, criminal psychopathology, because these subjects deal merely with particular aspects of the human personality, from the general study of which they cannot be separated. It also includes what is sometimes called criminal anthropology, in the sense of the study of human physical structure. This term criminal anthropology has indeed been employed by some writers in a much wider sense, but in our view it is not so suitable a title for the whole study of the individual as is Criminal Biology. The term ‘prison anthropology’ is too narrow because the prisoner is necessarily a delinquent (unless he is a victim of a miscarriage of justice), and is of course included in the scope of criminal biology.

18 Studies on the social causation of crime are nowadays very numerous and very advanced. It is enough to mention that in dealing only with the topic of economic conditions such distinguished and concise writers as Kahn and Bonger each required several hundreds of pages merely to survey the work done in this field, while, as Prof. Thorsten Sellin has recently shown, there is still a wide range of inquiry to be pursued. See Van Kan, J., ‘Les causes économiques de la criminalite’, Paris, 1903;Google ScholarBonger, W.A., ‘Criminality and Economic conditions’, Boston, 1916Google Scholar (especially first part of the book); Sellin, Thorsten, ‘Research Memorandum on Crime in the Depression’, Social Science Research Council Bulletin, No. 27, 1937.Google Scholar

19 This of course includes such matters as the meaning to be given to the word ‘crime’ viewed as a social phenomenon, the evolution of crime from the earliest times, statistical data about crimes and criminals, and the relation of crime to other social phenomena such as prostitution and vagrancy.

20 Liszt, , ‘Strafrechtliche Aufsätze und Vorträge’, Berlin, 1905, vol. ii, p. 296;Google ScholarBonger, , ‘An Introduction to Criminology’, London, 1936, p. 8.Google Scholar

21 Grispigni, , ‘Introduzione alla Sociologia Criminale’, Torino, 1928, p. 65.Google Scholar

22 The formation of the word ‘Criminology’ is similar to that of ‘Sociology ’ on which Prof. Barker, Ernest writes in his foreword to ‘Further Papers on the Social Sciences’ (edited by Dugdale, J.E., London, 1937, p. 9):Google Scholar ‘ … the term Sociology. This is a word (barbarous and hybrid to the pure scholar, because it combines a Latin beginning with a Greek ending) … ’

23 Mayr, Von, ‘Forschungsgebiete und Forschungsziel der Kriminalstatistik’, zeitschrift f.d. ges. Strafrechts, vol. 32, 1911, pp. 33–64.Google Scholar

24 ‘Report of the Proceedings of the Fourth Session of the International Statistical Congress’, London, 1861, p. 217.Google Scholar

25 In the introduction to the first volume of the report it is stated: ‘ce travail … contribuera dans la suite au perfectionnement de la législation elle-merne, dont il fera ressortir, avec la meme évidence, les avantages et les inoonvenements. Le Gouvernement … sera averti, par cette suite d'observations, des changements qui pourraient devenir nécessaires … ’

26 Some authors distinguish as many as six different groups of criminal statistics: e.g. Scheel, von, ‘Einführung in die Kriminalstatistik, etc.’, Allg. Stat. Arch. 1890, i,Google Scholar p. 186 ff.; Roesner, , ‘Kriminalstatistik’, Hand, der Kriminologie, 1936, ii, p. 26 ff.Google Scholar

27 Prof. Donnedieu de Vabres, H., when referring to this term writes: ‘Cette expression a fait fortune’ (‘La politique criminelle des états autoritaires’, Paris, 1938, p. 3).Google Scholar

28 Donnedieu de Vabres, op. cit. p. 3.

29 ‘He who wishes thoroughly to understand criminal policy in theory, and still more if he is called upon ae legislator to apply it, must above all seek to understand human nature and the laws of its development in different periods and places. Knowledge of anthropology in the widest sense, and of the history of natural evolution, is indispensable to the study of criminal policy. Not less important is investigation into the origins of crime, which are often to be found not in the degeneracy or moral perversity of the delinquent, but in the defects of the laws or of the institutions of civil society.’

30 A review of different definitions of criminal policy can be found in: Hippel, Von, ‘Deutsches Strafrecht’, Berlin, 1925,Google Scholar p. 534 ff., and Peters, , ‘Die Kriminalpolitische Stellung des Strafrichters ’, 1932, pp. 1–18.Google Scholar

31 Such activities as the after-care of prisoners aim at the prevention of future crimes and are not part of the punishment for their previous crimes.

32 Of course criminal legislation itself may have other purposes and effects which have nothing to do with prevention of crime. For example criminal legislation is deliberately employed to consolidate political or social regimes and such measures must therefore be taken into account by students of criminal policy. But criminal legislation may have unexpected effects and therefore the legislator must consider this possibility, and weigh the advantages of any proposed measures in the sphere of crime, against possible disadvantages in the social and political spheres. The reduction of crime which it effects may be more than offset by the harm it causes in other directions.

33 Thie name, when first established, was doubtless appropriate as there were then no other detentive institutions than prisons. To-day, however, it is clear that the expression is much too narrow.

34 Whereas originally the tendency was to measure the success of the system by the percentage of escapes, the modern test is to consider the conduct of the prisoners after their release.

35 It will thus be seen that criminal policy in this meaning includes such subjects as have been called penal legislative policy, criminal prophylaxis, penal policy, prison science, penology (the part of penology which studies punishment as a social phenomenon is included in criminal sociology and that part which deals with the efficacy of punishments falls within criminal policy).

36 It follows that the education of a student of criminal law should be grounded on a knowledge of the other branches of criminal science. Unfortunately this has not yet been fully or widely recognized but substantial progress in this matter has been made in some schools of law.

37 It remains to mention that through the advance of criminal science improvements are effected in the administration of criminal justice requiring the aid of new departments of study. There has thus appeared for example what is known as Criminalistique, or Police Science. This aims at assisting the police and other agents of the state in the detection of crime, the arrest of criminals and the acquisition of evidence. This subject has now been highly developed and continues to gain in precision. Institutes and special laboratories have been established and there is much literature, e.g. Gross, H., ‘ Handbuch für Untersuchungsrichter als System der Kriminalistik’, 1914, 6th ed. ;Google ScholarLindenau, Niceforo, ‘Die Kriminalpolizei und ihre Hilfswissenschaften’, 1909,Google Scholar and ‘Kriminaltaktik und Kriminaltechnik’, 1933; Reiss, , ‘Manual de Police Scientifique’, 1911;Google ScholarHeindl, , ‘System und Praxis der Daktyloskopie und der sonstigen technichen Methoden der Kriminalpolizei’, 1927;Google ScholarLucard, , ‘Traité de Criminalistique ’, 1931.Google Scholar Again Medical Jurisprudence, Forensic Psychiatry, Gerichtliche Medizin, Forensische Psychiatrie are terms applied to medical knowledge when employed to assist the course of justice. In other words this study is concerned with the evidence of expert medical witnesses. Thirdly what can be called Forensic psychology (Psicologia Giudiziaria) is the study of the psychology of all those taking part in forensic proceedings in the criminal Courts. Its purpose is to obtain knowledge through which evidence can be elicited and valued, appropriate punishments selected and the exercise of judicial discretion understood.

It is true that all such studies can provide material of great value to criminal science, but they are ancillary to that science and not part of it.