Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/535

 CRIMINAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN ITS RELATION TO CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE.

Criminal anthropology, or criminology, is a science, if one may call it such, of but recent development. Considering its subject-mat- ter, and the number and prominence of its advocates, it is perhaps more intimately connected with criminal jurisprudence than with any other science. Although criminal anthropology is closely related to many other fields and lines of thought and work, the object here is to show its relation to jurisprudence only; and as a consequence other of its important lines of work are omitted in this discussion.

While criminal anthropology pursues its distinct method of investi- gation, and adopts an entirely different basis from that of jurispru- dence, it is wholly dependent upon the latter, and can be of but minor practical service, except through the channels of legislation and the courts of justice. Law determines who shall constitute the criminal class upon the theory of the protection of society, and criminal anthro- pology, accepting this definition, attempts to determine the causes of crime, and the methods best adapted for its repression and prevention. It will be seen from its object that, if this science can be placed upon a sound foundation and some of the nonsense eliminated which charac- terizes it, as all new sciences, its service, in relation to the administra- tion of justice, will be inestimable. In order to show the relation in which the two now stand it will be necessary to sketch the origin and development of each.

Criminal anthropology is a branch of sociology, and its purpose' is to investigate crime scientifically : to study its origin and causes, and to determine, if possible, what proportion of responsibility belongs to society and what to the criminal. The remedies are to be examined as well as the causes, and also the effect of punishment as a means of reformation and prevention. From the nature and extent of its work, criminal anthropology may be said to comprehend three parts — gen- eral, special, and practical. The first consists in a summary and clas- sification of all the facts known, and is used as the basis for further work ; the second includes the investigation of individual criminals,

» Cf. MacDonald, Abnormal Man; Wilson, report on " Criminal Anthropology " (Smithsonian Report, 1890).

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