Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/544

 524 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGV

have been so intermingled that it is impossible to distinguish the exact period when each began. With the preventive system there can be no such harmonious development ; for, while it is the logical result of the increasing knowledge and development of social and political life, it requires a change of the fundamental principles governing the system of criminal law.

In this outline of crime and punishment the attempt has been to outline the development of the idea of crime and punishment, and to show the position of criminal anthropology as being the summit in the evolution of the thought regarding it.

We have outlined the two systems so as to see the different theories, the origin of each, and their mutual relation. Before passing to a consideration of the reforms demanded, it will be necessary to glance more specifically at the doctrines of criminal anthropology which are the basis for reform. These doctrines are founded upon the researches into history, the study of the individual in the laboratory and in society, and of social and legal institutions. As a result of this study, in which almost every known science has been utilized, the necessity has been perceived of working through the channels of legislation and the courts of justice, in order to remedy certain existing evils, and to this end certain defects are pointed out and substitutions recommended, in accord with modern thought and knowledge. The knowledge of man and society which forms the present basis of the law's operation should be superseded by the modern enlightened ideas, for the faulty systems of criminal jurisprudence are the greatest detriment in the way of decreasing the amount and causes of crime, and are to a great extent responsible for the increased amount of litigation between the state and the criminal.

In reflecting upon the right of the criminal anthropologists to claim these reforms (which right may be questioned, by reason of the comparatively short time that the science has been in existence, and because of the limited amount of work performed), it must be remem- bered that in America the work is less strongly organized and has not attained the prominence or commanded the attention that it has in Europe. The workers are, for the greater part, mere names to most Americans, while in Europe they are in the closest relation with the people and with the government. The interest there is incessant, and does not depend upon reports and occasional congresses, but upon con- stant research and experiments. By reason of the few translations of reports and publications of the students and investigators in criminal