Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/867

 1 894

1895

4.032

3.795

133.75'

122,615

93.718

94,824

12,398

11,798

21.377

23,388

NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 847

current of indulgence indicated by the correctional prosecutions of 1895, as compared with those of .'894. There were condemned:

To imprisonment for more than a year - " " " a year or less - - - -

fines

Acquitted -

Granted suspension of sentence -. - -

The number of accused recidivists decreased from 1590 in 1894 to 1380 in 1895. The number of recidivists (before trial) has also been reduced from 104,644 in 1894 to 99,434 in 1895.

The official report attributes this general amelioration to the Bdrenger law. " The menace of punishment, in the present state of our penitentiary regime, seems to be more efficacious than its execution, at least with respect to first offenders." This explana- tion, however, is hardly convincing. It would seem to be due not so much to legisla- tion as to the intellectual progress of the nation. — A. B^RARD, " La criminality en France en 1895," in Archives d' Anthropologic criminelle, January, 1898.

The Evolution of Punishment. — I. The essence of punishment. — Events pro- duce impressions upon men in societies which call forth reactions. An immoral act arouses moral disapprobation, expressed, perhaps, merely by coolness on the part of the other members of society toward the offender. If the act is harmful to the societ)', it becomes a crime and provokes a stronger reaction, which is in a measure of the same kind as the offense. The immoral act and the crime on the one hand, and the blame and the punishment on the other hand, are essentially identical. In uncivilized com- munities the criminal nature of an act can only be determined by the nature of the reac- tion against it. In civilized communities a reaction is a punishment only when it is inscribed in the penal code of the state. The stigmatizing reaction becomes penal when the character of publicity, of exteriority, and of universality is attached to it. The purpose of the stigmatizing reaction and of the penal reaction is the infliction of an evil upon the individual who acts contrary to the interests of society. The social reaction is inherent in the nature of society, in the psychology of the masses, in the natural desire for vengeance which may be overcome by the great soul, but never by a considerable group of men who consider an anti -social act as bad and loathsome. There has been a flux and reflux of sentiment with respect to the social reaction against crime, at one time a sentimentalism in the administration of justice and an aversion to the death penalty appearing, followed by a current of social selection which considers the death penalty as an infallible means of purifying the atmosphere. The function of the penal reaction is still to indicate in a more precise manner the element of evil which ought to be inflicted upon the individual ; it ought also to increase this element to a much higher degree than is done by the stigmatizing reaction. This is forgotten by the theorists who have exclusively in view the correction or the cure of the delinquent, and who make no distinction between the reaction against crime and the reaction against mental alienation. The reaction against crime is, and always will be, " malum passionis quod infligitur propter malum actionis."

II. Punishment has not its origin in personal vengeance. — The number of laws which restrict the struggle for life within the group and the crimes which result from it is in direct relation to the degree of civilization. In spite of restrictions imposed by society, it is always possible for individual forces to come into conflict. Society is indifferent to these conflicts so long as they do not attack its true interests. In a slight degree of development the number of crimes is inconsiderable: society, having: few interests to protect, has few laws to make. In such a society he who has been injured at once satisfies his desire for vengeance. If he cannot reach his enemy, he takes ven- geance upon any object whatever. The spirit of vengeance is not to destroy the offender, and thus to prevent further offense, but it is especially to satisfy wounded pride. It makes no difference whether the vengeance is just, or whether it exceeds the gravity of the aggression. Families sometimes assume the quarrels of one of their members, giving rise to hereditary vengeance.