Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/431

 REVIEWS 415

The same movement is much discussed in Germany, and the Prus- sian law for guardianship and education, instead of compulsory dis- cipline, is a subject of interest all over the empire.

Dr. E. Miinsterberg, of Berlin, recommends especially the following books upon the Fursorge-Erziehungsgesetz of 1900, passed by the Prussian diet : C. v. Masson, Das preussische Fursorge-Erziehungsgesetz vom 2. Juli 1900, und die Mitwirkung der burgerlichen Gesellschaft bei seiner Ausfuhrung (Berlin: Nicolaische Verlagsbuchh., 1901 ; pp. 72); O. Noelle, Das Gesetz uber die Fursorge-Erziehung Minderjdhriger (Berlin: Franz Vohlen, 1901); L. Schmitz, Die Fursorgeerziehung Min- derjdhriger, Preuss. Gesetz vom 2. Juli 1900, etc. (Dusseldorf : L. Schramm, 1901).

It is no longer necessary to convict a child of crime before he can be brought under corrective and helpful guardianship. When family influence is inadequate to prevent moral ruin, the authorities can inter- fere before the habits of evil are deeply fixed, and the minor may be transferred from the depraving environment to a suitable family or institution.

An admirable feature of this new law is that it requires the co-operation of parents, teachers, pastors, poor-authorities, and benevo- lent societies, and has a tendency to enlist voluntary friendly service in the interest of the imperiled youth. The parents are not relieved of their responsibility, but must help meet the costs of treatment, as far as their means permit.

The essential principles of the Prussian law are as true for America as for Germany.

C. R. H.

La responsabiliti ptnale. Par ADOLPHE LANDRY. Paris : Felix Alcan, 1902. Pp. IQ6.

THE first part of this work is devoted to the rather thankless task of kicking the carcass of the dead lion of the " classical school " of criminalists, the advocates of an exact penal equivalent for each species of crime. The author will not tolerate half-way doctrines and will accept nothing but unadulterated " utilitarianism." He reasons his way in truly French deductive style, with acute and logical pre- cision, to his principle that, from the point of view of " penal respon- sibility," offenders must be classified, and all members of each class subjected by law and courts to one treatment.

Mr. Z. R. Brockway or Mr. C. T. Lewis, whose discussions of the