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CRIMINOLOGY

NATURE OR CRIME-HISTORY-CAUSES-STATISTICS

The Positive School of Criminology

By Enrico Ferri.

The positive school of criminology was b born of the three lectures Ferri gave at the University of Naples in 1901. In these essays he makes the case for the importance, possibly supremacy, of social and economics causes of crime, in contrast to the then dominant theories of biological determinism, the idea of the “born criminal.” In much of his professional life he was driven by one cause that strikes a bell today in the 21st century: the cause of social justice.

Harrow and Heston Classic Reprint. 1902.

Criminal Sociology

By Enrico Ferri.

In this great Italian classic in criminology, its famed author Enrico Ferri describes it as “a work of propaganda and an elementary guide for anyone who intends to dedicate himself to the scientific study of offenders and of the means of prevention and social defense against them.” Published in 1892 and in English in 1896. The book emphasizes the link between crime causation and social justice, setting him apart from his criminal anthropologist forebears.

Harrow and Heston Classic Reprint. 1896.

Unsoundness of Mind

By John Charles Bucknill.

In Relation to Criminal Acts. “Your Lordship, having held successively the Gkeat Seal in England and in Ireland, has been the legal guardian of all insane persons in this Kingdom. Your Lordship has also effected an extensive revision of the statutes, regulating the care and treatment of the insane and the protection of their property.”

London. Samuel Highly (1854) 156 pages.

The Jukes

By Robert L. Dugdale.

A study in crime, pauperism, disease and heredity. “‘The Jukes’ has long been known as one of those important books that exert an influence out of all proportion to their bulk. It is doubtful if any concrete study of moral forces is more widely known, or has provoked more discussion, or has incited a larger number of students to examine for themselves the immensely difficult problems presented by the interaction of ‘heredity’ with ‘environment.’“

London Putnam (1910) 137 pages.

The English Convict

By Charles Goring.

Classic statistical study published in 1913 measuring nearly 100 physical and mental characteristics of English convicts to determine their deviation from the normal. Notable features of the author's research methodology were the use of the newly-developed Pearson product moment correlation coefficient and the method of comparing groups of both criminals and non-criminals for the same characteristics. The author's analysis of the data rejects the view that there are specific physical and mental characteristics identifying the criminal. He further concludes that the influence of heredity and the presence of mental defectiveness are far more significant factors than parental influence in the development of criminal behavior.

HMSO (1913) 450 pages.

Child of Circumstance

By pages

The Mystery of the Unborn, by pages. “Dr. Wilson believed that criminals are born unfinished. The die is cast at birth. The lack of finish at birth explains the incompetent, the born tired, the unemployed. Then what is the use? Why not painless extinction of those who commit great crimes, and the sterilization of the feebleminded….” Albert Wilson.

John Bale et al., (1928) 477.

Criminals of Chicago

By Prince Emmanuel of Jerusalem.

“ History shows that hanging did not prevent petit larceny. So we have abandoned the policy of frightfulness in punishment and cannot revert to it even though it still has some few supporters. And yet we feel that the theory of punishment being deterrent is philosophically sound. …The first news from the Laboratory revealed the prevalence of feeble-mindedness among delinquents. “

Rosburgh Publishing (1921) 247 pages.

The Criminal Classes

By D. R. Miller.

“A law demanding only a refrain from violence or abstinence from all that may injure others contains but the negative, while it is lacking in the more important, the positive elements. If men, by closing their eyes to the existence of evil, could thereby banish it, then might it be best for all to close their eyes….it is quite certain that we can never hope to discover, through ignorance, what are the various types of criminal abnormality, nor know the many causes or cures for such estrangements. An intelligent and thorough study of the criminal problem will eliminate from our creed that fatalistic formula which asserts that ‘Evil is good not understood’…”

United Brethren Publishing House (1903) 224 pages.