文档介绍：CRIMINAL SOCIOLOGY
BY
ENRICO FERRI
PROFESSOR OF CRIMINAL LAW
DEPUTY IN THE ITALIAN PARLIAMENT, ETC.
PREFACE.
The following pages are a translation of that portion of Professor
Ferri's volume on Criminal Sociology which is immediately
concerned with the practical problems of criminality. The Report
of the mittee appointed to inquire into the
treatment of habitual drunkards, the Report of mittee of
inquiry into the best means of identifying habitual criminals, the
revision of the English criminal returns, the Reports of
committees appointed to inquire into the administration of prisons
and the best methods of dealing with habitual offenders, vagrants,
beggars, inebriate and juvenile delinquents, are all evidence of
the fact that the formidable problem of crime is again pressing
its way to the front and demanding re-examination at the hands of
the present generation. The real dimensions of the question, as
Professor Ferri points out, are partially hidden by the
superficial interpretations which are so often placed upon the
returns relating to crime. If the population of prisons or
penitentiaries should happen to be declining, this is immediately
interpreted to mean that crime is on the decrease. And
yet a cursory examination of the facts is sufficient to show that
a decrease in the prison population is merely the result of
shorter sentences and the substitution of fines or other similar
penalties for imprisonment. If the list of offences for trial
before a judge and jury should exhibit any symptoms of diminution,
this circumstance is immediately seized upon as a proof that the
criminal population is declining, and yet the diminution may
merely arise from the fact that large numbers of cases which used
to be tried before a jury are now dealt with summarily by a
magistrate. In other words, what we witness is a change of
judicial procedure, but not necessarily a decrease of crime.
Again, when it is pointed out that the number of persons