Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/666

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646 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

the neighboring states have not similar acts, and the effect has been, not to diminish the number of criminals, but to drive them into other jurisdictions after the first conviction for crime.

If there is to be any progress, criminal anthropology and criminal jurisprudence must cooperate, or the one must yield to the other, and while there is much to be criticised in the work of the scientists, the judiciary is itself too faulty to be the critic. If the science shall demonstrate that its principles are enduring, its proposed changes sound, and its knowledge not erroneous, it must have a directly bene- ficial result in its relation to jurisprudence. It remains to be seen whether this will result from cooperation or substitution, or whether the precedent of legal systems shall remain unchanged.

Before closing, it may be of interest to nofe the strength which the new movement has gathered in the brief period of its exist- ence. This can best be done by a reference to the principal organiza- tions which are studying crime scientifically, and are thereby assisting in the establishment of a new basis for criminal jurisprudence. If criminal anthropologists were the only persons devoted to a study o£ the delinquent and his relation to society, the movement would not have assumed the importance now accredited to it. There are many minor associations engaged in the various lines of study, but here reference is made only to the most important, in order to dispel the idea that the study is a fad, or has not the attention of the great mass of scientific and legal workers.

First in importance is the International Congress of Criminal Anthropology," which now meets biennially. Four meetings have been held — at Rome, Paris, Brussels, and Geneva. Its members com- prise both schools, so that its work is conducted from sociological and psychological, as well as biological, standpoints. Its work consists of papers, discussions, and reports upon the various lines of work, and investigation which its members pursue in the interim. This associa- tion is the great center and impetus of the scientific study of crime and the criminal, and its work extends directly into the countries of France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Russia, the United States, and South American republics, and collaterally into many of the minor states. Its members include prominent scientists, jurists, physicians, alienists, and professors, and the field of investigation is correspondingly broad. The work done is continuous, and the congress may be said to be but the biennial report or correlation of the work.

■ See published reports of International Congress of Criminal Anthropology.