Criminal Sociology [55]
unsatisfied needs and the neglect of separate divisions of a country, which differ in climate, race, traditions, language, customs, and interests, would be largely eliminated if we were to dispense with the vague folly of political symmetry and bureaucratic centralisation, and in their place to adapt the laws to the special features of the respective localities. National unity in no way depends upon legislative and administrative uniformity, which is merely its unhealthy exaggeration. It is indeed inevitable that laws, which in our day merely represent a mode of contact between the most varied moral, social and economic conditions of different localities, should always be inadequate to social needs--too restricted and slow in action for one part of the country, too sweeping and premature for another part, just as the average convict's garb is too long for those who are short, and too short for those who are tall. Administrative federation with political unity (e pluribus unum) would furnish us with an aggregate of penal substitutes, restoring to each part of the social organism that freedom of movement and development which is a universal law of biology and sociology--for an organism is but a federation too lightly appreciated by the advocates of an artificial uniformity, such as ends by conflicting with unity itself.
III. In the Scientific Sphere.--The development of science, which creates fresh instruments of crime, such as fire-arms, the press, photography, lithography, new poisons, dynamite, electricity, hypnotism, and so forth, sooner or later provides the antidote also, which is more efficacious than penal repression.-- The press, anthropometric photography of prisoners, telegraphy, railways, are powerful auxiliaries against crime.--Dissection and the progress of toxicology have decreased the number of poisoning cases; and experience has already proved that ``Marsh's preparation'' has rendered poisoning by arsenic, once so common, comparatively rare.--A similar process has recently been suggested as a means of detection in cases of forgery, for when documents are exposed to iodine vapour, effaced or altered writing is restored.--Women doctors will diminish the opportunities of immorality.--The free expression of opinion will do more to prevent its possible dangers than trials of a more or less scandalous kind.--Piracy, which was not extirpated by punishments which are now obsolete, is disappearing under the effects of steam navigation.--The spread of Malthusian ideas prevents abortion and infanticides.[15]--Systematic bookkeeping, by its clearness and simplicity, obviates many frauds and embezzlements, which were encouraged by the old complicated methods.--Cheques, by avoiding the necessity of frequent conveyance of money, do more to prevent theft than punishments can do.--The credentials given by some banks to their clerks, whose duty it is to witness the signature of the actual debtor, prevent the falsification of bills.--Certain bankers have adopted the practice of taking an instantaneous photograph of every one presenting cheques for large amounts.--Safes, bolts, and alarm- bells, are a great security against thieves. --As a preventive of murder in railway carriages, it has been found that alarm signals and methods of securing the carriage-doors from the inside, are more effectual than penal codes.
[15] No doubt there may be a difference of opinion on this subject in France, where public opinion is too much exercised over the problem of depopulation. I agree with M. Varigny (``La Theorie du Nombre,'' Revue des Deux Mondes, Dec. 15, 1890) that the population of a country is not the sole, or even the principal consideration. Apart from physical characteristics (race), intellectual and moral qualities, and the productiveness of the soil on which M. Varigny dwells, we must take into account, as it seems to me, the unquestionable law by virtue of which the struggle for existence, amongst individuals as amongst nations, becomes gradually less vehement and direct. War, which is an everyday matter with
III. In the Scientific Sphere.--The development of science, which creates fresh instruments of crime, such as fire-arms, the press, photography, lithography, new poisons, dynamite, electricity, hypnotism, and so forth, sooner or later provides the antidote also, which is more efficacious than penal repression.-- The press, anthropometric photography of prisoners, telegraphy, railways, are powerful auxiliaries against crime.--Dissection and the progress of toxicology have decreased the number of poisoning cases; and experience has already proved that ``Marsh's preparation'' has rendered poisoning by arsenic, once so common, comparatively rare.--A similar process has recently been suggested as a means of detection in cases of forgery, for when documents are exposed to iodine vapour, effaced or altered writing is restored.--Women doctors will diminish the opportunities of immorality.--The free expression of opinion will do more to prevent its possible dangers than trials of a more or less scandalous kind.--Piracy, which was not extirpated by punishments which are now obsolete, is disappearing under the effects of steam navigation.--The spread of Malthusian ideas prevents abortion and infanticides.[15]--Systematic bookkeeping, by its clearness and simplicity, obviates many frauds and embezzlements, which were encouraged by the old complicated methods.--Cheques, by avoiding the necessity of frequent conveyance of money, do more to prevent theft than punishments can do.--The credentials given by some banks to their clerks, whose duty it is to witness the signature of the actual debtor, prevent the falsification of bills.--Certain bankers have adopted the practice of taking an instantaneous photograph of every one presenting cheques for large amounts.--Safes, bolts, and alarm- bells, are a great security against thieves. --As a preventive of murder in railway carriages, it has been found that alarm signals and methods of securing the carriage-doors from the inside, are more effectual than penal codes.
[15] No doubt there may be a difference of opinion on this subject in France, where public opinion is too much exercised over the problem of depopulation. I agree with M. Varigny (``La Theorie du Nombre,'' Revue des Deux Mondes, Dec. 15, 1890) that the population of a country is not the sole, or even the principal consideration. Apart from physical characteristics (race), intellectual and moral qualities, and the productiveness of the soil on which M. Varigny dwells, we must take into account, as it seems to me, the unquestionable law by virtue of which the struggle for existence, amongst individuals as amongst nations, becomes gradually less vehement and direct. War, which is an everyday matter with