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In closing, the Committee thinks it desirable to refer the members of the Institute, for purposes of further investigation of the literature, to the "Preliminary Bibliography of Modern Criminal Law and Criminology" , already issued to members of the Conference. The Committee believes that some of the Anglo-American works listed therein will be found useful.

Committee on Translations.

Chairman, John H. Wigmore, Professor of Law in Northwestern University, Chicago. Ernst Freund, Professor of Law in the University of Chicago. Maurice Parmelee, Professor of Sociology in the State University of Missouri. Roscoe Pound, Professor of Law in Harvard University. Edward Lindsay, Of the Warren, Pa., Bar. Wm. W. Smithers, Secretary of the Comparative Law Bureau of the American Bar Association, Philadelphia, Pa.

EDITORIAL PREFACE TO THE PRESENT VOLUME.

Any adequate study of the phenomena of crime and of the criminal must take into account the economic phase--must consider the subject matter of the study from the economic standpoint; for while few will follow the socialist theorists in the controlling importance they assign to the economic factors of social life it is nevertheless manifest that these factors are powerful elements in the totality of social conditions and must be given due consideration in the survey of all societal phenomena, including that of crime. The work selected to represent this viewpoint in the Modern Criminal Science Series is that of one of the younger criminalists--an able and thorough study of the effect of economic conditions on crime and distinguished by the extensive and critical use made of a wide range of statistical data.

William Adrian Bonger, the author of the work here translated, of Amsterdam, Holland, is a Dutch Publicist, a pupil of Professor Van Hamel, well known as one of the founders of the International Union of Penal Law and the most eminent of Dutch students of criminology. He was born at Amsterdam, September 6, 1876, and received the degree of Doctor in Law from the University of Amsterdam in June, 1905. The first part of the present work, which consists of a survey, with copious extracts and critical comments, of the previous literature upon the subject of the relation of crime to economic conditions is a revision of a thesis originally presented at the University.

In the first part of this work, instead of stating in his own language the views expressed in the previous literature on the subject Dr. Bonger has by extracts from the various authors given us their opinions in their own language, adding brief critical comments of his own. The second part contains Dr. Bonger's own discussion of the phenomena of crime based upon an unusually thorough collection of statistical data and the elaboration of his views. In the selection of authors from whom he quotes Dr. Bonger shows his sympathy with the social philosophy of socialism which appears as well in the exposition of his own explanation of criminality; but the facts which he collects together with the evidence on which they rest are so explicitly set forth and his own conclusions so carefully distinguished that the value of the study is not diminished even for those who are not disposed to accept his social philosophy.

Dr. Bonger sees clearly that the concept of crime is a social and not a biological one. It is the social value or harmfulness of acts or conduct that is involved in the concept and if we use terms that have a predominantly biological connotation such as "normal" or "abnormal", we must be careful to distinguish that use as referring to a social standard or we will be in danger of a confusion of thought. That some of the acts which society has classed as crimes may be deemed pathological is incidental; it is not on this account that they are termed crimes but because they are socially detrimental. That some of the individuals who have committed crimes may be called "abnormal" is incidental; it is not because of this that they are classified as criminals. That the economic factor has a large influence in connection with that kind of conduct the social significance of which stamps it as criminal the author abundantly shows. The extent to which this is the case and the extent to which the economic conditions involved are inherent in our present social organization are matters on which there will be difference of opinion with the author. Dr. Bonger's expressed belief that his main positions will be received without sympathy in this country we venture to think will not prove to be well founded. On the contrary so clearly has he set them forth and so well has he supported them that they can hardly fail of appreciation. If this work serves to some extent as a corrective to a too prevalent tendency toward a confusion of thought between biological and social concepts and standards in the study of human conduct--and especially that kind of conduct which we have deemed so socially detrimental as to brand as crime--its inclusion in this series will be amply justified.

Warren, Pa. February 26, 1916.

INTRODUCTION TO THIS VOLUME.

Dr. Bonger's work--"Criminality and Economic Conditions"--will arrest the attention of students of criminology, sociology and kindred subjects. In it, also, the political economist may delve with profit.

The eminent scholar and author in his preface to the American edition expresses the conviction that his "ideas about the etiology of crime will not be shared by a great many readers of the American edition," and, also, "that the book is sure to meet with many disapproving critics on this side of the ocean." The distinguished author may be agreeably disappointed in the number of American readers who will agree in a large measure with his conclusions as to the causes of crime generally. I am inclined to think that the remedy which Dr. Bonger proposes is more apt to elicit controversy than the correctness of his diagnosis. The great value of Dr. Bonger's work to Americans, however, will be independent of the number of readers who concede the force of his reasoning or accept the logic of his conclusions. Disagree with the author's conclusions as the reader may and its value to the reader will not be impaired. One cannot take issue with the conclusions of a scholar based on study and research, without an exercise of processes of the mind valuable to the reader, and probably so to others. From the right quantity and quality of criticism comes the truth. One of the most valuable portions of Dr. Bonger's work will be found in his own criticisms of the writings of other European authors, particularly those comprising the so-called Italian and French schools.

"Criminality and Economic Conditions" is the nearest approach to an exhaustive treatment of the question of the agencies productive of crime which has thus far been published in this country. The work is a result of great study and research, and little existing data can have been overlooked. Agree or not with the conclusions of the author, doubt the force of his reasoning if one will, nevertheless, such reasoning and conclusions have their basis in statistics and data furnished, from which other reasoning or conclusions may be formed if the reader thinks the author's conclusions are not supported by the facts.

Whether existing economic conditions are fundamentally wrong, and crime is but the natural concomitant of a false economic basis upon which society is organized, is a controversial question which is so forcefully presented by the author that the reader must concede that his views have been presented by a master.

Dr. Bonger's thesis, doubtless, will have the effect of increasing the number of Americans who regard environment as the greatest contributory cause of crime and who place heredity or innate criminality in a subordinate position, though many may continue to regard these matters as of greater importance than the author attributes to them. The author does not hesitate to express his contempt for the theory recently espoused by some Americans that "sterilization" may be an effective method of reducing the "army of criminals." "One should be inclined to ask," he says, "if the advocates of 'sterilization' have never heard of Australia, where a considerable number of inhabitants have descended from the worst of criminals and where yet the rate of criminality is low." The Australian might reply that this is not a fair test, for at the time England was transporting so many of her criminals to Australia, the English criminal code was so drastic that "the worst of criminals" constituted but a small per cent of those who became its victims. But this observation does not militate against the correctness of the Doctor's observation that "sterilization" is "as useful as the efforts to stop with a bottle a brook in its course." If the advocates of "sterilization" are wrong in their theory, it is only illustrative of the fact that we Americans have been so busy developing a new country that, until very recent years, we gave no thought to the immense problem of the causes of crime, or attempted to apply to the subject any sort of intelligent, to say nothing of scientific, consideration. When at last it dawned upon a few of the American people that the cost in dollars and cents of dealing with our crime problem, to say nothing of the incidental economic waste, exceeded a billion dollars annually, or, as Professor M?nsterberg in one of his books forcibly puts it: "that this country spends annually five hundred millions of dollars more on fighting the existing crime than on all its works of charity, education, and religion",--it began to be considered worth while to study this tremendous social problem with a view, if possible, of improving conditions. Those who investigated the subject found little in the way of statistics or reliable data upon which to base a study of conditions with a view of applying remedies. Some few had written upon various phases of the subject. It was not, however, until the organization of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology in 1909 that intelligent direction along practical lines was given to a study by Americans of this great social and economic problem. The Journal of the Institute was the first periodical of its kind published in the English language. In Continental Europe a number of such journals were being published and many students of the problem had contributed valuable works upon different phases of the subject. The American Institute has deemed the quickest way for Americans to become abreast of the best modern thought on criminal law and criminology, is to make available for American readers the best scientific thought of European writers, hence, "The Modern Criminal Science Series," of which Dr. Bonger's work becomes one of the most valuable volumes.

Until very recent years, most American judges and prosecuting attorneys gave little thought to the underlying causes of crime. It was the general assumption that courts and court officers had performed their full functions when the guilt or innocence of a defendant had been determined and he was discharged or committed to some penal institution. Here again little thought was given to the one incarcerated other than to hold and generally to exploit him until by law he was entitled to be discharged. Those whose province it was to get men into prison and those whose duty it was to keep them in custody gave little attention to the question whether the convict was a better or a worse unit of society when he came out than when he entered upon a prison term. Even less thought was given to the more important question--why so many commit crime at all. If normal human beings under normal conditions do not commit crime, then crime is evidence of the abnormal, either in the person or in the condition. If this is a correct hypothesis, then the administration of criminal law must to a greater degree in the future than in the past be predicated upon a comprehension and due consideration of this fact.

If, in order to materially reduce the quantum of crime, it is necessary to change the economic basis upon which modern society rests and reorganize it "based upon the community of the means of production", then the outlook for an early diminution in the volume of crime may not be overly encouraging. Such a change in the economic basis of society is hardly to be expected otherwise than as the result of the slow process of social evolution. Progress in this respect has not been perceptibly rapid since Moses gave to the world the Book of Deuteronomy. Many abuses of our present economic system, however, may be modified or abolished without waiting for or conceding the necessity of the change which the eminent scholar holds is fundamental.

Again, in conclusion, let me reiterate that the value of Dr. Bonger's work does not depend upon an agreement with all the views of the author. The book will bring to the American reader a depth and breadth of view most valuable to the administrators of criminal law and to those interested in the wider field of general social progress.

Carson City, Nevada, February 18, 1916.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.

This translation is based upon the Amsterdam edition of 1905, but the translator has been furnished by the author not only with special notes for the American edition, but also with the latest corrections to the French text. Dr. Bonger has also furnished a revised bibliography, and kindly wrote the American preface in English. In the translation some slight condensation of the work has been made, with the approval of the committee, by the omission of a few passages of a parenthetical nature, in quotations and notes. The very valuable bibliographical notes have been retained intact. Grateful acknowledgment is due to the Editorial Committee for suggestions as to some difficult legal terms, and to Mr. Georgio de Grassi for assistance in the translation of Italian passages.

Henry P. Horton.

Ithaca, N.Y., September, 1914.

CRIMINALITY AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.

The resolution of the "Committee on Translations of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology" to include my book "Criminalit? et conditions ?conomiques" among the European works, that were assigned for translation was welcomed by me with gladness. The fact that the difference of language is an obstacle for many to become acquainted with a book, is for its author very disagreeable. This was also the reason which obliged me to publish my work not in my own but in the French language.

I am fully convinced that my ideas about the etiology of crime will not be shared by a great many readers of the American edition. As far as I can see, in the English-speaking countries the causes of criminality are sought in man himself rather than in his surroundings. Heredity, too, is considered there of great importance. Hence the attempts to reduce the army of criminals by so-called "sterilization." Against this point of view my book is in sharp opposition; I consider it one of the most fatal errors. There was a time in Europe when it was thought with Lombroso that crime was rooted in man himself; the progress of sociology has shown more and more clearly that the roots are found outside man, in society. There is nothing more variable than man! That heredity plays a great part on the scene of criminality has never been proved. Have the advocates of "sterilization", one should be inclined to ask, never heard of Australia, where a considerable number of the inhabitants are descended from the worst of criminals, and where yet the rate of criminality is low? The army of prostitution has been for a great many centuries by far more "sterile" than the army of criminals can ever be made, and yet prostitution is not decreased; the increase and decrease of this phenomena is ruled by social factors. In short, the effect of "sterilization" seems to me as useful as the efforts to stop with a bottle a brook in its course, as Manouvrier once called it. On the other hand I beg the adherents of the individualistic theory of crime to take into consideration that in some European countries the beginning of the rise of the lower classes, who form the greatest contingent of criminals, has been sufficient to arrest the increase of crime, even in many cases to occasion a decrease.

My book will thus be sure to meet with many disapproving critics on the other side of the ocean. I fear them not. If only facts are opposed to facts, truth will come to light. "Du choc des opinions jaillit la v?rit?!"

According to my undertaking I have stated in notes the principal literature of the latest years. In concert with the desire of the Committee I have shortened the text as much as possible. The whole passage about "race and crime" I have omitted because--maintaining in general what I had written about it--I now have much more to say on the subject, but the space therefor was not at my disposition. For the same reason I left the passage on "Physical Environment and Crime" as it was. The treatment in detail of both these questions will take place in due time elsewhere.

I will not close this preface without assuring the Committee on Translations how highly I value their broad view and large-minded resolution to give a hearing to one whose opinions differ so much from the usual. To my translator, my hearty thanks for the good care bestowed on my book.

W. A. Bonger.

Amsterdam, June, 1914.

Honorable mention has been given to the first part of this work, which was written upon a subject proposed by the juridical faculty of the University of Amsterdam, and entitled "A Systematic and Critical Exposition of the Literature Dealing with the Relation between Criminality and Economic Conditions." To this exposition I have added the opinions of some additional authors, and have treated some others more fully than in the original; but on the whole this part of the work has been little changed. The second part, on the other hand, is almost entirely new; though it is true that in my thesis I had already marked out a line of investigation which, in my opinion, required a profound study of the relation between criminality and economic conditions. The period of one year fixed by the faculty was too limited a time in which to give more than a brief survey of the question. I have left the exposition as it was without restating it in the second part , although I am aware that objections might be made, especially as to the form. However, I have not felt that these are of sufficient importance to demand a complete recasting of the work.

I take advantage of this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to those who have expressed their good will by lending me their aid; especially to my highly esteemed colleague, Professor G. A. van Hamel, and my friends Dr. A. Aletrino and N. W. Posthumus.

Amsterdam, February, 1905.

I have taken great pains neither to deride human actions, nor to deplore them, nor to detest them, but to understand them.

--Spinoza.

INTRODUCTION.

In systematizing the literature of my subject I have pursued the following method: I begin with some significant extracts from authors who wrote before the birth of modern criminal science. After these I take up the statisticians, that is to say, those who, without belonging to any special school of criminologists, have treated the subject principally by the aid of statistics. Next I give an exposition of the school which insists especially upon the individual factors in crime, and ascribes only a secondary place to economic factors ; following this I treat of the school which considers the r?le played by environment as very important ; and afterwards that of the bio-sociological doctrine which forms the synthesis of the two schools. Then follow the "spiritualists", that is to say the religious authors who have been more or less influenced by modern criminal science; and finally, the authors who belong to the "terza scuola", and the socialists who consider the influence of economic conditions as being very important or even decisive. The authors coming under the same heading have been treated in chronological order.

Like every classification this is more or less arbitrary. Several authors might have been placed under two different headings. We may add that as time goes on the differences between the Italian and French schools are becoming less and less marked, so that their opinions and those of the bio-sociologists no longer show any great divergences as far as our subject is concerned.

PART ONE.

CRITICAL EXPOSITION OF THE LITERATURE DEALING WITH THE RELATION BETWEEN CRIMINALITY AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS.

THE PRECURSORS.

THOMAS MORE.

In the first part of his "Utopia" More severely criticises the economic conditions of his time in England, and adds some observations upon the criminality of that period.

Raphael Hythloday, whom More makes the speaker in his work, and through whom he expresses his own opinions, says:

"It chanced on a certain day, when I sat at the Cardinal's table, there was also a certain lay man cunning in the laws of your realm. Who, I cannot tell whereof taking occasion, began diligently and earnestly to praise that strait and rigorous justice, which at that time was there executed upon felons, who, as he said, were for the most part twenty hanged together upon one gallows. And, seeing so few escaped punishment, he said he could not choose but greatly wonder and marvel, how and by what evil luck it should so come to pass, that thieves nevertheless were in every place so rife and so rank.

"Nay, Sir, quod I marvel nothing hereat; for this punishment of thieves passeth the limits of justice, and is also very hurtful to the public weal. For it is too extreme and cruel a punishment for theft, and yet not sufficient to refrain and withhold men from theft. For simple theft is not so great an offense, that it ought to be punished with death. Neither is there any punishment so horrible, that it can keep them from stealing, which have no other craft whereby to get their living. Therefore in this point, not you only, but also the most part of the world, be like evil schoolmasters, which be readier to beat, than to teach their scholars. For great and horrible punishments be appointed for thieves, whereas much rather provision should have been made, that there were some means, whereby they might get their living, so that no man should be driven to this extreme necessity, first to steal, and then to die.

"Yes this matter is well enough provided for already. There be handicrafts, there is husbandry to get their living by, if they would not willingly be nought. Nay, quod I, you shall not scape so; for first of all, I will speak nothing of them that come home out of the wars, maimed and lame, as not long ago, out of Blackheath field, and a little before that, out of the wars in France; such, I say, as put their lives in jeopardy for public weal's or the king's sake, and by reason of weakness or lameness be not able to occupy their old crafts, and be too aged to learn new; of them I will speak nothing, forasmuch as wars have their ordinary recourse. But let us consider those things that chance daily before our eyes. First there is a great number of gentlemen, which can not be content to live idle themselves, like drones, of that which others have labored for; their tenants, I mean, whom they poll and shave to the quick, by raising their rents these gentlemen, I say, do not only live in idleness themselves, but also carry about with them at their tails a great flock or train of idle and loitering serving men, which never learn any craft whereby to get their livings. These men as soon as their master is dead, or be sick themselves, be incontinent thrust out of doors. For gentlemen had rather keep idle persons, than sick men, and many times the dead man's heir is not able to maintain so great a house, and keep so many serving men as his father did. Then in the mean season they that be thus destitute of service, either starve for hunger, or manfully play the thieves. For what would you have them do? When they have wandered abroad so long, until they have worn threadbare their apparel, and also impaired their health, then gentlemen because of their pale and sickly faces, and patched coats, will not take them into service. And husbandmen dare not set them a work, knowing well enough that he is nothing meet to do true and faithful service to a poor man with a spade and a mattock for small wages and hard fare, which being daintily and tenderly pampered up in idleness and pleasure, was wont with a sword and buckler by his side to jet through the street with a bragging look, and to think himself to be as good as any man's mate.

"Nay, by Saint Mary, sir , not so. For this kind of man must we make the most of. For in them as men of stouter stomachs, bolder spirits, and manlier courages than handicrafts men and plowmen be, doth consist the whole power, strength, and puissance of our army, when we must fight in battle. Forsooth, sir, as well you might say that for war's sake we must cherish thieves. For surely you shall never lack thieves while you have them. No, nor thieves be not the most false and faint-hearted soldiers, nor soldiers be not the cowardliest thieves; so well these two crafts agree together. But this fault, though it be much used among you, yet is not peculiar to you only, but common also almost to all nations. Yet France besides this is troubled and infected with a much sorer plague. The whole realm is filled and besieged with hired soldiers in peace time which be brought in under the same color and pretense, that hath persuaded you to keep these idle serving men. For these wise fools and very archdolts thought the wealth of the country herein to consist, if there were ever in readiness a strong and sure garrison, specially of old practised soldiers, for they put no trust at all in men unexercised. And therefore they must be forced to seek for war, to the end that they may have practised soldiers and cunning manslayers, lest that their hands and their minds through idleness and lack of exercise, should wax dull. But how pernicious and pestilent a thing it is to maintain such beasts, the Frenchmen by their own harms have learned, and the examples of the Romans, Carthaginians, Syrians, and of many other countries do manifestly declare. For not only the empire, but also the fields and cities of all these, by divers occasions have been overrunned and destroyed by their own armies beforehand had in a readiness. Now how unnecessary a thing this is, hereby it may appear, that the French soldiers, which from their youth have been practised and inured in feats of arms, do not crack nor advance themselves to have very often gotten the upper hand and mastery of your new made and unpractised soldiers. But in this point I will not use many words, lest perchance I may seem to flatter you.

"No, nor those same handicraftmen of yours in cities, nor yet the rude and uplandish plowmen of the country, are not supposed to be greatly afraid of your gentlemen's idle serving men, unless it be such as be not of body or stature correspondent to their strength and courage, or else whose bold stomachs be discouraged through poverty. Thus you may see, that it is not to be feared lest they should be effeminated, if they were brought up in good crafts and laborsome works, whereby to get their livings, whose stout and sturdy bodies now either by reason of rest and idleness be brought to weakness or else by easy and womanly exercises be made feeble and unable to endure hardness. Truly howsoever the case standeth, this methinketh is nothing available to the public weal, for war's sake, which you never have, but when you will yourselves, to keep and maintain an innumerable flock of that sort of men, that be so troublesome and noyous in peace, whereof you ought to have a thousand times more regard than of war.

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