Criminal Sociology. By Enric Ferri. (T. Fisher Unwin.)— Criminal anthropology,
which studies the organic and mental con- stitution of the habitual criminal, is a science of much narrower limits than criminal sociology. In fact, its conclusions, as Signor Ferri puts it, are the starting-points of the larger study. The data which it supplies, and the data of criminal statistics, make up together the facts which the sociologist has to study. In the matter of statistics, indeed, Signor Ferri is not the slave of the doctrine of averages. He refuses to accept Quetelet's declaration that the " budget of crime is an annual taxation paid with more preciseness than any other." Such a belief would sadly interfere with the energetic pursuit of "practical reforms." This subject furnishes one of the most important subjects of our author's research. We cannot pretend to estimate the value of this treatise. Its clear and philosophical reasoning will greatly impress the reader. It is true that the author's opinions some- times run counter to commonly accepted English beliefs. To put the matter briefly, he does not believe in juries ! Yet what is to be done ? Judges have certainly a bad character as weighers of evidence, which juries, by an intuition rather than by any trained skill, often estimate far better. The death penalty he approves in theory, but condemns in practice. " It must be applied resolutely to all born criminals, say to a thousand annually in Italy, and two hundred and fifty in France." That is a reductio ad absurdum.
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