Criminality and economic conditionsBonger, Willem Adriaan
General
Criminality and economic conditions
Bonger, Willem Adriaan
Crime -- Economic aspects
Fifth. According to the author there are certain circumstances which
may lead to the commission of a crime, but the true cause of crime is
to be found in the absence or weakness of the instinct of honesty. That
there exists such an “instinct of honesty” is one of numerous
assertions made by Garofalo for which he produces no proof, and, in
accordance with the general opinion of sociologists, I class it among
the most profound errors. A moral disposition is innate in man, and
varies greatly with individuals, but moral concepts—for example, that
it is forbidden to steal—are certainly not innate. The very way in
which Garofalo puts the question is wrong; we must not set the
circumstances that have influenced a man at a certain moment over
against an innate quality of honesty (fictitious besides) but must
examine all the conditions which have influenced his innate moral
disposition through the whole of his life, as well as his environment
at a given moment.
To say that the influence of environment cannot be great, because
persons well brought up sometimes commit crimes, is very superficial.
Upon this point there is something deeper and more important to be
said.—
III.
E. FERRI.
In order to present Professor Ferri’s views, I shall analyze
“Socialismo e criminalità” and a passage connected with our subject,
taken from “Sociologia criminale.” [103] This analysis will be more
detailed than that of most of the other authors, since in reality the
opinion of Professor Ferri is the synthesis of the opinions of many
other authorities. For this reason and others it is of the highest
importance.
“Socialismo e criminalità” is a polemic work directed in part against
“Il delitto e la questione sociale” of Turati, and in part as Professor
Ferri himself says in “Socialismo e scienza positiva”, against
socialism as far as that involves the revolutionary method and the
concomitant “nebulous romanticism.”
In his “Preliminari” the author gives some definitions of socialism;
combats socialism of every kind, declares it to be unscientific, and
sets in opposition to it sociology, which is entirely scientific. [104]
We pass over this part of the work in silence, since it has little
importance for our subject, and turn our attention to the end of the
“Preliminari”, where the author gives an exposition of the ideas which
the socialists, according to him, have about crime:
“I. The origin of the phenomenon of crime is to be found in society as
at present constituted.
“II. More especially, the economic disorder of the population caused by
the unjust inequality of individuals and classes, is the cause of every
other disorder, moral or intellectual, and therefore of crime also.
“III. When the social transformation or revolution which the socialists
desire has taken place, the social atmosphere will be most favorable.
“IV. In the socialistic order the individual also will be much superior
to the man corrupted or demoralized by present conditions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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