flogging on those who inflict it, he concludes:--“Let me add that the
possibility of such a licence acts contagiously on the whole of society:
such a power is seductive. A society which regards these things with an
indifferent eye is already infected to the bone. The right accorded to a
man to punish his fellows corporally is one of the sores of our society;
it is the surest method of annihilating the spirit of citizenship.”
Flogging has not yet reached among us the extension which it then had in
Russia and in Siberia, but its character and influence remain the same,
and the warning seems to be still needed.
With the indeterminate sentence must always be associated conditional
liberation--_i.e._, liberation by ticket-of-leave or on parole, liable to
revocation in case of misbehaviour. It is not, however, necessary to
insist on this, as the principle has long been practically recognised in
England and elsewhere. It exists in Belgium, some of the American states,
Hungary, Saxony, Switzerland, the Grand Duchy of Baden, etc.
A very desirable accompaniment to any system of dealing with criminals is
a sound system for their registration and recognition. The method
originated by M. Alphonse Bertillon is now adopted in France, Russia,
Japan, Spain, Italy, the Argentine Republic, and some parts of Germany,
and it is being adopted in several of the United States. By this method
the height, the length and width of head, the measurements of left foot,
of outstretched arms, of trunk when seated, of fourth finger of left hand,
of left arm, length of ear, colour of eyes, and any marks are recorded,
together with the photograph, profile and full face. The method of
classifying the photographs in its simplest form was thus generally
described by M. A. Bertillon a few years ago (_Revue Politique et
Littéraire_, 28 April 1883). Suppose we have 80,000 photographs. They are
first divided according to the sex, the men on one side, the women on the
other. These latter do not reach 20,000. The 60,000 men who remain are
divided into three classes according to height; the short numbering about
20,000, the middle-sized numbering about 20,000, and the tall 20,000. Each
of these divisions is divided into three series according to length of
head. These new divisions, to the number of nine, contain rather more than
6000 each. Each of these sub-divisions is then divided into three groups
according to length of foot, each group containing about 2000 photographs.
Each of these groups is again sub-divided into three, according to length
of outstretched arms (_grande envergure_). Each of these groups contains
about 600, and they are further sub-divided with reference to age, colour
of eyes, and length of middle finger. Thus by means of four new
anthropological characters (sex, height, age, and colour of eyes have long
been noted) 80,000 photos can be easily divided into groups of 50. The
measurements can be taken in two or three minutes, and require no special
intelligence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account