82 CRIMINOLOGY 



once more exemplified the same principle by taking 

 over from us the Juvenile Court. Another illustration 

 may be found in the proposal by TARDE to substitute 

 our system of electrocution for the guillotine as the 

 best method of capital punishment. Finally, it is not 

 too much to say that the American system of the inde- 

 terminate sentence and parole is to no small degree 

 the child of French inspiration. For it appears that 

 the first public proclamation of the principle of con- 

 ditional liberation of prisoners came through a remarkable 

 address of BONNE VILLE DE MARSANGY at Rheims in 

 1846; this address (translated and published by F. H. 

 Wines in 1866) formed one of the foundation stones of 

 our Elmira Reformatory System. 



France, then, offers two fields for the student of crim- 

 inalistics: penal administration and criminology proper. 



The French School of Criminology. The tendency of 

 the French criminologists has been to lay special em- 

 phasis upon the influence of the environment in the 

 causation of crime. Consequently, the so-called "French 

 School" of criminology has frequently been called the 

 "school of the environment." This tendency has been 

 due in part to an attempt to oppose and counteract the 

 tendency of the Italian criminologists to put excessive 

 emphasis upon the influence of pathological and abnormal 

 anatomical and physiological traits in the causation of 

 crime. It has also been due to the important place 

 given in France to the study of law, politics, and the 

 social sciences. 



At the same time the notable achievements of the 

 French in physiology, psychology, and anthropology 

 have had their influence upon the development of crim- 

 inology in that country. A number of careful studies 

 have been made of the physical traits of criminals, and 



