CRIMINAL ANTHROPOLOGY. 669 



The openiug paragraph declared that moral responsibility depended 

 upon free will, which, at least, in its relation to crime, was a hypothesis 

 without foundation in truth or justification in law. The discussion 

 became more philosophical and metaphysical than practical. The most 

 careful report would fail to do it justice or render satisfaction to its 

 author, and it is therefore deemed wise to omit it. 



Question XI. — The criminal process considered from a point of view 

 of sociology. M. A. Pugliese, of Trani, reporter. 



The moment appears opportune to make the criminal process an ob- 

 ject of the study of penal sociology. 



(1) The criminal process is an institution of State established in the 

 social interest, having for its end the search for and repression of crime. 

 The general rules of its formation provide for the discovery and appre- 

 ciation of crime, the punishment of the author, and the conciliation of 

 the social and individual interest. To do this properly requires a 

 magistrate who has technical as well as general knowledge. It is not 

 sufficient in these times of the discovery and investigations of anthro- 

 pology that he should be simply a judge or even a jurist. It is necessary 

 that he should be acquainted with the studies of anthropology and 

 sociology ; that he should understand the social surroundings in which 

 the crime is committed as well as the men who commit it. Whether 

 the State should found the necessary institutions of learning for the 

 training of these magistrates was a question for discussion, but it is 

 indisputable that they should have a special training. Prosecutors are 

 charged with the trial of criminal offenses. In western Europe these 

 things are not satisfactory; a juge d'instruction, or prosecuting ofidcer, 

 scarcely possesses any special training or had any special qualification to 

 fit him for his position. Perhaps he has never written a criminal process, 

 never seen a cadaver, or attended an autopsy. He knows nothing of 

 anthropology nor of penal sociology, and yet he is called upon to exer- 

 cise functions the most delicate, most difficult, on which depends the 

 safety of the citizens and their social surety. He obtains his experience 

 in corpore vivo ; he learns at the expense of society. In doing black- 

 smith's work he becomes a blacksmith, and when he shall have become 

 habituated to his position, and qualified in even a mediocre manner, he 

 will be changed to another place with another duty, and another person 

 will replace him to begin again this new life of study and practice. 

 This is not a system but is only education. The faults, and the scandal 

 are enormous. Sixty per cent, of criminal processes fidl. The real 

 culpables have a good chance of escape, while the innocent run the 

 danger of losing their honor, their liberty, and, possibly, their life. 



It is evident that the criminal process should not, as at present, be 

 limited to the gathering of the proofs pell mell. On the contrary, the 

 prosecutor ought to study the evil and secret causes of the criminal 

 actions, and from them deduce the true reason of punishment. They 



