NCJ Number
73303
Journal
Revue de science criminelle et de droit penal compare Issue: 4 Dated: (October-December 1979) Pages: 739-750
Date Published
1979
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The criminological theories of Cesare Lombroso are analyzed and criticized in view of current criminality developments in Italy, especially with regard to terrorism and politically motivated offenses.
Abstract
Having published his theories in 1876, Cesare Lombroso is considered the father of the positivist school, which focuses on the criminal individual as the central object of study rather than the abstract concept of crime. Lombroso's theories consider crime as a malady or a constitutional aberration and are based on several assumptions which today have become questionable. Among these are the relative stability of the social order; the conformity of laws and social institutions with the values of the social order; and the definition of the criminal element as a separate and limited category within society, distinct from its noncriminal members. Today's Italian society -- like many other societies in the 20th century -- has lost its former social cohesion as a result of such factors as class struggle, industrialization, and urbanization. The resulting criminal phenomena are totally different in quantity and quality from the criminality Lombroso faced in his time. Due to the considerable increase in quantity, crime has lost its limited 'ghetto-like' character; in quality, offenses characteristic of capitalist societies -- such as drug trafficking, prostitution, and racketeering -- now prevail. Political offenses, especially acts of terrorism, are accepted by vast sections of dissatisfied citizens as a strategy of political struggle. In Italy, revolutionary associations of various creeds and political orientations have been responsible for 3,128 attempted assassinations and 31 homicides in 1977 alone. Another aspect of political crime are the numerous cases of vandalism and destruction inflicted in the name of revolution by organized juvenile gangs. The article concludes that, in view of the scale and nature of modern criminality, no single theory can offer satisfactory explanations.