Raffaele Garofalo

Raffaele Garofalo (1851-1934) was an Italian jurist and a student of Cesare Lombroso. He rejected the doctrine of free will and supported the position that crime can be understood only if it is studied by scientific methods. He attempted to formulate a sociological definition of crime that would designate those acts which can be repressed by punishment. These constituted "Natural Crime" and were considered offenses violating the two basic altruistic sentiments common to all people, namely, probity and pity. Crime is an immoral act that is injurious to society. This was more of a psychological orientation than Lombroso's physical-type anthropology.

Garofalo's law of adaption followed the biological principle of Darwin in terms of adaption and the elimination of those unable to adapt in a kind of social natural selection. Consequently he suggested

1.Death for those whose criminal acts grew out of a permanent psyschological anomaly, rendering them incapable of social life.

2.Partial elimination or long time imprisonment for those fit only for the life of nomadic hordes or primitive tribes and

3.Enforced reparation on the part of those who lack altrustic sentiments but who have committed their crimes under pressure of exceptional circumstances and are not likely to do so again.

References