Criminal Anthropology and Anarchist Terrorism in Spain and Italy

Abstract

Anarchist terrorism became a problem in both Spain and Italy during the 1890s but lost its virulence in the latter after 1900. One of the reasons for the difference in outcomes between the two nations may have been that the ideas of criminal anthropology had permeated Italian society and institutions and this allowed the government and other authorities to reframe (and play down) the whole question of anarchist terrorism. Given the surprising extent of positive criminology's influence in Spain, a similar tactic there might have been possible but was not adopted. The results were disastrous.