Reforms of the Criminal Law

Abstract

The Constitution of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology provides that the president of the institute shall make an address at the annual meeting in which he shall review the field of criminal law and criminology and its results for the preceding year, together with such suggestions and recommendations for the ensuing year as may be considered for the best interest of the institute. The object and purpose of this Institute is to advance the scientific study of crime, criminal law and procedure; to formulate and promote measures for solving the problems connected therewith; and to co-ordinate the efforts of individuals and of organizations interested in the administration of certain, speedy justice. Criminology is defined as the scientific study and doctrine of crime and criminals, but in its development it has taken a wider meaning and embraces larger researches. In its practical application, it has inquired into the sources and causes of crime, it has collected criminal statistics and deduced valuable lessons from them, it has sought and obtained guidance in the best methods of prevention, repression and forms of procedure. The champions of law and order have been greatly aided in carrying on the continual combat with crime, and dealing with the most complicated of social problems. The work and labor of the criminologist has strengthened the hands of the administrators of the law, emphasized the paramount importance of child-rescue and judicious direction of adults, held the balance between penal methods advocating the moralizing effect of open-air labor as opposed to prolonged isolation, and insisted upon the desirability of indefinite detention for all who have obstinately determined to wage perpetual war against society by the persistent perpetration of crime. Thus, it will be seen we are moving steadily forward to a future improved treatment of the criminal, and may thus arrive at the increased morality and greater safety of society. Very appreciable advance has been made in the increased attention paid to juvenile and adult crime, the acceptance of the theory, now well established, that there is an especially criminal age in the sense of a period when the