The French–Italian Controversy: A Neglected Historical Topic in Criminological Literacy

Abstract

This article focuses on a “scientific” controversy that took place at the end of the nineteenth century between the Italian positivist school of Lombroso and his followers and a group of French intellectuals centered around the professional journal Les Archieves de l’anthropologie criminelle. The exploration of this controversy is rarely included in criminology/criminal justice curriculum. It demonstrates the conflicting approaches to biological evolution and to the role of social factors in criminal behavior. It also shows the interplay of these theoretical positions with the socio‐political developments of that time.