The anthropological factor. It is precisely here that the genius of
Cesare Lombroso established a new science, because in his search after
the causes of crime he studied the anthropological condition of the
criminal. This condition concerns not only the organic and anatomical
constitution, but also the psychological, it represents the organic and
psychological personality of the criminal. Every one of us inherits at
birth, and personifies in life, a certain organic and psychological
combination. This constitutes the individual factor of human activity,
which either remains normal through life, or becomes criminal or insane.
The anthropological factor, then, must not be restricted, as some laymen
would restrict it, to the study of the form of the skull or the bones
of the criminal. Lombroso had to begin his studies with the anatomical
conditions of the criminal, because the skulls may be studied most
easily in the museums. But he continued by also studying the brain and
the other physiological conditions of the individual, the state of
sensibility, and the circulation of matter. And this entire series of
studies is but a necessary scientific introduction to the study of the
psychology of the criminal, which is precisely the one problem that is
of direct and immediate importance. It is this problem which the lawyer
and the public prosecutor should solve before discussing the juridical
aspect of any crime, for this reveals the causes which induced the
criminal to commit a crime. At present there is no methodical standard
for a psychological investigation, although such an investigation was
introduced into the scope of classic penal law. But for this reason the
results of the positive school penetrate into the lecture rooms of the
universities of jurisprudence, whenever a law is required for the
judicial arraignment of the criminal as a living and feeling human
being. And even though the positive school is not mentioned, all profess
to be studying the material furnished by it, for instance, its analyses