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The evolution of criminal policy and prevention from the perspective of social defense and enlightenment through criminological research
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
Summary
This paper, prepared for the Forty-Fourth Criminology Course (San Marino, May 1991), expands upon the thinking of the late Marc Ancel on certain problems at the frontier of social defence : status of victims, organized criminality, state sovereingty faced with transnational crime, and systematic classification based on legal concepts.
Resume
Ce texte, préparé pour le 44e Cours international de criminologie (San Marino, mai 1991), prolonge la réflexion de feu Marc Ancel sur certains problèmes à la limite de la défense sociale : la délinquance organisationnelle, la souveraineté des Etats face à la délinquance transnationale, et la nosologie axée sur des concepts juridiques.
Resumen
Este texto, preparado para el 44° Curso internacional de criminología (San Marino, mayo 1991), prolonga la aguda reflexión de Marc Ancel sobre ciertos problemas al límite de la defensa social : el estatuto de las víctimas, la delincuencia organizacional, la soberanía de los Estados frente a la delincuencia transnacional, y la nosología centrada sobre conceptos jurídicos.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright
- Copyright © 1991 International Society for Criminology
Footnotes
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Paper prepared for XLIV International Course of Criminology sponsored by the International Society of Criminology and the Institute of Legal Medicine of The University of Modena, Italy. The course, Criminology and Social Defense has been held on May, 6-10, 1991, in Repubblica di San Marino.
References
(1) I have relied upon the English translation of the third edition by Thorsten Sellin, Social Defense : The Future of Penal Reform (Littleton, Colorado : Fred B. Rothman & Co., 1987.
(2) Chapter 1, pp. 3-4.
(3) A central concept he attributes to Beccaria (pg. 27) and which be considered “… an atrocious neologism” (p. 158). Believing that “… facility of language never justifies affronts to the purity of language”, he adopted the term nevertheless because the term embodies a new element —“… a ludic attempt to break through legal forms, or, if need be, the conceptions underlying those forms so as to reach the social reality which alone can provide a basis for the new criminal policy.” (p. 160)
(4) It also is important to note that criminalization and decriminalization of behavior is not a focal concern of the public health approach.
(5) We note that one may also seek to prevent the future occurrence of events by persons who have committed them in the past —typically referred to as preventing recidivism. This is not inconsistent with a public health approach.
(6) Marc Ancel, 1984, op. cit., p. 254.
(7) Marc Ancel, 1987, op. cit., p. 254.
(8) Marc Ancel, 1987, op. cit., pp. 254-255.
(9) See Albert J. Reiss, Jr., “Selecting Strategies of Social Control Over Organizational Life” in Keith Hawkins and John M. Thomas (eds.) Enforcing Regulation, Kluwer-Nijhoff, 1984 : 23-35.
(10) Reiss, 1986, ibid, pp. 23-24.
(11) Ancel draws attention to a distinction made by Professor Enschede that is closely related to my distinction between compliance and deterrence based systems and civil and criminal sanctions. He quotes Professor Enschede : “When one says that the criminal law sustains law, that it sustains the legal order, one uses a metaphor. The civil sanction, the administratieve sanction react against an illegal condition by reconstituting legitimacy, but the criminal law does not reestablish legitimacy. It only reacts against illegitimate conduct, but it is not a function to rectify the illegitimate situation which resulted from such conduct.” Enschede, “Quelques problèmes concernant la fixation de la peine.” Revue science criminelle, 1965, p. 789. Professor Ancel (1987, op. cit., p. 186) dissents from this view.
(12) Reiss, 1984, op. cit., p. 28.
(13) Albert J. Reiss, Jr. 1985. “Criminal Justice in A Changing World.” Criminal Justice Processes and Perspectives in a Changing World. General Report of the International Society of Criminology. Contribution to the Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. Milan, Italy. Centro Nazionale di Prevenzione e Difesa. Pp. 55-56 in English and pp. 59-72 in French.
(14) For those readers who are less familiar with the English language, an oxymoron is a combination of contradictory or incongruous words. It derives from the Greek oxys, meaning sharp or keen, and moros, meaning foolish. The criminal justice jargon abound with oxymora, e.g., prison school or prison life.