Raffaele Garofalo: Biography and Contributions

Raffaele Garofalo he was an Italian jurist expert in criminology. In addition, he was the first author to use this term to refer to the science of studying delinquents, crimes and social controls relevant to a crime or a potential crime. Their positions went against what was believed correct by the Classical School of criminology.

He went against the ideas of his teacher Cesare Lambroso, who had been considered the father of criminology at the time. Garofalo differed from the current belief in the mid-nineteenth century in which it was claimed that the crimes had purely anthropological roots.

According to the author's theory, crimes combined anthropology with psychology. His contributions gave a new vision of crime to criminologists and is considered one of the most important authors of this science to this day.

Biography

There is little record of the life of this criminologist, but it is known that Raffaele Garofalo was born on November 18, 1851 in Naples, Italy. He devoted his life to the study of laws and developed the positivist theory of criminology, as opposed to the traditional ideas of the time.

After obtaining his law degree he studied criminology with Cesare Lambroso, the father of this science. According to Lambroso, the main factors that led people to commit crimes were anthropological. Garofalo's ideas were considered to belong to the positivist school and he combined those of his teacher with psychology.

Garofalo worked as a magistrate in the Italian judicial system, acted as a senator for the republic and even became Minister of Justice in 1903.

Lambroso's practice was closely linked to science. In fact, he was considered a pioneer of criminology for connecting crime to scientific evidence.

However, Garofalo thought that an act of violence was considered a crime when it violated human nature. After dedicating his life to criminology, Garofalo died in his hometown on April 18, 1934.

Contributions

Garofalo's teacher considered that physical attributes (such as the size of the jaw) were related to the probability of a person committing a crime. I saw this as an anthropological influence, because I thought that certain attributes were tied to thoughts.

Garofalo agreed with his teacher on many things. One of these was the rejection of traditional thoughts that defined criminals as"slaves of their impulses"and people who did not have total control of their actions.

Having acted as a member of the Italian judicial system, he understood many of the problems that existed in criminology and his time as minister served as the basis for the presentation of his future ideas.

Definition of a crime

Garofalo began to define the criminal tendency of each individual as a violation of the natural state of things, beyond a violation of the laws themselves.

According to this concept, he considered as a crime a certain act if it broke with one of two natural conditions: probity, which is the natural state of a person in which he maintains his honesty and integrity; and piety, which in this case refers to the compassion that the criminal can have for his neighbor.

In addition, he introduced another concept to refer to misdemeanors that do not directly attack human integrity. These acts were considered"technical violations of the law"and, therefore, the punishment was not so severe. According to this concept, these acts could be solved through the use of fines or sanctions.

However, Garofalo thought that the most serious acts should be punished with severity, to protect society from a latent danger.

The penalty

Traditionally, it was considered that a crime should be punished proportionally: the stronger the crime, the greater the punishment would be. Garofalo differed from this concept, arguing instead that individuals should be studied in particular, no matter what crime was committed.

If the person who committed the crime is found guilty of breaking one of the two natural human conditions, the criminal must be eliminated. If the crime was not greater, there was no need to punish the person responsible.

Elimination

The Garofalo elimination concept did not necessarily mean a death sentence. To define each crime, created the Law of adaptation, which was used to deliver a sentence worthy of the criminal. It suggested three punishments for elimination:

- The first type of punishment was the death sentence.

- The second punishment was the so-called partial elimination, which in turn was divided into two ideas: long-term imprisonment or isolation in agrarian colonies for young people who could be rehabilitated.

- The third method was the so-called forced repair. This means that the criminal had to repair the damage done by the offense committed.

In the event that the crime has occurred due to an external situation (such as group pressure or extreme need), a lesser punishment was given, since the probability that it will not happen again is high.

Benefits of the Law of adaptation

Garofalo suggested that the Law of adaptation would have three main benefits, both for society and for the justice system. The first was the satisfaction of the social need for a defined punishment for each criminal.

Then, he suggested that his theory of elimination would serve to dissuade criminals from committing illegal actions continuously, since they would already have a clear idea of ​​the punishment before committing the crime.

Finally, he assured that by implementing this law he would improve the general quality of society. Criminals who refused to modify their behaviors would be"eliminated"from society in one way or another. Those who did correct their behavior could rejoin the social system as rehabilitated people.

Garofalo's system was designed to exclude people unable to function in a civilized society and, in turn, care for those who are part of that society. This system laid the groundwork for many of the judicial and criminalist ideas that are currently in force.

References

1. Raffaele Garofalo: Biography & Contribution to Criminology, K. Poortvliet, (n.d.). Taken from study.com
2. Garofalo, Raffaele: Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory, 2010. Taken from sagepub.com
3. Pioneers in Criminology IV: Raffaele Garofalo, Francis Allen, 1945. Taken from northwestern.edu
4. Raffaele Garofalo, Wikipedia en Español, January 6, 2018. Taken from Wikipedia.org
5. Raffaele Garofalo, Creator of the term 'criminology', Iter Criminis, September 20, 2016. Taken from itercriminis.com