Such being the origin, and such the promoters of anarchism, it is evident that the methods for curing crimes deriving from this source should differ greatly from those used in suppressing ordinary crime.
In spite of the fact that anarchists are frequently criminals, their ideas, although often absurd, imply a greater elevation of character than the cynical apathy in which the worst types of criminals are sunk.
Instead of combating violence by violence and dealing out death sentences with a prodigality almost rivalling that of anarchists themselves, the authorities should segregate the most dangerous types or relegate them to distant islands, and adopt exile as a penalty for genuine criminals of passion. However, political liberty and some safety-valve, whereby lawless instincts may be turned into harmless channels, are the best methods for preventing anarchism. Constitutional government and freedom of speech and the press may go a long way towards combating anarchism; but the restoration of popular tribunates, like those to which Rome owed her balance and tranquillity, would be still more efficacious. If the governing bodies were to favour, instead of hindering, the formation of such institutions, which tend to spring up everywhere and to voice the grievances of the people, just causes would not be abandoned exclusively to the advocacy of extremists.
_Lectures on Legal Medicine_ (_Lezioni di Medicina Legale_)
This book, as the preface explains, was an attempt to present in a concise and popular form the theories of criminal anthropologists, on which the author had previously delivered a series of university lectures, and which he feared might have been erroneously or imperfectly understood by those of his hearers who were diffident or insufficiently prepared.
It is divided into three parts, criminal anthropology, mental alienation, and the relation of serious offences (assault, murder, poisoning, etc.) to legal medicine.
The first part contains a summing-up of the author's ideas on the atavistic and pathological origin of the criminal. He examines the equivalents of crime among plants, animals, savages, and children, describes the pathological causes which call forth atavistic instincts and alludes to other special kinds of degeneration peculiar to criminals. Finally, the anatomy, functions, and internal organs of the criminal are examined, and a careful study made of his intellectual manifestations and psychology. Similar studies on epileptics and the morally insane show that the three forms are only variations of the same degeneration.