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This article presents a bibliography of group treatment literature in correctional institutions, published from 1945 to 1967. Over the last two decades experts in many fields related to criminology have become increasingly interested in the rehabilitation of criminals through various so-called group methods. This bibliography has focused its attention on group counseling, group therapy and group psychotherapy methods used in correctional institutions. Studies and articles dealing with the use of these methods in related areas such as probation, parole or out-patient clinics are not included. Annotated symbols at the end of each reference are used in order to give a brief idea to the reader about the specificity of the study. Some of the literature listed are as follow: "Group Psychotherapy of Military Offenders," by J. Abrahams and L. W. McCorkle in the 1946 issue of the "American Journal of Sociology," "Group Psychotherapy With Mentally Ill Offenders," by J. Andriola and edited by J.L. Moreno in the "International Handbook of Group Psychology" and "The Comparative Effectiveness of Psychotherapy, Group Psychotherapy and Combination of these Methods," by G. C. Baehr in the "Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology."

This article focuses on a proposed method in collecting international crime statistics. There are traditional criticisms about comparing the criminal statistics of one nation with those of another. Among these problems are: The definitions of crime found in the statutes of different countries vary widely, so that what is defined as criminal in one nation may not be defined as criminal in another nation. Variations exist in the administrative efficiency. Some countries maintain better social accounting systems than do other countries. Among the several main features of the proposed system is the elimination of legal labels for measurement purposes. Counting the number of victims of each type of physical injury is no problem. The elements designated are applicable everywhere. The pecuniary value of property theft or damage can be indicated by reference to the currency of each country. The choice of subjects used to provide the scale scores should be determined by the administrators of the scaling analysis in each country. It would be necessary to obtain for each country the sum of the frequency of each measured crime, multiplied by its weight, divided by a constant population unit, resulting in a weighted rate of crime for each country.

In this article Dr. Wolfgang explores the meaning of the terms "criminology" and "criminologist." Recognizing that these terms have been used with great varieties of meaning since Lombroso, and that in the United States criminology has had primarily a sociological orientation, the author poses the question whether criminology can be considered an autonomous, separate discipline of knowledge. He examines the interrelationships between criminology and other fields, and the diversity of present-day approaches to the study of crime and criminals. Presenting his conclusions as to the meaning of the terms "criminology" and "criminologist," Dr. Wolfgang finds an important distinction between the art of influencing human behavior and the science of studying crime, criminals, and criminal behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is a rational, fair scheme, consistent with the principles of equality of justice, discernible in the commutation of death sentences? Or does a selective system appear to operate, differentiating between the executed and commuted upon improper bases? With these questions in mind, the authors have studied the case records of 439 persons sentenced to death for first degree murder and detained on death row in Pennsylvania between 1914 and 1958. How did the case records of those whose sentences were commuted differ from the case records of those who died in the electric chair? In this article, the authors present the differences in terms of type of murder committed, age, race, nativity, occupation, marital status, type of counsel, and other relevant factors; evaluate the statistically significant differences; and discuss the implications of their findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the correctness of Puerto Rican police officers in reporting crimes. It is probable that the large proportion of errors made in the identification and classification of crimes constitutes a serious source of misinformation in the criminal statistics which are collected by the police. The amount of actual errors made in routing reporting is unknown, but the study suggests that it is substantial and certainly is a relevant factor in any reference to criminal statistics. Another interesting finding is the lack of conformity between the ranking assigned by police officers, according to seriousness of the crimes and the maximum length of sentence. Moreover, the amount of variance found among the police officers, according to the same ranking is striking.

Some fifty years have passed since the death of Cesare Lombroso, and there are several important reasons why a reexamination and evaluation of Lombroso's life and contributions to criminology are now propitious. Lombroso's influence upon continental criminology, which still lays significant emphasis upon biological influences, is marked. His work has been rather widely discredited in the United States, however, and in this article Professor Wolfgang assesses as the: reason a misunderstanding of Lombroso's contributions. The author here reviews Lombroso's life, his works, the modifications of his ideas as his studies progressed, and the directions post-Lombrosian criminology has taken. Although Dr. Wolfgang is critical of the "born criminal" conceptions of Lombroso, as well as of certain aspects of Lombroso's research methods, he feels that Lombroso deserves recognition for redirecting emphasis from the crime to the criminal, for his progressive ideas concerning punishment and correction, and for stimulating new interest, controversy, and study in the field of criminology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an outgrowth of his publication in 1958 of PATTERNS IN CRIMINAL HOMICIDE, an analysis of a large number of Philadelphia murderers. Dr. Wolfgang commenced a study of the post-offense adjustment of the individuals studied. Here, he reports on the adjustment of a select group of these offenders to life in a Pennsylvania maximum security institution. After describing his construction of an index by which adjustment or maladjustment could be measured. Dr. Wolfgang presents his findings which indicate that there are significant associations between adjustment and inmates (1) who are 35 years of age or older, (2) who are or have been married, (3) whose murders were other than felony murder, and (4) who have had some previous penal experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Judges and District Attorneys who had originally and respectively tried and prosecuted persons later applying to a Board of Pardons for commutation of sentence were asked to give a positive or negative recommendation to the Board for the latter's guidance. We have examined these recommendations made for 368 petitioners who had been convicted of first and second degree murder and who applied for and received some form of executive clemency in Pennsylvania between 1950 and 1957. Statistical analysis using standard tests of significance has revealed significant differences of opinion between Judges and District Attorneys for the total 368 cases. These two groups of evaluators disagreed in two-thirds of the cases; Judges, in a significantly higher proportion than District Attorneys, fail to supply the Board with any statement; even in judging the same petitioners there is a low degree of association between the evaluations of Judges and District Attorneys; and in only seven per cent of the total murder cases can it be said that the Pardon Board grants commutation in direct conflict with the combined negative evaluation of Judge and District Attorney. A Discriminative Index of Support has been established, which considers the combined and variable recommendations which a Pardon Board receives. This Index determines the degree of evaluative support (or lack of support) which a Pardon Board has from Judges and District Attorneys in acting favorably on petitions for commutation or pardon. Although in the cases examined the Pardon Board has the positive support of these evaluators, District Attorneys support the Board's decisions in significantly higher proportions that do Judges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the socioeconomic factors related to crime and punishment in Renaissance Florence in Italy. Religious superstition and fatalism were part of the standard equipment of the Florentine mind. Lack of street lighting provided an environment conducive to frequent night attacks on those brave souls who ventured from the security of their homes. The course of human life was regarded much as an experience of the inevitable. Man was born, the Florentine considered, primarily to reproduce his kind. Florence was probably more reluctant to free her slaves than some cities, but was not the last to do so. Pistoia in 1205 led the way in freeing her slaves, Bergamo followed in 1237, Vercelli, in 1243, Bologna, in 1256, and Florence--by three stages--in 1289, 1344, and 1415. Life in the market places was far from safe. Crimes against person and property kept the city magistrates constantly busy meting out justice to offenders from the Mercalo Vecchio. In addition to a social environment conducive to criminal acts in what was considered normal times, plagues and wars operated as crime-inducing agents in periods of great social disorganization. The descriptions of the social conditions in Florence during an extended period of pestilence strikingly point out the disorganized state of jurisprudence; imply that crimes against person and property were prevalent; and that crimes were committed without much fear of consequent apprehension.

This article comments on the state of penal administration in Italy during the 1950s. Italy attempts to maintain dual penal systems which represent different approaches. The one is punitive, castigatory, determinate, and repressive. The other is designed as preventive, detentive, indeterminate, and rehabilitative. A sentence to punishment places the individual under a program of deterrence, and he is labeled as a condemned prisoner. Habitual and professional criminals, mentally abnormal offenders, and those with obvious tendencies toward criminality, including juveniles, fall into the socially dangerous group. The classification of prisoners is more an ideal goal or standard than a practical policy of administration. In general, women are segregated from men, although many women's institutions are merely attached to the latter. The mentally abnormal are usually sent to special institutions, but twelve prisoners were held in solitary cells at Poggioreale. Children are in their own institutions, but there often is no line between the dependent, neglected, and delinquent. Because in Italy a man is presumed guilty until he proves his innocence, the untried are often mixed indiscriminately with the convicted although they are theoretically to be separated.

The treatment of political offenders in Florence during the centuries under investigation usually took the form of exile, destruction or confiscation of property, fines, torture, capital punishment by hanging or beheading, exposure and mutilation. Political factions, incited to violence, perpetrated crimes peculiar to mob action and acted an an extra-legal instrument of punishment. Imprisonment, although primarily used as a means of detention, was used occasionally as a punishment per se. Finally, it is a well-established fact that general amnesty and individual pardons for political offenders were practices common to Renaissance Florence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]