the
efficacious remedy by which society could protect itself against
criminality.

It is true that the classic school of criminology has likewise its
remedy against crime--namely, punishment. But this is the only remedy of
that school, and in all the legislation inspired by the theories of that
school in all the countries of the civilized world there is no other
remedy against crime but repression.

But Bentham has said: Every time that punishment is inflicted it proves
its inefficacy, for it did not prevent the committal of that crime.
Therefore, this remedy is worthless. And a deeper study of the cause of
crime demonstrates that if a man does not commit a certain crime, this
is due to entirely different reasons, than a fear of the penalty, very
strong and fundamental reasons which are not to be found in the threats
of legislators. These threats, if nevertheless carried out by police and
prison keepers, run counter to those conditions. A man who intends to
commit a crime, or who is carried away by a violent passion, by a
psychological hurricane which drowns his moral sense, is not checked by
threats of punishment, because the volcanic eruption of passion prevents
him from reflecting. Or he may decide to commit a crime after due
premeditation and preparation, and in that case the penalty is
powerless to check him, because he hopes to escape with impunity. All
criminals will tell you unanimously that the only thing which impelled
them when they were deliberating a crime was the expectation that they
would go scot free. If they had but the least suspicion that they might
be detected and punished they would not have committed the crime. The
only exception is the case in which a crime is the result of a mental
explosion caused by a violent outburst of passion. And if you wish to
have a very convincing illustration of the psychological inefficacy of
legal threats, you have but to think of that curious crime which has now
assumed a frequency never known to former centuries, namely the making
of counterfeit money. For since paper money--from want or for reasons of
expediency--has become a substitute of metal coin in the civilized
countries, the making of counterfeit paper money has become very
frequent in the nineteenth century. Now a counterfeiter, in committing
his crime, must compel his mind to imitate closely the inscription of
the bill, letter for letter, including that threatening passage, which
says: _"The law punishe