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of Cesare Lombroso. However, whereas Lombroso researched the physiological factors that
motivated criminals, Ferri investigated social and economic factors. Ferri was the author ofCriminal
Sociology in 1884 and the editor for Avanti, a socialist daily. His work served as the basis
for Argentinas penal code of 1921. Although at first he rejected the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini,
after his rise to power he became one of its main supporters outside the Fascist Party.
Biography[edit]
Ferri was born in Lombardy in 1856,
[1]
and worked first as a lecturer and later as a professor
of Criminal law, having spent time as a student of Cesare Lombroso. While Lombroso
researched anthropological criminology, Ferri focused more on social and economic influences on
the criminal and crime rates.
Ferri's research led to him postulating theories calling for crime prevention methods to be the
mainstay of law enforcement, as opposed to punishment of criminals after their crimes had taken
place. He became a founder of the positivist school, and he researched psychological and social
positivism as opposed to the biological positivism of Lombroso.
[1]
Ferri, at the time a radical, was elected to Italian Parliament in 1886. In 1893, he joined the Italian
Socialist Party
[1]
and edited their daily newspaper, the Avanti. In 1900 and 1904 he spoke out in
congress against the roles of socialist ministers in bourgeoisie governments.
Ferri favoured Italian neutrality during World War I, and he was re-elected as a socialist party deputy
in 1921. In post-war Italy, he became a supporter of Mussolini's fascist regime. Ferri died in 1929.
[1]
Literary works[edit]
Criminal Sociology (1884)
Socialism and Positive Science (1894)
The Positive School of Criminology (1901)
Criminal Sociology (1905)
Socialism and Modern Science (1894)
Criminology theories[edit]
Ferri disputed Lombroso's emphasis on biological characteristics of criminals; instead, he focused on
the study of psychological characteristics, which he believed accounted for the development of crime
in an individual. These characteristics included slang, handwriting, secret symbols, literature,
and art, as well as moral insensibility and "a lack of repugnance to the idea and execution of the
offence, previous to its commission, and the absence of remorse after committing it".
[2]
Ferri argued that sentiments such as religion, love, honour, and loyalty did not contribute to criminal
behaviour, as these ideas were too complicated to have a definite impact on a person's basic moral
sense, from which Ferri believed criminal behaviour stemmed. Ferri argued that other sentiments,
such as hate, cupidity, and vanity had greater influences as they held more control over a person's
moral sense.
Ferri summarized his theory by defining criminal psychology as a "defective resistance to criminal
tendencies and temptations, due to that ill-balanced impulsiveness which characterises children and
savages".
[2]
Political beliefs[edit]
Ferri often drew comparisons between socialism and Darwinism, and disputed particular works
by Ernst Haeckel that highlighted contradictions between the two schools of thought. Ferri instead
argued that Darwinism provided socialism its key scientific principles.
[3]
Ferri viewed religion and science as inversely proportional; thus as one rose in strength, the other
declined. Ferri observed that as Darwinism dealt a damaging blow to religion and the origins of the
universe according to the church, so socialism rose in comparison. Thus, Ferri argued that socialism
was an extension of Darwinism and the theory of evolution.
[4]
At the end of his life, he became one of the main supporters of Benito Mussolini. He started to
consider fascism as an expression of socialist ideals, the fascism was the "affirmation of the state
against liberal individualism".
[5]
Notes and references[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:
a
b
c
d
Biography from Marxist.org, retrieved on March 10, 2007
2. ^ Jump up to:
a
b
Criminal Sociology. Enrico Ferri (1905)
3. Jump up^ Socialism and Positive Science. Enrico Ferri (1894)
4. Jump up^ "All that is history marching towards socialism, whilst individuals are unable to hinder
or retard the succession of the phases of the moral, political and social evolution." -Chapter 5
of Socialism and Positive Science
5. Jump up^ Ferri, E. (1927), Il fascismo in Italia e l'opera di B. Mussolini.