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Home > Journals > Michigan Law Review > MLR > Volume 11 > Issue 1 (1912)

 

Abstract

The multiplying instances of the delay or seeming miscarriage of justice, together with the indications that crime is not diminishing in this country, as it is in most progressive European countries, are responsible for the widespread feeling that American Criminal Law and Administration are ineffective as a corrective system, and thus fail adequately to protect society; that as President Taft puts it, "The administration of criminal law in this country is a disgrace to our civilization." Defective organization of courts, cumbrous and costly procedure and excessive emphasis on technicalities afford an undue advantage to the law-breaker of means and deepen the erroneous impression that there is one law for the, rich and another for the poor. Lax enforcement of laws and too frequent abortive attempts to punish wrong-doers breed a growing contempt for law and order. Many go so far as to assert that prompt, even-handed justice is not to be expected "under the present social system." The seriousness of a breakdown in the confidence of the people in the impartiality and efficiency of their courts is coming to be recognized, and there is a growing disposition among thoughtful men, both professional and lay, to heed these criticisms and to weigh the remedies proposed. Moreover, the sciences of Criminal Anthropology and Sociology are calling for a recasting of ideas the world over, and are making it evident that legislation and legal progress in the future must be founded upon a scientific study and understanding of the matters to which the legal profession and the public are only just beginning to pay attention. A thorough reconsideration of criminal law and procedure in the light of the several sciences that contribute to criminology must soon take place.

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