Storieta
English
Save & sign up

About this book

Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students is a scholarly translation of Hans Gross’s 1911 German treatise, rendered into English by Horace M. Kallen and prefaced by the author himself. The volume opens with a sweeping introduction that situates the work within the Modern Criminal Science Series, a project of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology to bring European criminological thought to an English‑speaking audience. Gross’s own preface frames the book as an “applied psychology of the judicial processes,” arguing that modern penal policy must move beyond the blunt tools of jail and fines toward individualized treatment rooted in scientific analysis of heredity, temperament, and social environment. The opening pages lay out a historical analogy with medicine, emphasizing that just as disease treatment became specific to cause, so too must crime‑prevention and punishment be tailored to the underlying factors that produce criminal acts.

The text reflects the formal, didactic style of early‑20th‑century academic writing, with dense prose, extensive citations, and a tone that assumes a well‑educated readership. Its voice is that of a jurist‑scholar, interweaving legal doctrine, psychological insight, and sociological observation, while the numerous introductions and prefatory essays by figures such as Joseph Jastrow and W. W. Smithers reinforce its interdisciplinary character. Readers who appreciate rigorous, historically situated analyses of law and psychology, law students, judges, criminologists, and scholars of the history of social science, will find Gross’s systematic approach and the book’s rich contextual commentary both challenging and rewarding.

Characters in Criminal Psychology

  • C. Bernaldo de QuirosMiddle‑aged Spanish scholar, dark hair, moustache, spectacles, formal early‑1900s suit
  • Dr. Alfonso de SalvioYoung Italian‑American professor, neat hair, light beard, round glasses, tweed jacket
  • W. W. SmithersDistinguished American lawyer, silver‑threaded hair, crisp suit, tie, dignified posture

The opening · free to read

Modern Criminal Science Series

Published under the auspices of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology

1. =Modern Theories of Criminality.= By C. BERNALDO DE QUIRÓS, of Madrid. Translated from the Second Spanish edition, by Dr. ALFONSO DE SALVIO, Assistant Professor of Romance Languages in Northwestern University. With an American Preface by the Author, and an Introduction by W. W. SMITHERS, of the Philadelphia Bar.

2. =Criminal Psychology.= By HANS GROSS, Professor of Criminal Law in the University of Graz, Austria, Editor of the Archives of Criminal Anthropology and Criminalistics, etc. Translated from the Fourth German edition, by Dr. HORACE M. KALLEN, Professor of Philosophy in Wisconsin University. With an American Preface by the Author, and an Introduction by JOSEPH JASTROW, Professor of Psychology in the University of Wisconsin.

3. =Crime, Its Causes and Remedies.= By CESARE LOMBROSO, late Professor of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine in the University of Turin, author of the “Criminal Man,” Founder and Editor of the “Archives of Psychiatry and Penal Sciences.” Translated from the French and German editions by Rev. HENRY P. HORTON, M.A., of Ithaca, N. Y. With an Introduction by MAURICE PARMELEE, Associate Professor of Sociology in the University of Missouri.

4. =The Individualization of Punishment.= By RAYMOND SALEILLES, Professor of Comparative Law in the University of Paris. Translated from the Second French edition, by Mrs. RACHAEL SZOLD JASTROW, of Madison, Wis. With an Introduction by ROSCOE POUND, Professor of Law in Harvard University.

5. =Penal Philosophy.= By GABRIEL TARDE, Late Magistrate in Picardy, Professor of Modern Philosophy in the College of France, and Lecturer in the Paris School of Political Science. Translated from the Fourth French edition by RAPELJE HOWELL, of the New York Bar. With an Editorial Preface by EDWARD LINDSEY, of the Warren, Pa., Bar, and an Introduction by ROBERT H. GAULT, Assistant Professor of Psychology in Northwestern University.

6. =Crime and Its Repression.= By GUSTAV ASCHAFFENBURG, Professor of Psychiatry in the Academy of Practical Medicine at Cologne, Editor of the “Monthly Journal of Criminal Psychology and Criminal Law Reform.” Translated from the Second German edition by ADALBERT ALBRECHT. With an Editorial Preface by MAURICE PARMELEE, Associate Professor of Sociology in the University of Missouri, and an Introduction by ARTHUR C. TRAIN, formerly Assistant District Attorney for New York County.

7. =Criminology.= By RAFFAELE GAROFALO, late President of the Court of Appeals of Naples. Translated from the First Italian and the Fifth French edition, by ROBERT W. MILLAR, Esq., of Chicago, Professor in Northwestern University Law School. With an Introduction by E. RAY STEVENS, Judge of the Circuit Court, Madison, Wis.

8. =Criminality and Economic Conditions.= By W. A. BONGER, Doctor in Law of the University of Amsterdam. Translated from the French by HENRY P. HORTON, M.A., of Ithaca, N. Y. With an American Preface by the Author, and an Editorial Preface by EDWARD LINDSEY, of the Warren, Pa., Bar, and an Introduction by FRANK H. NORCROSS, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nevada.

9. =Criminal Sociology.= By ENRICO FERRI, of the Roman Bar, and Professor of Criminal Law and Procedure in the University of Rome, Editor of the “Archives of Psychiatry and Penal Sciences,” the “Positivist School in Penal Theory and Practice,” etc. Translated from the Fourth Italian and Second French edition, by JOSEPH I. KELLY, late Lecturer on Roman Law in Northwestern University, and Dean of the Faculty of Law in the University of Louisiana, and JOHN LISLE, late of the Philadelphia Bar. With an American Preface by the Author, an Editorial Preface by WILLIAM W. SMITHERS, of the Philadelphia Bar, and Introductions by CHARLES A. ELLWOOD, Professor of Sociology in the University of Missouri, and QUINCY A. MYERS, formerly Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Indiana.

The book keeps going

Keep reading, and see it illustrated

Reading is free forever. Sign up and watch scenes appear while you read.

Illustrated scene from The Adventures of Sherlock HolmesIllustrated scene from FrankensteinIllustrated scene from The Great Gatsby

Scenes Storieta drew for other classics.

New illustrated classics

A new classic, drawn, in your inbox.

Once or twice a month: the latest books to get full character casts, scene art, and free comic editions. No account needed.