Justice from the middle ages to the 19th Century 
The 19th Century:
the development of the prison system
Notorious criminals of the 20th Century |
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Notes
1. The interest in exhibitions of instruments used to inflict punishment preceded the scientific interest in the criminal himself, as is evident from the success of a collection of early instruments of torture, illustrated in a catalogue published in 1874 and edited by G.B. Piani. The small but original publication describes the contents of the “Museo storico-universale ed esposizione degli strumenti di tortura che furono usati dal 1481 al 1838 dai tribunali dell’inquisizione, approvati scientificamente ed ufficialmente, di G.B. Gassner”. The instruments of torture in the collection were divided into “artistic three-dimensional objects representing medical traditions regarding torture and its effects on the human body”, “original instruments of torture” and “instruments of death”. There were also academic studies in a positivist spirit, including Gall’s phrenology studies, cerebral maps and maps of the cranium, divided up into different areas to each of which a faculty of the spirit was held to correspond. Gall, together with Darwin, was considered a precursor of Lombroso and his theories (see Antonini, I precursori di Lombroso, Fratelli Bocca editore, 1900). The author listed an enormous variety of instruments of death and provided a short accurate description of each. Here are a few examples: “device for ripping off fingers, device for opening the mouth to tear out the tongue, boot for the calves, ring for the head, pear for the mouth, hood, torture cradle and so on”. This is a list of instruments used until the beginning of the nineteenth century, whose imaginative names hid their macabre functions and the atrocious suffering they caused to the extent that the moment of death could be said to have been a blessed release. The implicit purpose of collections of this kind may be seen in the juxtaposition of two principles that underlie all aspects of the communication of criminal anthropological theories. On the one hand, the barbarity and inhumane, inquisitional use of torture; on the other, the light shed by science that reads the human body like a book, identifies the functions and faculties of the spirit, and intuits good and bad behaviour, the drive towards good and the instinct for moral and criminal degeneration. It returns to the text
2. The interesting catalogue by G. Colombo (2000), La scienza infelice, with an introduction by Ferruccio Giacanelli and published by Bollati Boringhieri, is devoted to the Criminal Anthropology Museum in Turin. It returns to the text
3. “It [the collection, editor’s note] was rather small, consisting of a small white case on the subject of pellagra and a large black case that contained the finest craniums in Lombroso’s collection, and also unusual craniums, masks, tattoos, photographs of criminals, representations of the scenes of crimes, material evidence, daggers, playing cards, writings, drawings, and similar objects that had belonged to or had been made by criminals… The public, for whom criminals are almost as fascinating as heroes, flocked to see these exhibits, and the lawyer Daneo, who had not yet become a member of parliament, drew the scientists’ attention to the exhibition. The success of this small exhibition persuaded Lombroso to repeat it – we shall see on how grand a scale at the next Congress.” (Gina Lombroso Ferrero, 1921, p. 246) It returns to the text
4. For a detailed reconstruction of the
vicissitudes of Lombroso’s museum see: Pierluigi Baima Bollone, CesareLombroso,
ovvero il principio dell’irresponsabilità, S.E.I., Turin, 1992,
p. 143 and ff. It returns to the text
5. ‘Congresso ed esposizione d’Antropologia
criminale’ in Rivista di discipline carcerarie, 15th year, 1885, p. 237. It returns to the text
6. Almost at the same time as Lombroso’s
museum opened, another museum was founded in Naples in 1896 in the ambit of the
university, by Pasquale Penta, who was a criminal anthropology lecturer there.
The material consisted of a few hundred human skulls from southern Italy, as
well as photographs, sketches, representations and drawings of criminals. Penta
was succeeded by his colleague Angelo Zuccarelli who also took his place as head
and lecturer at the adjacent research laboratory. Zuccarelli intended to add
to the collection a selection of skulls from all the towns in southern Italy
and from the islands. The museum was closed down in 1927 by the authorities,
who did not approve of criminology being taught in Italian universities. It
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7. The establishment of the criminal museum
was announced in the Rivista di discipline carcerarie in 1897, in the ‘Varietà’ section,
on page 559: “The Criminal Museum and the School of Prison Discipline,
along with the main depository for prisoners and the identification office, will
be established in the building of the former Carceri Nuove, since it is the Prison
Administration’s intention to organize a reading course prior to the examinations
that will be held for the first and second categories.” It returns to the text
8. The circular confirmed the content of
circular 2101issued on 28 July 1924, which specified that weapons with an antique,
artistic or historical value confiscated during criminal proceedings were not
to be sold but rather sent to museums, scientific laboratories and schools. It
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9. Circular 272 of 25 January 1932, addressed
to the Heads of Institutes for Prevention and Punishment in the Kingdom of Italy. It returns to the text
10. The inauguration of the Criminal Museum
took place on 19 November 1931, and was attended by the Minister of Justice Alfredo
Rocco and other high officials of the state. Director General Giovanni Novelli
said in his speech that the museum would show “[…] every stage of
the battle that humanity has fought against many different types of crime during
every period of history and the particular characteristics of each period and
each country, and compare the various systems for supplying material for study
and proposals with regard to our regulations.” (Roberto Vozzi, Tipografia
delle Mantellate, 1943). It returns to the text
11. “[…] In the regulations
governing the various crime museums a system of specialization was more or less
followed until the present, due also to the desire not to encounter difficulties
in obtaining – to create a larger museum, as we have already done in Italy – the
collaboration of various Authorities, which in any state organization law belong
to separate administrations (police, judiciary, military, penal, regional and
national history museums, State Archives).” (Roberto Vozzi, op. cit.). It returns to the text
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