The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-10-02
CRIME ARTISTS MEET
Ninth Congress of the international
Society of Criminalists at :,
St. Petersburg.

Correspondence of the Associated Press.)
st. Petersburg, Friday, Sept, 19.-The
psychic element in crime appears to he
the peg upon which all the noteworthy
ofrthe ninth congress Of inter-
national Socitey Of Criminalists, now sit
ting in this city, are going to. be hung.
THIS society was founded on the initiative
of Professor Franz Won Liszt Of Berlin,
whom many American students will re-
cali as the strenuous supporter of the
thesis that the object of the organs Of
justice is the protection Of society and
not the expiation of crime or. by itself
considered, the reforma ton OF the GRIM
inal Professor List Is president of the
present congress. There are about 800
foreign delegates, largely from Germany,
though nearly every important country,
except the Unlimited States. is represented.
THE importance in penal law Of the
psychic elements Of crime in comparison
with its materia consequences occupied
the position Of honor in the program
Professor Won Mayer of Germany offered
the following thesis:
First-The criminal law should contain def.
milton Of an attempt.
Second--Such definition must be emancipated
from the traditional notion Of the beginning Of
execution"
Third-An attempt is punishable only when ex.
pressly determined by law. .-.--
FonrtK-The punishment of attempts should
be in principle the same as that of completed
crimes, with the reservation Of limited judicial
power Of remission.
Fifth-When penitence for attempted crime
is shown, punishment is to be remitted
Another speaker put the case thus:
"A child at play may start a conf1agra-
ton: the desperate plans of a crime
stepped, criminal may fail; shall we gull
lotine the child and let the criminal still
prey on society until he succeeds in some
villainy?"
The congress, by large majority,
adopted the following conclusions which
were formulated by Professors Won List
of Berlin and Won Hamel of Amsterdam:
First-Nobody is punishable for the conse
| quence of his acts except in so far as he coult
have foreseen or prevented them.
Second-As to the question Of completely tn.
law should drop all doctrinaire distinctions be
tween those who have participated in the Grim,
itself and confne itself to indicating the mode
of participation that 1t will consider such.
Third-The question of the attempt will re
main on the order Of tile day Of the society.
A strong plea for effective action
! against the white slave trade was made
! by M. G. Fenilleley, advocate general OF
| the court Of cessation Of Paris. He de-
manded the punishment Of those engaged
| In this traffic even when the object Of II
| is Of age and when neither fraud nor con-
| straint can be proven, on the ground that
| the law cannot recognize the, validity OF
| voluntary consent to the sale of a human
| being. (The congress has not yet acted
| on this matter.) a.
In welcoming the delegates Minister OF
| Justice Muravieff made the followeins
| statement: -
THE publication of new criminal law
| book is imminent in Russia. The coun-
Gil Of the empire has recently received q
| project for the complete reorganization OF
! criminal court procedure. Important
!, changes have been made in our peniten.
tiary system. Suffice it to mention the
abolition Of deportation (by Judgment OF
Fcourt) to Siberia. The transfer Of prison
management from the ministry Of the in.
| terror to that of justice, the reform Of GU,
! prison system, and especially of prison
labor; the establishment Of correctiona
institutions and the preliminary work ir
the matter of conditional sentences