Crime, the Judicial System, and Punishment in Modern France (From Crime History and Histories of Crime: Studies in the Historiography of Crime and Criminal Justice in Modern History, P 87-108, 1996, Clive Emsley and Louis A Knafla, eds. -- See NCJ- 161818)

• NCJ Number: 161822
• Author(s): R Levy
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: Greenwood Publishing Group
• Publication Type: Historical Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper reviews work published since the mid-1980's on the history of crime and criminal justice in 19th-century and 20th-century France, with attention to cases, the judicial institution, the police, and punishment.

Abstract

Research on the various types of criminal cases handled by the criminal justice system in the 19th century is both sparse and disparate in nature. Some researchers have focused on one type of jurisdiction, others on one type of offense, and still others on a territory of varying size or on a period; these four "variables" may be variously combined. As for the substance of the research, all of these studies develop previous findings without revolutionizing our knowledge. The theme is always "the twofold obsession with property and sex." Research on the judicial institution in France can be divided into two broad types: work on the institutional aspect (organization, competencies, composition, and trends) and studies concerned essentially with the actual functioning of juries. Studies in each of these categories are briefly reviewed. Most research on the history of policing in France has focused on the 1848-1914 period. Almost no research has been conducted on policing in the period between the two world wars; the role of the police during World War II is mentioned in investigations on collaboration and deportation, but there have apparently been only two comprehensive studies; neither exhaust the subject. In the field of punishment, most researchers have focused on sentences that involve personal restraints, such as prison and hard labor. Recent historiography on imprisonment is indebted to the work of Jacques Petit, which emphasizes the influence of the social environment on sentencing, including the weight of political contingencies, economic and financial constraints, and the social actors involved, including lawmakers, theoreticians, philanthropists, administrative officials, and entrepreneurs. In the concluding section, the author notes that the heterogeneity of conceptual frameworks in research on the history of crime and criminal justice in France stems from scholars who belong to different, noncommunicating intellectual traditions; these are historians of law and historians of social history. 89 notes