Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume 28 Article 14 Issue 3 September-October

Fall 1937 Book Reviews

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Recommended Citation Book Reviews, 28 Am. Inst. Crim. L. & Criminology 461 (1937-1938)

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WILLiAM F. BYRON [ED.]

FEDERAL JUSTICE: CHAPTERS IN THE torney General from the earliest HISTORY OF JUSTICE AND THE period of the Republic. FEDERAL EXECUTIVE. By Homer The first to occupy this impor- Cummings, Attorney General tant and onerous office was the of the United States, and Carl celebrated Edmund Randolph, ap- McFarland, Special Assistant to pointed by Washington in 1789. He the Attorney General of the is perhaps best known in legal United States: New York, The circles by his adverse Report on Macmillan Company, 1937. the Judiciary Act of 1789, a report which, almost a century later, was This handsome octavo of 576 characterized by Mr. Justice Ma- pages is well worthy of being read thews as "an accurate and perspi- by every American lawyer and, cuous analysis of the judicial indeed, by everyone who is inter- power"; but the Act withstood all ested in the difficulties experienced attacks and remained substantially by the Federal Government in unchanged till 1869-1870 when the matters of great importance Inter- Department of Justice Bill was State and otherwise, from the ear- approved by President Grant. liest times to the present. It gives Randolph drew the Neutrality a full and accurate account of the Proclamation, in 1793, during the way troublesome situations have Franco-British war, which has, not been handled and generally with unjustly, been regarded as the substantial success. foundation of the international It might well have been called laws of neutrality. The Story of the Attorneys Gen- Not to mention the living, many eral of the United States as it is men who have passed away have almost essentially an account of filled this important office with the labors for the nation of most dignity and efficiency. I have ref- of fifty-five Attorneys General ernce to men like William Wirt, who have filled that important appointed by John Quincy Adams office since 1789. It is to be re- (his proposition that law is membered that, while after many not a mathematical science, I strenuous but futile attempts, it have had occasion to agree with was not till after the Civil War in my Canadian Court; and that a Department of Justice was Roger B. Taney, appointed by instituted, headed by the Attorney Jackson and later, as Chief Justice, General, and placed upon an equal and so unjustly execrated for his footing with other Departments; a decision in the Dred Scott case, in step which Congress had thereto- no small degree perhaps due to fore uniformly refused to take the bitterness of party feeling. A although there had been an At- great deal of his activities as At- [ 461] BOOK REVIEWS

torney General was devoted to the ing and valuable reports were Second Bank of the United States. made; and the Commissioners did John J. Crittenden was twice At- not disregard their own injunction torney General under Presidents "We must not forget the many his- Harrison and Tyler, who had to do torical examples of large public with the Fugitive Slave laws and disregard of laws in our past." In was desirous of amendment of the this connection, we must not for- federal criminal laws, a result ulti- get the work of my friend (now mately arrived at in the Revised Mr. Justice) Harlan F. Stone, ap- Statutes authorized in 1866 and pointed Attorney General in 1924 published in f873. Another dis- by President Coolidge, and who, tinguished holder of the office was in his short term of a year, read- William M. Evarts, who, after justed the Bureau of Investigation prosecuting Jefferson Davis, be- and reorganized its personnel, came Attorney General, appointed thereby laying the foundation for by President Johnson whom he a new and efficient service. It is defended on his impeachment-he not too much to say that the pres- did not think much of lawyers in ent F.B.I. has won the admiration public councils as "Their technical of the civilized world-I vouch for training and extensive, absorbing Canada. The "Whiskey Insurrec- practice unfit them to be states- tion" in 1794 in Western Pennsyl- men," (Crede Experto). And lastly vania called for the attention of I mention my dear friend, George Attorney General William Brad- W. Wickersham, who after being ford, appointed in that year by an active practitioner in New York Washington to succeed Randolph, was appointed by President Taft who had resigned. Bradford was -he had much difficulty in respect a member of Washington's Con- of the administration of justice in ciliation Commission which, failing Alaska, not unlike the troubles in in its efforts, reported that military the Indian Territory in the 70's force would be necessary. He ap- and 80's, a territory characterized peared as counsel for the United by a Grand Jury as "a most pro- States in the prosecutions arising ductive garden for the propaga- out of the insurrection. An in- tion, growth and commission of teresting sidelight is cast upon crimes." Wickersham's repeated civil society by Gallatin's opin- appeals concerning irregularities ion at this time that in every to judges, district attorneys and case of insurrection, rebellion marshalls always brought the re- or treason, he would (as counsel ply, "What other course is open?" for the defense) take a jury of Perhaps he is best known by his Presbyterians, while Bracken- services as Chairman of the ridge (of Western Pennsylvania) "Wickersham Commission," the would "choose a jury of Quakers National Commission on Law Ob- or at least Episcopalians in all servance, intended "for a search- common cases, such as rape, mur- ing investigation of the whole der, etc." structure of . . . (the) Federal The troubles in the "Wild West" System of Jurisprudence," includ- beyond the Mississippi, where an ing the shocking practices so com- empire was in the making, engaged mon under Prohibition. Some the attention of more than one At- twelve exceedingly able, interest- torney General. Insufficiently po- BOOK REVIEWS liced, the domain to the west be- of Attorneys General Augustus H. came the spoil of the brave or the Garland, appointed in 1855 by desperate pillagers of private prop- President Cleveland, and Wiilliam erty; robbery of trains was not H. H. Miller, appointed in 1889 by uncommon while open Indian wars President Harrison, the offenses were not unknown. continued and even increased. Mormon polygamy was in 1858 Many of the offenses prior to assailed as being barbarous, "in- March 1, 1879, were wiped out by compatible alike with public pros- Congress. The land given and perity and domestic happiness," by money loaned by the United States Attorney General Jeremiah S. to the railroads linking the East Black, appointed by President and West, though this was with the Buchanan; but there was no law best intentions, landed the Govern- against it until 1862; and even in ment in "such a struggle . . . as 1875, Attorney General Edwards had not been seen since the time Pierrepont, appointed by President of Jackson and the Bank of the Grant, had to report the case of United States." Attorneys General the nineteenth wife of Brigham Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, appoint- Young being treated by the Courts ed in 1869 by President Grant and as a lawful wife, and granted ali- dismissed by him the following mony and counsel fees. year; Amos T. Akerman his suc- The Star Route cases in the 80's cessor, who was requested by Grant had the attention of Attorney Gen- to resign and did; George H. Wil- eral Wayne MacVeagh, appointed liams, Edwards Pierrepont and in 188f by President Garfield-he Alphonso Taft, also Grant appoint- had been instrumental in the set- ments; Charles Devens, appointed tlement of the reconstruction diffi- by President Hayes; Wayne Mac- culties in Louisiana-he advised a Veagh, appointed by President vigorous prosecution of the offen- Garfield; Benjamin H. Brewster, ders but resigned before the trial. appointed by President Arthur; The whole story of the Star Route Augustus H. Garland, appointed by cases our authors rightly say is "a President Cleveland; William H. H. dismal page in American history." Miller, appointed by President The robbery of the public for- Harrison, and Richard Olney, ap- ests in the West gives an equally pointed by President Cleveland; all dismal page, "significant and illu- were called upon to take part in minating in (the present) day of the disputes with the Central Pa- dust and advancing desert." As cific and Union Pacific over what early as 1816, Attorney General is picturesquely called "Pasture Richard Rush, appointed by Presi- for the Iron Horse." dent Madison, pointed out to Con- I have given but a few-not a gress that there was no statute tittle--of the interesting subjects specifically forbidding the cutting dealt with in this charming vol- of timber from the public lands, but ume. It must be read to be appre- it was not until 1831 that Congress ciated. It "is not a law book. Nor passed such a statute. The depre- . . .is it a popularized description dations continued, prosecutions for of the Department of Justice or of the offense were numerous, but racketeers, law suits, prisons and notwithstanding the efforts and in- politics. It is instead the story of junctions to local officers of justice men, emotions, methods and mo- BOOK REVIEWS tives in that crucial zone of law parts of the body which are not and government bordering both supposed to change, while a set upon the courts and the executive." of finger prints can be taken easily Mechanically the volume is all in three minutes. that can be wished-the paper, The author, who is a Director of type, binding are all impeccable; the Chicago Institute of Applied while in proof reading I have ob- Science which is especially devoted served only one error, the "King's to teaching the proper methods of Sergeants-at-Law" were Serjeants Finger-printing, studied his science not Sergeants. A full and satis- at the famous New Scotland Yard, factory Index completes the hand- London, and spent some time at some book. Oh! si sic omnia. Rome in studying the Finger-print WILLIAM RENWICK RIDDELL. methods of Italy, in Berne those Osgoode Hall, Toronto. of Switzerland, and in Mexico those of that country: he is a well- known expert and apparently THE BLUE BOOK OF CRIME: SCIENCE wh6lly reliable. OF CRIME DETECTION. By T. G. The Finger-print Cook, F.P.E., Director Institute system consists of a careful and minute examina- of Applied Science, Chicago. tion of the pattern or design A short time ago, I read an formed by the ridges on the inside American book, "Here's to Crime," of the first joint of a finger and which gave an appalling account thumb. There is on the tip of of the underworld and the preva- every finger or thumb a pattern lence of crime in the Republic. made up of many fine lines, called The writer, who was transparently "ridges," while the spaces between honest and apparently competent are called "furrows." The pattern to deal with his subject, said that formed by the arrangement of the three out of four of the Americans "ridges" and "furrows" appears now living might be expected to upon the fingers of the new born experience some major crime, mur- babe and does not change: it is der, manslaughter, assault, rape, traceable on the fingers of the same etc. person in youth, middle and old The present work describes age-and even after death, until it clearly and fully some of the meth- is destroyed by decay. No two per- ods in which Science endeavors to sons have the same pattern. In all meet the situation, and the success the millions that have been taken it has already achieved. The par- -over 2,000,000 in the U. S. Navy, ticular methods specifically dealt over 5,000,000 in the U. S. Army, with are two. The Bertillon Sys- over 6,000,000 with the G-men in tem, invented by Alphonse Bertil- Washington and more in New Scot- Ion of Paris in 1880, was the best land Yard and elsewhere-no du- known means of identifying and plicate has ever been found. Nor cataloguing criminals until the can anyone destroy or alter the adoption of the Finger Print Sys- pattern; criminals have tried to do tem which, in addition to other ad- this by sandpapering the ends of vantages, has that of time-saving. the fingers, rubbing them on ce- A Bertillon examination takes ment walks, burning them with about half-an-hour to learn and acids or hot irons, cutting them tabulate the measurements of those into strips with razor blades, in- BOOK REVIEWS serting melted paraffin under the millions'Obf prints on file. Crime, it skin, grafting new skin, etc., etc., is to be remembered, is almost al- but all in vain; in time, the wounds ways the work of a professional, heal and the ridges come back ex- and in by far the greatest number actly as they were to the millionth of cases, the offender has been "in of an inch. The face can be al- trouble" and his finger-prints tered; the finger-prints cannot. The taken and preserved: consequently, Chinese have for hundreds of years the identification of the perpetrator used the finger-print as a seal in signing documents, but it was not of the crime under investigation till f923 that Prof. J. E. Purkinje is very probable. If, indeed, the of Breslau attempted to classify the suggestion was put in force that the patterns. Sir William Herschel in finger-prints of the new-born child 1858 used them as seals, but later were furnished to the authorities Sir Francis Galton laid the founda- with the other information now tions for the present system, and required, and this kept of record, Sir E. R. Henry of New Scotland the identification would be prac- Yard, in 1903, began there the es- tically certain. But there seems to tablishment of the first Finger- be a strong prejudice against fin- Print Bureau where the finger- ger-printing anyone but those prints of thousands of offenders, charged with crime-a prejudice I and of no few innocents, are pre- for one fail to understand. served. Finger-prints have been effective A crime is committed; say a store not only in convicting the guilty burglary-the secret service man is but also in acquitting the innocent sent for; he orders the store closed -true stories are told of men and and nothing to be touched; he women imprisoned for years whose seeks for finger-prints on door, innocence was thus established. window, skylight, counters, safe, After a full and careful exposi- cash register, showcase, every- tion of the Finger-Print System, where the thief may have been. the Bertillon System and Modus The burglar of the present day Operandi or Crime Index System knows the danger of leaving fin- recently adopted by Scotland Yard, ger-marks and not uncommonly the author of ths entertaining and wears gloves; but almost always a instructive little book relates inci- slip is* made and a bare hand is dents of the identification by the placed on something leaving the Finger-Print System of several of- fatal mark. This found, a photo- fenders, in some cases within a few graph is carefully made in the hours of the crime, in some after presence of a witness, and the pat- the lapse of years. tern is compared with the finger- Anyone interested in the sup- prints on file. In the British Isles, pression of crime-and who is not? if no duplicate is found in the local -will find in the few pages of this office, the new photograph is sent work a wealth of valuable infor- to New Scotland Yard; in the mation, given in a simple and at- United States to the United States tractive style. Criminal Bureau, and sometimes the Army and Navy Bureaus at WILLAm R wENVicKRIDDELL. Washington, both of which have Osgoode Hall, Toronto. BOOK REVIEWS

THE POLICE AND MODERN SOCIETY. and a personal acquaintance with By August Vollmer. 253 pp. the police . . .of many countries." University of California Press, (Preface). Berkeley, 1936. $2.50. The common sense approach and The Bureau of Public Adminis- the "practical" suggestions are in- tration of the University of Cali- teresting and valuable for anyone fornia, for a number of years past, seeking information about the day has been conducting systematic by day problems confronting police research into and organizing exist- forces. Some of the illustrative ma- ing information about problems re- terial is especially appropriate and lating to the administration of is used to good effect. Many people criminal justice. This is the third will listen with respect to Mr. Voll- mer's suggestions about what to book to appear in the series, the two earlier ones being the Culver do; others will question some of his assumptions and quarrel with his bibliography and the Adler-Cahn- analysis of cause and effect. One Stuart study of juvenile delin- wonders, for instance, how many quency in Berkeley. will agree with his concluding The book under review is gen- sentence, "Democracy's strongest eral in character, representing pri- reliance is the police." (p. 237) marily a condensation of the noted There is regrettable lack of cri- author's wisdom and experience. tical analysis in the handling of Police responsibilities and the au- statistical materials. Crime rates thor's opinions about their impli- and various crime indexes are cations in "modern society" are compared in terms of their super- discussed in four principal chap- ficial surface meanings in a manner ters, namely, Major Crimes (Part to astound the student accustomed I, Uniform Crime Reports), Vice as to expect a critical insistence on a Police Problem, Traffic, and Gen- certain statistical fundamentals eral Service. A chapter on Crime such as stable and comparable Prevention, one on Police Person- units, uniform reporting areas, and a brief Conclusion com- nel, standard populations with respect plete the work. There is a short to age, sex, rural-urban residence, general bibliography and an index. etc. Instead there is uncritical Typicality or representativeness in comparison of the crime rates of the scientific sense is disclaimed. one country with those of another "It is no part of the purpose of the one city with those of another, author to act as spokesman for earlier decades with the present other policemen, either individu- time, etc. ally or as a group. The opinions The jacket describes the book as •. and the recommendations . "plain talk based on practical ex- . . are those of a particular police perience," and this perhaps may be taken as adequate. As such, it officer, rather than the views or is worthwhile and valuable. conclusions of peace officers in general. They are based on a long GEORGE B. VOLD. and varied practical experience University of Minnesota. BOOK REVIEWS 467

MEDICINA LEGAL. Volumes I and II. this modern volume dealing with By Nerio Rojas, Professor Titu- the medico-legal problems which lar de Medicina Legal de la Fa- have confronted this South Amer- cultad de Ciencias Medicas de ican author. His opportunity for Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires. viewing corpses and sizing up 1936. medico-legal problems is infinitesi- With the appearance of this two- mally smaller than that afforded volume book on legal medicine the American investigator in any written by the leading South large city. Argentine crime, while American authority on the subject, it has a number of vicious aspects one is impressed how the United which we seldom see in this coun- States is lagging behind other try, devolves largely upon the countries which we presume to be matter of single cases, making the scientifically more backward than statistical approach somewhat dif- ourselves. Nowhere in the United ficult. As far as the actual ar- States, with the possible exception rangement of the book is con- of Bellevue Hospital and its auxil- cerned, there is little that is new iaries in New York, is there any- except for the fact that toxicology thing approaching the Institute of is minimized and psychiatry is em- Legal Medicine which Dr. Rojas phasized. Where such American directs in the Argentine. Our most books as Webster's emphasize the recent books in forensic medicine duties, privileges of, and demands are largely a compilation of laws made upon the medico-legal expert, which are extremely complicated Rojas takes a double point of view; because of the fact that we have namely, he emphasizes these fac- forty-eight separate state codes tors and at the same time he points dealing with medico-legal subjects, out what the law demands of the in addition to Federal codes cov- physician by showing the codifica- ering continental United States as tion of the law. There are excel- well as our territories and posses- lent illustrations showing actual sions. There is no single stimulant cadaveric material. The work -is in this country for the establish- well systematized and well thought ment of such institutes or such out; in fact, it is immeasurably su- societies as they have in South perior to our more complicated America and in Europe. In spite works. It is thoroughly brought of the fact that at the turn of the up to date, referring to much of century Kraepelin was having the European literature. Our own combined legal and medical staffs literature is somewhat neglected, dealing with his insane patients, as well it should be since we have this technique has never been car- no medico-legal society except one ried over with any effect into in New York, and we have no America. Yet in certain cities and medico-legal institutes which are certain states lethal statistics are publishing any monographs or any so high as to be almost imponder- periodical, so that to gain any able. The problem of homicides, medico-legal information out of whether due to personal conflict, the vast amount of Mnaterial which or mechanical conflict as in auto- is being dug up and written about mobile accidents, is appalling, so in this country would be to demand that we may look with interest at too much of the foreign author. 4(i BOOK REVIEWS

Perhaps this reviewer has not suf- dalia. The prison survey schedule ficiently emphasized the value of which was developed by W. Abra- the volume, for he has not picked ham Goldberg, and published by out particular details to describe. the U. S. Bureau of Prisons, is The fact that there is such a book followed throughout. that emphasizes the new point of Although the physical plant and view; that it is much more modern set-up of each institution is de- than anything we have, and that its scribed in detail, there is entirely author has facilities which are not lacking any menti6n of the soul of open to those in this country, the prison-that is, the inmate should stir one to investigate not body, only the book itself but its author, with its attitudes, activities, his facilities, and the possibility of informal recreation, the economic carrying out identical procedures and social life, the repressions and in this country. oppressions, the interaction be- tween inmates and employees, the LOWELL S. SELLING. loves, the hates, the gambling, the Detroit, Michigan. privileged class of inmates and the stool-pigeon system which the present administration has devel- THE PRISON SYSTEM IN ILLINOIS- oped to the highest degree of use A REPORT TO THE GOVERNOR OF and abuse. "Stone walls do not a ILLINOIS BY THE ILLINOIS PRISON prison make," but these factors, INQUIRY COMMISSION. largely omitted from the report, do. Probably one of the most com- The sex life of the prisoners, prehensive reports of a Prison Sys- which is the primary cause of the tem ever to have been made was many fights, stabbings and murders that made of the Illinois Prison in prison, and which is supposed to System at the request of Governor have been the background of the Horner, by a commission appointed tragedy responsible for the inquiry, by him. is dismissed in the report with a Appointed, following the Loeb few lines on page 174, under the killing, in response to charges by heading "Sex control." the press of laxity in discipline, and No mention at all is made of the favoritism in dealing with convicts, celluloid work, the carving, wood this Commission was directed to inlay work and other craft work make a thorough investigation into which prisoners undertake to fill prison conditions and to recom- in their hours of idleness while mend any improvements which locked in their cells. And neither seemed necessary. The result is is the fact that the administration the 684 page report which, though attempts, without success, to sup- presumably a State document, is press this wholesome activity. offered for private sale by the In the report the problem of Chicago Crime Commission for the punishment is minimized, and the sum of $2.00. The report covers impression is given that solitary the four prisons for men, Menard, punishment is resorted to only for Stateville, Joliet and Pontiac; the severe violations of discipline. Fig- Women's Reformatory at Dwight, ures were available to the Com- and the State Penal Farm at Van- mission, had it cared to use them, BOOK REVIEWS showing the large proportion of and Camillo Tovo, M.D. Vol- men sent to solitary for five days ume 1-755 pages, illustrated or more for such offenses as with 3 polychrome plates, 210 "Walking in line with hands in pictures, some in color. Unione pockets," or "Whispering in dining tipografica - editrice torinese, room," or "Being in yard without Turin, Italy, 1937. Price, 95 lire. cap on head," or "Being out of This is the first of the two vol- line." umes on legal medicine directed Those who know "theprison from by Professor Carrara in collabora- the inside are aware of the injus- tion with Professors Romanese, tice and opportunities for favorit- Canuto, and Tovo. The work is ism which grow out of the enforce- essentially clinical and represents ment of such discipline. a coordinated effort for the guid- A large number of recommenda- ance of the general practitioner in tions as to specific improvements the legal aspect of medicine. The in physical plant and administra- material contained in the book is tion are scattered throughout the of broad scope but succinctly ex- report. One major recommenda- pressed, and should prove useful tion, however, stands out. It is to to the student of legal medicine. the effect that an administrative It is divided into six sections: In- board should be created, to be troduction, forensic obstetrics, and known as the Illinois Board of forensic toxicology are discussed Prison Administration; this board by Professor Carrara; professional to have authority over all factors deontology and forensic trauma by having to do with punishment- Professor Romanese; and sexology including probation, incarceration, by Professor Canuto. parole and after-care. Specific There is no preface. It is sup- recommendations are made as to planted by the rather verbose in- how this board shall be constituted. troduction (22 pages). The sec- A chapter on Civil Service, and tion on professional deontology is one on Parole are included in Part quite profuse (123 pages) and I of the report. from ih the physician practicing Part II is a presentation of ar- in Italy should derive ample de- ticles by specialists in various fields tails for the guidance of his med- of Criminology and Penal Admin- ico-legal ambitions. The sections istration. on forensic obstetrics and sexology are well done and practical; how- The report, as a whole, is dis- ever, there are notable omissions appointing in that it ignores almost of such questions as infanticide, entirely the qualitative aspects of paternity tests, etc., but Professor the administration of the Illinois Canuto hints that these are to be Prison System. described in the second volume. FERSM F. LAUNE. The section on forensic trauma Northwestern University. describes in detail fatal and non- fatal wounds, discussing elements of pathology and differential points MEDICINA LEGALE.. By Mario Car- among those self-inflicted, acci- rara, M.D., Ruggero Romanese, dental, and homicidal. Wounds in M.D., Giorgio Canuto, M.D., the moribund or very shortly after BOOK REVIEWS death are given due consideration, the morphological pathologist. and thb, difficulty and at times im- However, valuable, simple tests possibility of differentiating them and hints are given to the autopsist from primarily homicidal wounds for immediate orientation in the is'judiciously discussed. Most of post mortem diagnosis of some of the section is devoted to wounds the toxicological deatl. produced by sharp, blunt, and Professor Carrara's colored il- pointed instruments and their ef- lustrations are excellent. The il- fect on the living body. The lustrations on forensic trauma chapter on gunshot wounds is rel- seem underexposed and not a few atively short, but nevertheless show insufficient detail by this complete, especially on points of photography. bullet entry and exit. Simple Each section has a fairly com- chemical tests are given to deter- plete bibliography and the refer- mine if the projectile was lead or ences are mostly to Italian, French, steel jacketed, especially when the and German literature. Only a bullet has left the body and cannot few references are made to English be found. The section on forensic writings. toxicology would probably not be This book shows that the med- appealing to the average student ico-legal groups in Italy are well of toxicology. The clinical matter organized. This is a strong con- is sketchy, the post mortem ap- trast and indeed a reproach to our pearances incomplete, and chem- obsolete coroner's system in ical toxicological methods when America. given would be better omitted, A. R. CASILLI, M.D. since as such they are of no value 618 Newark Ave., to the chemist, nor important to Elizabeth, N. J.