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Chapter 1: History of the Penitentiary System Read chapter Read first chapter

2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

Appendix No. 18: Some Points of Comparison Between France and America

Authors : Gustave de Beaumont, Alexis de Tocqueville

Published in: On the Penitentiary System in the United States and its Application to France

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

Tocqueville and Beaumont statistically compare the French and American criminal justice systems along the following data points: crimes committed against persons, property, mores, and forgery (1830); mortality in prisons (1828–1830); recidivism (1828–1830); the number of women in prison (1825–1831); the number of foreigners in prison (1827–1831); ages of prisoners (1825–1831); and the proportion of prisoners to the general population (1827–1830). In comparison to America, France has fewer convictions for crimes against mores, decreasing crimes against persons, more deaths in prison, comparatively similar recidivism and age rates, almost double the number of imprisoned women, fewer foreigners in prison, and more individuals convicted for serious crimes.

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previous chapter Appendix No. 17: Statistical Observations and Comparisons
next chapter Appendix No. 19: Financial Part
Footnotes
1
*The Trésor de la Langue Française informatisé defines “correctionnellement” as: “What has relation to infractions called offences, as opposed to crimes and citations.”
 
2
In the divisions of crimes against persons and properties, we have not completely adopted the order of the tables of criminal justice, to be able to establish a more exact comparison between France and America.
 
3
But it is necessary to remember that in America it is almost always the injured party who prosecutes, and often has interest in not pleading it. In France, in most cases, the public ministry takes care to avenge the offence and the State pays the costs of the procedure.
 
4
This figure represents only the proportion of re-committals judicially recognized in 1828, 1829, and 1830. But however great the activity of the judicial police, there is, even among us, a crowd of individuals whose past life remains unknown to the courts, and whose re-committal is recognized only in the prison. In 1830, out of 16,000 prisoners who submitted to their punishment in the main prisons, [there were] 4,000 re-committals, which gives 1 re-committal out of 4 prisoners.
 
5
It would be wrong, however, to compare the number of white women in the American penitentiaries with that of women in French prisons. White women in America, even those who belong to the lowest classes of society, occupy an elevated social position in comparison to black women. To be mixed with the latter seems to them the height of ignominy. The fear of a similar shame greatly prevents them from committing crimes. Often, also, the jury itself shies away from applying a punishment to which the idea of infamy is attached.
 
6
There have been, in reality, 21,740 convicts over these five years; but there are 37 who do not know their age.
 
7
Taking 32,000,000 inhabitants for the population of France.
 
8
Nor must it be forgotten that criminal justice in France is infinitely more active than in the United States.
 
9
See details on this point in the statistical notes, no. 16, §5.
 
Literature
Metadata
Title
Appendix No. 18: Some Points of Comparison Between France and America
Authors
Gustave de Beaumont
Alexis de Tocqueville
Copyright Year
2018
Book
On the Penitentiary System in the United States and its Application to France

Print ISBN: 978-3-319-70798-3

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-70799-0

Copyright Year: 2018

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70799-0_26