Citation

Eliot TD. Am. J. Sociol. 1953; 58(5): 513-518.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1953, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

10.1086/221205

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Experience has shown the futility of revenge as the solution or preventive of criminality. Yet we define crime in terms of war and treat criminals accordingly. Today we define war in terms of crime, justifying reprisals against an enemy people as though they were a collective criminal. Mere retribution is self-defeating in both cases. But the thesis is proposed that if an aggressor government, so defined by a super-national tribunal, is subjected to drastic but hate-less rehabilitative and probationary treatment, consistent with modern criminological theory and practice, the vicious circles of cumulative international hatred and revenge may be broken.