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The author of this monograph points out that psychoanalysis is not only a medical procedure to be applied in certain therapeutic situations, but it has developed into a method of investigating various human activities, including the nature of criminality to which it pretends to bring a new and efficient solution.
As the application of psychoanalysis to criminology is as yet relatively unknown in France, and as it has many important relationships to specialists and also to the lay public, the author has prepared a discussion of several aspects of the situation. He states that he is not a psychoanalyst, that his object is to present the doctrine, and that his review includes only the freudian type of analysis, and not the activities of the schools of Jung and Adler.
Preliminary to the main body of his presentation, he outlines the principal features of the analytic method, the structure of the personality, evolution of tendencies and traumatic situations; the subject matter is then divided into two parts. Part I contains discussions on the geneses and characteristics of neurotic traits, criminal traits, the neurotic criminal, an exposition of the various procedures in the law, ideas on responsibility, and several other matters connected with the study and handling of criminal situations. In this part of the monograph is also found the alleged practical applications of psychoanalysis in treatment and prophylaxis in the field of criminology.
Part II consists chiefly of critical discussions on the value of psychoanalysis as a method of instruction, as a factor to apply in medico-legal matters and as a force in criminology in general- The author obtained opinions from many psychiatrists regarding the value of employing psychoanalysis in medico-legal practice. Among those in favor of utilizing psychoanalytic ideas and practice in medico-legal problems are M. Weber of Geneva, M. Mira of Barcelona who accepts it as auxiliary means of psychologic exploration, M. Osman of Constan