Raffaele Garofalo

Raffaele Garofalo (18 November 1851 in Naples – 18 April 1934 in Naples) was an Italian criminologist and jurist.

He was a student of Cesare Lombroso, often regarded as the father of criminology. He rejected the doctrine of free will (which was the main tenet of the Classical School) and supported the position that crime can be understood only if it is studied by scientific methods. He attempted to formulate a sociological definition of crime that would designate those acts which can be repressed by punishment. These constituted "Natural Crime" and were considered offenses violating the two basic altruistic sentiments common to all people, namely, probity and piety. Crime is an immoral act that is injurious to society. This was more of a psychological orientation than Lombroso's physical-type anthropology.

Garofalo's law of adaption followed the biological principle of Charles Darwin in terms of adaption and the elimination of those unable to adapt in a kind of social natural selection. Consequently, he suggested

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