Social defense critically examines the classical system of protecting society from criminal activities and asserts the need for continuous discussion and revision of values. It invokes the human sciences and the methodical use of scientific research as a means for analyzing, evaluating, and modernizing the institutions of anticriminal reaction in order to achieve positive remedies adapted to the changing conditions of criminality and the changing needs of society. Above all, social defense proposes that expiation or punitive repression be replaced with a greater concern for crime prevention and offender rehabilitation in a context of social concord. Thus, it seeks to promote a movement to humanize the criminal law and make extra-penal remedies available through civil and administrative law, health, education, welfare, and social assistance. With its commitment to a penological philosophy based on respect for the person, protection of the individual, and the defense of human rights, social defense leads to a humanistic philosophy that both controls and illuminates criminal, legal, and social policy. Chapter footnotes and index.