IN ANCIENT GREECE, THE REPRESSION OF CRIME EVOLVED FROM AN ESSENTIALLY PRIVATE AFFAIR TO A COMMUNAL RESPONSIBILITY. ROMAN LAW VAGUELY CONSIDERED VARIOUS FORMS OF MENTAL ILLNESS AS EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES, AND THE INSANE WERE ENTIRELY INCAPABLE OF CONTRACTING GUILT. IN THE 18TH CENTURY, PSYCHOLOGY WAS EMANCIPATED FROM MORALITY, AND MODERN PSYCHIATRY EMERGED WITH THE CONCEPT OF MENTAL ALIENATION. AT THE SAME TIME, CRIMINAL LAW FOCUSED INCREASINGLY ON THE OFFENDER AND HIS PERSONALITY, AND CRIMINOLOGY DEVELOPED. SINCE THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, THE INDIVIDUAL WAS CONSIDERED CAPABLE OF RESPECTING THE SOCIAL CONTRACT; MENTAL ILLNESS AND CRIME WERE NOW CONSIDERED AS SEPARATE CONCEPTS WITH THEIR OWN DISTINCT INSTITUTIONS--PRISONS AND ASYLUMS. IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY, NOSOGRAPHICAL PSYCHIATRY AND ORGANICISM EXERTED THEIR INFLUENCE ON CATEGORIZING CRIMINALS; THE PROBLEM OF CRIMINAL INSANITY AND INSANE CRIMINALITY WAS EMPHASIZED. ORGANICIST PRECEPTS PREVAILED UNTIL THE REVOLUTIONARY CHANGES OF THE PERIOD AFTER WORLD WAR II: THE HUMANIZATION AND OPENING OF ASYLUM CONDITIONS WAS FACILITATED BY PSYCHOPHARMACY, PENITENTIAL REFORMS, AND THE USE OF A NEW CORRECTIONAL PROCEDURE IN FRANCE. THE GROWING INFLUENCE OF PSYCHIATRY AND SCIENCE ON CRIMINOLOGY AND SENTENCING CHARACTERIZES THE IMMEDIATE PRESENT. IT IS CONCLUDED THAT PUNISHING, HEALING, ASYLUM AND PENITENTIARY SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS ALTERNATIVES, BUT THAT IN ORDER TO PRESERVE THE SMALL AMOUNT OF FREE WILL AND RESPONSIBILITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL (THOUGH ILL), BOTH ARE NEEDED AT THE SAME TIME. THE BOOK CONTAINS AN EXTENSIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY. --IN FRENCH. (SAJ)