Book Review: Life (1680)
| Author | Allen A. Bartholomew |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486586900200207 |
| Published date | 01 June 1969 |
| Date | 01 June 1969 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
AUST. &N,Z.
JOURNAL
OF CRIMINOLOGY (1969): 2. 2 121
Book Reviews
ute
(1968) "Zeno," Macmillan. 1968. 191pp.
CRIMINOLOGY, if it is to survive as a
viable
and
meaningful study,
must
beware
of moving
away
from practical realities
and
taking
refuge
in an ivory tower. In
earlier days
many
"criminologists" were
research workers
and
thinkers
who
were
involved in some aspect of correctional
work. Now
that
the
study
has achieved
the respectability of academic and univers-
ity
status
there is arisk
that
only books
concerned.
with
highly
sophisticated meth-
odological
research
and
convoluted philo-
sophical discussion
will
be considered the
only real criminology. Undoubtedly such
works have
real
value,
but
one should
not
forget the
"grass
roots"
of the
subject-
the offender.
When
writing about juvenile
delinquency, Dr. Eileen Younghusband
commented: "One of
the
most important
groups
of all
will
unfortunately remain
silent . . .
yet
they
are the consumers of
the service, the
people
at
the
receiving end,
whose views as
to
the
functions and fair-
ness of the
courts
are at least of some
interest".1For
"courts",
read
"prisons",
then this book becomes of considerable
importance to
the
criminologist.
The reader will
get
some idea
of
the
general savour of prison existence from
this book although anumber of matters
may be remarked upon. We know the
author
was
chargd with, and convicted of.
non-capital murder;
that
he was sentenced
to "life imprisonment" (an "indeterminate"
sentence);
that
he is intelligent (this book
and his earlier writings indicate this), and
that
he had some family during
the
period
of his imprisonment (p.153). We do'
not
know
whether
or
not
the
author
had ex-
perienced any
prior
period(s) of imprison-
ment or
whether
he had any previous con-
victions· we know nothing of his back-
ground 'and
very
little regarding his per-
sonality. Another
matter
to be remarked
upon is
that
the "indeterminate" sentence
and
the
long "fixed" sentence pose different
problems to a prisoner and
that
both types
of sentence
must
be distinguished from the
1. Quoted by Scott, P.D. (1959) "Juvenile
Courts: The Juvenile's Point of
View"
Brit. J. Delinq.
.!
200.
"short"
sentence. Again, there will be a
different
attitude
to
any
sentence when
the offender fully accepts his guilt (the
author
pleaded guilty to non-capital mur-
der) as opposed to a
man
who
feels un-
fairly convicted and unduly harshly pun-
ished.
However, although the picture given in
this book cannot be fully assessed, there
are
some statements
that
are
not
only
true
for England
but
which probably have
almost universal applicability.
For
ex-
ample,
"I'd
have thought
the
judge would know
what
he
was
sentencing you to .....".
"Of
course
they
don't
know. They only
know
what
they're told. I've never seen
ajudge inside aprison. You'll be in
~
few
years-I
bet you
never
see one
(p.41).
And
the
fact
that
a
number
of prison offi-
cers
"have mentally tried and condemned
every
criminal on the same collective
charge -
that
of being aconvicted felon"
(p.48).
Another comment concerning rehabili-
tation is
worthy
of recording. It is noted
that
one prisoner
In eleven and a half years, he
has
had
about
seventy-five hours of supervised
association
with
his family and friends.
One would think
that
the
process of
rehabilitation requires, above all else, the
maintenance of a prisoner's links
with
the
outside world. (p.G7-8).
A
further
remark, the
truth
of which is
not
reduced by the cynicism, reads:
If every one of
th~
nineteen men
~t
present taking the
diploma
course (UnI-
versity of London's Diploma in English
Literature) should sit
the
exam. and pass
it, it will be of less value,
than
if an
equal number of illiterates
were
given
full-
time education and left prison able
to read and write fluently. But it would
not
look so good in the annual
report
(p.l29).
One may offer a final quote:
"What
is
the
twentieth century intention behind im-
prisonment?"
(p.Sl).·
Indeed,
what
is it?
This book describes well one highly articu-
late
and intelligent prisoner's view of his
decade of imprisonment. The armchair
criminologist
who
has little
contact
with
prisons and prisoners should certainly read
it,
but
this book, or
any
other
of similar
type, can never be a
substitute
for leaving
the
office and
the
cloisters and becoming
involved in all aspects of
the
various in-
stitutions. In addition, even those working
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