Book Review: Prisoners' Perceptions of Parole
| Author | Allen A. Bartholomew |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486587200500211 |
| Published date | 01 June 1972 |
| Date | 01 June 1972 |
AUST. &N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (June, 1972): 5, 2 129
GRAHAM
PARKER,
Department
of Law,
Research
School of Social Sciences,
Australian
National
University.
This raises a
most
interesting
point: in
terms
of social
harm
(great
misery
and
millions of dollars
worth
of
damage
to life.
limb
and
property
every
year)
and
in
terms
of controlling
human
behaviour
(what
is
anti-social behaviour?),
should
this
examin-
ation
of
death
on
the
road
persuade
us to
rethink
our
definitions of criminal
law
and
punishment?
Prisoners' Perceptions of Parole: Lois
James; University of Toronto; 1971; 281
pp; ISBN 0-919584-01-2.
THIS publication; is a
research
report
put
out
by
the
Centre
of Criminology of
the
University of
Toronto
and
is sub-titled
"A
survey
of
the
National
Parole
System
Conducted in
the
Penitentiaries of Ontario,
Canada".
The
report
is of
very
great
in-
terest,
even
though
some
of
the
data
re-
lates
particularly
to
the
Canadian
scene;
especially
to
the
organization
of
the
Nat-
ional
Parole
Board.
which
prior
to 1969
consisted of five members, all lawyers. The
work
was
carried
out
in
institutions
in
Ontario
taking
a
sample
of
some
19
per
cent
from six institutions. A final popula-
tion
of 283 formed
the
"general
sample",
103 of this sample coming
from
Kingston
Penitentiary, a
maximum
security
institu-
tion.
A
number
of questions
were
put
to
the
general
sample
and
the
answers
analysed.
One
question
related
to
the
type
of
person
who
should be a
member
of
the
parole
board.
Forty
per
cent
of
the
sample
failed
to identify any specific
type
of person. Of
those
answering
in specific form 31
per
cent
spoke
of
an
"honest,
educated,
pro-
gressive
person
who
had
concern
and
understanding";
25
per
cent
wanted
apro-
fessional clinical person, while 21
per
cent
suggests, for instance,
that
children
learn
much
about
driving
etiquette
from
their
parents.
He also
points
out:
Anger,
anxiety
and
depression
are
all
part
of
the
human
lot. If we drive
while
strongly
affected
by
these
emo-
tions
it
might
be as well to
take
note
of
their
presence
in
the
hope
that
this
will
lead
to
moderation
of
our
driving
behaviour. Self-awareness is
always
desirable if it leads to
greater
under-
standing
and
control
of
the
vagaries
of
our
feelings. For, as
many
amoralist
-
and
psychologist -
has
pointed
out,
ignorance of
the
inner
springs
of
action
can
be quite as
disastrous
as
our
more
calculated
malignities
(at
164).
And, of course, in this discussion of
systemic violence,
Konrad
Lorenz, Des-
mond
Morris
and
Robert
Ardrey
have
their
say. In summary,
Whitlock
says:
"The
car
is no
longer
a
means
of
transport;
it
has
be-
come asymbol of
power
and
prestige, a
part
of
one's
territory
to be defended by
aggressive displays
whenever
its integrity
is
threatened
or
breeched; it
can
even
be-
come adouble
bed"
(at
133).
Australians
would be horrified if
they
were
labelled as
violent, possessive
and
status-conscious!
Of the books on
motoring
offences which
would be of
interest
to criminologists, this
book
is
not
as good
at
Willett's
Criminal
on
The
Road,
but
certainly
preferable to
the
rather
narrowly
conceived Road Acci-
dents
by
Street
and
Elliott,
VvTe,
as citizens of
the
world
living in
Australia, should
certainly
be concerned
about
death
on the road. It is a
world
prob-
lem
and
ablack
spot
for
road
deaths
is
Australia. Professor
Whitlock
quotes
statis-
tics to show
the
sad
loss of life on
the
highway
and
the
community's
seeming in-
dirrerence to it. While we become lachry-
mose
over
the
daths
caused
by some
nat-
ural
disaster
or
air
crash,
we seem to
take
the
more
numerous highway
deaths
in
our
stride. f-Ie points out, for instance,
that
the
American
and
Australian
casualties of
the
Vietnam
War
in five
years
are
match-
ed in the United
States
by
two
months'
road
fatalities
and
in
this
country
by 22
days'
statistics. The young
tend
to be
the
victims in both instances.
The
author
discovers
that
there
is a close
correlation
between
public drunkenness,
alcoholism
and
road
deaths,
and
once again
Australia
has
one of
the
worst
records in
all
three
departments.
The
author
canvasses
the
possible solu-
tions to this problem -compulsory use of
seat
belts and
crash
helmets, medical
and
psychiatric
tests
of driving licence appli-
cants,
mechanical inspections of vehicles,
safer
cars,
breathalyser
tests,
better
driver
education
and
re-education
and
the
wider
use of driver disqualifications
and
vehicle
impoundments.
Many
of
these
topics,
par-
ticularly
deterrence studies,
are
crying
out
for
further
work
by criminologists
and
government
departments.
I like
the
tone
of
Professor
Whitlock's
book,
but
probably
because
I
suspect
we
share
the
same
biases. This
humane
man
abhors
the
materialism,
insecurity
and
vio-
lence which is
spawned
by
our
society
and
he sees
the
use of
the
automobile as
one
symbol of
these
unfortunate
influences. He
is
not
judgmental or retributive,
but
he
would like to
make
some
sense
out
of this
chaos
of
road
deaths,
bad
manners
and
unnecessary
hardship.
His book is
most
interesting
when
he de-
parts
from
charts
and
statistical
tables. He
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