Book Review: The Varieties of Delinquent Experience, Rosenberg, B. and Silverstein, H., Blaisdell Publishing Company, Waltham, Massachusetts, 1969, 165pp.; Social Policy and the Young Delinquent, Boss, P., Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., London, 1967
| Author | Diana Davis |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486587100400212 |
| Published date | 01 June 1971 |
| Date | 01 June 1971 |
AUST. &N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (June, 1971): 4, 2 123
cated production
and
deals with
the
Ques-
tions raised by
marijuana
under
five head-
ings:
(i)
Pharmacology
and
Classification;
(ii) The Issue of Marijuana Abuse;
(iii)
Marijuana as a Social Issue; (iv) The Issue
of Marijuana Regulations; and (v) Mari-
juana as a Political Issue. Some of
the
inevitable overlap between these
two
books
is noted in
that
the
very
first
chapter
of
The New Social Drug (by Weil, Zinberg
and Nelsen) is a
paper
concerned
with
the
clinical and psychological effects of
the
drug in humans which appears in modified
form in The Papers as
Chapter
2, Book III.
To the reviewer
the
great
interest in
The New Social Drug is
the
contribution by
Town (a lawyer) who
writes
on
the
topic
of "Privacy and
the
Marijuana Laws".
This
chapter
is
very
well
worth
reading
and one only regrets
that
the
writer, per-
haps not unreasonably, largely restricts his
discussion to
the
American scene
and
in
particular to
the
First
Amendment (See
People v. Woody)",
the
Eighth Amendment
(See Robinson vCalifornia),
and
the
Fourteenth Amendment (See People v
Aguiar). The section on "Privacy as a
Constitutional Concept" is of real
interest
(See Griswold v. Connecticut). One would
very much like to see a reasoned
argument
set
down
apropos
our
own legislatures
passing
statutes
permitting of heavy, if
not
"cruel and unusual", punishment for pos-
session of marijuana
and
how
our
legis-
lators see the notion of privacy in rela-
tion to
the
smoking of marijuana.
In
the
chapter
by Geis ("Social and Epi-
demological Aspects of Marijuana Use")
the
nice point is made
that
our
paternalis-
tic
legislators
have
not
founded an S.S.
(Supermarket Surveillance) to check on
overbuying leading to obesity
and
Town
would
appear
to inveigh against
the
notion
of legislation in
"Best
Interest"
(p.142), as
this
must
finally
and
logically end in
the
State
becoming involved in all aspects of
our
lives and
intimate
personal choices.
A
paper
by Messer concerning politics
is of interest in
that
he suggests
that
the
vouthful, drug
interested
generation (in
America)
are
no longer playing
the
well-
worn political
game
and
that
this is annoy-
ing
and
frustrating
the
Establishment:
"there's
no left
wing
and
right wing; only
up wing
and
down wing" (Bob Dylan).
Such aproposition
may
well be
true
of
Australia Quite as
much
as of America.
McGlothlin (p.156) writes: "I predict
that
whether
or not
the
age of abundance ar-
rives, social policy,
with
some
minor
rever-
sals, will generally move in
the
direction
of permitting
greater
individual freedom
with respect to
drug
use. Society will pro-
mote
the
concept of allowing
adults
the
privilege of informed decision. The crucial
problem
that
will remain is
that
of protect-
ing those who
are
too
young to make an
informed decision". Geis (p.79) notes, in
support of the likelihood of a future change
in legislation,
that
a law dean had suggest-
ed
that
many
of his
students
were using
marijuana and
that
many
would
later
be
elected to the
State
legislature in
the
years
ahead.
Both these books (and also
the
publica-
tion, Cannabis)2 should be read by everyone
interested and concerned
with
the
mari-
juana
problem, and
not
least by those con-
cerned with creating
our
statute
law.
ALLEN
A. BARTHOLOMEW,
Melbourne.
The Varietles of Delinquent Experience,
Rosenberg, B. and Silverstein, H., Blaisdell
Pub
lis
hi
n g
Com
pan
v.
Waltham.
Massachusetts, 1969, 165pp.
Social Policy
and
the
Young Delinquent,
Boss, P., Routledge
and
Kegan Paul Ltd.,
London, 1967.
BOTH of these books
have
something of
interest
and value
to
offer - even if, as in
the case of the Rosenberg
and
Silverstein
book, the something is little more con-
crete
than
an example of how best to an-
tagonise one's readers before presenting
the results of one's
research
labours.
In fact, these
authors
are
at
some pains
to orient their readers to
their
particular
bias, in this case a psycho-sociological
one. They
attempt
to achieve this end
by
discrediting
other
theoretical views -
for example, constitutional theories -
with which they do
not
agree:
. . . even as we write
late
in 1968, a
"new" genetic theory, soberly enter-
tained in scientific circles, is being
trumpeted
through
the
mass media to
acredulous public. This new theory
of crime causation is based upon
alleged chromosomal assortment; it
purports to explain
acts
of violence,
especially
murder
....
To
students
of
crime
and
delinquency,
the
story
has
been twice-told,
then
thrice-told -
and
no end is in sight. Laid to
rest
over
and over, biological determinism keeps
springing back to life. We can only
marvel at the power of this phoenix
The
'l~~g~age
is exaggerated, the tech-
nique of discreditation one of the oldest
in
the
business.
Whatever
their
view of
genetic theories of crime causation, it is
simply
arrogant
and unprofessional to at-
tempt
to gain credence for one's own
views
at
the expense of those held by
1.
See
Australian
"Obscenity
Laws
Quashed,"
January
16, 1971.
2.
Report
by
the
Advisory
Committee
on
Drug
Dependence, 1968, H.M.S.Q., London.
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