Commentary
| Published date | 01 December 1966 |
| Date | 01 December 1966 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X6603901201 |
| Subject Matter | Commentary |
Tbe Crime War
Society's struggle with its criminal elements is often described in
terms of war and battle. This is misleadingly inexact. What kind
of a war is it in which the opposing forces are not ordered by any
central commands and in which the great majority of the people
whose future is at stake take no valid interest?
There is a very great need for those who are directly concerned
in the fight against crime to gain a much better idea of each other's
business. Everyone engaged in that chain of processes which
begins with the discovery of an offence and ends with the rehabili-
tation of an offender should be aware of the partnership into
which, whether they like it or not, they have irrevocably entered.
The criminologists, it has been thought, might do much to pro-
mote mutual understanding, but even they are only too apt to
tum out to be mere specialists, devoted to their own branch of
inquiry, legal, penal, sociological or whatever it may be.
If
the
process, which has tentatively begun, of sharing the kinds of know-
ledge that all workers in the criminal field possess, is not rapidly
accelerated, the whole effort will be infinitely less effective than
the magnitude and complexity of
the
problem demand.
There are some signs of progress. The innocent victim of a
crime, for instance, is no longer merely a witness, struggling on
his own with loss and injury, inconvenienced by the legal pro-
cess and often browbeaten into the bargain by defending counsel,
By a simple measure, long denied to him by the Jeremiahs who
said it wouldn't work, he can now be compensated from public
funds earmarked for the purpose. This at least has done some-
thing to create confidence in law and order on the part of people
who previously had no notion of police help or court procedure.
But the experienced criminal knows only too well that there is
no real co-ordination of the forces he has to deal with. He soon
learns to play on their disunity. He is well aware that the courts
are at the mercy of nicetieshis defence can tum to his advantage.
It
is to be hoped that the promised Criminal Justice Act will
give society better protection in this respect.
It
is only fair to say that the police have not been backward
in seeking to improve their relations with other services and with
the general public. The crime prevention developments have done
a good deal in this way, as well as the youth work to which so
many police
officers
give their leisure, and much has been achieved
December 1966 592
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