Recent Book: Identification of Thumb Impressions and Cross Examination of Fingerprint Experts
| Date | 01 April 1981 |
| Published date | 01 April 1981 |
| Author | G. S. Bragg |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8105400216 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
very smallest groupings of primitive men.
the extent has probably been very small
but in the
urban
cultures of the past and
of the present crime has always been a
major factor. The problem is apparently
unresolvable. Why some people are
criminals and
others
are not is the
question
that
cannot
be answered.
From
apragmatic point of view the problem
resolves itself
into
one of containment.
How to keep crime within manageable
proportions so
that
the quality of life in
urban society is not so diminished as to
make it no longer worthwhile. We have
made no appreciable progress inthe past
and the situation itself has grown
progressively worse. As long as we
continue to pay attention to the kind
of drivel
that
is produced in articles
similar to those in this collection
it is hard to see that any solution will ever
be found. But where the solution lies I do
not know. What is the price that we can
afford to pay for freedom'!
What
is the
price we can afford to pay for order')
There can be no freedom without order.
M.NORTH
Edited
b~
Dll'liCAN
CHAPPEI.I
and
PAIII.
R.
WII.SO'li.
The Australian Criminal
Justice Svstem.
Sydney: Butterworths. 2nd Edition. 1977.528 pages. $45.
Since the early 1970s there has been a
major expansion in Australia in criminal
justice research activities stimulated
largely by efforts of the Australian
Institute of Criminology. There has been
asteady stream of research and statistical
reports concerning a wide range of
criminal justice topics generated by the
New
South
Wales Bureau of Crime
Statistics and Research. The book under
review is an end result of this movement.
The book is a collection of articles by
lawyers. criminologists. correctional
workers. researchers. sociologists and
other
academics, which constitutesa text
on Australian criminology.
About
one-
half
of the articles are original. the
remainder being reprints from a number
of
Australian
law
reviews
and
professional publications. The selections
are divided into nine sections covering
trends in crime
and
criminal justice.
minority groups
and
the criminal justice
system. juvenile delinquency, police and
police powers, sentencing. prisons. semi-
custodial and noncustodial sentences,
victims, and criminal justice reform. The
articles are of generally high quality
written by experts in their fields.
Australia faces some of the same
problems in criminal justice as does the
United States: police-society problems.
minority over-representation in prisons,
dilemmas of reform.
Long
an isolated
outpost
of Great Britain. Australia is
increasingly adjusting itself to the
realities of declining British influence
and its close geographic and political
proximity to Asia. In this regard. W.
Clifford. Director of the Australian
Institute of Criminology comments in his
closing
article.
"Prospects
and
Dilemmas."
"Australia has in recent years been
widening its international interests and
this is particularly
important
for its
criminology. It has followed too closely
in the past the models provided for it by
the West. In the treatment of crime and
criminals a slavish following of the West
intellectually or practically can mean
only greater problems of crime and
making the older mistakes all over again.
A
broader
perspective is required. not
only to
take
advantage of Australia's
undoubted
prospects to do something
different and more effectively in crime
prevention. but also to resolve the
internal
dilemmas
now
affecting
criminology as well as the
other
sciences."
The readings in this well-edited
volume are interesting
and
challenging; it
is a worthy
addition
to the bookshelves
of
the
criminologist
researching
comparative
legal
systems
and
criminology.
DANIEL
P. KING
M.
K.
MEHTA:
Identification
of
Thumb Impressions and Cross Examination
of
Fingerprint Experts.
N. M.
Tripathi
Private Ltd., Bombay.
Regardless of the
number
of persons, employed on the identification of
throughout
the world, who
are.
fully persons by means of their fingerprints.
182 April 1981
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