Recent Book: Society against Crime
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8205500228 |
| Date | 01 April 1982 |
| Published date | 01 April 1982 |
| Author | Victor Quinn |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
field of studies of deviance. Whilst
accepting that the authors are basically
from the same general area of the North
American continent, this does not belittle
their integrity and esteem but it should be
remembered that they are writing about
law and associated topics from the base
of a culture with a rigid constitution and
this shows through at times to the extent
that the British reader may find some
comments incompatible with his general
understanding of contemporary English
concepts.
As a development upon this criticism,
it is noticeable that the traditional
heavyweights of the academic world in
this field, such as Cohen, are not even
mentioned in any of the bibliographies
let alone recognized in the text. Due
credit must therefore be givento Ross for
his capture of original writers and his
skill in knitting together their work into a
very readable book on this polemic
subject. E.R.F.
COLIN
MOORE
and
JOHN
BROWN: Community Versus Crime
London: Bedford Square Press. £4.95
Mr. Gerald Cooke, Clerk to theLeicester
City Magistrates for the last decade, was
reported recently as stating that his
courts are overloaded and overworked
with "trivia" - his description of much
of the work the courts have to carry out.
Certainly, regular practitioners in the
courts would agree with the description
and this perhaps raises the controversial
issue as to why the police bother with
such trivia and don't exercise more
discretion.
One aspect of the situation is that the
police still measure their effectiveness by
the number of cases brought to court,
despite the recent Home Office statement
that less than 10%ofall crime committed
is reported to the police, and a wide
variety of evidence that the police have
little impact on crime. Another is that
chief officers, despite all the evidence to
show how unreliable criminal statistics
are, still use such figures to attempt to
allay public concern, or to try and
persuade the Home Office to allocate
more research resources.
To do so would require traditional
assumptions about the nature of policing
to be thrust aside and in Community
versus Crime Colin Moore, who led the
Crime Prevention Support Unit of the
Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, has
clearly had to completely re-think many
of the assumptions acquired during 17
years policing.
Readers are offered a descriptive
analysis of the methods used to collect
information on crime, how this was
plotted
geographically,
and
then
disseminated and used as a catalyst for
activating police, statutory agencies,
voluntary and community organizations
to co-operate more effectively to control
local crime as wellas develop communal
strategies in this sphere.
The Crime Support Unit was the
brainchild of Devon and Cornwall's
Chief Constable, John Alderson, whose
beliefs,that the police cannot fight crime
unaided and that the most effective
strategy is to mobilize real community
support, are fundamental to the
development of real community policing.
In the current debate on Scarman and
the direction which policing must take if
the challenge of the remainder of this
century and the early years of the next is
to be met, this book is a most important
contribution. It reveals that it is
insufficient for officers to be appointed
as community relations officers without
the appropriate rank and the back-up
resources to do the necessary work.
Although the modes of policy and
practice described have an intrinsic value
this book is a most valuable DIY guide
for all who are interested in the
development of communal strategies for
crime control,whether the areas are rural
or urban. KEN RUSSELL
HOWARD
JONES
(Editor): Society Against Crime
Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. £3.95
The central issues in the current debate rection, delinquency, sentencing, prisons
about crime - punishment -or cor- arid alternatives, and probation - are
200 April
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