Review: Criminology
| Date | 01 April 1935 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X3500800216 |
| Published date | 01 April 1935 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
REVIEWS
CRIMINOLOGY.
By ALBERT
MORRIS.
(Longmans' Social Science
Series, Longmans, Green &Co.) 16s. net.
THIS book is at the same time both depressing and refreshing, depressing
because it reveals the extent, the immense cost to Society of crime at the
present day in the United States and the very small amount that has so
far been accomplished throughout the world in curing this extensive and
costly canker in the body politic: and stimulating because it describes the
determined efforts which are being made by hundreds of earnest workers
to find out the root causes of the disease and to devise if possible means to
eradicate them.
The
subject of the book must be of interest to those whose duty it is
to deal with criminals and to enforce the law which alone defines the criminal.
But most books on criminology are apt to be left unread or only partially
read by normal readers. Mr. Morris has produced a very different volume,
one which is interesting throughout. As he says in his preface, " it purports
to be neither original research nor a bald collection of facts garnered by
others
but
a usable and suggestive arrangement and interpretation of
important work already done in Criminology."
The
book is written from
the American standpoint and deals chiefly with the problems as they occur
in the United States using other countries for comparison. But that does
not greatly lessen its value to us, since it is always well to take the opportunity
of seeing things from a view point other than our own.
Mr. Morris deals with the subject in a very complete manner, starting
with a survey of the general field of criminology, the definition of crime
by law, and its cost to Society, and then takes us through the natural history
of criminals from birth onwards. He next deals with the prevention of
criminal behaviour, the apprehension and conviction of criminals, and
their after treatment. We would like to quote largely from the chapter
on the Police, which gives an historical account of the development of
present-day Police Forces and in which he is unsparing in his criticism
of certain organizations in his own country,
but
we must limit ourselves
to a few sentences. Speaking of the service, he writes (p. 236):
"Ideally,
policemen ought to have the combined virtues of soldier, lawyer, parent,
and diplomat;
but
theirwages are those of an unskilled
labourer";
(p. 260) :
"
There
is no alchemy in a uniform that can transform an everyday man into
apersonification of wisdom and virtue."
Of
patrols he says (p. 239):
"
The
police patrol acts as the eyes and ears of the
department";
and of
third degree methods (p. 244):
"Beyond
adoubt the
third
degree is a
characteristic police method in
the
United States."
~'If
they can give him
a dose before he goes into court, so much the better."
"Yet
in spite
ofthe
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