REVIEWS
| Date | 01 July 1941 |
| Published date | 01 July 1941 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1941.tb00882.x |
REVIEWS
WAR
m.
By
HERMANN
MANNHEIM.
London, Watts
&
Co.,
Dr. Mannheim
is
a distinguished refugee lawyer, and now lecturer
in
Criminology
at
the London School of Economics.
By
his former publica-
tions in English.
The Dilemma of Penal Reform
and
Social Aspects of
Crime
in
Englad,
he has given considerable impetus to the study of crime and
punishment in this country. In
his
new
book
he shows
that
by war two
trains of thought are set in motion in the criminologist. The one is con-
cerned with the influence of war upon crime.
It
is scientific, mainly
technical and analyses the data of social statistics
;
the second is mainly
philosophical, and tries to derive enlightenment and help from the applica-
tion of the notions of crime and punishment upon war itself.
The
book
is based on
a
course of lectures delivered during February
and March,
1940.
Though it has been expanded to include the material
published during the first half of
1940,
including the Report of the Com-
missioner of the Metropolitan Police for
1939
and a careful study of the
daily press,
it
can naturally not yet arrive at a detailed account of the
influence of the present war on the crime situation.
It
gives, however, a very clear forecast of what we have to expect
from the impact of war on lawlessness and what we shall have to cope
with under conditions of total warfare.
The main lessons
of
this part are derived from a consideration of the
world war,
1914-1918,
and other wars preceding it; most interesting of
these is
a
discussion of the difficulties to arrive at the real facts of the
situation, because of our ambiguous conceptions of crime and the pitfalls
of the usual statistics.
The notion of crime covers different acts forbidden by different
societies, and under the influence of war crimes against property, sexual
crimes or crimes of violence may move in entirely different directions.
For the criminologist, to whom the question
of
individual, i.e. biological
and psychological factors versus external, mostly economic and social
factors in the causation of crime is ever present. war is but
a
tremendous
experiment, a change of environment which allows
him
to study
its
influence on crime.
Contrary to expectations, crimes against property tend to diminish at
least in the first part of a war. War is a negative process of selection, as the
fittest and strongest go into battle leaving the weak and inferior behind.
These latter, who previously could only with great difficulty find an oppor-
tunity of making use of their labour, and were consequently always falling
into crime of different
kinds,
now suddenly find themselves in great de-
mand, as they, being morally or physically disqualified from active service,
are the only working hands to be found. Their economic position improves,
they are put in the way of satisfying many
of
their needs without resorting
to
crime and, consequently, the number of crimes committed
falls
abruptly.
If
one considers further that those who have joined the armed forces
either have
no
opportunity of breaking the law, or
at
least, as they are
subject to martial law, not in such a way as
to
appear in statistics,
criminality must show a marked decrease.
On the other hand deteriorating economic conditions, scarcity of food,
dothing and luxuries, may cause a passionate and feverish desire which
1941.
pp.
k,
208.
18s.
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