NCJ Number
74703
Date Published
1980
Length
22 pages
Annotation
Current patterns of crime and the present criminal justice system are discussed as the manifestations of four long-term modernization processes: industrialization, the growth of the cities, the expansion of the State's power, and the humanization of interpersonal relations.
Abstract
The industrialization process brought together large numbers of rural workers in cities for production purposes and resulted in economic and social inequalities, economic distress, and social dislocation. These factors caused increased crime rates and demands for property protection, while increases in available wealth provided the resources for the organization of the criminal justice system. In the cities' heterogeneous populations, traditional values and mores broke down and sime deviant, predatory subgroups grew up. The growth of urban areas had a comples effect on crime. Although the incidence of crime may not have increased, awareness and fear of crime grew, and the newly developed industrial social order created logical criminal code, professional policing systems, and a weighted penal system. The growth in power of nation States brought about a centralization of criminal justice activity, an increase in interest group activity, and a broadening of the government participation base to include those other than the socioeconomically elite. This resulted in a reformation of criminal justice policy. The humanization of society has resulted in a general decrease in violent crime and a general increase in property crime. Changes in police priorities have paralleled these changes. Penal practices have been made less harsh. Demodernization and deindustrialization may affect crime in unexpected ways; for example, property criminals may abandon the decaying older cities for the developing new ones. Notes which include references are included.