NCJ Number
74679
Date Published
1980
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Written from the perspecitve of a liberal Australian criminologist, this paper argues for a reassessment of the effectiveness of the criminal justice and penalty sytems as modifiers of crime rates.
Abstract
Education of the public at large is deemed a task to be performed cheifly by the mass media, expecially the newspapers; the true amount of crime and the real criminals amidst the population should be revealed. This will lead to changes of emphasis on the measures required to reduce crime and to the alteration of many of the enculturated sexual and human values derived from Judeo-Christian morality in Western societies. The American neuropsychologists James W. Prescott formulated the theory (defended in this study) that the principal cause of human violence is a lack of bodily pleasure during the formative periods of life. School programs in sexual and human relations should be modified to stress understanding of human sexuality and affectionate interpersonal relations, rather than emphasizing sexual continence, monogamy, and the family as the key preventor of juvenile delinquency. White-collar crime by the powerful and the hitherto relatively untouchable should be exposed and the community educated to its extent, even in the absence of current legislation to deal with it. Property crimes committed by the inadequate cound be dealt with by using the technologies already available to reduce opportunity and improve liability to detection. The perpetrators of most violent crimes fall in the category of the deprived according to Prescott's theory. The behaviors of socially handicapped individuals (e.g., homosexuals, prostitutes, alcoholics, and other social nuisances) should be decriminalized and the criminal justice system should be reformed to reflect progressive values. Nine references are appended.