CRIME: PART 1: THE ABSENCE OF ACCEPTABLE AUTHORITY

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CRIME: PART 1: THE ABSENCE OF ACCEPTABLE AUTHORITY
refdoc August=1991

JOURNAL ARTICLE , User Ref = 010138 , Acc Date = 01-Dec-86
S Benton
New Statesman, 14 Nov 1986 112(2903) pp6-8,10

Concern about rising crime is now common to both ends of the
political spectrum and many people believe it is a result of a
general breakdown in respect for authority and law and order.
Recent opinion polls also show a decline in the belief in police
efficiency and probity. Crime statistics do not necessarily bear
out any of these beliefs and there is a interesting distinction
between what the public views as crime and what more objective
moral assessments say it is. Fraud, bribery, corruption and tax
evasion are widely regarded as not `real' crime and many people
confine their fears to the activities of the working class: the
feeling that indiscipline among the `lower orders' threatens the
stability of society as a whole is a potent one and there is
general pessimism about the ability of crime prevention
strategies to do anything about it. As long as mass unemployment
persists the disaffected working class youth has little reason
to opt for respectability when he can make a better living from
crime.

United Kingdom, penal system

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