U.K. Study In Reactions

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31941, 19 March 1969, Page 13

U.K. Study In Reactions

(N.Z.P.A. Stafi Correspondent) LONDON, March 18.

Nine out of 10 people in Britain would tell the police about a telephone kiosk vandal or a man climbing in a window at night, but fewer than one in five would report a drunken driver. A survey published today by Mass-Observation says that five out of 10 people would do nothing if they saw a drunken driver but three out of 10 would themselves intervene. In nine instances of lawbreaking, from not paying a bus fare to stealing a gold watch, it was found by investigators that very few people would take the law into their own hands. But six out of 10 would try to stop a woman beating a child with a stick, whereas only 5 per cent would do nothing. Of those who would intervene, 25 per cent would tell the woman to stop, 11 per cent would take the stick away, and 10 per cent would hit the woman. Most said they would stop her without specifying how. Sympathy with minor crimes or recognition of their material insignicance was reflected in many of the answers. Eight out of 10 people for instance, would do nothing about a man not paying his fare, and more than five out of 10 would do nothing about a woman shoplifting a bar of chocolate.