GROWTH OF CRIME

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22949, 29 January 1938, Page 4 (Supplement)

GROWTH OF CRIME

ALARMING TENDENCIES An important and lather disquieting review of tendencies in modern crime, in which the author lays heavy blame oil society for the criminals that not only exist but continue to .flourish in increasing numbers, is given by Mr. Henrv T. F. Rhodes, in "The Criminals We Deserve." Mr. Rhodes s|>caks with authority, as he is associated with the Institute of Criminology, University of Lyons, and the International Academy of Criminology. No time is lost by Mr. Rhodes in issuing his challenge to society. "Mass production is something more than an industrial technique," lie says in his opening paragraph. 'We mass-produce everything Irom public opinion to motor-car bodies; and we mass-produce criminals, too." The heart of the problem has not been touched by more humane laws, better social services and improved conditions, the author states. In a sense they have made it worse, as slums and education have been massproduced at the snipe time. There is n tragic contradiction in the instilling of capacity to appreciate or desire better conditions without there being adequate machinery to satisfy such desires.

Tho growth of organised crime, typified by tho enormous ramifications of the illicit drily; traffic. i.s one of the most disturbing factors discussed b) Mr. JMiodes. He shows that gangsterdoni is not confined to Chicago, and that in spite of the efforts of society to keep crime out of sight, malefactor* working on strict business lines continue to increase, and to prosper. Various aspects of crime, tho tendencies that produce the murderer, the incendiarist, the forger, the swindler niul the sexual offender, are given their share of Mr. JUiodes' book. Perhaps the most interesting section is that dealing with punishment of offenders Humane and common-sense principles are advocated, and Mr. Rhodes sums up neatly, thus: "Our punishments, no less than our criminals, are the sympton of the decline of a system which is quickly outliving its usefulness. It creates many more criminals than it cures, by confirming in them that anti-sociality which is an amplified function of its own delects and failure. We not only create, but perpetuate in our penal system, the kind of criminal we deserve."

m '!J'ie Crirninals We Deserve," by Henry 1. 11.I 1 . Rhodes. (Methuon.)