CAUSES OF CRIME

Southland Times, Issue 23989, 2 December 1939, Page 15

CAUSES OF CRIME

To The Editor

Sir, —During recent weeks two statements on the above subject have appeared in the Press. On the one hand emphasis has been placed on the importance of the social order as a factor in crime causation; on the other, a learned judge, after commenting on this view and also on the view that crime is purely a medical question, states that “it (crime) is not so simple as that.” With this last view we cordially agree. From the judge’s further statements one gathers that while he is willing to admit that mental defect may sometimes be responsible, the great majority appear to be normal in intelligence; many, he says, “are above normal, but their moral sense is blunted.” It appears to us that these statements are also an over-simplifica-tion of the problem. The causative factors are undoubtedly complex, involving as they do the whole human personality as well as all the environmental factors acting on that personality. We suggest that the complexity of the problem indicates that we need all the scientific help possible in solving it—help especially from those whose training and ability equips them for this work, namely, the psychiatrist and the trained social worker, both of whom are conspicuously absent in our penal system. We would still need judges to see that the accused was tried justly and to decide the question of guilt or otherwise.—Yours, etc., N.Z. HOWARD LEAGUE FOR PENAL REFORM. Auckland, November 28, 1939.