The Social Aspects of Crime in England between the Wars
- Author:
Dr Hermann Mannheim.
Allen & Unwin. 18s.
Dr Hermann Mannheim is to be congratu- lated on this careful study and criticism of the work done in this country on the social aspects of crime during a crucial period.
It has, of course, always been somewhat hazardous to deal with crime statistically, since figures cannot cover certain essential data ?psychological, sociological, medical, etc.
Especially we must remember that statistics do not deal with personalities but exclusively with types. In using the statistical methods, however, Dr Mannheim is well aware of this, and we are grateful that he not only directs our attention to it, but gives?we think for the first time?a critical survey of English Criminal Statistics.
In this survey only the social aspects of crime are dealt with, but reference is often made to essential psychological and medical factors. In an excellent chapter Dr Mannheim refers to some of the effects of the general increase of insecurity at the end of the last war. Deteriora- tion in economic status, gradual diminution of the individual’s respect for state property and increased mental instability led to delinquency he shows: but the psychologist will add: “in specially predisposed personalities “. Unem- ployment, strikes and alcoholism all produce similar effects.
Dr Mannheim devotes a substantial part of his book to the problem of Juvenile Delin- quency. He believes that the growing restric- tions imposed on emigration from England after the last war must have increased consider- ably the extent of Juvenile Delinquency. That is to say, emigration ceased to play any part as a method of disposal. This is a typically statistical result, and it must remain doubtful as long as we are unable to follow up the pre- delinquent personalities of these offenders and their future development. Dr Mannheim further mentions the importance of street trading as one of the main causative factors in Juvenile Delinquency?or, more exactly, of unskilled or blind-alley jobs. Such occupations are a root cause of instability and unrest, both sociologically and psychologically, and they produce the attitude we so often find in this group of offenders. Dr Mannheim gives here an exhaustive picture based on the report of more than one thousand Borstal cases.
A small chapter deals with female delinquency and prostitution. Here again we have to rely solely on figures; we cannot trace the essential psychological causes or the family background. In comparing statistical groups of male and female offenders it is interesting to note that there is a tendency for the difference between the figures for the two sexes to become smaller with increasing age. For example, where there are 806 male offenders between 10 and 14, and 183-5 between 40 and 50, there are 44-4 and 43-7 respectively on the female side. Dr. Mannheim considers that the decline in these differences is due not only to a deterioration in the social behaviour of the women, but mainly to a very considerable improvement on the part of the men, with approaching age. From these statistics a superficial reader might easily conclude that the female is more predisposed to unsocial ” habits ” than the male, which is untrue, because data which are vital for the medical psychologist are omitted; so many medical as well as psychological factors may contribute to these differences between the sexes.
From our point of view, therefore, it is more essential to note that the female group of offenders is at its peak between the ages of 16 and 21, and that the decrease in the same group bears no proportion to the figures of the male group. In the latter there is a per- manent decrease which is not the case in the female group.
Sociologists will be interested in an unusual chapter on ” Methods of Business Administra- tion ” which opens with the sentence: “The criminologist who tries to lay bare the principal driving forces making for crime in a given society cannot fail to place a rather heavy responsibility at the door of this ‘ acquisitive society ‘ itself Dr Mannheim then goes on to describe the possible effects of certain forms of business on certain types of crime. This chapter starts a train of thought which we cannot afford to neglect since we hope that another ” post-war world ” will be upon us soon, with a still greater opportunity for reconstruction. By that time Dr Mannheim’s book should be on many shelves, ready to make its valuable contribution. Paul Plaut, M.D., Ph.D. (Berlin).
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