NCJ Number
126348
Date Published
1986
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This essay looks at the impact of wars on crime, wars which are actually directed away from the heart of the crime problem since they are erroneously based on established theories of punishment.
Abstract
There is growing recognition that white collar crime far exceeds street crime. White collar offenders have power to claim more victims than poor people, and white collar offenders have relative immunity from punishment. From the point of view of deterrence theory, campaigns against street crime stimulate white collar crime, including the corruption of law enforcement. Reasons for wars on street crime have little to do with fairness or crime prevention since the policy of punishing street crime encourages more crime at the top of the social order. If punishment is indeed necessary and worse crime problems require more punishment, then crime, violence, and social insecurity will undoubtedly escalate. Relief from crimes requires relief from the urge to punish. Relief from the urge to punish requires confidence among parental generations that the generations coming into adulthood will attain positions of honor and economic security. Nonpunitive people must foresee that they gain by giving power to some of those who would otherwise offend them. The free flow of information, known in legal parlance as accountability and standing to be heard, must be guaranteed for people to refrain from punishment and to curtail crime and violence.