NCJ Number
87626
Journal
Public Relations Review Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: special issue (Spring 1982) Pages: 25-30
Date Published
1982
Length
6 pages
Annotation
The breakdown of a moral order with clear-cut rules for behavior based in consideration for others and a commitment to justice has been largely replaced by an amoral pursuit of self-fulfillment, which is a climate conducive to the proliferation of crime.
Abstract
The FBI's uniform crime reports indicate that major violent crimes have more than tripled in two decades. Will Durant, in his work on the history of civilization, states that there 'must be a unifying moral code, some rules of the game of life acknowledged even by those who violate them ... for civilized life to survive.' There are indications that life has degenerated into a game without rules, such that the mental and emotional commitments to the fair and compassionate treatment of others have been dangerously eroded. Those identified as being the most prone to violence -- young minority males -- are also identified as the victims of a society that has brutalized blacks and other minorities. Those who have been brutalized thus become brutal. As the ethic of compassion and fairness has deteriorated, so has the ethic of self-denial. There are fewer and fewer persons committed to hard work, steadfastness, and doing what is expected while suppressing the impulse to put self first. There is little hope that the Reagan Administration's strategy of building more prisons and attempting to gain more convictions will make any impact on crime while the moral order is crumbling.