OBSOLESCENCE OF CRIME FORMS (FROM CRIME PREVENTION STUDIES, VOLUME 2, P 149-163, 1994, RONALD V CLARKE, ED. -- SEE NCJ-147834)

• NCJ Number: 147840
• Author(s): D P Walsh
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: Criminal Justice Press/Willow Tree Press
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Although little attention has been paid to why offenses become obsolete, it is necessary to consider reasons for past successes in the context of attempts to reduce crime.

Abstract

A preliminary classification of reasons for the obsolescence of 24 offenses is presented. Reasons encompass legal abolition, court action, action by police and customs officials, economic and social change, and population density. Offenses include voter bribery, eavesdropping, traffic-related violations, and safebreaking. The author contends that the issue of how new offenses are created may affect their eventual prevention and that deliberate crime prevention actions have only limited success. The author also believes that offense obsolescence is largely the unintended consequence of economic and social change and that crimes stop when certain inevitable change processes overpower them. 17 references and 1 note