A Suitable Amount of Crime by Nils Christie

Author:Nils Christie [Christie, Nils]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Criminology
ISBN: 9780415336116
Google: YbtimF5-hykC
Publisher: Psychology Press
Published: 2004-01-15T03:38:15+00:00

5.3 Trivial Truths

And what do we do and say, we, the legions of social scientists around? We know, as a profession, some of the consequences of all this. But we do not tell, not often, not strongly, and particularly, not concretely, with examples and detail. What we have to say is so much against the spirit of our time.

We know about city planning. A large shopping centre is projected outside an old city. Gains: Reduced unemployment during the construction period, increased income to the construction firms and later to the firms running the centres, and probably also a greater assortment of goods and improved conditions for parking. But then the penal costs: Increased number of arrests for shop-lifting, and also the social death of the old city in the neighbourhood, leading to an increased amount of unwanted behaviour. Police and guards become necessary as functional alternatives to the missing counters and the neighbourhood shops.

So, we can say: Dissolve the supermarkets. And let all shops have a counter between customers and commodities.

Or, as an alternative to the methods of the New York subway police, we can say: To reduce penal costs, let no bus or streetcar run without a conductor. Social control carried out by a person who does not give the situation the meaning of having crime control as its primary purpose leads to an increased feeling of security among all passengers. It creates a quieter atmosphere, more co-operation from other passengers and less use of force. But, of course, economic costs: Salaries to conductors minus costs for ticket machines, electronic surveillance, and increase in payment from those who usually do not pay.

Or we might turn really radical and say: Poverty is a relative phenomenon. Reduce the wealth of the rich, and the poor would not be that poor.

We know a lot, if questioned by journalists or others. But, of course, we also know the journalists will not be particularly interested and not come back. They will turn to more useful criminologists, not to free eggheads. I will return to this theme in Chapter 8.

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