About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

423 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. vii (1976)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0423 and id is 1 raw text is: PREFACE We conduct our lives on the basis of many realities. Some of these realities depend on the flimsiest assumptions-such as the assumption of expecting consistent and predictable behaviors in social relationships. Other realities border on the delusional-such as the working hypothesis that one will always be here tomorrow. But generally, realities are a mixture of both extremes-of certainty and uncertainty, of myth and fact. The cultural context of crime is no exception. Although probably everyone has been victimized to some degree or another by crime- ranging from the imposition of higher retail prices because of shop- lifting to a direct victimization in a mugging-the reality of crime varies with one's closeness to or remoteness from it. Our scientific know- ledge of crime can only be secondhand-we must rely on officials' re- ports, victims' reports, or self-admissions. In this sense, crime achieves a kind of phantom nature and is therefore highly susceptible to imaginary interpretations. But the treatment of crime in America has not been so much imaginary as visionary. The American republic was founded upon a vision, and Americans have remained idealists and visionaries ever since. It is often argued that America has sacrificed its ideals for material growth. Of course, this is patently false. Its very ideal has been material growth, and by world standards it has achieved a very high level. America's poor are a long way from the poorest in the world. Cynics would ob- serve that idealists, like Don Quixote, invariably come to grief. And in- deed, it would seem that Americans have paid a price for their idealism. Crime has kept well in step with each social reform and each increase in material wealth. Has the time come for an about-face? As academic research and theory have more and more emphasized the unreal qualities of crime-its social construction, its dark figure (the underworld?)--the people and the government have insisted upon its realities, especially of being cheated, raped, or mugged. There can be no simple answers. Let the government act upon these realities as it must. A people and its leaders generate their own myths. This is the stuff on which a national culture is built. Crime is not created by these myths, but rather it is given its meaning by them. Indeed, crime may alter its outward forms as the patterns of culture change; hence, the specific increases in female crime. But crime is endemic to every kind of complex society. One may therefore argue that crime is not only not bad but even ordinary, so that an idealism which seeks to eradicate crime is indeed misplaced, even romantic. To celebrate our 200th year of crime, I have tried to bring together a number of papers which (1) trace some historical origins of crime and justice in America; (2) examine some cultural expressions of crime through fact, fiction, and policy; and (3) are themselves representative of the cultural context of crime. Some of the papers attempt to destroy myths; others to comprehend them. Still others try to break out of the visionary mold and plead for rationality. We have on our hands, Wilkins says, a mad, vii

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most