Mysteries of Police and Crime

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, New Age, History, Fiction & Literature
Cover of the book Mysteries of Police and Crime by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths, Library of Alexandria
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Arthur George Frederick Griffiths ISBN: 9781465604194
Publisher: Library of Alexandria Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
ISBN: 9781465604194
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint:
Language: English
It may be said that society itself creates the crimes that most beset it. If the good things of life were more evenly distributed, if everyone had his rights, if there were no injustice, no oppression, there would be no attempts to readjust an unequal balance by violent or flagitious means. There is some force in this, but it is very far from covering the whole ground, and it cannot excuse many forms of crime. Crime, indeed, is the birthmark of humanity, a fatal inheritance known to the theologians as original sin. Crime, then, must be constantly present in the community, and every son of Adam may, under certain conditions, be drawn into it. To paraphrase a great saying, some achieve crime, some have it thrust upon them; but most of us (we may make the statement without subscribing to all the doctrines of the criminal anthropologists) are born to crime. The assertion is as old as the hills; it was echoed in the fervent cry of pious John Bradford when he pointed to the man led out to execution, “There goes John Bradford but for the grace of God!” Criminals are manufactured both by social cross-purposes and by the domestic neglect which fosters the first fatal predisposition. “Assuredly external factors and circumstances count for much in the causation of crime,” says Maudsley. The preventive agencies are all the more necessary where heredity emphasises the universal natural tendency. The taint of crime is all the more potent in those whose parentage is evil. The germ is far more likely to flourish into baleful vitality if planted by congenital depravity. This is constantly seen with the offspring of criminals. But it is equally certain that the poison may be eradicated, the evil stamped out, if better influences supervene betimes. Even the most ardent supporters of the theory of the “born criminal” admit that this, as some think, imaginary monster, although possessing all the fatal characteristics, does not necessarily commit crime. The bias may be checked; it may lie latent through life unless called into activity by certain unexpected conditions of time and chance. An ingenious refinement of the old adage, “Opportunity makes the thief,” has been invented by an Italian scientist, Baron Garofalo, who declares that “opportunity only reveals the thief”; it does not create the predisposition, the latent thievish spirit.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
It may be said that society itself creates the crimes that most beset it. If the good things of life were more evenly distributed, if everyone had his rights, if there were no injustice, no oppression, there would be no attempts to readjust an unequal balance by violent or flagitious means. There is some force in this, but it is very far from covering the whole ground, and it cannot excuse many forms of crime. Crime, indeed, is the birthmark of humanity, a fatal inheritance known to the theologians as original sin. Crime, then, must be constantly present in the community, and every son of Adam may, under certain conditions, be drawn into it. To paraphrase a great saying, some achieve crime, some have it thrust upon them; but most of us (we may make the statement without subscribing to all the doctrines of the criminal anthropologists) are born to crime. The assertion is as old as the hills; it was echoed in the fervent cry of pious John Bradford when he pointed to the man led out to execution, “There goes John Bradford but for the grace of God!” Criminals are manufactured both by social cross-purposes and by the domestic neglect which fosters the first fatal predisposition. “Assuredly external factors and circumstances count for much in the causation of crime,” says Maudsley. The preventive agencies are all the more necessary where heredity emphasises the universal natural tendency. The taint of crime is all the more potent in those whose parentage is evil. The germ is far more likely to flourish into baleful vitality if planted by congenital depravity. This is constantly seen with the offspring of criminals. But it is equally certain that the poison may be eradicated, the evil stamped out, if better influences supervene betimes. Even the most ardent supporters of the theory of the “born criminal” admit that this, as some think, imaginary monster, although possessing all the fatal characteristics, does not necessarily commit crime. The bias may be checked; it may lie latent through life unless called into activity by certain unexpected conditions of time and chance. An ingenious refinement of the old adage, “Opportunity makes the thief,” has been invented by an Italian scientist, Baron Garofalo, who declares that “opportunity only reveals the thief”; it does not create the predisposition, the latent thievish spirit.

More books from Library of Alexandria

Cover of the book Schopenhauer by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
Cover of the book Ein Kampf Um Rom (Complete) by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
Cover of the book Phoebe, Junior by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
Cover of the book Letters of Lord Acton to Mary, Daughter of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
Cover of the book The Talisman from the Russian of Alexander Pushkin With Other Pieces by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
Cover of the book The Oera Linda Book by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
Cover of the book From a Swedish Homestead by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
Cover of the book The Family Among the Australian Aborigines: A Sociological Study by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
Cover of the book The Stolen White Elephant by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
Cover of the book La Vuelta De Martín Fierro by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
Cover of the book The Boy Scout Camera Club, or, the Confession of a Photograph by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
Cover of the book Henry Martyn Saint and Scholar: First Modern Missionary to The Mohammedans, 1781-1812 by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
Cover of the book Páginas escogidas by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
Cover of the book Of Prognostics by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
Cover of the book Alice Cogswell Bemis: A Sketch by a Friend by Arthur George Frederick Griffiths
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy