JOHN SPENCER. Crime and the Services. Pp. xii, 306. London: Routledge, and Kegan Paul, 1954. $6.00
| Published date | 01 July 1955 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271625530000155 |
| Author | Hans Von Hentig |
| Date | 01 July 1955 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
160
clude :
the
establishment
of
an
effective
military
reserve
system;
radical
changes
in
our
immigration
restrictions,
which
would
favor
in
practice
skilled
workers
and
tech-
nicians
regardless
of
national
quotas;
more
vigorous
government-supported
apprentice-
ship
programs;
and
an
educational
cam-
paign
aimed
at
the
elimination
of
dis-
crimination
against
minority
groups,
which
would
broaden
the
base
from
which
skilled
workers
might
be
drawn.
The
study
does
not
attempt
to set
up
yardsticks
for
measuring
the
desirable
and
needed
strength
for
skilled
manpower.
The
heavy
reliance
upon
government
as
an
ac-
tive
agency
for
increasing
the
numbers
of
skilled
workers
and
technicians
might
be
objectionable
to
some.
The
stress
laid
upon
the
supposed
impact
the
declining
wage
differentials
between
skilled
and
un-
skilled
workers
have
upon
the
drop
in
the
number
of
skilled
workers
needs
further
examination.
Nevertheless,
the
National
Manpower
Commission
has
performed
a
vital
service.
It
has
called
the
nation’s
attention
to
a
serious
weakness
in
our
national
security.
The
facts
concerning
the
deficiencies
in
our
manpower
utilization
are
presented
concisely
and
lucidly.
The
program
sug-
gested
by
the
Commission
and
its
staff
de-
serves
the
serious
attention
of
all
those
en-
gaged
in
shaping
our
manpower
policies
and
resources.
SAR
A.
LEVITAN
Library
of
Congress
JOHN
SPENCER.
Crime
and
the
Services.
Pp.
xii,
306.
London:
Routledge,
and
Kegan
Paul,
1954.
$6.00.
Crime
and
the
Services
can
claim
the
credit
for
having
introduced
finer
shades
into
the
broad
simplification
of
&dquo;war.&dquo;
There
is
an
essential
difference
between
barrack-square
and
battlefield,
home
serv-
ice
and
oversea
service,
the
serviceman
who
had
been
wounded,
was
prisoner
of
war
or
had
worked
as
waiter
at
the
Offi-
cer’s
mess
at
the
Isle
of
Wight,
had
been
in
the
army,
the
navy
or
the
airforce,
not
to
speak
of
the
distinction
between
peace
and
war.
The
term
used
by
the
writer
covers
all
the
activities
and
experiences
of
the
man
who
has
been
put
into
uniform.
Spencer
rejects
the
tradition
of
the
&dquo;brutal
and
licentious
soldiery.&dquo;
He
is
in-
clined
to
find
criminogenic
influences
of
service
life
rather
in
the
breakup
of
the
family,
the
interruption
of
working
life,
and
contrasts
in
the
standard
of
living.
At
the
same
time,
the
writer
is
quite
aware
of
other
precipitating
factors:
the
effects
of
the
all-male
community
(involving
drink-
ing,
promiscuity,
gambling,
and
so
forth),
the
changed
attitudes
toward
property,
the
training
in
the
school
of
aggressiveness,
de-
structiveness,
and
physical
subduing.
The
brutal
type
is
given
every
opportunity
of
lawfully,
even
meritoriously
expressing
his
atavistic
impulses.
The
author
does
not
think
that
Commando
training
will
set
free
brutish
instincts.
I
do
not
quite
agree.
I
have
known
rapists
in
the
United
States
who
gave
the
excuse
that
they
just
had
performed
a
&dquo;raid,&dquo;
as
they
had
been
taught
in
battle
courses,
where
overwhelm-
ing
is
practised
and
all
technical
details
are
picked
up.
The
author,
himself,
mentions
the
case
of
a
man
who
had
been
given
Commando
training
in
blowing
safes
with
a
minimum
of
noise.
He
was
sentenced
in
1951
for
safe
blowing
at
home.
He
touches
upon
a
crucial
issue.
Since
half
of
the
military
crimes
consists
of
de-
sertion,
and
since
living
underground
de-
mands
a
chain
of
criminal
activities
would
an
amnesty,
perhaps
not
justified
in
itself,
cut
short
this
unavoidably
&dquo;appended&dquo;
de-
linquency,
and
thereby
be
sound
criminal
policy?
I
have
referred
to
only
few
of
the
problems
involved
which
may
be
of
general
interest-John
Spencer
has
written
a
book
which,
I
hope,
will
be
as
provoca-
tive
to
the
services
as
it is
to
the
crimi-
nologist.
HANS
VON
HENTIG
Bonn,
Germany
PHILOSOPHY
AND
RELIGION
REBECCA
WEST.
A
Train
of
Powder.
Pp.
310.
New
York:
Viking
Press,
1955.
$3.75.
This
latest
book
by
Cicily
Isabel Fair-
field,
known
throughout
the
world
as
Re-
becca
West,
makes
it
clear
once
more
that
To continue reading
Request your trial