Citizen's Bookshelf...

The following books about various aspects of the crime problem are suggested by Prof. Ralph P. Holben of the Department of Sociology.

CRIME IN AMERICA. Estes Kefauver. Edited by Sidney Shallet (Doubleday). This book is a readable condensation of the testimony brought out at the hearings of the Special Senate Committee investigating crime. Definite proof is presented that a nation-wide crime syndicate does exist in this country and that corruption among public officials has sunk to a new low. One of the more disquieting revelations concerns the infiltration of legitimate business by known racketeers and hoodlums. Senator Kefauver is by no means without hope that this crime syndicate can be smashed.

CONTEMPORARY CORRECTION. Paul W. Tappan (McGraw-Hill). This book is a notable addition to the literature of correctional penology. The coverage of the book is comprehensive. Among the topics covered are various types of correctional institutions, specialized methods employed in them as well as extramural forms of treatment, developments in the Youth Correctional Authority field and recent developments in treatment techniques such as group therapy and case work methods in probation and parole.

MY SIX CONVICTS. Donald Powell Wilson (Rinehart). This is undoubtedly an interesting book. In the view of many prominent prison officials much in the book is fiction rather than fact. The book, however, does stimulate the reader to be favorable to the rehabilitative function of prisons and can, in that respect, be recommended to the public. Dr. Wilson's discussion of his six prisoners shows sympathy and real understanding of them as human beings.

DELINQUENTS IN THE MAKING:PATHS TO PREVENTION. Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck (Harper). The findings of this important book represent ten years of intensive research by a group of experts into the causes of juvenile delinquency. A comparison was made of 500 delinquents and 500 nondelinquents in order to determine what led half of this group of 1000 boys to become law-breakers while the other half grew up as law-abiding citizens. The book is particularly valuable because clues are offered to spot the potential criminal at the critical early age.

DELINQUENCY CONTROL (Revised edition). Lowell J. Carr (Harper). The point of view of this book is that juvenile delinquency as a social problem is capable of solution. Dr. Carr has had practical experience in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of delinquent behavior. The book explains procedures that have worked and can therefore serve as a valuable guide to parents and public officials who are confronted with this problem.

PROBATION AND PAROLE. David Dressier (Columbia Univ. Press). Anyone interested in securing information about present thinking in the practice of probation and parole can find it in this book. What is good practice in this important field of extra-institutional treatment of criminals is given clear explanation.

THE CRIMINALITY OF WOMEN. Otto Pollack (Univ. of Pennsylvania Press). It has always been thought that the male is more criminal than the female. The author succeeds in demonstrating that this notion is nothing more than a myth. The real sex differential in criminality is not clearly indicated by statistics. Women only appear to be less criminal than men because so much of their criminality is not detected or prosecuted and hence not recorded.

ALCATRAZ ISLAND PRISON. James A. Johnston (Scribners). This book affords a behind-the-scene picture of life in one of the world's most famous prisons. The author, a former warden of Alcatraz, presents both a highly interesting and trustworthy account of the problems that must be met in the safe-keeping of America's most dangerous public enemies. He presents a vivid description of the battle that raged between the desperate inmates and the guards some years back. It is a book the reader won't soon forget.

THE SHOW OF VIOLENCE. Frederic Wertham (Doubleday). In this book a psychiatrist looks at murder. He claims that murder is preventable. Society's responsibility for the high death toll resulting from homicide is emphasized. Very interesting detailed case histories are presented. The author rejects the idea that murder results from an irrepressible impulse.