Abstract
High and increasing crime rates are an indication of society’s failure to secure adherence to common norms and patterns of behaviour — something which is obviously central to a society’s sustainability. A democratic society that cannot secure majority adherence to the basic values, norms and patterns of behaviour required for its common life is failing in a task essential to its survival and its future. Descent into a Hobbesian state of nature threatens.
In democratic countries all over the world. there is a sense of crisis about public security. (Bayley, 1994, p. 11)
Crime presents a major threat to society. (Home Office, 1997a, p. 3)
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Further Reading
Books
Audit Commission (1996) Misspent Youth, London, Audit Commission. Possesses all the usual virtues of the Audit Commission’s work — sharp, critical, very up to date and splendidly presented.
Cook, D. (1997) Poverty, Crime and Punishment, London, Child Poverty Action Group. A very accessible introduction to major aspects of the issues considered in this chapter.
Farrington, D.I. (1991) Understanding and Preventing Youth Crime, York, Joseph Rowntree Foundation. An excellent distillation of a huge body of research.
Maguire, M., Morgan, R. and Reiner, R. (eds) (1994) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Contains everything most students would want to know about criminology.
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© 1999 Vic George and Paul Wilding
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George, V., Wilding, P. (1999). Law and Order. In: British Society and Social Welfare. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27554-0_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27554-0_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-71976-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-27554-0