Alexander B. Smith

Deviance as a Method of Coping

A deviant person is one who does something we would not do. Thus defined, deviance is subjective. But not all deviant conduct is culturally relative. Acts malum in se such as rape, murder, and assault are almost universally considered to be crimes. Noncriminal deviance, however, frequently exists more in the eye of the beholder than in the real world. Deviant conduct may be divided into three categories: crime, sin, and poor taste. Crime refers to those acts which are objectively and measurably harmful to the community and which cannot be tolerated by any society that wishes to continue as a stable organism. Violent crimes against the person and serious property crimes fall into this category. Sin refers to those actions which were originally prohibited by the dominant religion or religions of the community and which at various times may have been incorporated into secular law. Prostitution, gambling, drug use, alcohol consumption, and obscenity are examples of conduct that does no measurable damage to an unwilling victim; when such conduct breaks the law, it is frequently referred to as victimless crime. Poor taste refers to a whole host of social practices which are unpleasant and abrasive and which may or may not be symbolic of conduct that society may wish to prohibit. Overt public sexual practices, peculiar methods of dress, and the wearing of unpopular political symbols all fall into this category. Most deviants recognize that their conduct is personally destructive and may be socially harmful as well. Yet they continue to deviate from the socially prescribed norms because this conduct enables them to cope with the stresses that a highly organized society imposes on their personalities. Many forms of deviant conduct are tension relievers. Some create a short-lived euphoria, and some are acts of rebellion against socially pre scribed norms impossible to reach. In coping with deviance society must first look at what the deviant is attempting to tell us through his conduct. If other ways of relieving stress can be provided for him, he can be persuaded to conform. If he cannot conform and his conduct is violent, we must physically restrain him; if he is nonconforming and nonviolent, we should let him alone.

The Psychology of Power Hubris v. Chutzpa in the Criminal Court

Our criminal justice system operates in a bureaucratic envi ronment espousing three legal fictions: (1) that justice is blind, (2) that the defendant in a criminal case is innocent until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and (3) that it is an adversary system.

Conservative pressure groups and the supreme court

Starting with the late 1960s, for thirty years the U.S. Supreme Court was the darling of liberals. School desegregation, the vast expansion of defendants’ rights in cases like Mapp (1961) Miranda (1966) and Gideon (1963) the wide ranging defense of First Amendment rights in the Pentagon Papers (New York Times v. United States) (1971) and Flag Burning Cases (Texas v. Johnson) (1989), not to mention the Courts hostility to prayer in the schools—all these decisions gladdened the hearts of those on the left wing of the political spectrum.

THE PLACE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY IN PROBATION AND PAROLE: THE PATIENT AS OFFENDER

In the past three decades, our evaluation of psychotherapy as a treatment approach in probation and parole has undergone an appreciable change. When the authors began their careers in probation and parole, the prevailing view was that offenders were people suffering from a disturbance in their self-concepts, in their attitudes toward peers and authority, and in their grasp of reality. It followed, therefore, that the basic role of the probation and parole officer was that of corrector of erroneous and unrealistic concepts so that the offender might be put in a position to effect a better adjustment. In this connection, administrators sought out officers who had earned their master’s degrees in social work and/or people who had had experience and training in psychotherapy. A basic assumption of the above orientation was

Book Reviews : Criminal Justice in Middle America, by David W. Neubauer. Pp. 304. Morristown, N.J., General Learning Press, 1974.

by an application of Pound’s theory of law, which states that a judge stands at the intersection of various conflicting interests-those of the convicted person, his dependents, the victim, the neighborhood, and the community. It is the judge’s duty to pronounce a sentence that will best serve all concerned. But DeWolf finally fails to show how we can treat these conflicting interests and leaves open the question of whether these interests are reconcilable. The judge who stands at the intersection will normally tend to follow his own self-interest (i.e., get reelected, get a raise), and this does not necessarily produce justice. In the final part of the book, DeWolf says we should give social justice