Crime and Criminal Justice at the Turn of the Century

The probability that the criminal justice system will suffer a complete breakdown before the year 2000 should not be discounted. If law and social control systems are to accommodate change in their environment at the necessary rate, a new philosophy, as well as quite different operating procedures, must be worked out. The present strategy of law enforcement agencies to develop more-of-the-same can only ensure breakdown. Pressures for control will increase, and with each new pressure on criminals, more side-effects of these pressures will have an impact upon all citizens. The best moral standard which can be expected to guide policy in the intervening years is enlightened self-interest; this may suffice to ensure survival. The quality of that survival may be improved by the development of a new class of moral philosophers out of the ranks of scientists and technicians. No great new moral leadership is expected from organized religions. Politics will mix dangerous sentimentality and nos talgia with more than a small modicum of fear. Much of that fear will be focused on the criminal. Millions of dollars will continue to be wasted on research. If we wish for a better kind of future for criminal justice, we must start to invent it now. However, there is no indication that we are ready to consider the necessary issues.