Crime: author finds everybody does it Book reveais that not all criminals have bad moustaches and visible jailhouse tatoos John Moore BOOK REVIEW Everybody Does It! Crime by the Public, by Thomas Gabor, University of Toronto Press, $24.00. Making Crime: A Study of Detective Work, Richard V. Ericson, University of Torento Press, $24.95. ccording to a recent U.S. poll, crime is the single most important concern of the majority of North Americans today. This is not exactly hot news from the Delphic Oracle. Since the age-wave surfing baby boomers of the '50s outgrew the anti-materialist, anti-establish- ment macramé idealism of the ‘60s and acquired most of the world’s wealth, it's no surprise that the strident anti-authoritarian thetoric of 20 years ago has been replaced by equally strident demands for tougher laws, more police and “a war on crime.” But what exactly is “crime” and who are the “criminals”? And who defines crime and crim- inal? These rather complex ques- tions are examined in Thomas Gabor’s study of public crime and Richard V. Ericson’s in-depth look at how police detectives officially “make crime.” Gabor’s book is the more readable because the subject he deals with is, for most of us, uncomfortably familiar. At some time in our fives, all of us have dangerously exceeded the speed limit, pinched a candy bar, sub- mitted a “creative non-fiction” tax return, padded an expense account or got away with some- thing we know we shouldn't have done. Are we criminals? What about the CEO and chairman of a large corporation who is discovered in a motel wearing a tutu and doing unspeakable things to small duct- ‘JAVEGRMOTIVE taped rodents? What about the stock-trading promoter who's had his privi- lees revoked, yet continues to pillage the trust funds of widows and orphans and the pension funds of working people by trad- ing through “straw men,” is- barred lawyers and other bottom- feeders? Are they criminals? Gabor’s conclusions are pretty much what you’d expect from an academic sociologist: We need to create a more egalitarian soci- ety in which the gap created between the “haves” and “have- nots” by competition is less pro- nounced and Jess an inducement to criminal behavior. At least he admits that attempts to impose such a theoretical model from above (as in most socialist states), have only resulted in whole pop- ulations being driven to black- market “crime” simply to survive. Still, Everybody Does It! is a 66 At some time in our lives, all of us have dangerously exceeded the speed limit, pinched a candy bar, submitted a ‘creative non-fiction’ tax return...99 book that should make some of the loudly self-righteous Safety Nazis in our society think twice before advocating summary exe- cution for cigarette smoking or public flogging for failing to wear a full latex bodysuit during sexu- al intercourse. Not all “criminals” have bad moustaches and visible jailhouse tattoos and those who shout loudest for “law and order” have a habit of turning up in the head- lines with an underaged hamster or totebag full of other peoples’ money. Who has to make sense out of this mess, to decide what is a BRAKE SPECIALISTS B.C.A.A. - A.R.A. - APPROVED BRAKES - LIFETIME WARRANTY (en shoes or pads) OUR 36TH YEAR _176 PEMBERTON AVE. N.VAN. FREE ESTIMATES “a comprehensive clu and restaurant guide, good recreational suggestions, and an enthusiastic section on shopping.” -— Bilt Richardson, The Georgia Straight “consistently spot-on" — Column One, The Vancouver Sun Available in Bookstores Now $17.95 PUBLISHED BY RAINCOAST BOOKS, VANCOUVER | crime and what isn’t? — police cletectives. Crown prosecutors/district attorneys make headlines; their cases are made or not made by these overworked mid-managcri- al men and women who deliber- ately do most of their work in low-visibility (non-public) condi- tions that bear no resemblance whatever to television's glamor- ization of their social roles. Nobady in Ericson’s book gets to say “Book him, Danno. Murder One.” Detectives work within the justice system to pro- duce criminals, as defined by the WE GUARANTEE THE LOWEST PRICES ON _ IDENTICAL QUALITY! parameters of the Criminal Code out they don’t slew through the streets firing 17-round automatics out of Porsches anymore than they go about in deerstalker caps with magnifying glasses looking for clues. Ericson repeatedly makes this point: “Detectives did not pursue endless physical clues, undertake ‘stakeouts’ or do what is popular- ly known as undercover work to produce someone they could thereby ascribe as a suspect. To the contrary, detectives were dependent upon other persons to initially define someone in the role of suspect.” Asa sociologist and academ- ic, Ericson is understandably concerned about the low visibili- ty, the lack of accountability, of the grey area in which detectives do their alchemical work of transmuting the messy detalls of human conflict into official pub- lic “crime.” He has a point: detective work is bureaucracy, the domain of the “faceless ones” which is its great weakness. But who else would do it? ; Not Mel Gibson. Not even Karl Malden or Michae] Douglas, never mind Jack Lord. COME EARLY FOR BEST SELECTIONI ie ae tooo MIX & MATCH ASSORTED DUVET COVERS ® Solids and Prints Take another * Available in Percale and 94 % No-lron Polyester/Cotton off iIn-Ki i H Ed's Low Price on every © Twin-King sizes available Ga's Low Price on every Use tis unique extra long (60°) oillow for suppoort when sleeping. 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