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MURDER
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with selected populations.... In consequence, little can be said about the need for treatment, nor about the relation between dental illness and treatment, dental health education, nutrition, environmental factors, and so forth.... There is need for better statistics on the prevalence of dental illness in different sections of the population, and of the use made of dentists in combating it. As no administrative channel could provide such data, special enquiries would be unavoidable." As well as proposing an inquiry into the whole question of research into dental disease, to which quite inadequate funds have hitherto been given, the report suggests several other areas in which more information is needed if correct policy decisions are to be taken. For instance, little is known about popular attitudes to dental health and treatment, and an education programme to persuade more of the public that dental health is important would probably be ineffective until a systematic study has been made of people’s notions, prejudices, and fears. The report also suggests that the principal features of good dental practice should be studied, to provide information about the dental illnesses seen by dentists and the treatments given, the dentist-patient relationship, the physical layout, equipment, and organisation of practices, the relation of dentists with official authorities, and the use of auxiliaries of different kinds. Such an inquiry might also illuminate the reasons for the discontent among many dental practitioners in the General Dental Service. The final and main proposal is for a coordinated survey of dental health and the dental services. " We should like to suggest a study in one or more localities which would thoroughly investigate all aspects of dental health and the dental services as seen from the viewpoint of the individual patient and, if feasible, from the individual dentist as well. This is not the place to propose details of method, but we believe that a searching study in one or two areas would illuminate more clearly than nation-wide statistics the various topics on which we have touched. The present position of dental health and the operation of the dental services in a community would be clearly outlined." The findings of Professor Moser and his colleagues will certainly receive close attention, and much research should be stimulated by their suggestions. In some of the matters for study, mixed teams of sociologists and dental research-workers would probably produce the best results. ...
MURDER
Is murder increasing ? If so, why ? What, so far, has been the effect of the Homicide Act ? Some answers to these questions are to be found in the report of a Home Office research unit.The report, which relates to England and Wales only, is a statistical analysis beginning with deaths initially recorded by the police as murders and following them through to the final decision. The statistical analysis of murder is complicated by two factors. First, the population of England and Wales is increasing, and an accurate picture of trends can be obtained only by relating the number of murders in any year to the population; the report adopts the yardstick of the number of murders per million of the home population. Secondly, account has also to be taken of the fact that, under section 2 of the Homicide Act, some crimes previously punishable as murder are now classed as man1. Home Office: Studies in the Causes of Delinquency and the Treatment of Offenders. 4. Murder: a Home Office research unit report. H.M. Stationery Office. 1961. Pp. 43. 4s.
slaughter; for most purposes, therefore, the report includes section-2 manslaughter in the figures for murder. The average number of murders per million population in 1931-40 was 32. No comparable figures are available for the next decade because of the difficulty of assessing the home population during the war years. In 1951-60 the murder-rate was 3-3 per million population. There seems therefore to have been no long-term increase of any significance, although over the same period the number of indictable crimes generally increased substantially. There are indications that the passing of the Homicide Act was followed by a significant increase in the murderThe annual average of murders for the period 1954-56 last three years before the Homicide Act) was 143. (the For the three years 1958-60, it was 160-an increase of 11%. But this increase was not necessarily the result of the Homicide Act. There was a corresponding increase of 69 °o in all crimes of violence against the person, which suggests that the increase in murder may have been part of a general lawlessness rather than the result of lighter penalties. Moreover, the number of murders for robbery or financial gain rose from 6 a year to 12 a year, even though murder in the course .or furtherance of theft is capital murder. Indeed, the increase in the number of murders since 1957 is more than accounted for by murders committed by men with previous criminal convictions. Less than 1500of all murders are of the type now rate.
capital murder, and the proportion has not the passing of the Homicide Act. Up to since changed the end of 1960, 29 persons had been convicted of capital murder under the Act, 23 of them for murder in the course or furtherance of theft. These figures do not, presumably, represent the true incidence of this type of crime, because some of the offenders will have been dealt with under section 2 as suffering from diminished responsibility and so will not have been convicted of capital murder. Nearly a third of all victims are killed by persons who commit suicide. These are mainly family murders, and are very largely cases in which children are killed by a parent in a state of despair or mental stress. The insane -that is, those found unfit to plead at their trial and those dealt with under the McNaughten rules-also mainly killed members of the family or close associates. This was also true, though to a lesser degree, of those convicted of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. Of 166 murders in 1960, 31 were reduced to manslaughter under section 2 of the Homicide Act. The working of the Homicide Act is to be reviewed in the coming year. The statistical study carried out by the Home Office research unit does not suggest that the Act has been a failure. The comparatively high murder-rate in recent years can be explained partly by the general defined
as
increase in criminal activity, particularly by the younger and partly by mental stress resulting in family murders. The retention of the death penalty for certain murders seems to have made little difference in terms of deterrence. In discussions on capital punishment, there is a tendency to place the onus on the abolitionists to show that it would be safe to abolish the death penalty. But the death penalty being such an exceptional form of punishment and having no reformative value, the onus should be on the retentionists to show that it is required.
generation,
Dr. F. A. KNOTT, formerly director of the department of clinical pathology at Guy’s Hospital, died in London on Jan. 12, at the age of 72.
with selected populations.... In consequence, little can be said about the need for treatment, nor about the relation between dental illness and treatment, dental health education, nutrition, environmental factors, and so forth.... There is need for better statistics on the prevalence of dental illness in different sections of the population, and of the use made of dentists in combating it. As no administrative channel could provide such data, special enquiries would be unavoidable." As well as proposing an inquiry into the whole question of research into dental disease, to which quite inadequate funds have hitherto been given, the report suggests several other areas in which more information is needed if correct policy decisions are to be taken. For instance, little is known about popular attitudes to dental health and treatment, and an education programme to persuade more of the public that dental health is important would probably be ineffective until a systematic study has been made of people’s notions, prejudices, and fears. The report also suggests that the principal features of good dental practice should be studied, to provide information about the dental illnesses seen by dentists and the treatments given, the dentist-patient relationship, the physical layout, equipment, and organisation of practices, the relation of dentists with official authorities, and the use of auxiliaries of different kinds. Such an inquiry might also illuminate the reasons for the discontent among many dental practitioners in the General Dental Service. The final and main proposal is for a coordinated survey of dental health and the dental services. " We should like to suggest a study in one or more localities which would thoroughly investigate all aspects of dental health and the dental services as seen from the viewpoint of the individual patient and, if feasible, from the individual dentist as well. This is not the place to propose details of method, but we believe that a searching study in one or two areas would illuminate more clearly than nation-wide statistics the various topics on which we have touched. The present position of dental health and the operation of the dental services in a community would be clearly outlined." The findings of Professor Moser and his colleagues will certainly receive close attention, and much research should be stimulated by their suggestions. In some of the matters for study, mixed teams of sociologists and dental research-workers would probably produce the best results. ...
MURDER
Is murder increasing ? If so, why ? What, so far, has been the effect of the Homicide Act ? Some answers to these questions are to be found in the report of a Home Office research unit.The report, which relates to England and Wales only, is a statistical analysis beginning with deaths initially recorded by the police as murders and following them through to the final decision. The statistical analysis of murder is complicated by two factors. First, the population of England and Wales is increasing, and an accurate picture of trends can be obtained only by relating the number of murders in any year to the population; the report adopts the yardstick of the number of murders per million of the home population. Secondly, account has also to be taken of the fact that, under section 2 of the Homicide Act, some crimes previously punishable as murder are now classed as man1. Home Office: Studies in the Causes of Delinquency and the Treatment of Offenders. 4. Murder: a Home Office research unit report. H.M. Stationery Office. 1961. Pp. 43. 4s.
slaughter; for most purposes, therefore, the report includes section-2 manslaughter in the figures for murder. The average number of murders per million population in 1931-40 was 32. No comparable figures are available for the next decade because of the difficulty of assessing the home population during the war years. In 1951-60 the murder-rate was 3-3 per million population. There seems therefore to have been no long-term increase of any significance, although over the same period the number of indictable crimes generally increased substantially. There are indications that the passing of the Homicide Act was followed by a significant increase in the murderThe annual average of murders for the period 1954-56 last three years before the Homicide Act) was 143. (the For the three years 1958-60, it was 160-an increase of 11%. But this increase was not necessarily the result of the Homicide Act. There was a corresponding increase of 69 °o in all crimes of violence against the person, which suggests that the increase in murder may have been part of a general lawlessness rather than the result of lighter penalties. Moreover, the number of murders for robbery or financial gain rose from 6 a year to 12 a year, even though murder in the course .or furtherance of theft is capital murder. Indeed, the increase in the number of murders since 1957 is more than accounted for by murders committed by men with previous criminal convictions. Less than 1500of all murders are of the type now rate.
capital murder, and the proportion has not the passing of the Homicide Act. Up to since changed the end of 1960, 29 persons had been convicted of capital murder under the Act, 23 of them for murder in the course or furtherance of theft. These figures do not, presumably, represent the true incidence of this type of crime, because some of the offenders will have been dealt with under section 2 as suffering from diminished responsibility and so will not have been convicted of capital murder. Nearly a third of all victims are killed by persons who commit suicide. These are mainly family murders, and are very largely cases in which children are killed by a parent in a state of despair or mental stress. The insane -that is, those found unfit to plead at their trial and those dealt with under the McNaughten rules-also mainly killed members of the family or close associates. This was also true, though to a lesser degree, of those convicted of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. Of 166 murders in 1960, 31 were reduced to manslaughter under section 2 of the Homicide Act. The working of the Homicide Act is to be reviewed in the coming year. The statistical study carried out by the Home Office research unit does not suggest that the Act has been a failure. The comparatively high murder-rate in recent years can be explained partly by the general defined
as
increase in criminal activity, particularly by the younger and partly by mental stress resulting in family murders. The retention of the death penalty for certain murders seems to have made little difference in terms of deterrence. In discussions on capital punishment, there is a tendency to place the onus on the abolitionists to show that it would be safe to abolish the death penalty. But the death penalty being such an exceptional form of punishment and having no reformative value, the onus should be on the retentionists to show that it is required.
generation,
Dr. F. A. KNOTT, formerly director of the department of clinical pathology at Guy’s Hospital, died in London on Jan. 12, at the age of 72.