Crime in America; Observations on Its Nature, Causes, Prevention and Control

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1970. Second Printing [stated]. Hardcover. Good/Good. 346, [6] pages. Inscribed by the author on fep. Introduction by Tom Wicker. DJ has wear, soiling, tears and chips. Some corners have been creased. William Ramsey Clark (born December 18, 1927) is an American lawyer, activist and former federal government official. A progressive, New Frontier liberal, he occupied senior positions in the United States Department of Justice under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, notably serving as United States He was known for his vigorous opposition to the death penalty, his aggressive support of civil liberties and civil rights, and his dedication in enforcing antitrust provisions. Clark supervised the drafting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Civil Rights Act of 1968. Since leaving public office Clark has led many progressive activism campaigns, including opposition to the War on Terror. Clark is one of only two living members of Johnson's Cabinet, along with Alan Boyd. Derived from a Kirkus review: The "personal conscience and social ethic" of our former Attorney General, who here discusses the "Nature, Causes, Prevention and Control" of crime with unarguable specifics throughout. Where the facts do not speak for themselves, seldom, there are Clark's liberal, tough and fairminded concepts which always relate crime to the broader question of the society which houses it. Thus he returns relentlessly to poverty, and thus in dealing with the causes of crime, we are dealing with ourselves and our own areas of neglect and failure. The changes, of technology and population, have of course accelerated crime. Clark in an orderly itemization deals with drugs, guns and, in a lengthy section, on every phase of our criminal justice. This is ""a system in theory only"" and faulted here are the police, the courts and prosecutors, bail and preventive detention, and prisons (and the death sentence) for many of their less than rehabilitative, let alone humane, procedures. A forceful statement.