Crime: Its Cause and Treatment

Clarence Darrow was an American lawyer. He remains notable for his wit and agnosticism, which marked him as one of the most famous American lawyers and civil libertarians.



In this book, Darrow expands on his lifelong contention that psychological, physical, and environmental influences—not a conscious choice between right and wrong—control human behavior. To my ears (the reader's), the author has a rather simplistic behaviourist view of human behaviour, but he argues his position with wonderful clarity. Darrow is coherently critical of conspiracy laws, of the creation of laws by the powerful (and consequently the definition of "crime" by that group) .... and his views on the machinery of "justice" and on how criminals are treated are still very relevant. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia.)