PUBLICITY AND CRIME [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Has not the time arrived to curb the publicity given to crimes and lawsuits ? Trials of all kinds must, of course, be public, and those who wish to attend them should be able to do so, within the limits of the available accommodation. As to Press reports of murder and other sensational cases, could not these with advantage be limited to, say, one column of a news- paper ? Then there are the posters put up all over London every afternoon and evening ; could not these be dispensed with altogether ? Newspaper posters are quite unknown in Continental cities, about which one can walk without having details of the crimes of the day continuously before one's eyes. Yet, there is no more crime on the Continent than there is here. The abnormal publicity given to crime in this country therefore does not act as a deterrent. Things being as they are, a certain amount of crime is quite natural and there is no reason for people to lose their heads (as many seem to do) when a particularly bad crime is committed. Again, there is a tendency in this country to look upon sensational crimes as public amusements, a tendency which is really brought about by abnormal crime publicity. It should not be impossible to confine the publicity of crime within reasonable bounds.
Law Society's Hall, Chancery Lane, London, IV.C. 2.
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