CRIME'S AFTERMATH

New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 938, 2 August 1957, Page 18

CRIME'S AFTERMATH

TRIAL BY ORDEAL, by Caryl Chessman; Longmans, English price 18/-. THE BUSINESS OF CRIME, by Robert Rice; Victor Gollancz, English price 16/-. RIAL BY ORDEAL is the sequel to the sensational autobiography, Cell 2455, Death Row, by a man who has spent the last quarter of his 36 years uncer sentence of death. In his new book, which the California District Attorney’s Office made a determined attempt to suppress, Chessman brings up to date the fantastic story of his fight for a new trial on his conviction for rape-kidnapping in 1948. He also gives some tragic glimpses into the lives and last moments of a few of the 60 or 70 human wrecks he has seen vacate the death cells for the gas chamber. At least three times, Chessman himself has been within hours of execution before winning stays. At the start of this criminal epic, Chessman was not even legally represented: Today, as he gratefully acknowledges, he has powerful legal figures, journalists and devoted friends on the outside who are fighting for his right to a re-trial. Whether, as his friends believe, the author is no longer the vicious psychopath he grew up to be, I have no way of knowing. But it is certain that the case he makes against capital pun-

ishment adds effectively to the growing body of evidence against either its moral justification or so-called deterrent effect. From this point of view, his books hold a unique place in the history of penology. It is interesting to note that in California there are at present a number of moves, directly traceable to the Chessman case, to abolish the death penalty. Only in the widest sense of the term can the criminal subjects of The Business of Crime be classed with the pathetic wretches in San Quentin’s Death Row. Written by a member of the New Yorker’s staff, it traces in the brisk, highly readable style associated with that magazine, the careers of five criminal "businessmen" and their associates. It covers, in turn, flourishing businesses devoted to arson for insurance purposes, the international narcotics trade, the illegal entry of immigrants, the "fixing" of inter-collegiate basketball games, and the counterfeiting of travellers’ cheques. Mr Rice’s introductory remarks on the relationship between organised crime and respectable citizens are worth more than a passing

thought.

Henry

Walter