ABSTRACT
The forms of behaviour which we try to discourage by means of this system are infinitely heterogeneous. The chapter suggests that the apparent failure of the English murder rate to rise at the same rate as other crimes of personal violence over the last quarter of a century is at least partly due to the greater skill of the medical profession in saving the lives of victims of violence. For the natural history of violence in England we must rely almost entirely on McClintock's survey. He observed that, contrary to common belief, Londoners are not more prone to violence than other Englishmen. Homosexual offences consist either of 'buggery' or of 'gross indecency' committed between two men in certain circumstances, which have to some extent been re-defined by the Sexual Offences Act, 1967. Influences such as these may have been increasingly counteracted in recent years by tendencies to franker discussion of sexual matters and by growing public concern about sexual misconduct.
