ABSTRACT
The conceptions of crime within any society are many and varied. The reality of crime is a multifaceted world of an infinite number of realities. But in the social reality that is constructed to cope concretely with crime, some criminal conceptions are more important than others. The social reality of crime in politically organized society is constructed as a political act. Both private and governmental groups have a vested interest in constructing particular criminal conceptions that instruct official policy. The President's Crime Commission has thus provided us with a particular conception of the reality of crime. The war on crime at the end of the 1960's culminated in legislation that has consequences for the future reality of crime. The legislation gave those who use crime as a political weapon the criminal reality they desired. The war on crime was thus escalated to the lofty issue of "law and order" in society.
