THE PROFESSIONAL THIEF

Here's a book of interest to the layman who likes the Warden Lawes and Courtney Ryley Cooper books, and who is interested in various slants on the criminal class. Important also for college and public libraries, for club groups, civic centers, etc. A study of the details of a profession with which middle class society is unfamiliar. Shows the thief's general setting, background and culture, the connection with wide-spread social institutions (an exposÉ of the inadequacies of our police system, of judges and courts under political patronage). Proves that control of professional crime cannot be attained by proceeding against the individual thieves, or by punitive or reformative policies, but only through changing our social order. Deals with pick-pockets, shoplifters, sneak thieves, confidence men, but not with gangsters, gunmen nor house breakers. Methods of operation, the ways they beat the rap when caught, ethics of their class, professional codes and loyalty. Authentic autobiography.