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44 Appendix C COMMENTS OF GERALD M. CAPLAN Gerald M. Caplan t e s t i f i e d before the Subcommittee on Domestic and I n t e r - n a t i o n a l S c i e n t i f i c Planning and Analysis of the House Committee on Science and Technology on J u l y 18, 1975. I n speaking of the kinds of research discoveries t h a t are and are not possible i n the c r i m i n a l j u s t i c e f i e l d , Caplan said (1975); ...the wiser view i s t h a t i t w i l l be through improved under- standing of human behavior, r a t h e r than a p p l i c a t i o n of the laws of physics or chemistry, t h a t gains w i l l be made. Here, knowledge about c o n t r o l l i n g our worst impulses has grown but l i t t l e over the l a s t few thousand years. The suggestion i s t h a t crime c o n t r o l i s not one of those f i e l d s of study where the word "breakthrough" i s ap p l i c a b l e . Progress i n the ac- q u i s i t i o n of knowledge, such as i t has been and such as I t i s l i k e l y t o be, w i l l come slowly, h a l t i n g l y , unevenly, on occasion s t e a d i l y , but r a r e l y w i t h rushing speed I t i s best t o t h i n k i n time spans of 10 or 20 years, r a t h e r than of crash programs of s i x months, a year, or even several years. I n a l a t e r comment Caplan wrote (1975a, p. 13): F i n a l l y , what can be said about our crime reduction capacity? Not much t h a t i s encouraging. We have learned l i t t l e about reducing the incidence of crime, and have no reason t o be- l i e v e t h a t s i g n i f i c a n t reductions w i l l be secured i n the near f u t u r e . D i r e c t o r Caplan has expressed s i m i l a r views i n in t e r v i e w s and i n meetings w i t h t h i s Committee.
