Wilson To Host TV Show on Crime

Although he calls television "the enemy of intellectual thought." Shattuck Professor of Government James Q. Wilson will begin work this fall on a 26-episode T. V. series devoted to his specialty--crime and criminal behavior.

Wilson will moderate a half-hour panel discussion covering a variety of issues, ranging from the death penalty to driver legislation. He said this week he hopes the show's format will overcome television's tendency to over-simplify.

"The possibility of discussing complex issues on television when someone is given only 90 seconds to speak is practically non-existent." Wilson said. "I avoid that problem by having people talk at length and have them discuss things in detail."

"Professor Wilson is a nationally renowned authority in this field and we feel that there are a lot of critical issues that need to be disseminated," said a spokesman for the National Institute of Justice, which provided $587,000 for the project. The Police Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit organization, is producing the show.

Capitalism

The foundation hopes to sell the series to public television stations but will wait to finish the project before beginning negotiations, said Robert Goldberg, an associate of the foundation.

Wilson and others connected with the project said potential topics include capital punishment, child abuse, drunk driving and careers in law enforcement. The hope is to examine crime as it relates to people's everyday lives.

For each episode, panelists will include academic experts and practitioners, police chiefs, lawyers and advocates working on various sides of an issue, said Wilson.

Goldberg agreed with Wilson that television is a difficult forum but said the foundation is very optimistic about the project.

"Wilson has committed himself to doing a great deal of work on this thing," he said. "He'll have to get used to condensing a complete thought into a kernel of wisdom.

Expertise

Wilson is one of the country's foremost experts on criminal justice, having written extensively on the subject in scholarly journals, popular magazines, and several books. Although he disawows the label, he is often referred to as a neoconservative by observers, who cite so-called hard-line positions on means of deterring crime.

Wilson said he would generally refrain from interjecting his own work into the show, limiting his role to that of moderator.

Wilson was asked to host the show because of his experience in the field and because he is Chairman of the Board of the Police Foundation.

Goldberg said Wilson has been on the board for over a decade and is extremely committed to the foundation. "Usually people in Washington make commitments like Nolan Ryan's fast ball. It zips in there at 100 mph. then it gets tossed back to the pitcher, zips in there again and then you never see it again," he said. "Wilson's not like that at all."