According to the Home Office criminal statistics for England and Wales, 2.5 million indictable crimes or one-tenth of all crime was reported to the police in 1977. Of these reported crimes, the police cleared or detected 41 percent. In recent years, societal controls have been loosened as a result of the decline of parental authority, a higher degree of acquisitiveness, the need for making an adjustment between private and public morality, and the impact of the media. A national plan is needed for the reduction of crime and the prevention of juvenile delinquency in particular. Such a plan would comprise three levels of activity: primary prevention, which would focus on youth and youth leaders and on social action within neighborhoods and communities; secondary prevention, which would include all aspects of policing; and teritiary prevention, which would involve the detection of crime, its successful prosecution, and penal reform and rehabilitation. Finally, there should be a continuing control of firearms through police surveillance of legitimate firearms and punishment of holders and suppliers of illicit firearms. Seven references are given.