Books Received
January 2013

Listed below are books received for review over the last two months. Entries include publishing information as well as a description of the book. Unless otherwise stated, the book description is taken from the publisher’s website or the book jacket. Selected titles from this list will be chosen for a full review in forthcoming issues of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books. Previous books received are available from the links below.

The Anti-Social Network: Cyberstalking Victimization among College Students, by Bradford W. Reyns. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2012. 198p.

“Cyberstalking is a disturbing reality for many in the United States and across the world. Yet, little is known about the extent or nature of cyberstalking victimization. Reyns’s intent is to estimate the extent of victimization, and by utilizing the lifestyle-routine activities perspective to identify risk factors for cyberstalking victimization among college students. Results indicate that certain online behaviors such as online social network usage, friending strangers online, engaging in online forms of deviance, and possessing a propensity toward low self-control increase one’s likelihood of experiencing cyberstalking victimization.” From Publisher’s Website.

Capital Punishment in America: Race and the Death Penalty over Time, by Martin Guevara Urbina. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2012. 370p.

”Urbina’s consideration of capital punishment seeks to examine racial and ethnic differences, stressing how Latinos’ and Latinas’ experiences are distinct from those of Caucasians and African Americans. In considering Latinos he focuses on the problem of lack of data and addresses it through several means. His goal is to go beyond traditional approaches of analyzing death penalty information, with the ultimate objective of addressing theoretical and methodological shortcomings empirically, and quantitatively analyzing death sentence outcome data for California, Florida, and Texas between 1975 and 1995.” From Publisher’s Website.

The Complexities of Police Corruption: Gender, Identity, and Misconduct, by Marilyn Corsianos. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012. 232p.

“The Complexities of Police Corruption provides a comprehensive examination of the role of gender as it relates to police corruption, crime control, and policing as an institution. Author Marilyn Corsianos examines different forms of corruption, including some behaviors that are generally not recognized as corruption by police departments, such as selective law enforcement, racial profiling, gender bias and other discriminatory police practices against marginalized populations. The book also explores the role of police culture in preserving and defending misconduct and digs into the thorny question of why significantly fewer women are involved in police corruption.

Throughout the book, excerpts from interviews with 32 former police offers illustrate the complex ways that gender construction is connected to police corruption and shows how policing as an institution creates corruption risks.” From Publisher’s Website.

Corporal Punishment: A Humane Alternative to Incarceration, by Kevin J. Murtagh. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2012. 198p.

“In contemporary Western societies, the corporal punishment of criminals is generally assumed to be morally wrong. Murtagh, however, argues against this common assumption and attempts to demonstrate that certain forms of corporal punishment are morally permissible. In addition, he claims that these punishments are morally superior to many currently popular forms of punishment, especially imprisonment, and defends corporal punishment against objections that claim it to be cruel, inhumane, inhuman, and degrading. Substantial suffering is inevitable with any severe punishment, and Murtagh offers reasons why it may be preferable to cause it by imposing physical pain rather than by incarcerating offenders.” From Publisher’s Website.

 Courting Kids: Inside an Experimental Youth Court, by Carla J. Barrett. New York: New York University Press, 2012. 224p.

“Despite being labeled as adults, the approximately 200,000 youth under the age of 18 who are now prosecuted as adults each year in criminal court are still adolescents, and the contradiction of their legal labeling creates numerous problems and challenges. In Courting Kids Carla Barrett takes us behind the scenes of a unique judicial experiment called the Manhattan Youth Part, a specialized criminal court set aside for youth prosecuted as adults in New York City. Focusing on the lives of those coming through and working in the courtroom, Barrett’s ethnography is a study of a microcosm that reflects the costs, challenges, and consequences the “tough on crime” age has had, especially for male youth of color. She demonstrates how the court, through creative use of judicial discretion and the cultivation of an innovative courtroom culture, developed a set of strategies for handling “adult-juvenile ” cases that embraced, rather than denied, defendants’ adolescence.” From Publisher’s Website.

Crime and Punishment in Early Modern Russia, by Nancy Kollmann. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. 488p.

“This is a magisterial new account of the day-to-day practice of Russian criminal justice in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Nancy Kollmann contrasts Russian written law with its pragmatic application by local judges, arguing that this combination of formal law and legal institutions with informal, flexible practice contributed to the country’s social and political stability. She also places Russian developments in the broader context of early modern European state-building strategies of governance and legal practice. She compares Russia’s rituals of execution to the ‘spectacles of suffering’ of contemporary European capital punishment and uncovers the dramatic ways in which even the tsar himself, complying with Moscow’s ideologies of legitimacy, bent to the moral economy of the crowd in moments of uprising. Throughout, the book assesses how criminal legal practice used violence strategically, administering horrific punishments in some cases and in others accommodating with local communities and popular concepts of justice.” From Publisher’s Website.

Cultures of Desistance: Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Ethnic Minorities, by Adam Calverley. London: Routledge, 2012. 230p.

“In contrast to the widespread focus on ethnicity in relation to engagement in offending, the question of whether or not processes associated with desistance – that is the cessation and curtailment of offending behaviour – vary by ethnicity has received less attention. This is despite known ethnic differences in factors identified as affecting disengagement from offending, such as employment, place of residence, religious affiliation and family structure, providing good reasons for believing differences would exist. This book seeks to address this oversight. Using data obtained from in-depth qualitative interviews it investigates the processes associated with desistance from crime among offenders drawn from some of the principal minority ethnic groups in the United Kingdom. Cultures of Desistance explores how structural (families, friends, peer groups, employment, social capital) and cultural (religion, values, recognition) ethnic differences affected the environment in which their desistance took place. For Indians and Bangladeshis, desistance was characterised as a collective experience involving their families actively intervening in their lives. In contrast, Black and dual heritage offenders’ desistance was a much more individualistic endeavour. The book suggests a need for a research agenda and justice policy that are sensitive to desisters’ structural location, and for a wider culture which promotes and supports desisters’ efforts.” From Publisher’s Website.

Crime and Crime Reduction: The Importance of Group Processes, ed. by Jane L. Wood and Theresa A. Gannon. London; New York: Routledge, 2012. 224p.

”The problems associated with groups that commit crime are well known and notoriously complex. However, there are many questions that we still cannot answer with certainty. This book seeks to deepen understanding of the group processes involved in crime and the treatment of offenders’ thoughts and behaviour. Together, the chapters in this volume address the following questions:

  • Are people more likely to commit crime because of the influence of their group?
  • Does group membership cause people to become criminals, or does the group merely foster people’s pre-existing criminal inclinations?
  • How does group membership exert such a strong hold on people so that some risk imprisonment or even death, rather than relinquish their membership?

The contributors to Crime and Crime Reduction consider the social psychological influences of groups and specific forms of group crime such as street and prison gangs, terrorism, organized criminal networks, and group sexual offending. The book also addresses important questions about the role of groups in treating offenders, and why existing group membership should be considered when treating offenders.”
From Publisher’s Website.

Cybercrime in the Greater China Region: Regulatory Responses and Crime Prevention Across the Taiwan Strait, by Lennon Yao-Chung Chang. Cheltenham, UK; Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 2012. 258p.

“Cybercrime is a worldwide problem of rapidly increasing magnitude and, of the countries in the Asia Pacific region, Taiwan and China are suffering most. This timely book discusses the extent and nature of cybercrime in and between Taiwan and China, focussing especially on the prevalence of botnets (collections of computers that have been compromised and used for malicious purposes).

The book uses routine activity theory to analyse Chinese and Taiwanese legal responses to cybercrime, and reviews mutual assistance between the two countries as well as discussing third party cooperation. To prevent the spread of cybercrime, the book argues the case for a ‘wiki’ approach to cybercrime and a feasible pre-warning system. Learning from lessons in infectious disease prevention and from aviation safety reporting, Cybercrime in the Greater China Region proposes a feasible information security incident reporting and response system.” From Publisher’s Website.

Cyber Safety: An Introduction, ed by E.R. Leukfeldt and W.Ph. Stol. The Hague: Eleven International Publishing, 2012. 348p.

“The concept of cyber safety refers to safety in cyber space. It is a wider concept than the commonly used concept ‘cybercrime.’ This book is an introduction to the field of cyber safety and presents an overview of current knowledge in that area. It covers cyber safety from different perspectives (juridical, technological, sociological, and criminological). Various types of cybercrime are described individually, addressing issues such as definition, nature, scale, and offender characteristics (including hacking, e-fraud, child pornography, unauthorized file sharing, and cyber warfare). Furthermore, criminal techniques like botnets, social engineering, and phishing are addressed. It also deals especially with youth and cyber safety, with specific themes such as: online sexual solicitations, sexually explicit internet material, cyber bullying, and the perils and pleasures of playing video games. Finally, the book looks at organizations that play a part in safeguarding the internet. It looks at the role of the police, commercial organizations such as Internet Service Providers, and information security.” From Publisher’s Website.

Domestic Violence and Mandatory Arrest: Influences on Police Officer Actions, by John F. Waldron. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2012. 264p.

“Despite mandates requiring annual in-service training on domestic violence for all New Jersey police officers, many officers do not receive this training. In-service training enhances the enforcement of domestic violence laws. Police officers in New Jersey, a mandatory arrest jurisdiction for the enforcement of domestic violence laws, rely heavily on their perception of the law to justify their enforcement activities. Victim’s wishes and opinions on the enforcement of domestic violence laws have little effect on the arrest outcome in mandatory arrest jurisdictions, such as New Jersey, according to both officer’s opinions and their reactions to hypothetical situations in this study.” From Publisher’s Website.

Dying on the Job: Murder and Mayhem in the American Workplace, by Ronald D. Brown. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012. 317p.

“Dying on the Job is the first book on workplace violence to focus exclusively on workplace murder. While some perpetrators are certainly mentally impaired, many workplace murders are committed by people considered to be “normal.” Brown explores the various motives and drives that spark workplace murder, and answers hundreds of questions that are usually asked only after a workplace murder rampage has already occurred. Are men or women more likely to commit workplace homicide? How can people more easily spot those likely to commit workplace murder? What are some of the warning signs? How often is “suicide” used as workplace revenge? The answers to these questions and more are based on more than 350 actual cases of workplace murder, and the answers are often surprising. Brown also addresses different areas of prevention, counseling, and rehabilitation, and analyzes different approaches to gun control for both management and employees to make their job a safer place to work.” From Publisher’s Website.

Eco-global Crimes: Contemporary Problems and Future Challenges, ed. by Rune Ellefsen, Ragnhild Sollund and Guri Larsen. Farnham, UK; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2012. 318p.

“Building on knowledge within the fields of green and eco-global criminology, this book uses empirical and theoretical arguments to discuss the multi-dimensional character of eco-global crime. It provides an overview of eco-global crimes and discusses them from a justice perspective. The persistence of animal abuse and speciesism are also examined together with policies aimed at controlling the natural world and plant species. Pollution by large corporations, rights of indigenous peoples and the damage caused by the mineral extraction are also considered. Providing new ideas and insights which will be relevant on a global scale, this book is an interesting and useful study of the exploitation of nature and other species. It will be invaluable for students and scholars globally, working within or connected to the field of green and eco-global criminology. The book will also be important for the participants of various social movements, especially the environmental and animal advocacy movements.” From Publisher’s Website.

Gender, Geography, and Punishment: The Experience of Women in Carceral Russia, by Judith Piacentini Pallot with the assistance of Dominique Moran. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2012. 290p.

“This book is the first of its kind that brings together human geography and the sociology of punishment to explore the relationship between distance and punishment in con-temporary Russia. Using established penological and geographical theories, the book presents in-depth empirical research to show how the experiences of women prisoners are shaped by the distances that the Russian penal service sends prisoners to serve their sentences. Its most eye-catching feature is its use of interviews conducted by the authors and their research team with adult and juvenile women prisoners, ex-prisoners and prison officers in penal facilities in different regions of the Russian Federation between 2006 and 2010. It includes discussion of the impact of Russia’s distinctive penal geography on pris-oners’ family relationships, how women prisoners’ sense of place and gender identities are shaped and re-shaped on their journey from pre-trial facility to ‘correction colony’ to release, and the social hierarchies, relationships and practices that characterise Russia’s penal institutions for women. The authors are both experienced researchers in Russia. The book brings together their complementary disciplinary expertise in the development of the concept of ‘coerced mobilization’ to explore Russia’s punishment culture. The book argues that Russia’s inherited geography of penality, combined with traditional ideas about women’s role that shape the penal service’s management of women prisoners, add to their ‘pains of imprisonment’. Crucially, the authors show how these factors are con-straining the Russian penal service’s ability to implement successive reforms aimed at humanizing Russia’s notoriously tough prisons. Russian imprisonment as it relates to women is, they believe, an area of significant concern for lawmakers in that country as well as to human rights campaigners, geographers interested in space and power, and scholars studying the post-Soviet system.” From Publisher’s Website.

George Fletcher’s Essays on Criminal Law, ed. by Russell Christopher. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. 322p.

“While George Fletcher’s book, Rethinking Criminal Law, is justly celebrated as the most widely cited and influential book on criminal law, his articles and essays have been comparatively overlooked. But it is in these essays where Fletcher hones and polishes the themes of Rethinking as well as advances new ground. They are critical in understanding the evolution of his views on criminal law. This volume collects, for the first time, a selection of his most famous previously published shorter works as well as some that are less known but equally important. Each of the twelve essays by Fletcher is paired with one or more new critical commentaries on that essay. These critical commentaries trace the significance of the respective essay in the development of the criminal law and assess its future significance. The commentators include leading criminal law scholars, philosophers, and a judge. Reflecting Fletcher’s comparative law focus, the commentators hail from America, England, and Israel. Preceding these paired sets of essays/critical commentaries is an Introduction that broadly assesses Fletcher’s body of work and career in criminal scholarship as well as provides an overview of each essay and critical commentary.

Concluding the volume is a new, original essay by Fletcher in which he responds to his critics. Fletcher also reflects back on his six-decade spanning career and takes stock. Fletcher’s essay concludes with some speculations as to the trend of future developments in the field. In the enterprise of theoretical criminal law, the essays in this book represent the pinnacle of the thinking of one of the fields’ most celebrated scholars.” From Publisher’s Website.

Hooligans in Khrushchev’s Russia: Defining, Policing, and Producing Deviance during the Thaw, by Brian LaPierre. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2012. 281p.

Swearing, drunkenness, promiscuity, playing loud music, brawling–in the Soviet Union these were not merely bad behavior, they were all forms of the crime of “hooliganism.” Defined as “rudely violating public order and expressing clear disrespect for society,” hooliganism was one of the most common and confusing crimes in the world’s first socialist state. Under its shifting, ambiguous, and elastic terms, millions of Soviet citizens were arrested and incarcerated for periods ranging from three days to five years and for everything from swearing at a wife to stabbing a complete stranger.

“Hooligans in Khrushchev’s Russia offers the first comprehensive study of how Soviet police, prosecutors, judges, and ordinary citizens during the Khrushchev era (1953-1964) understood, fought against, or embraced this catch-all category of criminality. Using a wide range of newly opened archival sources, it portrays the Khrushchev period–usually considered as a time of liberalizing reform and reduced repression–as an era of renewed harassment against a wide range of state-defined undesirables. Brian LaPierre shows the illiberal underside of a Thaw that did more than roll back some of the more egregious abuses of Stalinism. He uncovers how the Thaw unleashed an energetic and intrusive campaign to expand policing and persecution to the most mundane aspects of everyday life. In an atmosphere of Cold War competition, foreign cultural penetration, and transatlantic anxiety over “rebels without a cause,” hooliganism emerged as a vital tool that post-Stalinist elites used to civilize their uncultured working class, confirm their embattled cultural ideals, and create the right-thinking and right-acting socialist society of their dreams.” From Publisher’s Website.

Plea Bargaining in National and International Law, by Regina Rauxloh. London; New York: Routledge, 2012. 296p.

“Plea bargaining is one of the most important and most discussed issues in modern criminal procedure law. Based on historical and comparative legal research, the author has analysed the wide-spread use of plea bargaining in different criminal justice systems. The book sets out in-depth studies of consensual case dispositions in the UK, examining how plea bargaining has developed and spread in England and Wales. It also goes on to discusses in detail the problems that this practise poses for the rule of law by avoiding procedural safe-guards. The book draws on empirical research in its examination of the absence of informal settlements in the former GDR, offering a unique insight into criminal procedure in a socialist legal system that has been little studied. Drawing on her research findings, the author goes on to discuss the extent to which plea bargaining should be developed in the International Criminal Court in The Hague, as the question of this practise is set to be one of the seminal debates in the development of international criminal procedures in the new International Criminal Court.” From Publisher’s Website.

Explaining Criminal Careers: Implications for Justice Policy, by John F. MacLeod, Peter G. Grove and David P. Farrington. London; New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. 296p.

“Explaining Criminal Careers presents a simple but influential theory of crime, conviction and reconviction. The assumptions of the theory are derived directly from a detailed analysis of cohort samples extracted from the Home Office Offenders Index – a unique database which contains records of all criminal (standard list) convictions in England and Wales since 1963. In particular, the theory explains the well-known Age/Crime curve.

Based on the idea that there are only three types of offenders, who commit crimes at either high or low (constant) rates and have either a high or low (constant) risk of reoffending, this simple theory makes exact quantitative predictions about criminal careers and age-crime curves. Purely from the birth-rate over the second part of the 20th century, the theory accurately predicts (to within 2%) the prison population contingent on a given sentencing policy. The theory also suggests that increasing the probability of conviction after each offence is the most effective way of reducing crime, although there is a role for treatment programmes for some offenders. The authors indicate that crime is influenced by the operation of the Criminal Justice System and that offenders do not ‘grow out’ of crime as commonly supposed; they are persuaded to stop or decide to stop after (repeated) convictions, with a certain fraction of offenders desisting after each conviction. Simply imprisoning offenders will not reduce crime either by individual deterrence or by incapacitation.

With comprehensive explanations of the formulae used and complete mathematical appendices allowing for individual interpretations and further development of the theory, Explaining Criminal Careers represents an innovative and meticulous investigation into criminal activity and the influences behind it. With clear policy implications and a wealth of original and significant discussions, this book marks a ground-breaking chapter in the criminological debate surrounding criminal careers.” From Publisher’s Website.

Exploring the Mandatory Life Sentence for Murder, by Barry Mitchell and Julian V. Roberts. Oxford, UK; Portland, OR: Hart Publishing, 2012. 196p.

“Murder is often regarded as both the “ultimate” and a unique crime; and whereas courts are normally given discretion in sentencing offenders, for murder, the sentence is mandatory – indeterminate imprisonment. Since the crime and the punishment come as a “package deal,” this book looks at both the legal nature of the offense and the current operation of the mandatory life sentence in the UK. Not only does the book adopt a critical approach, by assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the status quo, but it also draws upon comparative material from both common and civil law jurisdictions in an attempt to provide a comprehensive exploration of these issues. The need for public confidence in the criminal justice system is particularly acute in the way it deals with the most serious homicides. The book reports on findings from Britain’s first systematic exploration of public attitudes to sentencing murder. The picture of public opinion emerging from this recent, large-scale, nationwide qualitative and quantitative survey, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, is likely to surprise many, and will be of interest to all jurisdictions where the mandatory life sentence for murder has been questioned.” From Publisher’s Website.

Forensic Science Evidence: Can the Law Keep Up with Science?, by Donald E. Shelton. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2012. 264p.

“Shelton describes the startling questions that have arisen about the reliability of many forms of scientific evidence which were traditionally regarded as reliable and have been routinely admitted to prove guilt. The exonerations resulting from the development of DNA have exposed the lack of trustworthiness of much of the “scientific” evidence that was used to convict people who turned out to be innocent. The Congressionally commissioned report of the National Academy of Sciences documented the lack of scientific basis in many of these areas. Nevertheless, Shelton discloses that many courts continue to routinely admit such evidence in criminal cases, in spite of the obligation of judges to be the “gatekeepers” of forensic science evidence. He explores reasons for that phenomenon and describes whether and how it might change in the future.” From Publisher’s Website.

Fraudulent Forensic Evidence: Malpractice in Crime Laboratories, by Hasan Buker. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2012. 288p.

“Buker tells the untold story of crime labs. Through extensive field research he scrutinizes the problem of malpractice in the US publicly-funded crime labs from an administrative perspective. Several examples of malpractice in these organizations reflect not only individual mishaps of forensic scientists working in these labs, but also organizational failures. Buker finds that elements of organizational environment and organizational behavior of the crime labs combine to create this organizational failure. He concludes with public policy suggestions to maintain and amplify the trustworthiness of these very important criminal justice organizations.” From Publisher’s Website.

Handbook of Life-Course Criminology: Emerging Trends and Directions for Future Research, ed. by Chris L. Gibson and Marvin D. Krohn. New York: Springer, 2013. 341p.

“The wide-ranging scope of the Handbook of Life-Course Criminology covers genetics and environment, child offenders and late bloomers, the impact of school and peers, lifelong and time-limited criminal careers, and qualitative and quantitative methodologies. This unique Handbook is further set apart by its dual coverage of the leading edge of current research and innovative directions for future work in the field. Pathways to crime have been a central concept of criminology from its inception. Accordingly, a lifespan approach to the field has replaced earlier biological and sociological perspectives with a more nuanced understanding of offender behavior and a wider lens of study. The contributions to this Handbook break down issues of criminal and antisocial behavior from early childhood to late adulthood, examining developmentally targeted prevention and intervention strategies and reviewing emerging trends in research. Among the topics:

· Childhood: including physical aggression in childhood, pre- and peri-natal development, and environment.
· Adolescence: the impact of schooling, unstructured time with peers, gang membership and peer networks.
· Adulthood: Adult onset crime, unemployment in emerging adulthood, crime and adult outcomes.
· Prevention and Intervention: community programs, lifetime intervention strategies, re-entry.”

From Publisher’s Website.

Homicide and the Politics of Law Reform, by Jeremy Horder. Oxford, UK; New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. 330p.

“What makes murder, murder? How should we understand the difference between intentional and reckless killing? Should offenders be punished differently according to the perceived severity of their crime and when should they be excused?

These questions are the topic of intense debate within legal circles and beyond in the UK, the US, and the rest of world. Jeremy Horder’s role as the Law Commissioner for England and Wales on criminal law has given him unique insight into these questions and the debates surrounding them. Here he analyses the recent political and legal reform movements, offering a political history of homicide law reform from the 19th century to the modern era.
Using homicide as a starting point, Horder raises deeper questions of who is and should be responsible for making and changing the law. What role should there be for expert bodies, judges, and politicians? What role should there be for the general public? These are technical legal issues but ones which invoke strong emotional responses. By examining these questions, Horder offers an insider’s view into the processes of achieving law reform and expresses criticism of a system that excludes the vast majority of people from consultation on reform of the laws that govern them.” From Publisher’s Website.

Houston Blue: The Story of the Houston Police Department, by Mitchel P. Roth and Tom Kennedy. University of North Texas Press, 2012. 496p.

“Houston Blue offers the first comprehensive history of one of the nation’s largest police forces, the Houston Police Department. Through extensive archival research and more than one hundred interviews with prominent Houston police figures, politicians, news reporters, attorneys, and others, authors Mitchel P. Roth and Tom Kennedy chronicle the development of policing in the Bayou City from its days as a grimy trading post in the 1830s to its current status as the nation’s fourth largest city. Combining the skills of historian, criminologist, and journalist, Roth and Kennedy reconstruct the history of a police force that has been both innovative and controversial.

Readers will be introduced to a colorful and unforgettable cast of police chiefs and officers who have made their mark on the department. Prominent historical figures who have brushed shoulders with Houston’s Finest over the past 175 years are also featured, including Houdini, Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, O. Henry, former Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, hatchet wielding temperance leader Carrie Nation, the Hilton Siamese Twins, blues musician Leadbelly, oilman Silver Dollar Jim West, and many others.

The Houston Police Department has been at the cutting edge of police innovation. It was one of the first departments in the South to adopt fingerprinting as an identification system and use the polygraph test, and under the leadership of its first African American police chief, Lee Brown, put the theory of neighborhood oriented policing into practice in the 1980s. The force has been embroiled in controversy and high profile criminal cases as well. Among the cases chronicled in the book are the Dean Corll and Dr. John Hill murders; controversial cases involving the department’s crime lab; the killings of Randy Webster and Joe Campos Torres; and the Camp Logan, Texas Southern University, and Moody Park Riots.

Roth and Kennedy reveal that most of modern Houston’s issues and problems are rooted in many of the challenges that faced police officers in the nineteenth century. Anyone who drives in Houston will not be surprised that the city’s reputation for poor drivers was already cemented in the 1860s, when ordinances were passed to protect pedestrians from horse-drawn carriages. Likewise, the department’s efforts to overcome funding and manpower shortages, and political patronage, are a continuing battle that began a century ago. In the end it is a story about the men and women in blue and the role played by the Houston Police Officers Union in creating a modern 21st-century police force from its frontier roots.” From Publisher’s Website.

The Illicit Trade in Art and Antiquities: International Recovery and Criminal and Civil Liability, by Janet Ulph and Ian Smith. Oxford, UK; Portland, OR: Hart Publishing, 2012. 352p.

“This book provides practical guidance on the modern law relating to cultural objects which have been stolen, looted, or illegally exported. It explains how English criminal law principles, including money laundering measures, apply to those who deal in cultural objects in a domestic or international setting. It discusses the recovery of works of art and antiquities in the English courts where there are competing claims between private individuals, or between individuals and the UK government or a foreign State. Significantly, this book also provides an exposition of the law where a British law enforcement agency, or a foreign law enforcement agency or court, is involved in the course of criminal or civil proceedings in an English court. The growth of relevant international instruments, which include not only those devoted to the protection of mankind’s cultural heritage, but also those concerned with money laundering and serious organized crime, provide a backdrop to this discussion. The UK’s ratification of the UNESCO Convention on Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 1970 in 2002 is considered. The problems posed in attempting to curb trafficking in art and antiquities are explored and the effectiveness of the current law is analyzed.”From Publisher’s Website.

Kids, Cops, and Confessions: Inside the Interrogation Room, by Barry C. Feld. New York: New York University Press, 2012. 352p.

“Juveniles possess less maturity, intelligence, and competence than adults, heightening their vulnerability in the justice system. For this reason, states try juveniles in separate courts and use different sentencing standards than for adults. Yet, when police bring kids in for questioning, they use the same interrogation tactics they use for adults, including trickery, deception, and lying to elicit confessions or to produce incriminating evidence against the defendants. In Kids, Cops, and Confessions, Barry Feld offers the first report of what actually happens when police question juveniles. Drawing on remarkable data, Feld analyzes interrogation tapes and transcripts, police reports, juvenile court filings and sentences, and probation and sentencing reports, describing in rich detail what actually happens in the interrogation room. Contrasting routine interrogation and false confessions enables police, lawyers, and judges to identify interrogations that require enhanced scrutiny, to adopt policies to protect citizens, and to assure reliability and integrity of the justice system. Feld has produced an invaluable look at how the justice system really works.” From Publisher’s Website.

Jammed Up: Bad Cops, Police Misconduct, and the New York City Police Department, by Robert J. Kane and Michael D. White. New York: New York University Press, 2012. 256p.

“Drugs, bribes, falsifying evidence, unjustified force and kickbacks: there are many opportunities for cops to act like criminals. Jammed Up is the definitive study of the nature and causes of police misconduct. While police departments are notoriously protective of their own—especially personnel and disciplinary information—Michael White and Robert Kane gained unprecedented, complete access to the confidential files of NYPD officers who committed serious offenses, examining the cases of more than 1,500 NYPD officers over a twenty year period that includes a fairly complete cycle of scandal and reform, in the largest, most visible police department in the United States. They explore both the factors that predict officer misconduct, and the police department’s responses to that misconduct, providing a comprehensive framework for understanding the issues. The conclusions they draw are important not just for what they can tell us about the NYPD but for how we are to understand the very nature of police misconduct.” From Publisher’s Website.

Late Onset Offending and Substance Use: Findings from the NYSFS, by Kristen L. Welch. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2012. 184p.

“Welch analyzes findings from the National Youth Survey Family Study (NYSFS) to determine the frequency and predictors of late onset offending and other problem behaviors in adulthood. She clarifies the conceptualization of late onset, to investigate the contradictions in findings concerning its occurrence, and to determine which factors are significant predictors of late onset. Findings suggest that late onset substance use is rare and late onset offending is even rarer (less than .1% of respondents and less than 1% of all offenders). Due to the rarity of these events, it is extremely difficult to identify salient predictors. The strongest predictor of late onset offending is prior offending, suggesting that serious measures are not valid measures of late onset offending, but rather identify a continuation of offending from minor to more serious offenses.” From Publisher’s Website.

Police Officers’ Encounters with Disrespectful Citizens, by William C. Pizo. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2012. 242p.

“Utilizing survey data from officers in a mid-sized city police department in the United States and the London Metropolitan Police, Pizio seeks to understand the breadth of behaviors that officers find disrespectful, to discover how often officers perceive that they are experiencing disrespectful citizens, and to make cross-national comparisons. When assessing officer-based, occupation-based, and country-based characteristics, findings reveal few differences between officers in each country, supporting the notion that police in different countries are more alike than not. Additionally, education and experience were found to be positively related to disrespect in both countries, and in the U.K. unarmed officers anticipated disrespect more often than armed officers.” From Publisher’s Website.

Policing in an Age of Austerity: A Postcolonial Perspective, by Mike Brogden and Graham Ellison. London; New York: Routledge, 2012. 189p.

“Policing in an Age of Austerity uniquely examines the effects on one key public service: the state police of England and Wales. Focusing on the major cut-backs in its resources, both in material and in labour, it details the extent and effects of that drastic reduction in provision together with related matters in Scotland and Northern Ireland. This book also investigates the knock-on effect on other public agencies of diminished police contribution to public well-being.

The book argues that such a dramatic reduction in police services has occurred in an almost totally uncoordinated way, both between provincial police services, and also with regard to other public agencies. While there may have been marginal improvements in effectiveness in certain contexts, the British police have dramatically failed to seize the opportunity to modernize a police service that has never been reformed to suit modern exigencies since its date of origin in 1829. British policing remains a relic of the past despite the mythology by which it increasingly exports its practices and officers to (especially) transitional societies.

Operating at both historical and contemporary levels, this book furnishes a mine of current information. Critically, it also emphasizes the extent to which British policing has traditionally concentrated on the lowest socio-economic stratum of society, to the neglect of the policing of the more powerful.” From Publisher’s Website.

Principles and Values in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice: Essays in Honour of Andrew Ashworth, ed. by Lucia Zedner and Julian V. Roberts. Oxford, UK; New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. 375p.

“Celebrating the scholarship of Andrew Ashworth, Vinerian Professor of English Law at the University of Oxford, this collection brings together leading international scholars to explore questions of principle and value in criminal law and criminal justice. Internationally renowned for elaborating a body of principles and values that should underpin criminalization, the criminal process, and sentencing, Ashworth’s contribution to the field over forty years of scholarship has been immense. Advancing his project of exploring normative issues at the heart of criminal law and criminal justice, the contributors examine the important and fascinating debates in which Ashworth’s influence has been greatest.

The essays fall into three distinct but related areas, reflecting Ashworth’s primary spheres of influence. Those in Part 1 address the import and role of principles in the development of a just criminal law, with contributions focusing upon core tenets such as the presumption of innocence, fairness, accountability, the principles of criminal liability, and the grounds for defences. Part 2 addresses questions of human rights and due process protections in both domestic and international law. In Part 3 the essays are addressed to core issues in sentencing and punishment: they explore questions of equality, proportionality, adherence to the rule of law, the totality principle (in respect of multiple offences), wrongful acquittals, and unduly lenient sentences. Together they demonstrate how important Ashworth’s work has been in shaping how we think about criminal law and criminal justice, and make their own invaluable contribution to contemporary discussions of criminalization and punishment.” From Publisher’s Website.

Prison Privatization: The Many Facets of a Controversial Industry, ed. by Byron Eugene Price and John Charles Morris. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2012. 824p.

“This three-volume set brings together noted scholars and experts in the field to provide a comprehensive treatment of the subject of privatized prisons in the United States. It is a definitive work on the topic that synthesizes current thought on both the theory and practice of prison privatization.
Volume I provides a broad-brush overview of private prisons that discusses the history of prison privatization and examines the expansion of the private prison industry and the growth of inmate populations in the United States. Volume II focuses on the corrections industry itself, providing essays that explore the business models, profit motivations, economic factors, and operations of the corporations that offer corrections services, while Volume III explores the political and social environment of prison privatization.” From Publisher’s Website.

Real Life Monsters: A Psychological Examination of the Serial Murderer, by Stephan J. Giannangelo. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2012. 193p.

“This book presents an in-depth psychological analysis of the development of the serial killer personality that will fascinate all readers, from the experienced criminology student to the casual true-crime reader.

Serial murders continue to both plague and fascinate our society. In 2010, it was estimated by the FBI that nearly 500 victims had died at the hands of highway serial killers alone—a fraction of the ongoing violence.

Real-Life Monsters: A Psychological Examination of the Serial Murderer takes a different approach than most titles on a similar topic: the author develops and proposes an original psychological explanation, rather than simply repeating some of the long-held theories for these criminals’ heinous actions. The work addresses current issues, presents detailed commentary and personal observation, and contains photographs that will fascinate general readers interested in the subjects of true crime, serial killers, and psychopathology.

The first part of the book carefully examines the research past and present regarding clinical, psychological, societal, and biological bases for violent behavior, specific to the serial murderer. Part two establishes a novel theory of the pattern of violence and then explores this hypothesis through eight case studies, interviews with serial killers, and elemental analysis. The work also contains a chapter based on conversations between the author and a convicted serial murderer.” From Publisher’s Website.

Responding to Intimate Violence Against Women: The Role of Informal Networks, by Renate Klein. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. 168p.

“Family members, friends, coworkers, and neighbors are often the first to know that a woman has been abused by an intimate male partner. What is the proper course of action for those with knowledge of abuse? Using a wide range of empirical data from international sources, Renate Klein documents informal third parties as the first port of call, sources of support and interference, and gatekeepers to formal services. Family and social network members disrupt ongoing assaults, respond to disclosures of abuse, and provide solace and practical help. These networks do not always side with victims, however, and may either sympathize with or actively support perpetrators. Klein illuminates the complexities of these contingent situations. Her analysis highlights the potential of informal third parties for effective intervention, demonstrating their significant role in promoting societies free from rape and domestic violence.” From Publisher’s Website.

Right-Wing Resurgence: How a Domestic Terrorist Threat is Being Ignored, by Daryl Johnson. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012. 400p.

“In 2008 there were 149 militia groups in the United States. In 2009, that number more than tripled to 512, and now there are nearly 600. In Right-Wing Resurgence, author Daryl Johnson offers a detailed account of the growth of right-wing extremism and militias in the United States and the ever-increasing threat they pose. The author is an acknowledged expert in this area and has been an intelligence analyst working for several federal agencies for nearly 20 years. The book is also a first-hand, insider’s account of the DHS Right-Wing Extremism report from the person who wrote it. It is a truthful depiction of the facts, circumstances, and events leading up to the leak of this official intelligence assessment.

The leak and its aftermath have had an adverse effect on homeland security. Because of its alleged mishandling of the situation, the Department’s reputation has declined in the intelligence and law enforcement communities and the analytical integrity of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis was undermined. Most importantly, the nation’s security has been compromised during a critical time when a significant domestic terrorist threat is growing. This book is replete with case studies and interviews with leaders which reveal their agendas, how they recruit, and how they operate around the country. It presents a comprehensive account of an ever-growing security concern at a time when this threat is only beginning to be realized, and is still largely ignored in many circles.” From Publisher’s Website.

Sex Offenders: Punish, Help, Change or Control?: Theory, Policy and Practice Explored, ed. by Jo Brayford, Francis Cowe and John Deering. London; New York: Routledge, 2012. 368p.

“Sex offending, and in particular child sex offending, is a complex area for policy makers, theorists and practitioners. A focus on punishment has reinforced sex offending as a problem that is essentially ‘other’ to society and discourages engagement with the real scale and scope of sexual offending in the UK. This book looks at the growth of work with sex offenders, questioning assumptions about the range and types of such offenders and what effective responses to these might be.

Divided into four sections, this book sets out the growth of a broad legislative context and the emergence of child sexual offenders in criminal justice policy and practice. It goes on to consider a range of offences and victim typologies arguing that work with offenders and victims is complex and can provide a rich source of theoretical and practical knowledge that should be utilised more fully by both policy makers and practitioners. It includes work on female sex offenders, electronic monitoring and animal abuse as well as exploring interventions with sex offenders in three different contexts; prisons, communities and hostels.

Bringing together academic, practice and policy experts, the book argues that a clear but complex theoretical and policy approach is required if the risk of re- offending and further victimisation is to be reduced. Ultimately, this book questions whether it makes sense to locate responsibility for responding to sexual offending solely within the criminal justice domain.” From Publisher’s Website.

Special Sensitivity? The White-Collar Offender in Prison, by William A. Stadler. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2012. 180p.

“Despite recent increases in incarceration for white-collar offenders, little is known about their prison experiences or how they adjust to imprisonment. In the justice system a view has prevailed that white-collar offenders have a “special sensitivity” to imprisonment—that they are more susceptible to the pains of prison. Stadler explores this view to determine how white-collar inmates adjust to life in prison and whether they do so differently than street offenders. Evidence suggests that white-collar inmates are no more likely to experience negative prison adjustment than street offenders, and in some cases, white-collar inmates experienced fewer problems.” From Publisher’s Website.

The Supreme Court and the Fourth Amendment’s Exclusionary Rule, by Tracey Maclin. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. 416p.

“The application of the Fourth Amendment’s Exclusionary Rule has divided the Justices of the Supreme Court for nearly a century. As the legal remedy for when police violate the Fourth Amendment rights of a person and discover criminal evidence through illegal search and seizure, it is the most frequently litigated constitutional issue in United States courts. Tracey Maclin’s The Supreme Court and the Fourth Amendment’s Exclusionary Rule traces the rise and fall of the exclusionary rule using insight and behind-the-scenes access into the Court’s thinking.

Based on original archival research into the private papers of retired Justices, Professor Maclin’s analysis clarifies the motivations and thoughts that explain the Court’s exclusionary rule jurisprudence. He includes a comprehensive scholarly and objective discussion of the reasoning behind the Court decisions, and demonstrates that like other constitutional doctrines, the exclusionary rule is a political mechanism that expands and contracts as the times and Justices change. Ultimately, this book will help readers understand how constitutional law is constructed by judges with diverse political perspectives.” From Publisher’s Website.

Therapeutic Justice and Addicted Parents: A Family Treatment Court Evaluation, by Heidee McMillin. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2012. 220p.

“McMillan provides insight into the treatment team processes and parent/family outcomes for a family treatment court. She examines therapeutic justice through the lens of Sampson and Laub’s Life Course theory. This study found that family treatment can serve as a structural turning point that intersects with a life trajectory spiraling down into more severe and destructive drug use, and redirect parents life trajectory towards sobriety and family reunification. The research revealed that 86% of graduates were reunited with their children, versus 22% of the comparison group.” From Publisher’s Website.

White Collar Crime in Housing: Mortgage Fraud in the United States, by Cynthia Koller. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2012. 176p.

”Subprime lending and mortgage fraud spread rapidly throughout the United States financial services sector during the 1990s and early 2000s, and in turn have been credited with contributing to an unprecedented global financial crisis. Koller, using diffusion theory as an interpretive framework, utilizes industry insider insights to examine how and why these innovative lending and fraud strategies diffused so quickly and deeply throughout the housing industry. She also assesses the viability of contemporary criminological and diffusion theories to explain the creation and control of white collar crime opportunities. Koller concludes that not only was the housing crisis predictable, it may have been preventable.” From Publisher’s Website.

White Collar Crime in the Mutual Fund Industry, by Andrew Peterson. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2012. 172p.

“Peterson examines conditions and structures that led to abuses in the mutual fund industry. He seeks to provide understanding of not only the scandal’s causes and its effects on investors, but also the regulatory response and reformation process. He breaks the scandal down into three parts: its root causes, regulatory responses by various actors, and attempts at reform and regulation. Key themes (e.g., why attorney generals were more successful in prosecuting this scandal than the SEC) are then identified to aid in a holistic understanding of the market timing and late trading scandal. The findings should help advance our understanding of financial scandals and white-collar crime.” From Publisher’s Website.

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