Books Received
July 2017

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.

Addicted to Rehab: Race, Gender, and Drugs in the Era of Mass Incarceration, by Allison McKim. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2017. 246p.

“After decades of the American “war on drugs” and relentless prison expansion, political officials are finally challenging mass incarceration. Many point to an apparently promising solution to reduce the prison population: addiction treatment.

In Addicted to Rehab, Bard College sociologist Allison McKim gives an in-depth and innovative ethnographic account of two such rehab programs for women, one located in the criminal justice system and one located in the private healthcare system—two very different ways of defining and treating addiction. McKim’s book shows how addiction rehab reflects the race, class, and gender politics of the punitive turn. As a result, addiction has become a racialized category that has reorganized the link between punishment and welfare provision. While reformers hope that treatment will offer an alternative to punishment and help women, McKim argues that the framework of addiction further stigmatizes criminalized women and undermines our capacity to challenge gendered subordination. Her study ultimately reveals a two-tiered system, bifurcated by race and class.” From Publisher’s Website

Addressing Violence Against Women on College Campuses, edited by Catherine Kaufinen, Michelle Hughes Miller, and Rachael A. Powers. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2017. 354p.

“Violence against women on college campuses has remained underreported and often under addressed by both campus security and local law enforcement, as well as campus administrators. The researchers, practitioners, and activists who contribute to the pertinent volume Addressing Violence Against Women on College Campuses examine the extent, nature, dynamic and contexts of violence against women at institutions of higher education.

This book is designed to facilitate an ongoing discussion and provide direction on how best to prevent and investigate violence against women, and intervene to assist victims while reducing the impact of these crimes. Chapters detail the necessary changes and implications that are part of Title IX and other federal legislation and initiatives as well as the effect these changes have had for higher education actors, including campus administrators, victim advocates, and student activists. The contributors also explore the importance of campus efforts to estimate the extent of violence against women; educating young men and women on the nature of sexual and dating violence; and shifting efforts to both make offenders accountable for their crimes and prompt all bystanders to act.

Addressing Violence Against Women on College Campuses urgently argues to make violence prevention not separate from but rather an integral part of the student experience. “ From Publisher’s Website.

All the Agents and Saints: Dispatches from the U.S. Borderlands, by Stephanie Elizondo Griest. Chapel Hills, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2017. 312p.

“After a decade of chasing stories around the globe, intrepid travel writer Stephanie Elizondo Griest followed the magnetic pull home–only to discover that her native South Texas had been radically transformed in her absence. Ravaged by drug wars and barricaded by an eighteen-foot steel wall, her ancestral land had become the nation’s foremost crossing ground for undocumented workers, many of whom perished along the way. The frequency of these tragedies seemed like a terrible coincidence, before Elizondo Griest moved to the New York / Canada borderlands. Once she began to meet Mohawks from the Akwesasne Nation, however, she recognized striking parallels to life on the southern border. Having lost their land through devious treaties, their mother tongues at English-only schools, and their traditional occupations through capitalist ventures, Tejanos and Mohawks alike struggle under the legacy of colonialism. Toxic industries surround their neighborhoods while the U.S. Border Patrol militarizes them. Combating these forces are legions of artists and activists devoted to preserving their indigenous cultures. Complex belief systems, meanwhile, conjure miracles. In All the Agents and Saints, Elizondo Griest weaves seven years of stories into a meditation on the existential impact of international borderlines by illuminating the spaces in between and the people who live there.” From Publisher’s Website.

American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road, by Nick Road. New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2016. 352p.

“In 2011, a twenty-six-year-old libertarian programmer named Ross Ulbricht launched the ultimate free market: the Silk Road, a clandestine Web site hosted on the Dark Web where anyone could trade anything—drugs, hacking software, forged passports, counterfeit cash, poisons—free of the government’s watchful eye.

It wasn’t long before the media got wind of the new Web site where anyone—not just teenagers and weed dealers but terrorists and black hat hackers—could buy and sell contraband detection-free. Spurred by a public outcry, the federal government launched an epic two-year manhunt for the site’s elusive proprietor, with no leads, no witnesses, and no clear jurisdiction. All the investigators knew was that whoever was running the site called himself the Dread Pirate Roberts.

The Silk Road quickly ballooned into $1.2 billion enterprise, and Ross embraced his new role as kingpin. He enlisted a loyal crew of allies in high and low places, all as addicted to the danger and thrill of running an illegal marketplace as their customers were to the heroin they sold. Through his network he got wind of the target on his back and took drastic steps to protect himself—including ordering a hit on a former employee. As Ross made plans to disappear forever, the Feds raced against the clock to catch a man they weren’t sure even existed, searching for a needle in the haystack of the global Internet.

Drawing on exclusive access to key players and two billion digital words and images Ross left behind, Vanity Fair correspondent and New York Times bestselling author Nick Bilton offers a tale filled with twists and turns, lucky breaks and unbelievable close calls. It’s a story of the boy next door’s ambition gone criminal, spurred on by the clash between the new world of libertarian-leaning, anonymous, decentralized Web advocates and the old world of government control, order, and the rule of law. Filled with unforgettable characters and capped by an astonishing climax, American Kingpin might be dismissed as too outrageous for fiction. But it’s all too real.” From Publisher’s Website.

Bernie Madoff and the Crisis: The Public Trial of Capitalism, by Colleen P. Eren. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2017. 224p.

“Bernie Madoff’s arrest could not have come at a more darkly poetic moment. Economic upheaval had plunged America into a horrid recession. Then, on December 11, 2008, Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme came to light. A father turned in by his sons; a son who took his own life; another son dying and estranged from his father; a woman at the center of a storm—Madoff’s story was a media magnet, voraciously consumed by a justice-seeking public.

Bernie Madoff and the Crisis goes beyond purely investigative accounts to examine how and why Madoff became the epicenter of public fury and titillation. Rooting her argument in critical sociology, Colleen P. Eren analyzes media coverage of this landmark case alongside original interviews with dozens of journalists and editors involved in the reportage, the SEC Director of Public Affairs, and Bernie Madoff himself.

Turning the mirror back onto society, Eren locates Madoff within a broader reckoning about free market capitalism. She argues that our ideological and cultural tendencies to attribute blame to individuals—be they regulators, victims, or “monsters” like Madoff—distracts us from more systemic critiques. Bernie Madoff and the Crisis offers fresh insight into the 2008 crisis, whether we have come to terms with it, and what we have yet to gain from the case of the century.” From Publisher’s Website.

A Companion to the History of Crime & Criminal Justice, edited by Jo Turner, Paul Taylor, Sharon Morley, and Karen Corteen. Bristol, UK: Policy Press (University of Chicago Press), 2017. 320p.

“This valuable book provides concise but robust definitions of key terms and concepts, going well beyond a simple explanation of the word or theme. Offering a succinct approach to the vocabulary and terminology of historical and contemporary approaches to crime and punishment, it includes entries from expert contributors in a user-friendly A-Z format with clear direction to related entries and further reading. Including explanations of terms ranging from ‘garrotting’ to The Bow Street Runners, baby farming to juvenile delinquency, this easily accessible text will be ideal for the reader to draw on across the variety of modules and studies relating to the topic.” From Publisher’s Website.

Contemporary Slavery: Popular Rhetoric and Political Practice, edited by Annie Bunting and Joel Quirk. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press, 2017. 274p.

“Contemporary slavery has recently and unexpectedly emerged as a source of both popular fascination and a spur to political mobilization. This volume brings together a cast of leading experts to carefully explore how the history and iconography of slavery has been invoked to support a series of government interventions, activist projects, legal instruments, and rhetorical performances. However well-intentioned these interventions might be, they nonetheless remain subject to a host of limitations and complications. Recent efforts to combat contemporary slavery are too often sensationalist, self-serving, and superficial; and therefore end up failing the crucial test of speaking truth to power.

The widely held notion that anti-slavery is one of those rare issues that “transcends” politics or ideology is only sustainable because the underlying issues at stake have been constructed and demarcated in a way that minimizes direct challenges to dominant political and economic interests. This must change. By providing an original approach to the underlying issues at stake, this book will help readers understand the political practices that have been concealed beneath the popular rhetoric and establishes new conversations between scholars of slavery and trafficking and scholars of human rights and social movements.” From Publisher’s Website.

Criminal Law and the Authority of the State, edited by Antje du Bois-Pedain, Magnus Uluang and Petter Asp. Oxford, UK; Portland, OR: Hart Publishing, 2017. 264p.

“How does the state, as a public authority, relate to those under its jurisdiction through the criminal law? Connecting the ways in which criminal lawyers, legal theorists, public lawyers and criminologists address questions of the criminal law’s legitimacy, contributors to this collection explore issues such as criminal law-making and jurisdiction; the political-ethical underpinnings of legitimate criminal law enforcement; the offence of treason; the importance of doctrinal guidance in the application of criminal law; the interface between tort and crime; and the purposes and mechanisms of state punishment. Overall, the collection aims to enhance and deepen our understanding of criminal law by conceiving of the practices of criminal justice as explicitly and distinctly embedded in the project of liberal self-governance.” From Publisher’s Website.

Discourses on Violence and Punishment: Exploring the Extremes, by Kresimar Petkovic. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2017. 610p.

“This book brings together various discourses concerned with violence and punishment, paying special attention to the extreme variations of these phenomena. Starting from a narrow definition of violence as an infliction of physical harm, paired with a broad discussion of its causes and a wide definition of punishment as an authority claim to retribution or reform, the book maps and interprets political-theoretical discourses on the death penalty, historical explanations of the changes of violence and punishment, and comparative differences in punishment. It also puts violence and punishment into perspective with political power, world religions, literature and film, and criminological theory. The final chapter changes the perspective taken in the bulk of the book, dealing with discourses of theodicy in the face of cases of extreme violence and suffering. By juxtaposing many unusual discourses, the book attempts to fulfill three primary functions. First, it skeptically probes numerous discourses explaining and legitimizing violence and punishment in the light of extreme cases. The book is a map of violence and punishment. Second, it invites the reader to confront, choose, and combine these discourses when thinking about facts and norms of punishment. The book provides an analytical toolbox for research of violence and punishment. Third, the book presents wider sense-seeking strategies employed to deal with suffering such as irony, redemption, or rationalization.” From Publisher’s Website.

Everyday Desistance: The Transition to Adulthood Among Formerly Incarcerated Youth, by Laura S. Abrams and Diane J. Terry. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2017. 256p.

“In Everyday Desistance, Laura Abrams and Diane J. Terry examine the lives of young people who spent considerable time in and out of correctional institutions as adolescents. These formerly incarcerated youth often struggle with the onset of adult responsibilities at a much earlier age than their more privileged counterparts. In the context of urban Los Angeles, with a large-scale gang culture and diminished employment prospects, further involvement in crime appears almost inevitable. Yet, as Abrams and Terry point out, these formerly imprisoned youth are often quite resilient and can be successful at creating lives for themselves after months or even years of living in institutions run by the juvenile justice system.

This book narrates the day-to-day experiences of these young men and women, focusing on their attempts to surmount the challenges of adulthood, resisting a return to criminal activity, and formulating long-term goals for a secure adult future.” From Publisher’s Website.

The Gang’s All Queer: The Lives of Gay Gang Members, by Vanessa R. Panfil. New York: New York University Press, 2017. 312p.

“Many people believe that gangs are made up of violent thugs who are in and out of jail, and who are hyper-masculine and heterosexual. In The Gang’s All Queer, Vanessa Panfil introduces us to a different world. Meet gay gang members – sometimes referred to in popular culture as “homo thugs” – whose gay identity complicates criminology’s portrayal and representation of gangs, gang members, and gang life. In vivid detail, Panfil provides an in-depth understanding of how gay gang members construct and negotiate both masculine and gay identities through crime and gang membership.

The Gang’s All Queer draws from interviews with over 50 gay gang- and crime-involved young men in Columbus, Ohio, the majority of whom are men of color in their late teens and early twenties, as well as on-the-ground ethnographic fieldwork with men who are in gay, hybrid, and straight gangs. Panfil provides an eye-opening portrait of how even members of straight gangs are connected to a same-sex oriented underground world.

Most of these young men still present a traditionally masculine persona and voice deeply-held affection for their fellow gang members. They also fight with their enemies, many of whom are in rival gay gangs. Most come from impoverished, ‘rough’ neighborhoods, and seek to defy negative stereotypes of gay and Black men as deadbeats, though sometimes through illegal activity. Some are still closeted to their fellow gang members and families, yet others fight to defend members of the gay community, even those who they deem to be “fags,” despite distaste for these flamboyant members of the community. And some perform in drag shows or sell sex to survive.

The Gang’s All Queer poignantly illustrates how these men both respond to and resist societal marginalization. Timely, powerful, and engaging, this book will challenge us to think differently about gangs, gay men, and urban life.” From Publisher’s Website.

Gender, Crime & Justice: Exploring the Dynamics, by Andrew Wilczak. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2017. 291p.

“Exactly what role does gender play in crime, and in the criminal justice system? Addressing this two-part question from the perspective of the offender, the victim, the community, and the overall justice system, Andrew Wilczak provides an accessible introduction to the full range of issues involved.

Notably, this comprehensive text:

• features an inclusive focus on both men and women
• encompasses theory, as well as realities on the ground
• draws on popular culture
• challenges students to ask difficult questions
• ties concepts to students’ own lives
• incorporates an intersectional approach.” From Publisher’s Website.

Handbook of Research on Counterfeiting and Illicit Trade, edited by Peggy E. Chaudhry.

Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2017. 520p.

“This unique Handbook provides multiple perspectives on the growth of illicit trade, primarily exploring counterfeits and internet piracy. The expert contributions, drawn from the private sector, the legal community, and leading enforcement and anti-counterfeiting agencies, cover a wide range of topics including the evaluation of key global enforcement issues, government and private-sector initiatives to stifle illicit trade, and the evolution of piracy on the internet. The authors also assess the efficacy of anti-counterfeiting strategies such as targeted consumer campaigns, working with intermediaries in the supply chain, authentication technology, and online brand protection.

Offering a succinct and up-to-date overview of country initiatives to stem illicit trade in China, Mexico, and the US, the book addresses key global enforcement issues. It illustrates the unique problems facing key industry sectors and expands on a comprehensive and timely debate on the growing problem of illicit trade on the internet, highlighting distinct aspects of piracy in the music industry. The persistent problem of botnets, malware, and ‘malvertising’ is discussed, along with an overview of the various issues associated with online brand protection. Furthermore, a variety of anti-counterfeiting measures are presented that target both the demand and supply of illicit trade, complemented by an examination of their relative effectiveness.

This accessible, provocative, and timely synopsis of counterfeiting and illicit trade will be of great value to academics and researchers of law, criminology, and trade. It will also be an excellent resource for government agencies, policymakers, and private-sector managers in those industries most affected by this growing and pervasive problem. “ From Publisher’s Website.

Holocaust, Genocide, and the Law: A Quest for Justice in a Post-Holocaust World, by Michael Bazyler. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2016. 392p.

“A great deal of contemporary law has a direct connection to the Holocaust. That connection, however, is seldom acknowledged in legal texts and has never been the subject of a full-length scholarly work. This book examines the background of the Holocaust and genocide through the prism of the law; the criminal and civil prosecution of the Nazis and their collaborators for Holocaust-era crimes; and contemporary attempts to criminally prosecute perpetrators for the crime of genocide. It provides the history of the Holocaust as a legal event, and sets out how genocide has become known as the “crime of crimes” under both international law and in popular discourse. It goes on to discuss specific post-Holocaust legal topics, and examines the Holocaust as a catalyst for post-Holocaust international justice. Together, this collection of subjects establishes a new legal discipline, which the author Michael Bazyler labels “Post-Holocaust Law.” From Publisher’s Website.

Landmark Cases in Criminal Law, edited by Philip Handler, Henry Mares, and Ian Williams. Oxford, UK; Portland, OR: Hart Publishing, 2017. 384p.

“Criminal cases raise difficult normative and legal questions, and are often a consequence of compelling human drama. In this collection, expert authors place leading cases in criminal law in their historical and legal contexts, highlighting their significance both in the past and for the present.

The cases in this volume range from the fifteenth to the twenty-first century. Many of them are well known to modern criminal lawyers and students; others are overlooked landmarks that deserve reconsideration. The essays, often based on extensive and original archival research, range over a wide spectrum of criminal law, covering procedure and doctrine, statute and common law, individual offences and general principles. Together, the essays explore common themes, including the scope of criminal law and criminalisation, the role of the jury, and the causes of change in criminal law.” From Publisher’s Website.

Law & Disorder: The Chaotic Birth of the NYPD, by Bruce Chadwick. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2017. 384p.

“Nineteenth-century New York City was one of the most magnificent cities in the world, but also one of the most deadly. Without any real law enforcement for almost 200 years, the city was a lawless place where the crime rate was triple what it is today and the murder rate was five or six times as high. The staggering amount of crime threatened to topple a city that was experiencing meteoric growth and striving to become one of the most spectacular in America.

For the first time, award-winning historian Bruce Chadwick examines how rampant violence led to the founding of the first professional police force in New York City. Chadwick brings readers into the bloody and violent city, where race relations and an influx of immigrants boiled over into riots, street gangs roved through town with abandon, and thousands of bars, prostitutes, and gambling emporiums clogged the streets.

The drive to establish law and order and protect the city involved some of New York’s biggest personalities, including mayor Fernando Wood, police chief Fred Tallmadge, and journalist Walt Whitman.

Law and Disorder is a must read for fans of New York history and those interested in how the first police force, untrained and untested, battled to maintain law and order.” From Publisher’s Website.

The Limits of Asset Confiscation: On the Legitimacy of Extended Appropriation of Criminal Proceeds, by Johan Boucht. Oxford, UK; Portland OR: Hart Publishing, 2017. 280p.

“This book provides a normative analysis of the justifications and limits of asset confiscation as a crime control measure in a comparative perspective. More specifically, it deals with what in this context is referred to as extended appropriation, that is, confiscation in cases where the causal link between the property (the proceeds of crime) in question and the predicate offence(s) is less obvious. Particular focus is placed on extended criminal confiscation and civil recovery. These forms of confiscation give rise to a number of complex legal issues.

The overarching purpose of the book is to provide an analysis of the nature of extended appropriation within the criminal justice system and to discuss a normative framework that may assist in assessing the legitimacy of such confiscation schemes. It also seeks to explore what a fair and reasonable balance between the interests of the state and those of the individual in this field might look like. The analysis starts from an acknowledgement not only of the need for having effective confiscation regimes in place, but also of the need for protecting the interests of the individual. It is hoped that the book will stimulate further discussion on the legitimacy of asset recovery as a crime control measure.” From Publisher’s Website.

Mirage of Police Reform: Procedural Justice and Police Legitimacy, by Robert E. Worden and Sarah J. McLean. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2017. 224p.

“In the United States, the exercise of police authority—and the public’s trust that police authority is used properly—is a recurring concern. Contemporary prescriptions for police reform hold that the public would better trust the police and feel a greater obligation to comply and cooperate if police-citizen interactions were marked by higher levels of procedural justice by police.

In this book, Robert E. Worden and Sarah J. McLean argue that the procedural justice model of reform is a mirage. From a distance, procedural justice seemingly offers a relief from strained police-community relations. But a closer look at police organizations and police-citizen interactions shows that the relief offered by such reform is, in fact, illusory.” From Publisher’s Website.

Nexus of Global Jihad: Understanding Cooperation Among Terrorist Actors, by Assaf Moghadam. New York: Columbia University Press, 2017. 400p.

“Leading jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State dominate through cooperation in the form of knowledge sharing, resource sharing, joint training exercises, and operational collaboration. They build alliances and lesser partnerships with other formal and informal terrorist actors to recruit foreign fighters and spread their message worldwide, raising the aggregate threat level for their declared enemies. Whether they consist of friends or foes, whether they are connected locally or online, these networks create a wellspring of support for jihadist organizations that may fluctuate in strength or change in character but never runs dry. Nexus of Global Jihad identifies types of terrorist actors, the nature of their partnerships, and the environments in which they prosper to explain global jihadist terrorism’s ongoing success and resilience.

Nexus of Global Jihad brings to light an emerging style of “networked cooperation” that works alongside interorganizational terrorist cooperation to establish bonds of varying depth and endurance. Case studies use recently declassified materials to illuminate al-Qaeda’s dealings from Iran to the Arabian Peninsula and the informal actors that power the Sharia4 movement. The book proposes policies that increase intelligence gathering on informal terrorist actors, constrain enabling environments, and disrupt terrorist networks according to different types of cooperation. It is a vital text for strategists and scholars struggling to understand a growing spectrum of terrorist groups working together more effectively than ever before.” From Publisher’s Website.

The Palgrave International Handbook of Animal Abuse Studies, edited by Jennifer Maher, Harriet Pierpoint, and Piers Beirne. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 548p.

“This Handbook fills a large gap in current scholarly literature on animal abuse studies. It moves considerably beyond the debate that has traditionally dominated the discourse of animal abuse – the link between one-on-one interpersonal violence and animal abuse – and towards those institutionalised forms of animal abuse which are routine, everyday, socially acceptable and invisibilised. Chapters from expert contributors raise issues such as: the use of animals as edibles; vivisection; animal sexual assault; animals used in sport and hunting; animal trafficking; the use of animals by youth gangs, by other groups and in war; species extinction; and the passivity of national and international organisations in combating animal abuse. The Handbook is a unique text: it is essential reading for students, researchers, academics, activists and policy makers involved in understanding and preventing animal abuse.” From Publisher’s Website.

Policing Protest in Argentina and Chile, by Michelle D. Bonner. Boulder, CO: First Forum Press, 2014. 249p.

“Despite the pervasiveness of electoral democracy in Latin America, the police continue to repress political protests. Why? Does the majority of the public support the repression of protests? If not, whom do they hold accountable, and how?

Michelle Bonner offers a new perspective on police reform and democratic accountability by analyzing how people talk about the policing of protests in Argentina and Chile. Tracing the history of policing protests in the two countries and exploring current discourses, practices, and media coverage, she finds that talk most definitely does matter.” From Publisher’s Website.

Preventing Intimate Partner Violence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, edited by Claire M. Renzetti, Diane R. Follingstad and Ann L. Coker. Bristol, UK: (University of Chicago Press), Policy Press, 2017. 288p.

“How can we prevent intimate partner violence (IPV)? And how do we define and measure “success” in preventing it? This book brings together researchers and practitioners from a wide range of fields to examine innovative strategies and programs for preventing IPV. The authors discuss evaluations of current prevention efforts, paying particular attention to underserved groups, including racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants and refugees.

Among the issues addressed are primary prevention programs that target adolescents and young adults, strategies designed to engage men and boys, IPV screening in different settings, the impact of the criminalization of IPV on minority populations, restorative justice programs, interventions for women who use violence, and innovative shelter programming to prevent re-victimization. The volume concludes by identifying the gaps in knowledge about effective prevention and highlighting the most promising future directions for prevention research and strategies.” From Publisher’s Website.

Protect, Serve, and Deport: The Rise of Policing as Immigration Enforcement, by Amada Armenta. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2017. 212p.

‘Protect, Serve, and Deport exposes the on-the-ground workings of local immigration enforcement in Nashville, Tennessee. Between 2007 and 2012, Nashville’s local jail participated in an immigration enforcement program called 287(g), which turned jail employees into immigration officers who identified over ten thousand removable immigrants for deportation. The vast majority of those identified for removal were not serious criminals, but Latino residents arrested by local police for minor violations. Protect, Serve, and Deport explains how local politics, state laws, institutional policies, and police practices work together to deliver immigrants into an expanding federal deportation system, conveying powerful messages about race, citizenship, and belonging.” From Publisher’s Website.

Rationale-Based Defences in Criminal Law, by Mark Dsouza. London: Bloomsbury/Hart, 2017. 216p.

“Although it is often accepted that rationale-based defences to criminal liability can be justificatory or excusatory, disagreements about how best to conceptualise the categories of justification and excuse have appeared so interminable that some theorists argue that they should be abandoned altogether. This book offers a novel, principled, and intuitively appealing conceptual account of the natures of justifications and excuses, showing how they differ, and why the distinction between them matters.

The monograph breaks new ground by defending a model of rationale-based defences that turns solely on the quality of the defendant’s reasoning. This model is shown to generate appealing liability outcomes, advance convincing solutions to questions that have puzzled criminal lawyers for years, and offer suggestions for doctrinal reform that are both normatively sound, and practical. By proposing new ways to think about defences, this book makes an original contribution to criminal law theory that will be of benefit to academics, practitioners, and persons interested in law reform.” From Publisher’s Website.

Scandinavian Penal History, Culture and Prison Practice: Embraced by the Welfare State? Edited by Peter Scharff Smith and Thomas Ugelvik. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 540p.

“This book draws on historical and cross-disciplinary studies to critically examine penal practices in Scandinavia. The Nordic countries are often hailed by international observers as ‘model societies’, with egalitarian welfare policies, low rates of poverty, humane social policies and human rights oriented internal agendas. This book, however, paints a much more nuanced picture of the welfare policies, ideologies and social control in strong centralistic states. Based on extensive new empirical data, leading Nordic and international scholars discuss the relationship between prison conditions in Scandinavia and Scandinavian social policy more generally, and argue that it is not always liberating and constructive to be embraced by a powerful welfare state. This book is essential reading for researchers of state punishment in Scandinavia, and it is highly relevant for anyone interested in the ‘Nordic Model’ of social policy.” From Publisher’s Website.

School Shooters: Understanding High School, College, and Adult Perpetrators, by Peter Langman. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017. 298p.

“School shootings scare everyone, even those not immediately affected. They make national and international news. They make parents afraid to send their children off to school. But they also lead to generalizations about those who perpetrate them. Most assumptions about the perpetrators are wrong and many of the warning signs are missed until it’s too late. Here, Peter Langman takes a look at 48 national and international cases of school shootings in order to dispel the myths, explore the motives, and expose the realities of preventing school shootings from happening in the future, including identifying at risk individuals and helping them to seek help before it’s too late.” From Publisher’s Website.

Seeing Life Through Private Eyes: Secrets from America’s Top Investigator to Living Safer, Smarter, and Saner, by Thomas G. Martin. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017. 200p.

“Life is full of obstacles, and in today’s complicated, hyperconnected world we are all seeking to gain insight and knowledge that will allow us to take charge of our own safety and well-being. As a highly decorated former DEA agent and leading private investigator, Thomas G. Martin has seen every kind of trouble there is. In Seeing Life through Private Eyes, he provides a wealth of experience, insider information, and valuable advice to readers of every background navigating life’s inevitable challenges.

Domestic difficulties and divorce, adoption and runaways, background checks and corporate espionage, home protection and traveling wisely: whatever your issue, Seeing Life through Private Eyes offers the secrets to living safer, smarter, and saner. And just as a good investigator should, it guarantees readers the most valuable feeling of all: peace of mind.” From Publishers Website.

Sentencing and Modern Reform: The Process of Punishment, by Liz Marie Marciniak. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2016. 511p.

“Sentencing and Modern Reform: The Process of Punishment provides a comprehensive overview of sentencing strategies in the United States. The curious citizen and the criminal justice student will both find the book to be a cogent source of knowledge. The book highlights the diversity in approaches used by states and the federal system in sentencing offenders. It presents a historical background of sentencing practices in the United States and details the goals and structure of various modern reforms, including a summary of the Supreme Court’s scrutiny of sentencing reforms. An evaluation of whether the goals of reforms have been met is answered through a review of social science research, a consideration of monetary and social costs, and through interviews with professionals and a former federal inmate. The book also highlights recent calls to “reform the reforms” and describes how sentencing practices may be revised in the future.” From Publisher’s Website.

Shaming the Constitution: The Detrimental Results of Sexual Violent Predator Legislation, by Michael L. Perlin and Heather Ellis Cucolo. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2017. 324p.

“Convicted sexually violent predators are more vilified, more subject to media misrepresentation, and more likely to be denied basic human rights than any other population. Shaming the Constitution authors Michael Perlin and Heather Cucolo question the intentions of sex offender laws, offering new approaches to this most complex (and controversial) area of law and social policy.

The authors assert that sex offender laws and policies are unconstitutional and counter-productive. The legislation largely fails to add to public safety-even ruining lives for what are, in some cases, trivial infractions. Shaming the Constitution draws on law, behavioral sciences, and other disciplines to show that many of the “solutions” to penalizing sexually violent predators are “wrong,” as they create the most repressive and useless laws.

In addition to tracing the history of sex offender laws, the authors address the case of Jesse Timmendequas, whose crime begat “Megan’s Law;” the media’s role in creating a “moral panic;” recidivism statistics and treatments, as well as international human rights laws. Ultimately, they call attention to the flaws in the system so we can find solutions that contribute to public safety in ways that do not mock Constitutional principles.” From Publishers Website.

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