Reviews in Brief
2021

This part of the site is intended to broaden the scope of our coverage, and to encourage contributions from students and practitioners. Reviews in brief will be approximately 500 words in length.  Books to be considered for review should have been published in the past two years.  For further guidance or to prepare a review for publication, please contact one of the co-editors:

James Finckenauer (Criminal Justice)
Stuart Green (Criminal Law)

Previous Editions

November

On Crime, Society, and Responsibility in the Work of Nicola Lacey

Editor: Iyiola Solanke
Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2021. 288 pages
Reviewer: Markus Dubber ǀ November 2021

Cyberflashing: Recognising Harms, Reforming Laws

Authors: Clare McGlynn & Kelly Johnson
Publisher: Bristol University Press, 2021. 160 pages
Reviewer: Dean Fido ǀ November 2021

Forever Prisoners: How The United States Made the World’s Largest Immigration Detention System

Author: Elliot Young
Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2021. 280 pages
Reviewer: Mary Holper ǀ November 2021

Last Call: The True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York

Author: Elon Green
Publisher Celadon Books, 2021. 228 pages
Reviewer: Daniel R. Pinello ǀ November 2021

The Rope: A True Story of Murder, Heroism, and the Dawn of the NAACP

Author: Alex Tresniowski
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2021. 336 pages
Reviewer: Stephen Lowe ǀ November 2021

White-Collar and Financial Crimes: A Casebook of Fraudsters, Scam Artists, and Corporate Thieves

Author: Jennifer C. Noble
Publisher: University of California Press, 2021. 192 pages
Reviewer: Colleen P. Eren ǀ November 2021

September

The Ecology Of Homicide: Race, Place, And Space In Postwar Philadelphia

Author: Eric C. Schneider
Publisher: Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020. 264p.
Reviewer: James Wolfinger | September 2021

Thin Blue Lie: The Future Of High-Tech Policing

Author: Matt Stroud
Publisher: New York: Metropolitan Books, 2019. 272p.
Reviewer: Ben Stickle and Garret Jeanes | September 2021

Evaluating Police Uses Of Force

Author: Seth W. Stoughton; Jeffrey J. Noble; and Geoffrey P. Alpert
Publisher: New York: New York University Press, 2020. 256p.
Reviewer: Brian Higgins | September 2021

The Border And Its Bodies: The Embodiment Of Risk Along The U.S.-Mexico Line

Editors: Thomas E. Sheridan and Randall H. McGuire
Publisher: Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2019. 312p.
Reviewer: Russell Crandall | September 2021

The Dispossessed: A Story Of Asylum At The Us-Mexico Border And Beyond

Author: John Washington
Publisher: London; New York: Verso, 2020. 352p.
Reviewer: Russell Crandall | September 2021

The Murder Of Professor Schlick: The Rise And Fall Of The Vienna Circle

Author: David Edmonds
Publisher: Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2020. 336p.
Reviewers: Britta Crandall and Russell Crandall | September 2021

Illegal Mining: Organized Crime, Corruption, And Ecocide In A Resource-Scarce World

Editors: Yuliya Zabyelina and Daan van Uhm
Publisher: Cham: Springer International Publishing (Palgrave Macmillan), 2020. 610p.
Reviewer: Monique C. Sosnowski | September 2021

Nixon’s FBI: Hoover, Watergate, And A Bureau In Crisis

Author: Melissa Graves
Publisher: Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2020. 247p.
Reviewer: Kevin Cassidy | September 2021

August

The Great Kosher Meat War Of 1902: Immigrant Housewives And The Riots That Shook New York City

Author: Scott D. Seligman
Lincoln, NE: Potomac Books (c/o University of Nebraska Press), 2020. 312p.
Reviewer: Gerald W. McFarland | August 2021

Youth Squad: Policing Children In The Twentieth Century

Author: Tamara Gene Myers
Publisher: Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2019. 258p.
Reviewer: Cynthia Comacchio | August 2021

Assassins’ Deeds: A History Of Assassination From Ancient Egypt To The Present Day

Author: John Withington
Publisher: London: Reaktion Books, 2020. 368p.
Reviewer: Jerald Podair | August 2021

Murder In The Shenandoah: Making Law Sovereign In Revolutionary Virginia

Author: Jessica K. Lowe
Publisher: New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019. 222p.
Reviewer: Michael Trotti | August 2021

Butch Cassidy: The True Story Of An American Outlaw

Author: Charles Leerhsen
Publisher: New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 2020. 304 p.
Reviewer: Mark W. Podvia │ August 2021

The Hollywood Kid: The Violent Life And Violent Death Of An Ms-13 Hitman

Authors: Óscar Martinez and Juan José Martinez, John B. Washington (Translator), Daniela Maria Ugaz (Translator)
Publisher: London, New York: Verso, 2019. 320p.
Reviewers: Britta Crandall and Russell Crandall | August 2021

The King Of Confidence A Tale Of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets, And The Murder Of An American Monarch

Author: Miles Harvey
Publisher: New York: Little Brown and Company, 2020. 416p.
Reviewer: Kevin Cassidy | August 2021

Border Policing: A History Of Enforcement And Evasion In North America

Editors: Holly M. Karibo and George T. Diaz
Publisher: Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2020. 288p.
Reviewer: Nicolás Eilbaum | August 2021

May

The Torture Doctors: Human Rights Crimes And The Road To Justice

Author: Steven H. Miles
Publisher: Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2020. 224p.
Reviewer: Wanda Teays | May 2021

The Last Pirate Of New York: A Ghost Ship, A Killer, And The Birth Of A Gangster Nation

Author: Rich Cohen
Publisher: New York: Random House, 2020. 256p.
Reviewer: Kevin Cassidy | May 2021

Rights And Wrongs: Rethinking The Foundations Of Criminal Justice

Author: William C. Heffernan
Publisher: New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2019. 149 p.
Reviewer: David Schultz | May 2021

Killing With Prejudice: Institutionalized Racism In American Capital Punishment

Author: R.J. Maratea
Publisher: New York: New York University Press, 2019. 233p.
Reviewer: Margaret Vandiver | May 2021

Killing Strangers: How Political Violence Became Modern

Author: T. K. Wilson
Publisher: Oxford, UK; New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. 288p.
Reviewer: Kevin Cassidy | May 2021

From Back Alley To The Border: Criminal Abortion In California, 1920-1969

Author: Alicia Gutierrez-Romine
Publisher: Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2020. 270p.
Reviewer: James Mohr | May 2021

The Deportation Machine: America’s Long History Of Expelling Immigrants

Author: Adam Goodman
Publisher: Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2020. 336p.
Reviewer: Gerald W. McFarland | May 2021

Those Who Know Don’t Say: The Nation Of Islam, The Black Freedom Movement, And The Carceral State

Author: Garrett Felber
Publisher: Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2020. 272p.
Reviewer: Andrew S. Baer | May 2021

Black Lives And Spatial Matters: Policing Blackness And Practicing Freedom In Suburban St. Louis

Author: Jodi Rios
Publisher: Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 2020. 294p.
Reviewer: R. Andra Greer | May 2021

The Sexual Question: A History Of Prostitution In Peru, 1850s-1950s

Author: Paulo Drinot
Publisher: Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020. 328p.
Reviewer: Donna J. Guy | May 2021

Lynching And Local Justice: Legitimacy And Accountability In Weak States

Authors: Danielle F Jung and Dara Kay Cohen
Publisher: Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020. 95p.
Reviewer: Peter Grabosky | May 2021

Little Lindy Is Kidnapped: How The Media Covered The Crime Of The Century

Author: Thomas Doherty
Publisher: New York: Columbia University Press, 2020. 288p.
Reviewer: Mark Bernhardt | May 2021

Gangs, Drugs And (Dis)Organized Crime

Author: Robert McLean
Publisher: Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press, 2019. 256p.
Reviewer: Russell Crandall | May 2021

Designing Disorder: Experiments And Disruptions In The City

Authors: Pablo Sendra and Richard Sennett
Publisher: New York: Verso, 2020. 160p.
Reviewer: Kevin Cassidy | May 2021

February

In The Weeds: Demonization, Legalization, And The Evolution Of U.S. Marijuana Policy

Authors: Clayton Mosher and Scott Akins.
Publisher: Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2019. 336p.
Reviewer: Jennifer Murphy | February 2021

Troublesome Women: Gender, Crime, And Punishment In Antebellum Pennsylvania

Author: Erica Rhodes Hayden
Publisher: University Park, PA: The Penn State University Press, 2019. 256p.
Reviewer: Kevin Cassidy | February 2021

Understanding Police Interrogation: Confessions And Consequences

Author: William Douglas Woody and Krista D. Forrest
Publisher: New York: New York University Press, 2020. 320p.
Reviewer: Kevin Cassidy | February 2021

The Color Line: A Short Introduction

Author: David Lyons
Publisher: New York: Routledge, 2019. 150p.
Reviewer: Bernard Boxill | February 2021

14 Miles: Building The Border Wall

Author: DW Gibson
Publisher: New York: Simon and Schuster, 2020. 325 p.
Reviewer: Nicolás Eilbaum | February 2021

Crack: Rock Cocaine, Street Capitalism, And The Decade Of Greed

Author: David Farber
Publisher: Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019. 222p.
Reviewers: Britta Crandall and Russell Crandall | February 2021

Civilian Internment In Canada: Histories And Legacies

Editors: Rhonda L. Hiinther and Jam Mochoruk
Publisher: Winnipeg, Canada: University of Manitoba Press, 2020. 424p.
Reviewers: Britta Crandall and Russell Crandall | February 2021

China’s Gilded Age: The Paradox Of Economic Boom And Vast Corruption

Author: Yuen Yuen Ang
Publisher: Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020. 266p.
Reviewers: Britta Crandall and Russell Crandall | February 2021

The Short Life And Curious Death Of Free Speech In America

Author: Ellis Cose
Publisher: New York: Amistad, 2020. 208p.
Reviewers: Britta Crandall and Russell Crandall | February 2021

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