From Library Journal
A big book with a long history, Crime will become as essential as Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray's The Bell Curve (Free Pr., 1994). In fact, those authors each contributed a chapter to Crime. The other contributors are authoritative scholars but not ones who arouse the same ideological furor. Every chapter presents an up-to-date review of scholarship in an area relating to crime, e.g., the psychology and biology of criminals, juvenile crime, family, schools, community, gangs, alcohol and drugs, gun control, the media, police, prosecution, corrections, and research and policy. Editor Wilson has written at least nine other books, one with Herrnstein (Crime and Human Nature, LJ 10/1/85), and volumes of articles. Twenty years ago in Thinking About Crime (LJ 4/1/75), he found the influence of social science research on public policymaking negligible?and the fault of the researchers. In Crime and Public Policy (1983), Wilson thought that the ivory tower and the field had moved closer together. In this "completely revised and updated" edition of his previous works, the consensus is that the identifiable solutions to identified problems have slim prospects of implementation. For criminology collections.?Janice Dunham, John Jay Coll. Lib., New York
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Though its levels are dropping slightly, crime is so pervasive that most people know at least a friend or relative who has been the victim of a felony. Take your own measure of the truth of that claim while leafing through this compendium of inquiries into why crime seems so rampant and random and what can stop it. Couched in sociology's jargon (unfortunately), these 21 original articles contain insights into all relevant issues, from the source of criminality (is it inherited or acquired?) to the effectiveness of the zillions of preferred crime-control strategies. The tone setter is James Q. Wilson, the wide-ranging author and clarifier of nettlesome social issues. His review of crime studies concludes that only 6 percent of teenage boys commit half the predatory street crime, and, with the baby boomlet soon reaching its productive years, there will be "30,000 more muggers, killers, and thieves than we have now. Get ready." That scary warning sets the stage for the remaining experts' analyses, which run from prevention to punition. Massively footnoted, researchers more than browsers are likely to use this collection, but its survey of current knowledge assures the big libraries that even casual readers will find some scholarly revelation about this worrisome subject. Gilbert Taylor
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
