Customer Reviews

Crime: Public Policies for Crime Control

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This book was required reading/textbook for a graduate level course I took on Public Policy, Crime and the Criminal Justice System. I have to admit, some of the texts I've had to read have been difficult to get through....talk about DRY! Not so with "Crime: Public Policies for Crime Control."

Any student, practitioner or expert in the field of criminology can attest to the fact that there is no shortage of research and/or articles in the field. The question is: Which articles do you choose? Which articles are so ground-breaking and so profound in their findings that they DEMAND attention? How do you cull through the fluff to get to the stuff that's really worth reading?

Petersilia and Wilson have done the culling for you. "Crime" is a must-read for every policymaker and concerned citizen/voter grappling with how we as a society can most effectively address the issues of crime, punishment and incarceration.

"Crime" is contemporary compilation of 19 stunning articles written by 26 authorities in the field. What makes this work so notable is the fact that it relies on facts and data to report what we know about crime, who commits it, and which crime prevention and rehabilitation methods work and which do not. The subjects addressed range from juvenile crime, crime prevention, gun control, families and crime, rehabilitation and treatment programs, substance abuse policy, fair and effective policing, deterrence, and prosecution, to name just a few of the chapter headings.

I was particularly impressed with the following chapters: Community Corrections by Dr. Petersilia; Prosecution by Dr. Forst; Fair and Effective Policing by Dr. Sherman; and Families and Crime by Dr. Farrington. I was blown away by the research. I did not realize how much we really KNOW about crime.