Customer Reviews

The Real War on Crime: Report of the National Criminal Justice Commission, The

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This well-written and easy-read of a book is a must for anyone who is even remotely interested in thestate of crime and criminal justice in America. The book lays out the past, present and future of crime policy in easy to understand prose. the book takes on all of the hard issues and addresses them clearly and objectively. This book not only defines the issues, it also lays out great ideas for solving some of the big problems in crime. Enjoy.

This is a very important book. It should be required reading for all Congressmen and Senators, both federal and State. The situation it depicts will wreak havoc on the fabric of American society, unless corrected. The book not only points at the most pressing problems in our system of criminal justice, but also offers intelligent and powerful recipes for action. Should be also required reading for all colleges of criminal justice. Balanced, objective, yet full of passion for justice and for the America we all love, want and deserve. A must for true patriots.

The United States of American has over the last ten years developed a strategy of increasing the average prison sentences for a range of crimes. The mechanics of this process are complex. The reason being that each state and the Federal Government have distinct criminal law systems. To summarise a large number of states have been passing laws which remove judicial discretion from sentencing substituting a range of fixed sentences for various forms of crime. These can either be three strikes and your in legislation, mandatory sentences for specific crimes or sentencing grid legislation. The Federal Government has also been waging the "war on drugs". The overall effect of this legislation is for the prison population to increase enormously and especially for afro Americans to be incarcerated in large numbers. The imprisonment rate in the States is similar to that of countries such as Russia and South Africa, places which have experienced social break down to an extent that it dwarfs America.

This book is a strong argument for changing the structure of criminal justice in America. It is largely a statistical analysis and as such it presents material in a dispassionate way. It is not a rhetorical book of left leaning propaganda but a book that looks at hard facts. The rate of imprisonment is now so high that the authors suggest that if imprisonment rates were to be reduced to European levels the unemployment rate could increase by 1% or 2%. The cost of imprisonment in most states is so high that it is outdistancing higher education. The pressure of constructing prisons and maintaining them is that it is limiting the ability of some states to cover normal expenses. California has had to reduce some welfare and highway construction.

The authors present a strong case for how these policies impact unfairly on different racial groups. One of the more chilling sets of figures are the rates of imprisonment for Afro Americans. The authors show that of the age group 20 to 30 1/3 of Afro Americans are either in jail, on parole or on probation.

Most commentators have suggested that the current system instead of punishing more violent offenders tends instead to give long prison terms to low level offenders who have reasonable prospects of reform. A change to non custodial options plus lessening some offences for minor crime could lessen the cost to the community with more or less no real change in the incidence of offending.

The book is thought provoking well argued and easy to read. A must read for all in the field.

I have been a career criminal justice practitioner for over 30 years and have found far too few publications that are as compelling and factual as this book on the very essence of crime, criminality, social justice and political initiatives that impact how we view crime and our collective response to crime. In contemporary times, the overwhelming response to crime has been a "get tough" response with an increase in the use of incarceration and policies to essentially assure extended periods of incarceration with ever increasing limits on judicial discretion. While true professional criminal justice practitioners have evaluated and determined the most economical, humane and evidence-based approaches to crime, until very recently, political agendas and politicians dependent on their relationships with their relative constituencies have been influenced on approaches to crime that assure ar at the very least do not threaten their chances of reelection.

I was first introduced to this book in 1997. I was immediately compelled to avoid the "knee-jerk" remedies that created the war on crime, the hardline response to carjacking in states like Florida and the overall "get tough" approach such as was the case with Ronald Reagan during his reign as Governor of California.

When one reads this book with the knowledge this book was written in the middle 1990's it it amazing that it remains as relevant and compelling as when it was written. One would only hope that society will learn from the lessons that the Great New Society and flawed social engineering have taught us about poorly thought-out but apparently well-intentioned approaches to crime and criminality.