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Introduction to the criminal justice system
194
BOOK REVIEWS
functional elements of developing a theory of political crime. At best one can use this work as a step toward the development of such a theory of political crime. but this text by itself does not accomplish this goal. On the other hand. the book is an excellent contribution to criminal justice, legal, and historical literature. As a historiography, it excels, as it correlates significant historical events to an emerging and developing analysis of political crime. Moreover, this book more rhan any other succinctly clarifies a trend, in three different countries over a period of 200 years, and explicates difficult and easily obfuscated approaches to the prevention and regulation of political crime. Finally, this book has special relevance to contemporary events occuring not only within the United States, but worldwide. I am confident that this book will generate much discussion, thoughtful analysis, and renewed research within this most important field of inquiry. I thoroughly recommend this book for classroom adoption and applaud the author on a very well-researched rind extremely well-written book.
Thomas A. Johnson Professor and Chairman Department of Criminal Justice Washington State University Pullman, Washington 99164
Introduction
to
the
Criminal
Justice
System,
Second Edition by Hazel B. Kerper, as revised by Jerold H. Israel. West Publishing Company (50 West Kellogg Boulevard, P.O. Box 3526, St. Paul, Minnesota 55165), 1979, 531 pp., hardcover, $15.95. The first edition of Professor/Attorney Kerper’s well-known text was published in 1972, with her most current research references being in mid-1971. That fact alone would allow criminal justice scholars, nine years later, to dismiss that text as woefully out-of-date and in many places quite incorrect if taken to represent contempo-
rary criminal justice. Professor Israel’s 1978-79 revision of this woefully dated volume was therefore essential if the Kerper work was to continue to be of value. In criminal justice. as in so many other facets of our society. the late sixties are as different from the late seventies as day is from night. The Israel revision serves admirably in resurrecting the Kerper text. In doing so, Israel manages to maintain the goal of the original text and the format followed to achieve that goal. This book is not a law book. but a book about the law. It is written for the beginning student in law enforcement. criminology and corrections. sociology. social welfare. government, and urban affairs who needs an understanding of the criminal law as a means of social control. (Preface. p. v. original edition: Preface, p. vii. second edition)
The format followed is unimaginative but effective. After introducing some basic notions of the role of law in society. the text then turns to substantive criminal law. presenting a broad sketch of the elements of all major crimes. As implied by its title, the text devotes the most space to a description of the criminal justice process. After providing an overview and setting out some basic concepts, the system is described according to primary stages. Instead of the traditional agency focus (police. courts. and corrections), the stage-specific description (investigation, accusation. adjudication. sentencing, and corrections) used in this text seems much easier for students in introductory courses to follow. Tacked on to the end of this section on criminal justice process is a very brief description of the juvenile justice system, again using a stage-specific description. The traditional agency approach is followed in the final section of the text. The subsections herein begin with a broad description of each agency (police, prosecution, court. defense. and corrections) and then consider the agents or “professionals” working within those agencies. Thus. the criminal justice process is described twice, first by following a case step by step and then by viewing the system through the eyes of the professionals who work in the system. This aspect is one of the major strengths of the book. In addition to the crucial updating of the 1972 text. this Israel revision is generally more attrac-
195
BOOK REVIEWS
tive and easier to read. While the print is smaller. the pages are larger. with exceptionally generous margins. which are idea1 for personally scribbled notes and questions so unavoidable for the introductory student. The Israel revision also uses footnotes much more sparingly than did the first edition. Both editions unmistakably reveal the authors’ law background and thus their tendency to lapse into the archaic legal-periodical style of using long, narrative footnotes. Kerper’s first edition is by far the worst. For example. pages 84 through 88 contain twenty-eight lines of text (total 4% inches), with the rest being taken up with long. narrative footnotes (thirty-two inches), with page 88 being all footnotes and no text at all! Israel’s revision is much improved on this score but could go further still. Law students and legal researchers have learned to cope with this archaic writing style, but introductory criminal justice students should be spared. When references are required. the APA system used in this journal is far preferable to the legal footnote system. Not only does the Israel revision use fewer legal footnotes than Kerper’s first edition. but the prose is also written in a style less like a law hornbook and more like a college textbook. However. as compared with other introductory criminal justice textbooks. even the Israel revision may be written in language too sophisticated for its readers. Perhaps this is unavoidable when a leading law professor at a prominent law school takes on the task of writing to an audience of freshmen and sophomores attending colleges and universities covering the complete spectrum of quality and standards. Part of this problem can be counteracted by using the excellent Study Guide and the Instructor’s Manual for the text. In sum. the Israel revision of the Kerper text is an essential updating and a vast improvement in writing style. The approach to the subject is changed very little. with the minor changes that were made tending to improve the text generally. It is still written at a very high level for an introductory text, and in a style somewhat unfamiliar to college students. For courses stressing the law perspective in criminal justice, this text would be particularly attractive. For more pragmatic courses aimed at preprofessional or inservice students, the text is less appropriate. Perhaps its primary attraction is as a fairly
uncommon alternative to the vast majority of introductory texts in criminal justice, which at times seem to be mass-produced by factories of graduate assistants.
Victor L. Streib Visiting Professor of Law Cleveland Marshal1 College of Law Cleveland State University Cleveland. Ohio 44115
The Police Family
by Arthur
Niederhoffer
and
Elaine Niederhoffer. Lexington Books. D. C. Heath and Company (Lexington. Massachusetts), 1978, 220 pp., hardcover. $17.00. This book is a vivid. well-documented, personal. and realistic investigation into the complex role of married police officers. This book. with its review of the literature and an empirical study. does not prove that the occupation causes marital instability and divorce. Rather, the information in this book serves to enlighten us about why marital dissatisfaction and unhappiness can affect working satisfaction and how occupational demands can cause marital dissatisfaction. This book. therefore, adds clarity and focus to a problem that many police organizations have heretofore disclaimed. Productivity studies in other occupations support the connection between poor work performance and poor marital conditions. Yet little research has been done with police because of the lack of cooperation from police administrators and their employees. Police administrators feared. perhaps. the results and implications of such studies, while officers feared intrusion into their family life or their extramarital activities. Thus this book is like Pandora’s box in that it opens for investigation the phenomena of police families. The fact of little scientific research into police families becomes readily apparent in Chapter 2, where the authors turn to past and contemporary fiction to gain insight into the role of a married police officer. The nineteenth century classics
BOOK REVIEWS
functional elements of developing a theory of political crime. At best one can use this work as a step toward the development of such a theory of political crime. but this text by itself does not accomplish this goal. On the other hand. the book is an excellent contribution to criminal justice, legal, and historical literature. As a historiography, it excels, as it correlates significant historical events to an emerging and developing analysis of political crime. Moreover, this book more rhan any other succinctly clarifies a trend, in three different countries over a period of 200 years, and explicates difficult and easily obfuscated approaches to the prevention and regulation of political crime. Finally, this book has special relevance to contemporary events occuring not only within the United States, but worldwide. I am confident that this book will generate much discussion, thoughtful analysis, and renewed research within this most important field of inquiry. I thoroughly recommend this book for classroom adoption and applaud the author on a very well-researched rind extremely well-written book.
Thomas A. Johnson Professor and Chairman Department of Criminal Justice Washington State University Pullman, Washington 99164
Introduction
to
the
Criminal
Justice
System,
Second Edition by Hazel B. Kerper, as revised by Jerold H. Israel. West Publishing Company (50 West Kellogg Boulevard, P.O. Box 3526, St. Paul, Minnesota 55165), 1979, 531 pp., hardcover, $15.95. The first edition of Professor/Attorney Kerper’s well-known text was published in 1972, with her most current research references being in mid-1971. That fact alone would allow criminal justice scholars, nine years later, to dismiss that text as woefully out-of-date and in many places quite incorrect if taken to represent contempo-
rary criminal justice. Professor Israel’s 1978-79 revision of this woefully dated volume was therefore essential if the Kerper work was to continue to be of value. In criminal justice. as in so many other facets of our society. the late sixties are as different from the late seventies as day is from night. The Israel revision serves admirably in resurrecting the Kerper text. In doing so, Israel manages to maintain the goal of the original text and the format followed to achieve that goal. This book is not a law book. but a book about the law. It is written for the beginning student in law enforcement. criminology and corrections. sociology. social welfare. government, and urban affairs who needs an understanding of the criminal law as a means of social control. (Preface. p. v. original edition: Preface, p. vii. second edition)
The format followed is unimaginative but effective. After introducing some basic notions of the role of law in society. the text then turns to substantive criminal law. presenting a broad sketch of the elements of all major crimes. As implied by its title, the text devotes the most space to a description of the criminal justice process. After providing an overview and setting out some basic concepts, the system is described according to primary stages. Instead of the traditional agency focus (police. courts. and corrections), the stage-specific description (investigation, accusation. adjudication. sentencing, and corrections) used in this text seems much easier for students in introductory courses to follow. Tacked on to the end of this section on criminal justice process is a very brief description of the juvenile justice system, again using a stage-specific description. The traditional agency approach is followed in the final section of the text. The subsections herein begin with a broad description of each agency (police, prosecution, court. defense. and corrections) and then consider the agents or “professionals” working within those agencies. Thus. the criminal justice process is described twice, first by following a case step by step and then by viewing the system through the eyes of the professionals who work in the system. This aspect is one of the major strengths of the book. In addition to the crucial updating of the 1972 text. this Israel revision is generally more attrac-
195
BOOK REVIEWS
tive and easier to read. While the print is smaller. the pages are larger. with exceptionally generous margins. which are idea1 for personally scribbled notes and questions so unavoidable for the introductory student. The Israel revision also uses footnotes much more sparingly than did the first edition. Both editions unmistakably reveal the authors’ law background and thus their tendency to lapse into the archaic legal-periodical style of using long, narrative footnotes. Kerper’s first edition is by far the worst. For example. pages 84 through 88 contain twenty-eight lines of text (total 4% inches), with the rest being taken up with long. narrative footnotes (thirty-two inches), with page 88 being all footnotes and no text at all! Israel’s revision is much improved on this score but could go further still. Law students and legal researchers have learned to cope with this archaic writing style, but introductory criminal justice students should be spared. When references are required. the APA system used in this journal is far preferable to the legal footnote system. Not only does the Israel revision use fewer legal footnotes than Kerper’s first edition. but the prose is also written in a style less like a law hornbook and more like a college textbook. However. as compared with other introductory criminal justice textbooks. even the Israel revision may be written in language too sophisticated for its readers. Perhaps this is unavoidable when a leading law professor at a prominent law school takes on the task of writing to an audience of freshmen and sophomores attending colleges and universities covering the complete spectrum of quality and standards. Part of this problem can be counteracted by using the excellent Study Guide and the Instructor’s Manual for the text. In sum. the Israel revision of the Kerper text is an essential updating and a vast improvement in writing style. The approach to the subject is changed very little. with the minor changes that were made tending to improve the text generally. It is still written at a very high level for an introductory text, and in a style somewhat unfamiliar to college students. For courses stressing the law perspective in criminal justice, this text would be particularly attractive. For more pragmatic courses aimed at preprofessional or inservice students, the text is less appropriate. Perhaps its primary attraction is as a fairly
uncommon alternative to the vast majority of introductory texts in criminal justice, which at times seem to be mass-produced by factories of graduate assistants.
Victor L. Streib Visiting Professor of Law Cleveland Marshal1 College of Law Cleveland State University Cleveland. Ohio 44115
The Police Family
by Arthur
Niederhoffer
and
Elaine Niederhoffer. Lexington Books. D. C. Heath and Company (Lexington. Massachusetts), 1978, 220 pp., hardcover. $17.00. This book is a vivid. well-documented, personal. and realistic investigation into the complex role of married police officers. This book. with its review of the literature and an empirical study. does not prove that the occupation causes marital instability and divorce. Rather, the information in this book serves to enlighten us about why marital dissatisfaction and unhappiness can affect working satisfaction and how occupational demands can cause marital dissatisfaction. This book. therefore, adds clarity and focus to a problem that many police organizations have heretofore disclaimed. Productivity studies in other occupations support the connection between poor work performance and poor marital conditions. Yet little research has been done with police because of the lack of cooperation from police administrators and their employees. Police administrators feared. perhaps. the results and implications of such studies, while officers feared intrusion into their family life or their extramarital activities. Thus this book is like Pandora’s box in that it opens for investigation the phenomena of police families. The fact of little scientific research into police families becomes readily apparent in Chapter 2, where the authors turn to past and contemporary fiction to gain insight into the role of a married police officer. The nineteenth century classics