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Juvenile delinquency: Historical, cultural, legal perspectives
Journal
ofCriminal
All rights reserved.
Justice Vol. 17, pp. 515-518 Printed in U.S.A.
(1989) Copyright
0047-2352/89 $3.00 + .OO 01989 Pergamon Press plc
BOOK REVIEWS
Juvenile Delinquency: Historical, Cultural, Legal Perspectives by Arnold Binder, Gilbert Geis, and Dickson Bruce.
noted in its title; it clearly encompasses historical, cultural, and legal perspectives. In addition to a separate chapter on history, the other chapters place issues in their historical perspective so that students can see that current issues did not arise in a vacuum but have been brewing for years. Likewise, the authors succeed in demonstrating that delinquency is intertwined with cultural definitions of childhood and appropriate behavior and legal developments such as new legislation and appellate court rulings. Where the book misses the mark to some extent is in its claim to include “the most recent empirical results and theoretical thinking.” Here the authors only partially achieve their objective. Certainly, the chapters on delinquency and delinquency theory fulfill the claim. For example, the authors include both recent findings on traditional theories (such as strain and control) and discussion of current biological theories and the controversial synthesis of Wilson and Hemnstein. In much of the material on the juvenile justice system (“methods of control”), however, the book falls short in two ways. First, the authors fail to cite the recent, relevant research literature. In describing waiver to adult court, for example, the authors rely on references from 1971, 1974, 1975, and 1976 and fail to include more recent and insightful findings. In their discussion of restitution the authors cite 1975, 1978, and 1979 pieces but fail to cite more recent evaluations by Anne Schneider. In a discussion of contributing to delinquency statutes, the authors cite 1942, 1957, and 1959 court cases and a 1963 social science reference. Their discussion of treatment in institutions is based on two 1959 sources, and much of their discussion of parole is based
New York: Macmillan Publishing Co. (866 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022), 1988, 566 pp., hardcover-$29.95. In Juvenile Delinquency: Historical, Cultural, Legal Perspectives Binder, Geis, and Bruce claim to have produced “the next step” in the evolution of delinquency texts: a book that is comprehensive, up-to-date, and interesting. A careful reading of their text suggests that they have achieved some but not all of their claims and that further evolution is necessary. The book deserves high ratings on comprehensiveness. In addition to the expected chapters on the definition and measurement of delinquency, criminological theories, and the juvenile justice system (“methods of control”), the authors have made some important additions. Chapter 12, for example, examines the ‘treatment of young offenders in other countries” such as Argentina, Scotland, England, and communist states. This chapter is very much in step with current efforts to broaden student (and professor) perspectives beyond the parochial. Binder, Geis, and Bruce also devote separate chapters to female delinquency and to violence, drugs, and status offenses and offer a concluding chapter on future directions in controlling and understanding delinquency. As Ed McMahon often says to Johnny Carson, the book’s seventeen chapters and 566 pages do indeed cover just about everything anyone would want to know about delinquency. The book is also comprehensive in the sense 515
516
Book Reviews
on a 1970 source. It appears that the authors (or the author who wrote these sections) were not as familiar with juvenile justice issues and research as they were with delinquency issues. Given the title of Juvenile Delinquency-as opposed to Juvenile Justice-this is not entirely unexpected but simply reflects a sociological rather than a criminal-justice orientation on the part of the authors. Second, the book falls short by failing to include .discussion of some of the critical juvenilejustice issues. The police chapter, for example, is little more than a discussion of police discretion. Discretion is an important issue, but so are police effectiveness, brutality, deadly force, and the police role. Likewise the authors do not devote a complete chapter to probation. Other than a discussion of intake decisionmaking, informal probation, and two pages on probation officers not being tough enough (pages 296 and 297), the reader gets little information on this method of control, which affects a high percentage of juveniles. Two other specific matters deserve attention. First, although the authors have indeed written a very interesting text, at times their choice of vocabulary seems more pedantic than pedagogical. I am not convinced that students will understand nor should they understand “irrefragable, ” “disingenuously eclectic,” ocausative allegation, n “variegated, n and “criticality.” Perhaps these and other words are meant to expand students’ vocabulary, but simpler words convey meanings more clearly and more directly. This criticism is buttressed by the authors’ own criticism of criminological theorists who use language “to camouflage and distort”: “[Flancy language can never compensate for sloppy thought” (p. 99). Second, without citation the authors assert that u [Aljudicated delinquents disproportionately tend to be Roman Catholics” (p. 443). Examination of several leading delinquency texts failed to find any mention of this alleged fact. Careful examination of the religion section in Binder, Geis, and Bruce only revealed specific citations that “male Baptists and Catholics have higher rates [of delinquency] than fundamentalists” (p. 471) and that the greatest deviance amplification oc-
curred in the Baptist/Methodist groups (p. 473). Hopefully, Binder, Geis, and Bruce will clarify this matter in their second edition. Should instructors adopt this book? It depends. If the instructor wants to focus on delinquency rather than the juvenile justice system, this is a very good book. Whether it is better than a book such as LaMar Empey’s is a matter for the individual professor to decide. Similarly, if the instructor wants to follow the suggestion of the authors to use a discussion format, this book should lend itself well to that objective. On the other hand, if the instructor wants to focus on the juvenile justice system, other books offer better analyses of the police, juvenile courts, probation, and corrections. To sum up (or as Binder, Geis, and Bruce would probably say, recapitulate), this new delinquency text makes three claims: the authors allege that it is a comprehensive, up-todate, and interesting book. It is indeed interesting and it is up-to-date in its discussion of delinquency, but the book could use more and more recent information on juvenile-justice issues. But, as any baseball executive except George Steinbrenner would agree, two (actually two and a half) out of three ain’t bad.
John T. Whitehead Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology College of Arts and Sciences East Tennessee State University Johnson City, Tennessee 37614-0002
Positive Criminology Michael son and Travis Hirschi
R. Gottfred-
Sage Publications (2111 West Hillcrest Drive, Newbury Park, California 91320), 1987, 194 pp., hardcover-$29.95. Positive Criminology, edited by Gottfredson and Hirschi, represents a useful contribution to the literature on criminology and deviance. At the same time, however, certain
ofCriminal
All rights reserved.
Justice Vol. 17, pp. 515-518 Printed in U.S.A.
(1989) Copyright
0047-2352/89 $3.00 + .OO 01989 Pergamon Press plc
BOOK REVIEWS
Juvenile Delinquency: Historical, Cultural, Legal Perspectives by Arnold Binder, Gilbert Geis, and Dickson Bruce.
noted in its title; it clearly encompasses historical, cultural, and legal perspectives. In addition to a separate chapter on history, the other chapters place issues in their historical perspective so that students can see that current issues did not arise in a vacuum but have been brewing for years. Likewise, the authors succeed in demonstrating that delinquency is intertwined with cultural definitions of childhood and appropriate behavior and legal developments such as new legislation and appellate court rulings. Where the book misses the mark to some extent is in its claim to include “the most recent empirical results and theoretical thinking.” Here the authors only partially achieve their objective. Certainly, the chapters on delinquency and delinquency theory fulfill the claim. For example, the authors include both recent findings on traditional theories (such as strain and control) and discussion of current biological theories and the controversial synthesis of Wilson and Hemnstein. In much of the material on the juvenile justice system (“methods of control”), however, the book falls short in two ways. First, the authors fail to cite the recent, relevant research literature. In describing waiver to adult court, for example, the authors rely on references from 1971, 1974, 1975, and 1976 and fail to include more recent and insightful findings. In their discussion of restitution the authors cite 1975, 1978, and 1979 pieces but fail to cite more recent evaluations by Anne Schneider. In a discussion of contributing to delinquency statutes, the authors cite 1942, 1957, and 1959 court cases and a 1963 social science reference. Their discussion of treatment in institutions is based on two 1959 sources, and much of their discussion of parole is based
New York: Macmillan Publishing Co. (866 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022), 1988, 566 pp., hardcover-$29.95. In Juvenile Delinquency: Historical, Cultural, Legal Perspectives Binder, Geis, and Bruce claim to have produced “the next step” in the evolution of delinquency texts: a book that is comprehensive, up-to-date, and interesting. A careful reading of their text suggests that they have achieved some but not all of their claims and that further evolution is necessary. The book deserves high ratings on comprehensiveness. In addition to the expected chapters on the definition and measurement of delinquency, criminological theories, and the juvenile justice system (“methods of control”), the authors have made some important additions. Chapter 12, for example, examines the ‘treatment of young offenders in other countries” such as Argentina, Scotland, England, and communist states. This chapter is very much in step with current efforts to broaden student (and professor) perspectives beyond the parochial. Binder, Geis, and Bruce also devote separate chapters to female delinquency and to violence, drugs, and status offenses and offer a concluding chapter on future directions in controlling and understanding delinquency. As Ed McMahon often says to Johnny Carson, the book’s seventeen chapters and 566 pages do indeed cover just about everything anyone would want to know about delinquency. The book is also comprehensive in the sense 515
516
Book Reviews
on a 1970 source. It appears that the authors (or the author who wrote these sections) were not as familiar with juvenile justice issues and research as they were with delinquency issues. Given the title of Juvenile Delinquency-as opposed to Juvenile Justice-this is not entirely unexpected but simply reflects a sociological rather than a criminal-justice orientation on the part of the authors. Second, the book falls short by failing to include .discussion of some of the critical juvenilejustice issues. The police chapter, for example, is little more than a discussion of police discretion. Discretion is an important issue, but so are police effectiveness, brutality, deadly force, and the police role. Likewise the authors do not devote a complete chapter to probation. Other than a discussion of intake decisionmaking, informal probation, and two pages on probation officers not being tough enough (pages 296 and 297), the reader gets little information on this method of control, which affects a high percentage of juveniles. Two other specific matters deserve attention. First, although the authors have indeed written a very interesting text, at times their choice of vocabulary seems more pedantic than pedagogical. I am not convinced that students will understand nor should they understand “irrefragable, ” “disingenuously eclectic,” ocausative allegation, n “variegated, n and “criticality.” Perhaps these and other words are meant to expand students’ vocabulary, but simpler words convey meanings more clearly and more directly. This criticism is buttressed by the authors’ own criticism of criminological theorists who use language “to camouflage and distort”: “[Flancy language can never compensate for sloppy thought” (p. 99). Second, without citation the authors assert that u [Aljudicated delinquents disproportionately tend to be Roman Catholics” (p. 443). Examination of several leading delinquency texts failed to find any mention of this alleged fact. Careful examination of the religion section in Binder, Geis, and Bruce only revealed specific citations that “male Baptists and Catholics have higher rates [of delinquency] than fundamentalists” (p. 471) and that the greatest deviance amplification oc-
curred in the Baptist/Methodist groups (p. 473). Hopefully, Binder, Geis, and Bruce will clarify this matter in their second edition. Should instructors adopt this book? It depends. If the instructor wants to focus on delinquency rather than the juvenile justice system, this is a very good book. Whether it is better than a book such as LaMar Empey’s is a matter for the individual professor to decide. Similarly, if the instructor wants to follow the suggestion of the authors to use a discussion format, this book should lend itself well to that objective. On the other hand, if the instructor wants to focus on the juvenile justice system, other books offer better analyses of the police, juvenile courts, probation, and corrections. To sum up (or as Binder, Geis, and Bruce would probably say, recapitulate), this new delinquency text makes three claims: the authors allege that it is a comprehensive, up-todate, and interesting book. It is indeed interesting and it is up-to-date in its discussion of delinquency, but the book could use more and more recent information on juvenile-justice issues. But, as any baseball executive except George Steinbrenner would agree, two (actually two and a half) out of three ain’t bad.
John T. Whitehead Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology College of Arts and Sciences East Tennessee State University Johnson City, Tennessee 37614-0002
Positive Criminology Michael son and Travis Hirschi
R. Gottfred-
Sage Publications (2111 West Hillcrest Drive, Newbury Park, California 91320), 1987, 194 pp., hardcover-$29.95. Positive Criminology, edited by Gottfredson and Hirschi, represents a useful contribution to the literature on criminology and deviance. At the same time, however, certain