Pursuing justice for the child

Pursuing justice for the child

282 CURRENT PUBLICATIONABSTRACTS line between criminals and noncriminals, as the latter have the potential to become the former and all human beings...

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282

CURRENT PUBLICATIONABSTRACTS

line between criminals and noncriminals, as the latter have the potential to become the former and all human beings have the same basic motivations. The first chapter of the book discusses the testimony of offenders, the second those of nonoffenders. In the third chapter, the author "credits" these accounts, that is, he analyzes the excuses, justifications, rationalizations, and acknowledgements given by respondents in the study to explain their behavior. In Chapter 4, accounting for noncriminality is looked at from the perspective of neutralization techniques and the theory of alienation. The fifth chapter presents a discussion of twelve propositions regarding the explanation of criminal behavior. A bibliography and index are included.

Pursuing Justice for the Child edited by Margaret K. Rosenheim. The University of Chicago Press (5801 Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637), 1976, 361 pp., hardcover--$12.95. The contributors to this book are interested in re-assessing the scope and functions of the juvenile justice system. They intend to fdentify appropriate goals for the system and provide a basis for change in the future. The book is divided into four parts. The first deals with an overview of the juvenile justice system, the issue of isolationism, and the helping services. The second part covers justice for the delinquent child, and includes chapters on policing activities, diversion, pretrial detention, probation, corrections in Massachusetts, intervention with delinquents, and privacy and recordkeeping. The third section concerns the nondelinquent child. Two essays discuss constitutional rights of children and state intervention on behalf of neglected children. Part Four contains three chapters on historical background and comparisons with practices in other countries. The fifteen authors who contributed to this work are experts involved in law enforcement, social work, and the social sciences. The book is intended for others in these fields.

Victimology: The Victim and His Criminal by Stephen Schafer. Reston Publishing Company, Inc. (11480 Sunset Hills Road, Reston, Virginia 22090), 1977, 180 pp., hardbound--$9.95. The central problems of victimology are "the contribution of the victim to the genesis of crime and the contribution of the criminal to the reparation of his offense." While the relationship between criminals and victims has long been recognized, it has not been extensively studied. The author of this book has intended to pull together and review the work that has been done. The first chapter reviews the history of society's attitude toward the victim. In the second chapter, the author discusses the efforts that have been made in setting up a typology of the victim and the various factors in the victim-criminal relationship that have been studied empirically, such as sex, age, family relation, education and occupation, motives, attitudes, time, spatial aspects, and methods. Chapter 3 discusses compensation and restitution to the victims of crime under the law in various countries and states. Chapter 4 discusses the functional responsibility in the criminal-victim relationship. A selected bibliography add index are also included.