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The search for criminal man: The dangerous offender project
270
CURRENT
PUBLICATIONS
The author contends that there are three major conceptual frameworks that have influenced the formulation of juvenile justice policies, each of which, if implemented by itself, would lead to a system very different from the others. These concepts are (1) welfare; (2) criminal justice; and (3) community concern and responsibility. It is hypothesized that it is the balance between those concepts that determines the actual form of the juvenile justice system, a balance that is created, maintained, and changed by cultural, social, and political factors. These factors include the history of the system, the legal structure and legislation within which it operates, and the way the people involved in the system exercise discretion. These factors are examined and compared in each of the three types of juvenile justice system. The book concludes with a discussion of the complex and difficult problems of operating and managing discretion within each type of system. Special attention is given to the controversial issues of the Youth Service Bureau and intermediate and compulsory treatment. (MV)
The Search for Criminal Man: The Dangerous Offender Project by Ysabel Rennie.
Lexington Books (D.C. Heath and Company, 125 Spring Street, Lexington, Massachusetts 02173), 1978, 345 pp., $19.00 hardcover. This book is a study of those who seized the great opportunities of life-criminals like Cain, Al Capone, and the Boston Strangler-and how their contemporaries saw them. The book reviews the course of ideas throughout history about the men, women, and children who have been designated as dangerous offenders. Intended primarily for the student of criminology, the book is also of interest to the historian, the sociologist, and the mental health professional. The book covers two broad areas. It first attempts to determine who the dangerous offender is. It tries to answer this question by analyzing the ways people of different classes and political ideologies have thought about “dangerousness” not only in the twentieth century, but also in times past. The cultural, theological, social, economic, and legal matrices in which these ideas were formed are analyzed. Special emphasis is given to the development of the law
ABSTRACTS
concerning criminals as it responds to the ideology of time and the evolution of punishment in England and Europe The second major area of concern is that of causation. The many etiological concepts that have sought to explain the presence of criminals in society are examined. These include atavism. constitutional inferiority, differential association. alcoholism. social disorganization, familial influences, climate, and heredity. These concepts are discussed from the perspectives of sociologists. geneticists, physiologists, pharmacologists, and mental health professionals. The book also considers the treatment of criminals in both its punishment and rehabilitation aspects. Rehabilitative strategies are surveyed and discussed from various perspectives including psychotherapy, behavior modification, psychoactive drugs, and psychosurgery. Considered are not only the efficacy of each strategy, but also its ethical, moral, and constitutional implications. These concepts are treated in thirty-seven brief chapters organized in six parts: (1) crime and punishment of the dangerous classes in historical perceptive; (2) scientific theories about the dangerous offender; (3) the interactions between the dangerous offender and society; (4) the mind of the dangerous offender; (5) physiological explanations of the criminal; and (6) policy issues and questions dealing with criminal justice. The volume has a comprehensive bibliography and an in-depth index. (MV)
Soviet Criminologists
and Criminal Policy by P.H.
Solomon, Jr. Columbia University Press (562 West 113th Street, New York 10025), 1979, 253 pp., $15.00 hardcover. The traditional view of Western students of Soviet politics has been that specialists outside the government have had very little influence in the Soviet policy-making process. This study charts the development of Soviet criminal law scholars’ participation in criminal policy-making from the late 1930s through the 196Os, and focuses primarily on the nature and effects of criminologists’ role in formulation of Soviet policy during the middle and late 1960s. It challenges the tradi-
CURRENT
PUBLICATIONS
The author contends that there are three major conceptual frameworks that have influenced the formulation of juvenile justice policies, each of which, if implemented by itself, would lead to a system very different from the others. These concepts are (1) welfare; (2) criminal justice; and (3) community concern and responsibility. It is hypothesized that it is the balance between those concepts that determines the actual form of the juvenile justice system, a balance that is created, maintained, and changed by cultural, social, and political factors. These factors include the history of the system, the legal structure and legislation within which it operates, and the way the people involved in the system exercise discretion. These factors are examined and compared in each of the three types of juvenile justice system. The book concludes with a discussion of the complex and difficult problems of operating and managing discretion within each type of system. Special attention is given to the controversial issues of the Youth Service Bureau and intermediate and compulsory treatment. (MV)
The Search for Criminal Man: The Dangerous Offender Project by Ysabel Rennie.
Lexington Books (D.C. Heath and Company, 125 Spring Street, Lexington, Massachusetts 02173), 1978, 345 pp., $19.00 hardcover. This book is a study of those who seized the great opportunities of life-criminals like Cain, Al Capone, and the Boston Strangler-and how their contemporaries saw them. The book reviews the course of ideas throughout history about the men, women, and children who have been designated as dangerous offenders. Intended primarily for the student of criminology, the book is also of interest to the historian, the sociologist, and the mental health professional. The book covers two broad areas. It first attempts to determine who the dangerous offender is. It tries to answer this question by analyzing the ways people of different classes and political ideologies have thought about “dangerousness” not only in the twentieth century, but also in times past. The cultural, theological, social, economic, and legal matrices in which these ideas were formed are analyzed. Special emphasis is given to the development of the law
ABSTRACTS
concerning criminals as it responds to the ideology of time and the evolution of punishment in England and Europe The second major area of concern is that of causation. The many etiological concepts that have sought to explain the presence of criminals in society are examined. These include atavism. constitutional inferiority, differential association. alcoholism. social disorganization, familial influences, climate, and heredity. These concepts are discussed from the perspectives of sociologists. geneticists, physiologists, pharmacologists, and mental health professionals. The book also considers the treatment of criminals in both its punishment and rehabilitation aspects. Rehabilitative strategies are surveyed and discussed from various perspectives including psychotherapy, behavior modification, psychoactive drugs, and psychosurgery. Considered are not only the efficacy of each strategy, but also its ethical, moral, and constitutional implications. These concepts are treated in thirty-seven brief chapters organized in six parts: (1) crime and punishment of the dangerous classes in historical perceptive; (2) scientific theories about the dangerous offender; (3) the interactions between the dangerous offender and society; (4) the mind of the dangerous offender; (5) physiological explanations of the criminal; and (6) policy issues and questions dealing with criminal justice. The volume has a comprehensive bibliography and an in-depth index. (MV)
Soviet Criminologists
and Criminal Policy by P.H.
Solomon, Jr. Columbia University Press (562 West 113th Street, New York 10025), 1979, 253 pp., $15.00 hardcover. The traditional view of Western students of Soviet politics has been that specialists outside the government have had very little influence in the Soviet policy-making process. This study charts the development of Soviet criminal law scholars’ participation in criminal policy-making from the late 1930s through the 196Os, and focuses primarily on the nature and effects of criminologists’ role in formulation of Soviet policy during the middle and late 1960s. It challenges the tradi-