Vol. 9 No. 8 (August 1999) pp. 369-371.
THE CRIMINOLOGY OF CRIMINAL LAW, ADVANCES IN CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY VOLUME 8 by William S. Laufer and Freda
Adler (editors). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1999. 535 pp. Cloth $44.95.
Reviewed by Craig Hemmens, Department of Criminal Justice Administration, Boise State University.
America is in the middle of a "get tough" on crime movement. The police, courts, and legislatures all
are taking drastic steps in an effort to curtail crime. These range from the implementation of more proactive
policing techniques to the imposition of longer prison sentences. Most of these policy changes have has occurred
without the benefit of input from criminologists, those social scientists who study the causes of crime. THE CRIMINOLOGY
OF CRIMINAL LAW examines the disjunction between criminal justice and criminology, and represents a plea for the
criminal justice system to pay attention to the research, and heed the admonitions, of criminologists. Sadly,
the book is unlikely to have the desired effect, as it is marked by a number of faults.
This is the eighth in a series of volumes, ADVANCES IN CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY. Previous volumes have focused on
subjects such as the legacy of anomie theory, routine activity and rational choice theory, and developmental theories
of crime and delinquency. The purpose of this series, as the first volume
notes, is to provide a forum for a theoretical discussion of criminological issues, as the leading journals in
criminology have become increasingly dominated by empirical research. Criminal law and criminology take different,
conflicting approaches. Criminology follows a scientific, positivistic approach, with an emphasis on empiricism
and study of the future. Criminal law follows a classical legal approach based on precedent and the past and is
dominated not by scientists but
lawyers and legislators. There is certainly a need to integrate the two; previous attempts have failed (i.e. the
development of the insanity defense without significant scientific input). This book is an attempt to integrate
criminal law and criminology, or more precisely, to demonstrate the applicability of criminological research to
current criminal justice problems.
Where previous volumes focused on a theory of crime causation, this volume takes a slightly different approach.
It addresses the relationship between criminology and the substantive criminal law. While there are several interesting
contributions, in general this volume suffers from a lack of unity. Instead it reads as a series of vaguely related
chapters. Uniting and relating the various chapters is the job of the editors, and is performed in an introduction.
Strangely, the introduction to
this book is a meager six pages, and it fails to provide much more than a very brief recitation of the thesis of
each chapter. This is a recurring problem with this series. Another recurring problem is the apparent failure
to carefully proofread and copyedit; there are numerous typographical errors. Additionally,
while there are some
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excellent contributions to the literature, several chapters add nothing new, and merely cover already well-trod
ground.
There are nineteen chapters, each written by a different contributor. The contributing authors have written in
both disciplines, and thus are natural selections to discuss the interrelationship of the two fields of study.
As space constraints prevent discussing all of the contributions, I will focus on some of the more interesting
(for better or worse) contributions.
C. Ray Jeffrey opens the book with a chapter in which he argues for the abandonment of criminal justice as currently
taught and advocates "crime prevention studies," an interdisciplinary approach melding biology, psychology,
and environmental studies. While this is at first blush a provocative argument, there is nothing new here, as
he repeats arguments he has been making for a quarter century.
Marc Riedel in his chapter focuses on stranger violence, an understudied and much exaggerated occurrence. If one
believes news accounts, stranger violence, especially murder, is commonplace. Yet statistics suggest otherwise,
Riedel notes. Why is the rate of violence by strangers so low, when we come into contact with so many strangers?
And why does criminal justice system treat stranger violence so harshly? A current example is the creation of
drug free school zones and enhanced penalties for drug use/sales within such zones, when the vast majority of drug
crimes do not occur in these areas. This reveals clearly the need to examine social science research before enacting
legislation.
Similarly, the chapter by James Jacobs on drunk driving laws shows that current penalties are harsh, yet ineffective.
There is no solid evidence that are effective in deterring drunk driving. This indicates that legislators ought
to examine the research before blindly "getting tough" on offenders.
Bernard Cohen's discussion of how the "broken windows" theory has been translated into so-called "quality
of life policing" is perhaps the most interesting chapter. While quality of life policing appears effective
at reducing crime, at what cost? There is strong evidence that such tactics threaten individual rights, and lead
to police abuse of power and force. New York City is a model for both extremes. The crime rate in the city, particularly
the violent crime rate, has dropped dramatically.
At the same time, the number of citizen complaints is up dramatically, and the police department has experienced
several highly publicized scandals involving the torture and killing of suspects. This chapter demonstrates how
theory can have a significant impact on the administration of justice.
Paul Tracy and Kimberly Kempf-Leonard's chapter on the increased use of juvenile waiver into the adult criminal
justice system is another example of how laws have been enacted without the benefit of social scientific research.
Where in the drunk driving and genocide chapters the authors argue the fault lies with researchers, who have not
addressed the issue, here the fault lies with legislators, who have chosen to ignore a substantial amount of evidence
which suggests waiver is not an
effective means of dealing with juvenile offenders, often ensnaring less serious offenders while failing to deal
any more harshly with serious offenders. Here the results are similar to the research on the death penalty. Research
indicates the death penalty does not deter, and that it is applied in a racially
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discriminatory fashion. Yet legislators and courts have chosen to ignore this evidence. It is striking that there
is not a chapter on the death penalty in this book, as it is one area in which research has been used, albeit unsuccessfully,
to argue for changes in current policy.
The chapter by Claire Souryal and Charles Wellford is a critical examination of another aspect of the "get
tough" movement, the creation of rigid sentencing guidelines. The authors are highly critical of such guidelines,
which have failed to eliminate the discretion an discrimination in the criminal justice system, while the putting
more people in prison for a longer time.
Richard Wright and Jason Rourke contribute a chapter on the most-cited scholars in criminological theory. This
is yet another in a series of such reviews conducted by Wright, singly and with others. Here they focus on citations
in leading criminology textbooks and the ADVANCES IN CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY
series. This chapter adds nothing of substance to the volume, however.
Deborah Denno's chapter on criminologists as expert witnesses is perhaps the most disappointing. It consists of
less than three full pages of text. The subject of criminologists as expert witnesses is actually an important
one, and represents one way in which criminologists can have an immediate impact on the administration of justice.
Sadly the chapter is almost entirely lacking in substance.
Other issues examined in the book include such disparate topics as treason, genocide, police deviance, juvenile
waiver, a discussion of white collar crime, crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED), technological
advances in the control of crime, justifiable homicide, and theories of sentencing and punishment. These may be
of interest to specialists in the area, but offer little to the general reader.
Several of the chapters in this volume indicate criminology has had some influence on the criminal justice system.
Other chapters reveal how research has failed to inform policymakers. Sadly, many of these chapters offer little
new. Other chapters offer intriguing avenues for further research. These include the chapters on drunk driving,
stranger violence, and justifiable homicide.
This idea behind the ADVANCES IN CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY series is a sound one, and individual volumes have provided
a number of significant contributions to the literature. Both the advantages and limitations of the series are
manifest in this volume. There is a lack of unity, and the volume is weakened by the inclusion of several poorly
written chapters Nonetheless, I recommend the perusal of this book by criminal justice scholars interested in
the intersection of criminal law and criminology. There are nuggets of wisdom to be gleaned, if one is willing
to sift through the sludge.