Encyclopedia of Crime & Justice Book

Some 250 entries include abortion, assassination, careers in criminal justice, crime in developing countries, diminished capacity, entrapment, corpus delicti, police, wiretapping and eavesdropping, vigilantism, and feminism's impact on criminal law. In the latter entry, Nicole Rafter (Northeastern U.), writes that sixties and seventies feminists noticed five inadequacies in the law: too much focus on male offenders, an androcentric understanding of crime, little attention paid to victims, an ignoring of sex difference in criminal processing, and too little attention paid to the dynamics of gender and power. Some essays deal with law in Europe, Russia, and China. All entries are accessible to any college-level reader and contain substantial bibliographies and cross-references. Welcome features are a helpful guide to understanding legal citations and a 30-page glossary. Authors are identified only by institution, which are overwhelmingly in the US. The first edition was published in 1983. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Dotsy Harland - VOYA

This scholarly set contains more than two hundred essays arranged alphabetically by topic. Each essay is written by an expert on the subject being addressed and consists of a definition, a broad overview, and a discussion, including history and international perspective. The authors strive to maintain objectivity but put forth their own theories and views when appropriate. Each essay is thoughtfully written, thoroughly researched, and at least several pages long. Most include statistics and the results of completed studies. At the end of each essay are a bibliography, see-also references to related essays, and a list of court cases where applicable. The essays vary in complexity and readability and cover some surprising topics such as abortion, the legal aspects of suicide, and careers in criminal justice. A wonderful essay on terrorism is included, but unfortunately, it was completed too early to cover the September 11 attacks. Many of the essay topics are quite sophisticated, such as Excuse: Theory, Crime Causation: Biological Theories, and Shaming Punishments. Volume four includes an excellent general index to the entire set and also legal indexes for specific cases and documents. The indexes give only page numbers, and because page numbers are not represented on the spines of the volumes, use is slightly inconvenient. Overall, this excellent source is most appropriate for in-depth research in academic and larger public libraries. Glossary. Index. Charts. Biblio. 2002, Macmillan, 1,780p. in 4 vols. PLB