Book Review: Punishment and Deterrence. Johannes Andenaes; Aan Arbor: University of Michigan Press (1974); viii and 189 pp; US$9.00 (ISBN 0 472 08013 X); Deterrence: the Legal Threat in Crime Control. Franklin E Zimring and Gordon J Hawkins; Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press (1973); xiv and 376 pp inc. ind; US$13.50 (ISBN 0 226 98350 1); Perception in Criminology. Edited by Richard L Henshol and Robert A Silverman; New York and London: Columbia University Press (1975); xx and 471 pp inc ind; no price stated (ISBN 0 231 03760 0 (c); ISBN 0 231 23761 9 (p))
| Author | Stephen White |
| Published date | 01 June 1976 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486587600900209 |
| Date | 01 June 1976 |
124 BOOK REVIEWS AUST.NZJC (1976) 9
Punishment
and
Deterrence.
Johannes Andenaes; Ann Arbor: University
of
Michigan Press (1974); viii
and
189
pp;
US$9.oo (ISBN 0 472 08013 X)
Deterrence:
the
Legal
Threat
in
Crime
Control. Franklin EZimring
and
Gordon
JHawkins; Chicago
and
London: University of
Chicago
Press (1973); xiv
and
376
pp
inc ind; U5$13.50 (ISBN 0 226 98350 1)
Perception
in Criminology.
Edited
by
Richard LHenshol
and
Robert
A
Silverman;
New
York
and
London: Columbia University Press (1975); xx
and
471
pp
inc ind; no
price
stated (ISBN 0 231 03760 0 (c); ISBN 0 231
23761 9 (p))
In
any
list
of
the most
important
issues in criminology
deterrence
would
have
to
be
placed
near the top.
The
problems
posed
by
deterrence
are, briefly, three:
what
is it;
how,
if at all, can it
be
justified ethically;
and
how, if at all, does it
work. Until recently there
would
have
been
little disputing, studies of capital
punishment
apart, that discussion of
the
ethics of
deterrence
had
far
outpaced
studies of its
other
two aspects. It
seemed
as if only one
man
was interested in
thinking persistently, seriously
and
diligently
about
deterrence
in all its aspects,
and
in demonstrating
how
the
questions usually asked,
and
the assumptions
commonly
made,
about
it
are
far too broadly cast.
That
man
was, of course,
Professor Andenaes. In a series of articles over
the
last
quarter
century he has
shown
how
much
discussion of
the
processes
and
effectiveness of
deterrence
suffers
from
atendency to over-generalisation
and
from
afailure to
make
necessary distinctions. At the same
time
he has marshalled the limited
amount
of
data
that
remains relevant
and
useful once the questions raised of
deterrence
have
been
reformulated
in the
manner
he desires. It is difficult to believe
that
any
criminologist
would
be
unaware
of these articles,
but,
as their force
can
hardly
be
regarded
as spent, it is
very
good
that
Professor Andenaes has
assembled
them
within the covers of one
book
in Punishment and Deterrence;
and
if this leads to their
wider
dissemination, so
much
the better.
Professor Andenaes has generally relied on
secondary
sources for the empirical
material
which
finds a
place
in his writings. He has
stated
the
themes
and
then
orchestrated these secondary materials to harmonise
with
them. It is
most
unfortunate
that
those
who
read
no Scandinavian languages will have
been
acquainted
with
what
appear
to
be
some extremely interesting studies
of
deterrence
only through Professor Andenaes'
account
of
them. Since
about
1968,
however, aseries of articles, associated with
the
names
of
Campbell, Chiricos,
Gibbs, Logan, Ross, Tittle
and
Waldo
among
others,
have
brought
to research
into
deterrence
agreater sophistication than it displayed thithertofore. Professor
Andenaes has
not
made
much
use of these researches in
the
essays he has
written
subsequent to their
appearance,
and
it is the critical examination of these
which
is
perhaps
the
main justification,
and
one of the
best
parts.. of Zimring
and
Hawkins' book. This is a
book
which I, at least,
have
awaited
with a sense
of
great excitement, aroused
by
the
very
excellent articles
and
monograph
which
the authors
produced
in the course
of
its preparation. It
was
with a
growing
sense of disappointment, therefore, that I slowly realised
that
I
had
already seen,
in essence at least,
many
of the best parts of
the
book;
but
those
who
have
not
followed
the
preparation
of the
book
through its author's publications, should
escape this disappointment.
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