Book Review: Student Handbook of Criminal Justice and Criminology
| Author | Rhianon Bayliss |
| DOI | 10.1177/146680250500500206 |
| Published date | 01 May 2005 |
| Date | 01 May 2005 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
from their social context. Matt Hakiaha, for example, expresses concerns
about the adaptation of Maori practices into the criminal justice system and, in
particular, the effect this may have on the Maori and their sacred principles.
The final section of this book concerns the role of restorative justice in the
broader social justice arena. Both authors in this section challenge us to look
beyond criminal justice borders but Bonnie Price Lofton writes a particularly
interesting chapter about the current limitations of restorative justice in
tackling the socio-economic causes of crime.
In sum, this volume provides a wide range of brief critical perspectives on
restorative justice. It is intended that this collection should lay the groundwork
for an ongoing open-ended dialogue. Although the groundwork has probably
already been done, it certainly provides thoughtful accounts, which contribute
to current debates.
John Muncie and David Wilson
Student Handbook of Criminal Justice and Criminology
London: Cavendish Publishing, 2004. 312 pp. £19.95
ISBN 1–85941–841–4 (pbk)
•Reviewed by Rhianon Bayliss, Cardiff University, UK
In common with other social science disciplines, as the body of criminological
and criminal justice research and scholarship grows, so, it seems, exponentially
does the number of volumes vying for adoption as ‘key’ or ‘core’ texts for
undergraduate study. Of necessity, the authors and editors of these texts are
faced with the not inconsiderable problems of selectivity in terms of topics for
inclusion, and of providing concise chapter-length summaries that address the
key debates and thinking in relation to their subject matter. There is therefore
a tendency for these texts to cover similar ground.
Muncie and Wilson’s collection aims to be a departure from this mould. As
they state in their introduction, they ‘have included but also move beyond [. . .]
more traditional exposition[s]’ (p. ix), with a focus not just on the descriptive,
but also an intention to encourage critical reflection on the book’s subject
matter. The collection covers a diverse (perhaps even random) range of topics,
but in my view this adds to, rather than detracts from, its value as a student
text. All are clearly located within current policy and political contexts, and
gender and ethnicity are considered in relation to most. Some chapters probe
some of the less explored corners of traditional areas of criminological study,
such as religious identity (specifically, British Muslims) in relation to crime and
criminal justice, and human rights in the context of globalization and the
creation of the International Criminal Court.
A central theme running throughout the collection is the centrality to
criminology of social research. The epistemological concerns of critical social
researchers within the discipline are evident, for example, in chapters by
Book Reviews 199
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