Book Review: Textbook on Criminology
| Published date | 01 May 1992 |
| Date | 01 May 1992 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201839205600211 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Journal
of
Criminal Law
Herculean task. The work now comes in three volumes. In broad terms,
the first deals with the practice and procedure of courts dealing with
criminal matters, including the law of evidence. The second volume deals
with the mental element in crime and then the substantive criminal law.
The third comprises tables and index. As with previous editions, cumulative
supplements are to be produced, and in the current year four will be
published, ensuring that developments in the law, and important cases,
will be brought to notice swiftly.
Agreat deal of new substantive law has been included, much of it
carried forward from the supplements of the previous edition. Such key
statutes as the Criminal Justice Act 1988, the Courts and Legal Services
Act 1990, and even references to the controversial War Crimes Act 1991
are all incorporated. Not only has the substantive law been faithfully
brought up-do-date, but the layout has been much improved and the
typeface changed to provide greater clarity.
A risk with a work comprising nearly 4,000 pages of text is that although
the law is 'all there', can a practitioner turn up the relevant page of text to
advance a developing argument in the heat of the courtroom battle? Clever
use is made of the endpapers, and the large laminated bookmark, which
accompanies the work, to flag up the paragraph references of key subjects.
Thus, they point to the paragraphs in the text dealing with the sentencing
framework for young offenders, to those paragraphs dealing with s 76 and
s 78 of the
PACE
Act 1984, and to very much else besides.
In summary, Archbold remains indispensable.
The
latest edition has
been radically remodelled to retain the best of the old Archbold, but in an
exciting new format. There is a comprehensive programme of text
replacement which should assist subscribers and guarantee that the law
quoted is up-to-date in years to come.
Apart
from the supplements, there
is also a comparatively new venture, Archbold News, which will be
distributed 10 times in the current year. The price of the work includes all
supplementary material up to the end of 1992. Surely the criminal lawyer
has never been better served.
Textbook on Criminology. By
KATHERINE
S
WILLIAMS.
London: Blackstone
Press. Price £16.95.
This book is a welcome addition to the Textbook on
...
series and will
be of particular value to students new to the subject of criminology. More
scholarly tomes in this subject are often written in dense, often near
impenetrable language, but Kate Williams' book is clear and readable,
inclining sometimes to be over-simple, but given the intended readership
this is not a criticism.
Abook on criminology in a single volume cannot, of course, treat the
subject in any
depth-anyone
of the 17 chapters could easily be expanded
into a book by
itself-but
as a textbook acomprehensive tour d'horizon is
made which clearly explains the matter and the boundaries of the subject,
so that no-one reading it can have any doubt what criminology is.
Each chapter is clearly laid out with many useful sub-headings which
196
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