Book Review: The Sociology of Crime and Delinquency, Marvin E. Wolfgong, Leonard Savitz, Norman Johnston (eds.), Wiley, New York, 1970 (2nd edition) xii + 676 pp.; $8.35 (paperback), and The Sociology of Punishment and Correction, Normon Johnston, Leonard Savitz, Marvin E. Wolfgang (eds.), Wiley, New York, 1970 (2nd edition), xii + 843 pp., $9.40 (paperback)
| Published date | 01 September 1970 |
| Author | David Biles |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486587000300308 |
| Date | 01 September 1970 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
188 AUST. &N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (Sept., 1970): 3, 3
Book Reviews
The Sociology of Crime and Delinquency,
Marvin E. Wolfgong, Leonard Savitz,
Norman Johnston (eds.), Wiley, New York,
1970 (2nd edition) xii +676 pp.; $8.35
(paperback), and The Sociology of Punish-
ment and Correction, Normon Johnston,
Leonard Savitz, Marvin E. Wolfgang (eds.),
Wiley, New York, 1970 (2nd edition), xii +
843 pp., $9.40 (paperback).
THESE revised and greatly extended
second editions of the books of readings,
which have since their first appearance in
1962 been widely used by both students
and teachers of criminology,
are
most wel-
come additions to the field. Not only do
they give us an extensive overview of
American criminology but, when compared
with the first editions, they clearly indicate
the directions in which criminological
thought is moving.
When
the
two companion volumes
are
considered together the second editions
are
almost exactly twice the size of those pub-
lished in 1962, which suggests that, regard-
less of content, American criminology is
booming. But there is much more
here
than acrude increase in bulk. The
very
best in recent criminological research has
been carefully culled from a vast
array
of
journals and
other
publications to
make
up
the contents of these compelling volumes.
It is impossible, of course, to review
adequately
the
contents of two large
volumes which comprise no less
than
138
separate papers,
but
the main themes can
be readily identified. The Sociology of
Crime and Delinquency opens with an
introductory section on the meaning of
criminology in which the student is intro-
duced (albeit briefly) to
the
writing of
Sellin, Durkheim, Sutherland, Tappan
and
others. There follows a section on criminal
statistics in which five new papers have
replaced those in the first edition. These
papers
are
sophisticated and insightful,
but
it is with some regret
that
one notes
the
exclusion of Sellin's classic discussion of
the significance of records of crime. The
concept of cause is then discussed in a
brief third section.
The most substantial, and perhaps most
difficult, section of this volume deals
with
theory and evidence and outlines
the
im-
portant contributions
that
sociology has
made to
our
understanding of deviant
behaviour. Australian students, being less
familiar with sociological writing than
their
American counterparts, will probably be
initially discomforted by this rich diet,
but, taken slowly in small doses,
they
are
here given the opportunity of mastering
the field.
The two concluding sections on
the
social structure and selected patterns of
criminal activity range widely over
many
topics. Social class, race and family
factors are considered in detail as is
the
influence of the mass media in an original
paper written for this volume by Erdwin
Pfuhl Jr. Using a survey technique
and
rigorous statistical analysis, Pfuhl found
"that
there is no consistently significant
difference between those who are more
delinquent and those who
are
less delin-
quent in patterns of interest in or exposure
to crime themes in mass media" (p. 521).
This paper will
not
end the debate on this
vexed question
but
at least it marks astep
away from
the
more familiar data-free
opinion.
The final papers
are
comparatively easy-
to-read descriptions of organized crime,
drug taking, homicide, sex offences and
gambling. These
vary
in quality and seem
to have been included as a vivid reminder
to the reader of
the
sheer nastiness of
much of the behaviour we choose to call
crime.
The Sociology of Punishment and Cor-
rection has been much more drastically
revised and extended than its companion
volume. Falling heavily under the
influence of
the
President's Commission on
Law Enforcement and Administration of
Justice, from which many extracts have
been taken, this volume opens with aseries
of penetrating studies on the police. The
works of Skolnick and Barton set
the
framework within which more specific
issues such as police brutality and blue-
coat crime
are
discussed.
The second section on
the
administration
of justice includes four papers on
jury
decision-making (as
yet
unexplored terri-
tory in Australia) and also introduces the
reader to
the
new
field of jurimetrics. Sub-
sequent sections deal with the more familiar
sociology of imprisonment with Clemmer,
Sykes, McCorkle and Schrag being well
represented.
Discussion of
the
treatment of offenders
in this second edition has been divided into
two sections: in institutions and in the
community, and this division underlines a
growing interest in
the
latter field. Some
recently developed treatment methods
such as those used at Synanon House with
drug abusers, detached worker techniques
and the Californian Youth Authority com-
munity treatment project are among those
included here.
A final section on prediction includes
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