Recent Book: How Do You Employ 6 or 6,000?: Supervision in the Administration of Justice. Police, Corrections, Courts
| Date | 01 July 1979 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X7905200322 |
| Published date | 01 July 1979 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
climate and social values. Technology
advances rapidly. The significance of all
these facets of change must be studied by
policy makers. The effects on the
organisation provide a challenge for
policy makers. The argument offered
here is that people involved in policy
making in any organisation are dealing
with weighty and complex matters. The
reader is able to follow a good clear
analysis of all the ingredients that
contribute to the problems for policy
makers.
The text has a quite distinct American
flavour but the issues raised can be
applied to any organisation.
Middle
management
in
most
organisations frequently make rude
noises about policy makers at the top.
The book would show them, perhaps
that, policy decisions are not simple.
However, policy makers might glean
some extra information.
I am not sure this is a book for the
newcomer, although the authors claim
the student of policy might develop his
conceptual and administrative skills. I
feel a basic organisation text would be
required reading before tackling this one.
M.W.
PAUL
B.
WESTON:
Supervision in the Administration
of
Justice.
Police. Corrections. Courts.
Charles E. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois. 204pp.
$.12.00
This book sets out to describe and
discuss the fundamentals of supervising
employees in Police Departments,
Sheriffs' offices, Courts, Probation and
Parole agencies, and Correctional
Institutions. It is a second edition. The
English reader might be surprised that
supervision in so many and varied
organisations can be discussed in the
same book. Indeed, a more unlikely mix
is hard to imagine. All the English
models are different. However, one
might argue that managing people isthe
same in any organisation, thus making
this volume worthwhile.
What emerges in these pages is a
practical instructional piece on familiar
topics. Duties and Responsibilities;
Leadership; Motivation; Delegation etc.
There are less familiar topics such as
Equal Opportunity Supervision and
Employee Rights. The book isbasically a
training manual and appears to be
directed towards
Junior
Managers. The
English reader will discover little relevant
material not covered by existing
literature. The comparative study
specialist may find some quoted cases of
interest. M.W.
RICHARDC.
LARSON:
Police Deployment. Lexington Books 226pp. £15.00
The idea of devising a formula to Police organisations in the U.S.A.
obtain the best establishment and It is a very difficult text to read,
deployment of Police officers isnot new. punctuated by many technical computer
Many British readers will know of and mathematicalterms. For the lay reader
several attempts to devise an acceptable this book is not likely to clarify what is
formula. So far these efforts have failed. already a complicated issue. The model
This book is an American publication devised here cannot be fully operated
following the same theme.
It
is a without mathematicians and computer
collection of papers produced by a resources. I
think
it unlikely that this
number of highly qualified people with a particular research will have much
distinct leaning towards mathematics Impact in this country, because few
and computer expertise. The research forces will have the resources to interpret
was conducted in America. A model for and operate the scheme offered here.
use has been produced and tested in M.W.
THE POLITICIAN'S FAILURES
MARTIN
BURNETT
-"The Delinquent's Challenge -Trust Me
if
You Dare"
Barry Rose (Publishers) Ltd. £4.50
The author, calling upon experience as His main research analysed replies
governor of two borstals together with from 130 successful graduates of his
that gained in a research project, where former borstal. regime of which in the
borstal successes (defined in terms of no relevant era (1959 - 1967)was described
further convictions after being released 'as traditional and work orientated. The
from borstal) were invited to complete a research was not designed to test whether
questionnaire,
c~pt~res
hiscentraltheme custodial sentences are right in principle
In
the title of this httle book. but, given such exist, whether they can
301 July 1979
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