Recent Book: Robbers: Armed Robbery: Offenders and Their Victims
| Author | Thomas A. Reppetto |
| Published date | 01 April 1976 |
| Date | 01 April 1976 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X7604900212 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
simple process to find a particular
topic, I would have preferred the
contents to fol1ow the order of the
statutory procedure, so that, for ex-
ample, Special Reasons could have
been included in the passage on
penalties which would then come
after the conclusion of the articles
on procedure. However, that is a
personal criticism which should in
no way detract from the undoubted
value of this book which has the
added advantage of sel1ing at a price
one can afford. H.C.W.
AT COURT
ANTHONY
AND
BERRYMAN:
Magistrates' Court Guide 1976 (10th edition) 1976.
Butterworth £4.20.
It
is extremely difficult to find
anything new to say
about
a
book
which is published each year. I make
no apology, therefore, for repeating
the words of His
Honour
Judge Peter
Mason, Q.C. in his Foreword to the
book:
"It
is accurate, concise and
digestible".
The
book
does, however, purport
to give magistrates advice on numerous
topics including the
"Role
of the
Justices Clerk" and I would take
issue with the learned authors on the
fol1owing suggestion:
"If
the justices
retire it is general1y better that the
clerk should be with them".
It
seems
to many people that far too often the
clerk retires, as a matter of course,
with the justices to give advice
that
cannot be heard or questioned in open
court. The proper course is for the
bench to send for their clerk only
when
and
if they have need of his
advice in a particular case; for exam-
ple, in matters of sentencing,
apart
from the legal limits on their powers
of sentencing which can be outlined
in most cases, in open court, magi-
strates should have no need to consult
their clerk. The old adage that "justice
must be seen to be
done"
may be
hackneyed, but its importance should
never be under estimated.
One other matter which puzzled me
somewhat was a sentence on page 148:
"When
sentence is deferred it is not
necessary to release the defendant on
bail".
It
may not be strictly necessary,
but I am at a loss to see what could
be the point of a deferred sentence if
the defendant were kept in custody
during the period of deferment. I
should have preferred a little elabora-
tion on that point. However, it is
unavoidable in a guide this size that
there
wil1
be some gaps and general1y,
I have no hesitation in agreeing with
the learned Judge's description of
the book.
PORTIA
ROBBERS
JOHN
M.
MACDONALD
(with chapters by C.
DONALD
BRANNAN):
Armed
Robbery:
Offenders and their Victims: Chas. C. Thomas, Springfield, III., U.S.A. £18.50.
This is to me a disappointing book. mately ten pages. The bulk of the
The authors are men of considerable 432 pages contains accounts of robbers
experience, the principal one being a and robberies past and present, in-
forensic psychiatrist with other publi- eluding
bank
robberies, sky-jackers,
cations to his credit. He is assisted urban guerrillas, and of such charac-
by a Detective Lieutenant who com- ters as Robin Hood, the James
mands the robbery squad in a major Brothers, Bridget Dugdale, and Leila
city police department. The authors Khaled; in effect a journalistic survey
indicate that they have examined 1,000 of the subject.
robberies and 100 robbery offenders Occasionally, there is some re-
for purposes of this volume. Thus, ference to scholarly material such as
one would expect another in the previous robbery studies by Norman-
series of recent crime-specific studies deau and Conklin; however, this
rich in
data
and analysis, and con- presents some problems since it com-
eluding with policy recommendations. pares armed robbery to all robbery.
Actually there is little attention There are also some notable omissions,
afforded to the data. The Denver most particularly any reference to the
material generates exactly six tables 1,000 page report on the robbery study
on respectively month, day, hour, conducted by researchers at the
place, victim resistance and time delay University of California (1974) and
in reporting the robbery. All of this to Camp's analysis of
bank
robbery
could have been dealt with in approxi- and Roebuck's study of armed robbers
134
April
1976
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