Recent Book: The Wrong Way: The Politics of Positive Discrimination
| Published date | 01 April 1980 |
| Date | 01 April 1980 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8005300219 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
the author's style does not help the
complicated reasoning that leads to the
final theoretical model. This model is
built on fourteen variables and wastested
on 734 juveniles in Washington schools.
After this test, social class is omitted as a
variable in the complex package.
The author demonstrates that the
study of delinquency is a complicated
business and claims that it is useful to
examine the impact of all the key
variables at once. There is not much
doubt about that. Perhaps the greatest
contribution made here is to focus the
reader's mind on the many variables and
theories. On the other hand, the
newcomer will struggle with the difficult
text. Although the subject
matter
is
complicated the reviewer feels that an
explanation inless heavy language would
attract a wider audience. As it stands it is
an academic piece. M.W.
THE ANSWER?
J.
W.
MOORE.
D.F.C.: Digest
of
the Law Relating to Juveniles and the Courts.
The Peel Press. £1.60 +15p P &p.
This is a pocket size book which is
intended for use by all persons engaged in
dealing with juveniles and their passage
through the maze of court procedures. It
deals with both juvenile offenders and
those who have been brought to court as
a result of care or wardship proceedings
'under the following six headings:-
I.
Juvenile
Offenders:
including
Adjournments and alternatives open to
the court to deal with the child or young
person.
2.
Care
Proceedings:
Legislation
contained in Section I Children and
Young Persons Act 1969.
3. Voluntary Care
4. Civil Courts
5. Children in Care
6. Social Enquiry Reports
The book is only intended as a brief
guide and should be treated as such.
However, the author has compacted into
a very short space a great deal of useful
information together with full references
for further research if necessary.
A well
presented
book
which
successfully precis a complicated area.
It should prove useful to any Court
Inspector. R.P.
THE WRONG WAY
JOHN
EDWARDS
AND
RICHARD
BATLEY: The Politics
of
Positive Discrimination
Tavistock - £9.95.
Positive Descrimination is probably
the best term to use to refer to attempts to
allocate extra or special resources to deal
with problems associated with minority
groups. This book is about Britain's first
area discrimination programme, the
Urban Programme 1967 - 1977. The
authors give an account of how and why
the programme came about. They show
how the programme developed and
illustrate the constraints imposed within
central and local government.
During the early 1960's in Britain
poverty was rediscovered. The major
social services - education, housing,
health and social welfare were criticised
for a failure to reach some of the groups
most in need. Official and semi official
reports pointed to homelessness and
class inequality. The problems of inner
city life brought forth much comment.
Coloured people were noted to suffer
discrimination in employment and
housing. The Urban Programme was the
response of Government to these
PoliceJournal April 1980
problems. However, the authors point
out that the programme was to deal with
problems experienced by immigrants
and at the same. time it was a way of
relieving stress caused by immigrants.
Thus the programme wasintroduced at
a-
politically difficult time to cope with
urban poverty and problems associated
with immigrants.
The programme was well intentioned
but was not built up from any clearly
stated aims. Its purpose was apparently
to ensure that all citizens had an equal
opportunity, but there was no doubt
about the meaning of "areas of special
social need". These were never clearly
defined.
Without clear goal statements, the
distribution offunds became, the authors
argue, a matter of chance. They show
quite clearly that the money put into the
programme was spread over a wide
variety of projects. The analysis of
administrative organisation and process
highlights some confusion between local
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