Recent Book: To Prosecute or …: The Invisible Justice Sistem
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8005300226 |
| Author | J. C. Alderson |
| Date | 01 April 1980 |
| Published date | 01 April 1980 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
dressed female figures. The authors thus
focus upon stereotyping in the realm of
personal appearance, avoiding many
rather more emotive alternatives. The
statistical sophistication of the research,
however allied to the absence of readable
summary findings for the casual reader,
effectively prevents the latter from
gaining foothold on the mountain of
detail in this book. This is a pity. though
an understandable quality in an
academic volume which, as well as
providing new insights and method-
ologies.
reviews
extensively
the
published work in this field.
Whilst we might be unwise to pluck
out general findings from the context of
the studies the temptation is great and it
does seem that the authors adduce
evidence that: even slightly differing
physiques and dress arouse diverse
expectations
oftheir
possessors; men and
women see "wife" and "mother" roles
very differently; greater consensus in
social judgement of others develops with
age; central unspoken questions posed of
a
stranger
concern
his
or
her
conformity and sociability and finally
that attractiveness is of vital importance
in mediating social behaviour.
For the serious student ofstereotyping
this
volume
will
presumably
be
indispensible --- for the general reader it
will almost certainly remain a closed
book. P. W. CAREY
TO PROSECUTE OR , , ,
Editors:
BURTON
ATKINS
AND
MARK
POGREBIN:
The Invisible Justice Ststem.
Anderson Publishing Co.
This book contains probably the most
erudite collection of writings on the
subject of the use of discretion incriminal
justice so far put together within one
cover.
It
is therefore a book for the
serious student and certainly for the
reference libraries. The articles lay bare
the effect of discretion. its uses and
abuses. and how decisions to arrest,
prosecute. and sentence often turn on
whims of police officers, prosecuting
attorneys and judges. as well as on more
measured discretion. The whole field is
seen by the scholary contributors to be
full of controversial issues.
The section on the use of discretion by
the police examines the issue very
thoroughly and isgraced by a paperfrom
James Q. Neilson whose perceptive and
balanced views commend themselves to
all but the prejudiced. Otherpapers make
very penetrating observations on the
crucial nature of police discretion to
invoke or not to invoke the criminal
process.Apart from the most grave
offences this discretion is handled by the
officer on the beat more often than not
and he in turn will be influenced not only
by the policies of his senior officers but
by such things as his own values, by the
values of the neighbourhood or those of
his colleagues. The question must be
asked as to whether
junior
police officers
receive adequate training and guidance
Police
Journal
April
1980
in this most important area of their
"legal" function. Comparisons are made
between the discretion allowed in the
common law system and the more
legalistic approach of those European
systems based on the Civil Law codes.
The largest section in the book deals
with the use of discretion by prosecutors
in the U.S.A. and would be read with
profit by the members of the Royal
Commission currently making up its
mind whether or not to saddle England
and Wales with the U.S. model or others.
If
they were to read this section of the
book it would save us from some kind of
disaster. Plea bargaining in some courts
of the U.S. has now become something
of a scandal and the writers lay bare
many of the causes for this and of their
effects. Note that the English system
would help' them much since to move
prosecuting powers into the hands of
politically appointed police chiefs would
likely only add to their problems.
The use of judicial discretion in
sentencing is also thoroughly examined
and offers some novel ideas for
correcting some
ofthe
weaknesses as well
as strengthening the good points.
All in all this is a splendidly produced
volume and a considerable addition to
erudite literature on these topics.
J. C. ALDERSON
198
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