Reviews : Crime, the Media and the Law Dennis Howitt Wiley, 1998; pp233; £15.99, pbk
| Date | 01 March 1999 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059904600120 |
| Published date | 01 March 1999 |
| Author | Brendan O'Keefe |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
52
sustains
us
in
this
is
that
fleeting
recognition
we
may
sometimes
get
that
something
we
have
done
was
good.
Whatever
it
was,
it
had
a
coherence,
a
moral
centre,
a
clarity
of
focus,
etc. etc.
and
was
recognisably
good
practice.
If
we
were
to
have
the
time,
the
energy
and
the
ability,
we
might
analyse
that
good
practice
and
distil
its
essential
components
down
to
an
irreducible
core;
and
that
we
might
call
quality.
I
thought
that
this
book
was
going
to
set
down
such
an
analysis,
and
perhaps
also
(in
the
way
that
Bill
Jordan
has
been
able
to
do)
set
down
stories,
professional
scenarios
which
themselves
would
help
us
get
closer
to
ensuring
that
quality
pervaded
more
of
our
practice.
This
book
has
gone
down
a
different
and
much
more
arid
route;
a
shingly
journey
along
a
dry
and
dusty
path
bringing
no
comfort
to
anyone.
It is
a
book
which
seems
obsessed
by
identifying
most
contemporary
practice
as
ground
down
by
Taylorism
(the
classical
management
’time
and
motion
man’)
or
new
public
management.
It
is
a
book
that
states
at
the
outset:
&dquo;The
analysis
of
contributory
factors
to
equality
in
social
work
should
not
simply
be
error-driven°°
(p.xiii)
but
then
makes
reference
to
174
separate
Enquiry
and
Inspection
reports,
listed
over
seven
and
a
half
pages
of
appendix.
It is
a
book
in
which
the
chapter
on
criminal
justice
focuses
more
on
prisons
than
the
community,
and
which
suggests
that
probation
officers
are
so
beset
by
procedure
and
doing
things
in
a
standardised
way
that
they
would
never
speak
up
against
the
practice
of
shackling
a
female
prisoner
to
her
bed
(111),
which
is
simply
nonsense
and
not
the
likely
behaviour
of
any
practitioners
I
know.
It
is
a
book
which
states
that
a
nine
year
old
can
commit
a
criminal
act
(sic),
and
in
which
the
chapter
on
mental
health
is
almost
entirely
taken
up
with
the
issue
of
whistleblowing
in
the
social
services
and
health
service.
It
is
a
book
that
recognises
that
all
practice
is
undertaken
in
a
political
environment,
. and
then
conveniently
ignores
the
reality
of
that
environment
so
as
to
score
more
points
against
Taylorism
and
new
management
(which
the
author
appears
to
conflate).
It
is
a
book
in
which
shortcomings
in
practice
are
listed
with
body-numbing
regularity,
but
in
which
I
cannot
recall
one
example
of
good,
inspirational
practice
despite
the
author’s
insistence
on
empowerment
as
the
fourth
organisational
paradigm.
References
are
made
throughout
to
Brewer
and
Lait,
whose
work
did
so
much
to
undermine
the
confidence
of
social
service
practitioners
and
managers
through
the
early
and
mid
1980s.
This
book
does
the
same,
but
in
a
less
honest
way.
There
is
only
one
moment,
one
glimmer
of
light,
at
which
we
read
a
coherent
and
extended
statement
about
elements
of
quality
practice,
but
we
have
had
to
read
a
sterile
196
pages
before
getting
it.
It is
a
shame
this
book
was
written
and
a
greater
shame
it
was
published.
It
is
academicism
at
its
worst
and
most
futile.. , - . ,
Andy
Stelman
Assistant
Chief
Probation
Officer,
Greater
Manchester
Crime,
the
Media
and
the
Law
Dennis
Howitt
Wiley,
1998;
pp233;
£15.99,
pbk
Does
the
media
create
crime
or
merely
report
and
reflect
it?
This
question
is
almost
as
old
as
the
printed
word,
but
has
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