The textbook tackles a complex phenomena and tries to balance the overwhelming amount of outdated classical theories with current statistics on crime. Sometimes it reads as a lecture more than a factual textbook, which is fine for reading but becomes problematic as a source of reference for academia.
The biggest problem for me was the.. "then what?" questions I had upon reading, such as how the author acknowledges a need for a feminist appraisal of deviance but doesn't dedicate an entire chapter to any current feminist theories aside from mentioning in a paragraph or 2 some very radical theories, which further proves his point.
I had to read this for my class, but essentially, I know why my lecturer could use this textbook as ammunition for her conservative views when she selectively chose and quoted certain parts but neglected the nuance Goode makes.