The Mythology of Crime and Criminal Justice by Victor E Kappeler

by Victor E. Kappeler

In some respects." The Mythology of Crime and Criminal Justice" may seem an unlikely book. In a humorous vein, it is somewhat unlikely that graduates from the Pennsylvania State University. State University at New York, and Sam Houston State University would collaborate on anything more than professional conferences or occasional forays for field research purposes. It is said that these institutions of higher education approach issues of crime and justice from very divergent perspectives and produce very different scholars of justice. Perhaps this too is a myth of criminal justice. Admittedly, we do have very diverse backgrounds and thus, perhaps it was unlikely that we would collectively produce a book that addresses "myths" in criminal justice given the broad range of possible topics. That is, however, one of the wonders of academia and one of the strengths of the social sciences. Divergent people, ideas, and approaches to understanding contribute to an environment where varying perspectives, interests, and back- grounds can blend to create unique works. On a more serious note, the most unlikely part of this collabora. tian is that

Genres: Nonfiction, Read For School, Sociology

262 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Rob]

As someone with a post-secondary and graduate-level educational background in criminal justice and justice administration, this was a rather informative read. There are myths portrayed as fact, or nearly that, during undergraduate and graduate programs regarding crime and criminal justice, but this book helps in understanding those "facts" in the context of a politicized and media influenced system. It helps to question what we see, hear, and read about crime and criminal justice to determine whether it is true or miscontrued to support what the media and government wants people to believe.

[Alexa]

So I had to read this for my intro to Criminology class, and, honestly I think this book did a pretty good job of covering the basics of every area of crime and criminal justice. For someone like me, who has no knowledge of this subject, I found this book to be easily understandable and learned some really interesting information. However, sometimes it was hard to distinguish when the book was talking about myths and when it was talking about actual fact. I think an easy way to fix this would have been to change change the formatting a little bit and instead of mixing fact and fiction together, maybe separate them into different chapter sections to make them more easily distinguishable.

[Dean]

kinda ate up I cannot lie

[Lauren]

too soon to tell...

[Matt]

Examines the construction of crime and the social phenomenon that contribute to popular misconceptions of crime and criminal offenders.