This 1966 paperback edition of a publication which first appeared in 1963 has by now been widely reviewed as a worthy contribution to the sociological study of deviant behavior. Its current appearance as a paperback is a testimonial both to the quality of the work and to the prominence of deviant behavior in this generation. In general the author places deviance in perspective, identifies types of deviant behavior, considers the role of rule makers and enforcers, and some of the problems in studying deviance. In addition, he develops a sequential model of deviance relying on the concept of career, a concept originally developed in studies of occupations. In his study of a particular kind of deviance, the use of marihuana, the author posits and tests systematically an hypothesis about the genesis of marihuana use for pleasure. The hypothesis traces the sequence of changes in individual attitude

Outsiders Studies in the Sociology of Deviance.

Dr. Rutter’s latest work is a welcome addition to the spate of books and articles which have appeared in recent years on this topic - especially welcome since the title tells us where he stands. This text is about the variety of appearances of behaviour that puts others at risk, independent of cause or presumptive etiology. It does not attempt to characterize antisocial acts as necessarily Psychiatric, and he is careful not to force fit them into the rubric of Conduct Disorder, as so many American texts have and continue to do, with the implication of a defineable etiologic pathway. In this sense, his book is far more Sociologic than Psychiatric.

Having said that, it is praiseworthy in its scope, and as is typical for this author, for the sheer number of references cited - about seventy-five pages of them. It is, and is intended to be, a scholarly text - a reference book, not an evening’s read. There are thirteen chapters, each of which is well-organized, with an introduction, frequent headings, extensive use of bulletted lists and extremely good charts, and each with a summary of the main points. The introductory chapter makes it plain that the authors intend to abjure categorical reductionism, and they largely succeed. If there is a fault to this text, is that it tries perhaps too hard to do so - it appears to avoid conclusions regarding causation (‘splitting’ versus ‘lumping’) to the point where it can be difficult to derive an organizing perspective. Where putative ‘pathways’ to delinquent behaviour are discussed, there tends to be a reluctance to single out one among many such possible pathways as being of special significance.

For the researcher, this book is invaluable, by virtue of the scope and quality of statistical reporting, if not always analysis. I was fascinated by the richness of the data, drawn primarily from the British Home Office, but frequently incorporating some of the excellent databases developed in Sweden. Where available, attempt has been made by the authors to retrieve data from as many countries in the world as possible. One gets the distinct feeling that a principle hurdle facing the authors is that many countries do not collect the same data as others, or collect it in such an idiosyncratic fashion as to defy comparison with other countries. I could not help but notice that reporting crime rates by ethnic origin seems to be less ‘politically-incorrect’ in British publications than American.

Of special interest was a chart that must have been very difficult to compile, which broke down the reported rate of crime by victims versus the number of arrests made, and then the number of cases handled short of prosecution versus those that go to trial. I had never seen anything quite like this in other texts. It certainly brought home the message that what comes to the attention of law enforcement agencies ‘on the street’ bears little resemblance to the population most-frequently studied by Forensic Psychiatrists - youth in detention.

This text should be on the shelf of any criminologist or Forensic Psychiatrist, and serves as an invaluable tool for academic Psychiatrists writing articles and/or teaching courses on disruptive behaviour disorders. The respect for the topic by the authors is evident, as is the firm adherence to presentation of facts (as they are available) in lieu of conclusion - premature or not - with respect to causation. I look forward to the possibility of a next edition of this work, as the world statistics are open to the careful filtering of Dr. Rutter and his colleagues.

Antisocial Behaviour by Young People

Researching Children’s Perspectives

Not Just Deserts. A Republican Theory of Criminal Justice

Prison on trial

Restorative justice (RJ) has found significant utility outside the prison setting. For many reasons, it has not received the same level of consideration inside the institution. While not every case can, or perhaps should be considered for restorative justice processing inside the prison, some could easily fall into the broad purview range of restorative and transformative justice. We provide examples of RJ practices that exist in some prisons focusing on: offending behavior and victim awareness programs, community service work, and victim‐offender mediation, as well as prison systems that exhibit a RJ philosophy. Also considered are the effectiveness of prison RJ practices, and the limitations of such efforts. Although RJ has the potential to have a positive impact on the work of prisons and the experience of imprisonment, it has not found wide acceptance and is currently limited to a relatively small number of prisons and then often only delivered in partial form. We believe that RJ has a realistic futur...

Restorative justice in prisons

This article explores the conceptual, policy and practical links between poverty and community-oriented social work (COSW). It argues that social workers should be directly involved in the relief of poverty and that the approach most likely to prove successful in this context is one in which practitioners retain close contact with the local community, working in partnership with a joint focus on prevention and empowerment. Although academic, government and mainstream professional interest in COSW has waned over the past decades in the UK, there are grounds to believe that this may change and that lessons can be learned from COSW in other countries.

Poverty and Social Work

The importance of the child’s right to be heard and for their wishes and feelings to be taken notice of is now accepted across a broad professional and research terrain. Increasingly, children are being treated as active participants in the processes and decisions that affect them. In cases of divorce and separation, especially where parental relationships are conflicted, the accepted wisdom in the UK for many years has been for children to be protected rather than empowered. More recently, practitioners, policy makers and researchers have looked for ways to involve children, although the ‘welfare’ of the child has remained paramount. In this context, the question of how to ensure that wishes and feelings expressed are those that authentically belong to the child, rather than to their parent, sibling or other, has achieved a new significance. This article presents findings from recent research to illustrate how the tension between protection and empowerment is being played out in this aspect of welfare report enquiries carried out by CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) private law practitioners.

Whose Wishes and Feelings? Children’s Autonomy and Parental Influence in Family Court Enquiries

The conceptual relationship between restorative justice and punishment has already attracted a great deal of attention in the literature. A similarly rich body of work has considered the two main aims of punishment, retributivism and reductivism, in relation to criminological theories. It is surprising, therefore, that relatively little (direct) attention has been paid to the relation between restorative justice and theories of crime. This paper first reviews the concept of restorative justice, and then examines the affinities and tensions between restorative justice and three ‘individual’ criminological theories: classicism, individual positivism, and ‘law and order’ conservatism. These theories have been selected because of their significance in the development of present criminal justice policies.

http://www.antoniocasella.eu/restorative/Mantle,Fox,Dhami_2005.pdf

Restorative justice and three individual theories of crime

Current UK government policy is to promote mediation as a way of avoiding family court proceedings and there is a risk, therefore, that welfare report-writing practice may receive less critical attention than it merits. A largely unstudied aspect of this practice is the significance given by practitioners to the child's age. More widely, across a broad academic and policy canvas, preoccupying concerns with children's rights, their ability to participate and their individuality have shifted attention away from questions about the age relatedness of competence. Two sets of findings from recent research are presented in this article: first, statistical data relating to the age of children involved in welfare report enquiries; and, second, data drawn from a qualitative study of how private lawpractitioners establish the wishes and feelings of children of different ages.

Greg Mantle

Papers

Restorative justice in prisons

Poverty and Social Work

Whose Wishes and Feelings? Children’s Autonomy and Parental Influence in Family Court Enquiries

Restorative justice and three individual theories of crime

Establishing children's wishes and feelings for family court reports: the significance attached to the age of the child