Review by Choice Review
Flowers's study is a well-written contemporary treatment of juvenile delinquency in a multidimensional format. The author directs the reader first to the statistical dimensions of juvenile crime, with the opening chapter largely devoted to various statistical analyses of delinquency in all its manifestations. The remaining seven chapters in Part 1 also include a large number of tables illustrating current trends in the field. In the succeeding three parts of the book, Flowers examines adolescent criminality with a style and analytical completeness that should be at the fingertips of both student and teacher alike. This work is an up-to-date assessment of juvenile crime through the end of the 1980s. In the "dimensions" section, the author takes the reader through some of the more typical and current figures on youthful criminality, but he then also looks at such often neglected areas as child pornography and prostitution, drug use and abuse, and the abuse of alcohol. The two middle portions of the work deal with theoretical premises and the juvenile justice system. Part 4 addresses trends in delinquency prevention and comparative juvenile delinquency. Excellent chapter notes and an extensive bibliography complete a solid contribution to the always vexing field of juvenile crime. Upper-division undergraduates and above. -J. C. Watkins Jr., University of Alabama
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
