Review by Choice Review
The 44 academicians and practitioners who contributed to this timely work have broadly defined their coverage of crime, the courts, and corrections. Its 369 entries treat historical and contemporary personages from Wyatt Earp to O.J. Simpson; legal, police, and judicial terminology; key Supreme Court decisions; significant federal legislation; and historical topics ranging from the Code of Hammurabi to posse comitatus. Arrangement is alphabetical with sparing use of cross-references. Entries vary in length from a single sentence to several pages. Most entries include references for additional reading, and there is an excellent subject index. The melange of diverse topics is simultaneously frustrating and stimulating. One reasonably expects a work that discusses the M'Naghten rule to include the "fruit of the poison tree" doctrine, but it does not. On the other hand, serendipitous discoveries yield unexpected coverage of drug courts and status offenses, topics that are unlikely to be found in most criminal justice reference books. Although a single-volume work does not allow for direct comparison to the four-volume Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice, ed. by Sanford H. Kadish (CH, Mar'84), this crisply written and concisely edited work makes a worthwhile addition to legal and criminal justice reference collections. C. B. Thurston University of Texas at San Antonio
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
