Review by Choice Review
Finley (Florida Atlantic Univ.) has compiled a one-volume encyclopedia of essays related to juvenile violence. The signed articles are written by a wide range of academics, practitioners, and students on topics such as drugs, gangs, the justice system, measurement of juvenile violence, school violence, and theories about the reasons for juvenile violence. One notable section presents a series of articles, focused on historical time periods, which show how approaches to juvenile violence have changed dramatically over the years. For example, the essay on the period 1600-1800 notes that children were expected to assume adult culpability for crimes they committed. In contrast, the years 1990-99 showed an all-time high for juvenile violence, followed by a rapid decline at the end of the decade (for various reasons). A list of pertinent Web sites and readings is included. No exactly comparable reference works are available, but M. D. McShane and F. P. Williams III's Encyclopedia of Juvenile Justice (CH, Jun'03, 40-5562) covers a number of the same topics from a broader perspective. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through graduate students; general readers. E. B. Ryner FBI Library
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
