Crime and Justice: A Review of Research – Volume 25

Source: (1999) Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Restorative justice is discussed with respect to developments in North America, Australia and New Zealand, and Europe. Evaluations demonstrate that many restorative programs are more satisfying to victims and offenders than are the official processes they displace. However, it is not yet known whether future programs will extend to older offenders and more serious offenses and whether positive findings on satisfaction will be paralleled by positive findings on recidivism. The analysis of organized crime concludes that the experience of the United States with Cosa Nostra may offer clues to promising control techniques for dealing with other organized crime groups. The historical analysis of murder rates in the United States concludes that these high rates result partly from the gun culture but more from the violence rooted in the brutality of southern slavery and its culture of honor. The analysis of employment and crime emphasizes that crime and legal employment are not mutually exclusive choices; instead, they represent a continuum of legal and illegal income-generating activities. Therefore, research and theory on criminal decision-making should include analyses of the continuity of legal and illegal work. The discussion of self-report studies in criminological research focuses on issues ranging from sampling options to reliability, notes that the self-report method has improved greatly over the past 50 years, and concludes that the self-report is useful but does not replace other measures or methods.