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- Publisher
- SAGE
- Copyright
- © The Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology and Authors, 1981
- ISSN
- 0004-8658
- eISSN
- 1837-9273
- DOI
- 10.1177/000486588101400114
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
A~ZJ Crim (1981) 14 B()()K REVIE\\,S dramatic and disturbing question, "How can reducing poverty reduce crime when the evidence is that (for adults at least) poor people are not more criminal?". The scant evidenfe available leads Braithwaite to conclude that a reduction of inequality will probably produce an overall reduction in crime of all types, but he lists the types of approaches that are needed to check the insidious effects of creating more opportunities for white collar crime. A brief review cannot possibly do justice to a scholarly and thought-provoking book such as this. Suffice to say that this is possibly the most important book of its type yet to appear in Australia. It certainly deserves a place on the reading lists of serious criminology courses and will also be read with profit by those who teach in this field. DAVID BILES Canberra While We Have Prisons. MacKenzie, Donald F, Methuen Publications, Auckland (1980) pp 101, $NZ6.95. This slim volume of less than 100 pages of text comprises a strange mixture of personal anecdote and penological theorising. Donald MacKenzie draws heavily on his experience gained as a psychologist in Mt Eden prison in New Zealand over a period of 10 years. He has some vivid tales to tell of pathetic individuals who suffered grievously at the hands of the prison system. He even recounts his personal reaction to witnessing a hanging in the 1950s. MacKenzie's graphic account is made even more macabre by his quotation of the detailed instructions given to prison officers in preparing a prisoner for execution. Interspersed with reminiscences MacKenzie expresses his philosophical views on the value, or worthlessness, of imprisonment, and backs these up with occasional quotations from criminologists and ofHcial governlnent reports. There is nothing objectionable about what he says in pleading for a reduced level of imprisonment and wider use of alternatives, but the result is a pot-pourri of evangelism, argument and reminiscence, For the uninitiated he even includes a 4V2-page glossary of prison terms, a lag's lexicon that would serve as well in Australia as in New Zealand. The ambiguous nature of this book makes it very doubtful if it would be considered suitable as set reading for criminology students. It certainly could not be described as a textbook, but it may well have SOBle impact on the general public and on politicians. If it gains a wide readership in that arena it will have truly served its purpose and Donald MacKenzie may in the future be able to claim some credit for steering New Zealand away from the traditional reliance on imprisonment as the cure for all evil. DAVID BILES Canberra
Journal
Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology – SAGE
Published: Mar 1, 1981