Book Review: Barak, G., Leighton, P., & Flavin, J. (2007). Class, Race, Gender, Crime: The Social Realities of Justice in America (2nd ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 327

• Author: Ellen C. Lemley
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016807310665
• Published date: 01 December 2007
• Date: 01 December 2007
• Subject Matter: Articles

an ethnographic case study is presented of a middle-class, minority female crack dealer

named Rachel. The eighth and final section of the volume properly takes up the issue of

desistance from crime. Patricia Adler begins by presenting a follow-up study into the everyday

lives of 10 former upper level drug dealers she studied in the 1970s and highlights how

careers in crime and deviance oscillate over time. The next article examines how formerly

active female criminals attempted to desist and their transition out of the criminal lifestyle.

Finally, the last reading in this book presents the concept of certification, what the author

refers to as the final process of exiting from crime and deviance. Here, the ex-offender

attempts to attain a new social identity—that of the “conventional person.”

Although implicitly geared toward an American audience (i.e., there were uses of exclusion-

ary terms, such as “in this country” in the introductory sections), this reviewer nevertheless

believes that this edited volume would provide criminology students in many different

countries with a unique perspective on deviance—the offender’s world view. Indeed, the

editor and contributing authors all demonstrated, in a host of different ways, the important

contribution of qualitative methodology in understanding decisions to engage in criminal

and deviant activities.

Garry C. Gray

University of Toronto

Barak, G., Leighton, P., & Flavin, J. (2007). Class, Race, Gender,

Crime: The Social Realities of Justice in America (2nd ed.). Lanham,

MD: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 327

DOI: 10.1177/0734016807310665

The work begins with a preface by the authors regarding their perspective of race, class,

gender, and crime, and how each interacts within the criminal justice system and society as

a whole. This is followed by an introduction in which the authors discuss the foundation

for the balance of the book by giving a historical overview of class, race, gender, and justice,

the core theoretical concepts for their analysis. This is followed by a discussion of social

construction and social production that are tied to inequality. Finally, they discuss some of

the meanings and frames of reference for understanding the criminal justice system.

The book is then divided into two parts. Part one (chaps. 1–5) covers class, race, gender,

the intersections of all three, and finally criminology and criminal justice. Each chapter begins

with a vignette that is relevant to the chapter discussions. For example, chapter 2 discusses

Plessy v. Ferguson (163 U.S. 537, 1896) and the precedent “separate but equal.” The case

positions their discussion of understanding race and White privilege. Throughout each

chapter, there are tables and story boxes to further illuminate points in the chapters. Each

chapter ends with a discussion of the implications of their observations and provides review

and discussion questions. Chapters 1 through 3 cover each of the concepts of class, race,

and gender. For those who are familiar with the history of the system and how it currently

operates, they will not find anything new in the chapters. Scholars of the criminal justice

system are very much aware of the disadvantages the poor and minorities face in the system.

448 Criminal Justice Review