Book Review: Crime Justice History

• Author: William P. McCarty
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016806292920
• Published date: 01 September 2006
• Date: 01 September 2006
• Subject Matter: Articles

Book Reviews
Criminal Justice Review
Volume 31 Number 3
September 2006 251-280
© 2006 Georgia State University
Monkkonen, E. H. (2002). Crime Justice History.
Research Foundation, Inc.
Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University Press.
http://cjr.sagepub.com
hosted at
DOI: 10.1177/0734016806292920
http://online.sagepub.com
During his distinguished career, social historian Eric Monkkonen has written about the
police, crime, and local government, among other subjects. This particular book provides a
collection of Monkkonen’s prior published works in addition to including new articles that
deal with topics such as disorder, crime as entertainment, and cross-cultural comparisons
between Europe and the United States. The book works well at two distinct levels: first, as
a collection of diverse works that range from technical journal articles to op-ed pieces that
have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, and second, as a text that imparts to the reader the
fact that a thorough understanding of crime and justice in the status quo is incomplete with-
out a thorough understanding of the past.
The book is divided into four parts: big issues, violence, the police, and cities and crime.
The first...