Book Review: Crime, Punishment, and Restorative Justice: From the Margins to the Mainstream

• Author: Jennifer Renee Trombley
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016811418821
• Published date: 01 June 2012
• Date: 01 June 2012
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

Collectively Ranking Correctional Punishments provides a great insight into perceptions of

sanction severity among a group that may matter most—offenders themselves. While May and

Wood may not have developed a complete continuum of sanction severity of their own, their

findings challenge what is assumed by many policy makers and correctional officials—that prison

is viewed as the most punitive of sanctions. This is of stark importance because it calls into question

the overuse of imprisonment in many states, after all, if inmates view less-expensive alternative

sanctions as more punitive, why don’t criminal justice policy makers? The authors’ findings in

regard to race calls into question the way that some alternative sanctions are run, and their findings

regarding gender provide insight into the rational choice calculations women make in regard to

crime, as well as the deterrent effect of punishment among women. Because data are mostly gath-

ered from Midwest and Southern regions of the country, the generalizability of its results can be

questioned. Further, while the methodology used serves its purpose when examining the importance

of offender-generated exchange rates and perceptions, qualitative methods seem necessary to better

understand differences among groups, and possibly introduce other themes. Overall, the text

provides a great direction for future research and may be of interest to those studying penology,

criminology, and policy makers that are interested in the realities of how particular groups within

criminal justice view the severity of sanctions.

Reference

Morris, N., & Tonry, M. (1990). Between prison and probation: intermediate punishments in a rational senten-

cing system. New York: Oxford University Press.

R. London

Crime, Punishment, and Restorative Justice: From the Margins to the Mainstream

London, UK: First Forum Press, 2011. xiv, 378 pp. $75.00. ISBN 978-1935049333

Reviewed by: Jennifer Renee Trombley, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0734016811418821

Ross London provides this text via an impressive accumulation of experience both in the field and in

the academia. His resume boasts a wealth of experience as an attorney, both in defense and in pro-

secutorial roles, and the many years where he worked as a municipal court judge. After 25 years of

practicing law, he began his graduate education in criminology searching for answers to the ques-

tions that he had developed during his work. In Chapter 1, he points out the most obvious question

he had developed ‘‘Is this really the best we can do?’’ (p. 1). The basis of this text is his response to

this question, arguing that with an introduction of restorative justice into mainstream criminology it

is not only possible to do better but practical as well.

The theme of the first chapter is the restoration of trust and this concept emerges as the hallmark

of London’s argument. Crime is a breach of personal trust and in Chapter 2, restorative practices are

discussed and London suggests that they offer a more beneficial method for dealing with the harm

that has been created by a criminal offense. In fact, London notes that this is possible even with

issues of serious and violent crime and provides practical examples on how this may be accom-

plished in Chapter 3.

In Chapters 4 and 5, London provides a very effective synopsis on the philosophical issues of trust

while engaging the reader into envisioning how social trust may be restored. Another emerging

theme is that the text seems to offer a victim-centered approach to restorative justice that may be

less holistic than that envisioned by many restorative justice advocates.

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