Book Review: Criminologists on Terrorism and Homeland Security

• Published date: 01 June 2012
• Date: 01 June 2012
• Author: Barry D. Denton
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016811420708
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

On the other hand, Lake City ATR program has similar recidivism rates as the national recidivism.

Seredycz states with certainty that ‘‘recidivism rates are occurring within the first five to six months

after being released’’ (p. 142).

An important point to mention is that the book is a dissertation that is submitted to University of

Nebraska, Omaha. Due to this fact, the book chapters do not maintain features that make it eligible

for general readership. Seredycz offers an empirical base supporting that the need of renewed and

effective programming which assists reintegration of offenders into their communities. In contrast,

Seredycz does not really provide a discussion of how to reduce recidivism among offenders in ATR

program; however, he points out the significant factors in reducing an offender’s likelihood of

recidivism.

Finally, two basic limitations of the book should be spelled out. First, the scope of the study is not

international; the scope is completely restricted to Lake City participants. Second, the study cannot

provide a review of theoretical framework on offender reintegration into the community. Nonetheless,

this book offers a broad review of the literature on the incarceration binge in the United States with

particular focus on recidivism and drug-crime nexus. Thus, the book should be required reading

for anyone who works on recidivism and criminal justice system in the United States.

B. Forst, J. R. Greene and J. P. Lynch

Criminologists on Terrorism and Homeland Security New York, NY:

Cambridge University Press, 2011. xxi, 472 pp. $120.00. ISBN 978-052189945

Reviewed by: Barry D. Denton, Strayer University, Louisville, KY, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0734016811420708

The book Criminologist on Terrorism and Homeland Security was written by Brian Forst, Jack

Greene, and James Lynch. The book includes original essays that address the issues related to

terrorism but from the viewpoints of criminology. The literature is based on case studies that include

information about specific terrorist groups and their agendas, how the groups operate, and how they

influence external political forces. The overall basic premise of the book is to explore the alternative

approaches of terrorism and to develop policies to prevent and mitigate the effects of terrorism.

The book is divided into 18 chapters that are subdivided into 3 parts. Part 1 (Chapters 2–6)

focuses on the problems associated with terrorism. Part 2 (Chapters 7–16) involves strategies for the

intervention of terrorism, while Part 3 (Chapters 17 and 18) involves the solutions for terrorism. In

total, the book comprises 472 pages.

In Part 1, the authorsbegin by evaluating the variouschallenges dealing with thethreat that terrorism

poses on the free world. The largest issue involves the controversy of the definition of terrorism. Spe-

cifically, there is a struggle to define a widely and worldly agreed-upon definition of the term‘‘terror-

ism.’’ The authors state that the definition of terrorism is based truly on the eyes of the beholder, but

unfortunately due to a lack of specificity in the definition, this limits the scope of the criminological

inquiry into terrorism. Due to a lack of one overall international definition of the term, there are also

substantialimplications in regardto public policy, thus causing conflictsin federal, state, andlocal gov-

ernments as to who is responsible for theprevention or response of terroristattacks.

Also within Part 1, the motivation of terrorists is examined and the various ways in which coun-

terterrorist strategies are implemented to mitigate terrorism. Finally, the criminal justice system’s

response to terrorism is addressed.

In Part 2, the main premise is the prevention of terrorism and how it relates to counterterrorism

actions. Three guiding principles are addressed in relation to a crime prevention matrix and how

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