Book Review: Federal intervention in American police departments

• Author: John Jay Hall
• Published date: 01 September 2021
• Date: 01 September 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734016817733781
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

challenges of sentencing reforms poses a myriad of questions to stimulate discussion in any criminal

justice course. For example, in this chapter, she brings the discussion back to the goals of sentencing

and asks how or whether each of the sentencing strategies can be used to accomplish them, thus

providing the reader with not only a description of the goals themselves but a useful application.

In several places throughout the book, Marciniak provides state-by-state details on sentencing

strategies. For example, she provides a detailed table documenting the current status of mandatory

sentencing in each of the states that is useful for students and practitioners in the criminal justice

system. The final chapter provides information on current legislative initiatives that would be of

interest to the general public. A particularly comprehensive table of contents allows readers to select

the chapter(s) and section(s) most useful to them.

While the comprehensiveness of the book is its strength, its main weakness is its attempt to cover

perhaps too much ground and appeal to multiple audiences. Given the focus on state differences, the

chapter on federalsentencing could be expanded and relegatedto a separate book itself. As mentioned

above, several of the chapters seem to be particularly suited to a specific audience. For example, the

issues andchallenges of sentencing reformseem to be geared more toward undergraduates, as seasoned

criminologists are likely already familiar with the goals of sentencing. The chapter on commission-

basedsentencing, on the otherhand, is geared more towardresearchers studyingsentencing and mightbe

tough for an undergrad reader to digest. Regardless, thisbook has something for everyone.

A second weakness is that the book does not tie political motives into the sentencing process.

While Marciniak acknowledges that legislatures have an important role as representatives of the

public’s opinion, and there is some mention of the president’s role in the chapter on federal

sentencing, I would have liked to have seen more discussion of exactly how politicians use law

and order to gain favor with the public. The book focuses on state differences in sentencing, but there

is no discussion of how politics shap es these differences. A more nuanced r ed state/blue state

discussion could be included.

As mentioned above, one of the main goals of the book is to illustrate in detail the differences in

sentencing across states. Even seasoned criminologists will be surprised to learn the vast array of

sentences an offender can receive from state to state. Case studies on particular states show how

offenders could receive vastly different sentences for the same crime. For example, an offender

convicted of forcible rape with certain specifications/priors can receive a sentence of 15–99 years in

Texas, 5–11 years in Ohio, and about 26 years in North Carolina. These case studies and “spotlights”

on laws from particular states undoubtedly make this an engaging read. Marciniak is clearly an

expert on sentencing variations and has provided the criminal justice community with a wonderful

reference that should be on every criminologist’s bookshelf.

Rushin, S. (2017).

Federal intervention in American police departments. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, University

Printing House. 298 pp. $82.39, ISBN 978-1-107-51356-3.

Reviewed by: John Jay Hall, Capella University, Houston, TX, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0734016817733781

The book is entitled, Federal Intervention in American Police Departments, and was written by

Stephen Rushin (2017). Mr. Rushin is an academian and attorney specializing in criminal law, police

accountability, and empirical legal studies.

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