Book Review: Global lynching and collective violence: Europe and the Americas

• Author: Viviana Andreescu
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567718770254
• Date: 01 March 2021
• Published date: 01 March 2021
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

Book Reviews
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intended by the European Union approach, a balanced exercise: An exercise that is not only made by
the justice system but especially by social services, public health institutions, and the general public.
Recent high-profile policy changes related to cannabis use, as well as for medical as recreational
purposes, have led some to announce the imminent end of the war on drugs. Although many good
practices have been identified and key discussions have been held globally . . . the war still continues.
While this book will not end it, it does make a sound and much needed contribution to the debate. It
provides persuasive and compelling arguments that fundamentally question the proposition that drug
users should be punished with imprisonment.
This book is of particular interest for academics, policy makers in the field of (criminal) justice,
practitioners in the field of drug policy, drug prevention, harm reduction services, and social services
in general. In addition, this book is written in a very clear manner, rendering it accessible to anyone
from the public at large that may have an interest in this topic.
ORCID iD
Tim Surmont
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5640-3963
Pfeifer, M. J. (2017).
Global lynching and collective violence: Europe and the Americas (Vol. 2). Champaign: University of Illinois Press. 232
pp. $28.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-252-08290-0; $95.00 (hardcover), ISBN 978-0-252-04138-9.
Reviewed by: Viviana Andreescu
, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA
DOI: 10.1177/1057567718770254
The second volume of Global Lynching and Collective Violence focuses on extralegal collective
violence and acts of vigilante justice, which occurred in Europe and countries in North, Central, and
South America. As the first volume in the series, the book is edited by Michael Pfeifer, a reputable
professor of history at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the City University of New York
(CUNY) Graduate Center, and includes seven essays written by academic historians. The book is
informative, interesting, and thought provoking. The volume adopts a diachronic perspective and
although the structure of each essay is different, most authors identify contextual factors that
contributed to the escalation, demise, and/or persistence of various forms of extrajudicial...