Book Review: Offender Drug Abuse and Recidivism: An Access to Recovery Program

• Author: Mine Ozascilar
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016811416645
• Published date: 01 June 2012
• Date: 01 June 2012
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

for sports such as men’s basketball and football. In some instances, this can result in special treat-

ment for the athletes. Kudlac points out several instances of organized academic dishonesty and ath-

letes being given special treatment and perks. Most interesting is his examination of setting and a

lack of assimilation. He illustrates several instances where inner-city athletes came to a college cam-

pus not just underprepared academically but also socially. This results in a feeling of estrangement

when not with the team and can lead to an individual acting in a socially unacceptable manner. He

suggests that the heightened levels of social support athletic departments are now providing will

hopefully help assimilation in the future. In the third chapter, Kudlac brings out the types of crime

committed by professional athletes. Most crimes committed by people in a professional athlete’s

income bracket are white-collar crimes. However, athletes generally commit violent or street crimes.

Kudlac examines this conundrum and provides suggestions for future work in the area. This chapter

also discusses what Kudlac refers to as ghetto loyalty. When someone from a dangerous or impo-

verished background becomes successful, the likelihood of giving back to the neighborhood as a

measure of loyalty or as payback for prior protection can lead the professional athlete into actions

that can lead to criminal behavior.

The fourth chapter transitions away from looking at the athletes to looking at criminal behavior on

the part of the spectators. Kudlac points out that when you mixalcohol and aggression, criminalbeha-

vior is likely to ensue. Especially interesting is his examination of spectator violence in the United

States as compared to Europe. His stadium design, depth,and history of the rivalry, and proximity dis-

cussion should be read by every sports facility manager. The fifth chapter moves to a discussion of

gambling andathletics. Kudlac differentiates between the various types of gamblingand then provides

an interesting examination of the relationship between gambling and organized crime. Chapter 6

brings together many of the themes from Chapters 1 to 3 and looks at the positive side of athletics

in relationship to athletics as an alternative to violent behavior and the role athletics plays in prison.

This chapter serves as a nice compliment to the picture painted in the first five chapters.

In general, this is a readable work that could serve as a key asset or reference for academics,

sports management, and athletes. Being most individuals that serve in these capacities do not have

detailed knowledge or firsthand experience with each of these issues having a source such as this

could prove to be invaluable.

For the casual reader, the book serves as an interesting work on a subject that most people are

aware of in the abstract but have very shallow knowledge of the specifics. The key for these readers

is the combination of the history and high-profile examples. The author provides a detailed history

and examples of a wide variety of prior criminal acts that takes the specific occurrence from a term

or person they may have heard of recently (such as Michael Vick) and incorporates events or people

from the past (such as the 1919 World Series) enabling the reader to build a deep understanding of

sports and criminal behavior.

M. A. Seredycz

Offender Drug Abuse and Recidivism: An Access to Recovery Program El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing, 2010. ix,

170 pp. $65.00. ISBN 978-1593324025

Reviewed by: Mine Ozascilar, Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey

DOI: 10.1177/0734016811416645

‘‘Offender Drug Abuse and Recidivism’’ concentrates on a very current issue of criminal justice

system in the United States, which is incarceration explosion of nonviolent drug using criminals,

resulting from moral panic to toughen legislation. Seredycz focuses on the offenders who participated

Book Reviews 271