Book Review: Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis

• Published date: 01 December 2013
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567713501516
• Date: 01 December 2013
• Author: James F. Albrecht
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

officers writea presentence report, a vitalassistance to their decision-making process.The presentence

report is one of the most important documents in the criminal justice process as it provides the court

with a comprehensive portrait of the defendant. This writer was highly impressed to read that in ‘‘all

three sites,it appeared that probation recommendations aboutthe suitability of an offendersfor a ‘Drug

Rehabilitatio n Requirement’ te nded to be follow ed by magistra tes’’ (p. 101). Judicial arr ogance and

pomposity are common in many jurisdictions in Texas where judges refuse to request a presentence

report in any case and make their contribution to the American tragedy of mass incarceration.

Most of the remainder of Chapter 5 is an informative explanation of the reporting requirements

imposed on the drug offenders, the regular court reviews in which judges are given progress reports

on the defendants and the initiation of the breaching or revocation process for those who have failed

to comply with the conditions of the drug rehabilitation program. The authors decided that the ethics

of coerced drug treatment was not germane to their limited objective, but they cite research evidence

from the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States that coerced defendants are no less suc-

cessful than those who voluntarily enter treatment programs. This is consistent with this writer’s

25 years of experience with multitudes of probationers. I have no ethical qualms about coercing into

treatment/counseling drug users who steal to purchase drugs, repeat drunken drivers, sex offenders,

and perpetrators of domestic violence who have been convicted and granted a community sentence

of probation.

Tough Choices is a work of first-class scholarship and anyone with a desire to understand the

complexities of finding a solution to the problem of drugs and crime can profit from reading it.

My only criticism is that the massive amount of documentation on many pages of the text impede

a smooth following of the discussion and make it a ‘‘tough’’ read. I would have preferred to read the

citations in endnotes or footnotes.

Webster, D. W., & Vernick, J. S. (Eds.). (2013).

Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins

University Press. xxviii, 282 pp. $9.95, ISBN 978-1-421-41110-1.

Reviewed by: James F. Albrecht, University of New Haven, CT, USA

DOI: 10.1177/1057567713501516

Given the considerable attention being paid to gun control policy and legislation, this paperback

edited by Webster and Vernick provides a timely and comprehensive outline of pertinent issues,

research, and legal analyses related to gun violence and the historical impact of gun control policy

measures. This bookhas been designed to present an objective overview of relevant issuesthat would

be of interest to policy makers, researchers, academics, government officials, and the public at large.

The recent massacres in Aurora, Colorado and Newtown, Connecticut and the mass shooting

involving Congresswoman Giffords in Arizona have resulted in considerable attention targeting gun

control legislation and policy. In addition, the daily media reports of teen deaths resulting from gun

violence continue to raise the concerns of politicians, criminal justice administrators, and commu-

nity residents across the United States. As the political and public debate about effective gun control

continues, the editors have taken the initiative to present a thorough compilation of articles that have

examined the most critical issues that one should evaluate when contemplating revisions to related

legislation and agency policy and protocols.

The book’s foreword has been prepared by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a

renowned advocate for enhanced gun control. Gun violence plagues many large American

Book Reviews 409