Book Review: The Dynamics of Political Crime

• Date: 01 June 2006
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016806291174
• Published date: 01 June 2006
• Author: Livy Visano
• Subject Matter: Articles

does not mean I withdraw my money and do not participate. The same cannot be said for

lack of confidence in the public markets. Perhaps this is one topic that could be explored in

the next edition.

Chapter 5 examines the causes of white-collar crime, including the contribution of per-

sonality and the culture of competition to formulating motivation. Techniques of neutral-

ization allow individuals to overcome their ethical or moral inhibitions. The third aspect of

the causal picture involves opportunity, and Coleman examines a number of factors that

correlate with white-collar crime.

Chapter 6 provides a summary of the white-collar crime problem and suggests a num-

ber of solutions to it, including a reward structure that publicizes good organizational

behavior, reducing criminogenic subculture through encouraging large number of resigna-

tions or dissolving units that are particularly bad so that incoming recruits stand a chance

to form a new less criminogenic culture, the temporary nationalization of criminal corpo-

rations, more self-funding of regulatory agencies to prevent political interference, the pros-

ecution and imprisonment of executives, corporate probation, government designated

auditors to uncover fraud, and so on.

This text contains questions at the end of each chapter and would be an excellent choice

for an introduction to white-collar crime in criminology, criminal justice, and sociology

courses. Law makers and enforcers and the public would also find it of interest.

Joan Brockman

Simon Fraser University

The Dynamics of Political Crime, by Jeffrey Ian Ross. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2003.

194 pp.

DOI: 10.1177/0734016806291174

Those familiar with Ross’s other books will not be surprised to find his treatment of

political crime provoking and insightful. Ross possesses excellent credentials to prepare

this text on political crime. He authored Making News of Police Violence: A Comparative

Study of Toronto and New York City (Praeger, 2000) and edited Controlling State Crime

(2nd ed., Transaction Publishers, 2000), Violence in Canada: Sociopolitical Perspectives

(Oxford University Press, 1995), Cutting the Edge: Current Perspectives in Radical/Critical

Criminology and Criminal Justice (Praeger, 1998), and Varieties of State Crime and Its

Control (Criminal Justice Press, 2000).

This book is not only an excellent and up-to-date review of the literature on political crime,

but it also builds on the strengths of previous research in developing an interdisciplinary

explanation that implicates individuals, situations, organizations, and resource adequacies.

This “dynamic” perspective highlights the fundamental interactions or intersections of struc-

tural and social psychological factors. As its title suggests, this book examines the dynamics

in dealing with the differential impact of state and cultural responses to political crime and the

consequences of various responses, all of which are grounded empirically. The book is a well-

informed, balanced, and compelling presentation of traditional and contemporary theoretical

Book Reviews 175