Book Review: To protect and serve: How to fix America’s police

• Author: John D. Crum
• Published date: 01 March 2017
• Date: 01 March 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734016816669980
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

96
Criminal Justice Review 42(1)
easier detection, this all unfolds amid the backdrop of a rural and thus more private environmental
context. Shukla describes how this combination of social and environmental factors led 23 partici-
pants to begin to manufacture. She asserts that understanding the motivations and variations of
manufacturing is necessary to combatting the problem. Her participants paint a picture of an
exhilarating and intoxicating illusion of power that initially characterized their manufacturing
experiences. Despite these perceptions, the realities of the risks users take to maintain their lifestyle
were highlighted and brought to life with chilling tales. Not only were participants directly affected,
but their loved ones and the general public became vulnerable as well. While meth use might be
confined to only a subset of the population, the blistering truths revealed by participants indicate the
numerous public health issues that result including child endangerment, abuse, and neglect; toxic
places; intravenous drug use; risky behaviors; and violence.
Ultimately, all of the participants in this study were able to do what many drug users are never
able to accomplish, wade out of darkness and into a life of recovery. As Shukla notes, overcoming
addiction is not possible without reestablishing social ties as a means of support and individually
taking steps to rebuild a conventional, law abiding life. Ineffective drug policy must also give way to
a more clinically informed approach to the problem. Shukla proposes we lead this charge by
increasing public awareness, increasing fact-based drug prevention and education programs, and
opening safe havens for open dialogue about risky behaviors. Life after meth will not be easy, but the
researcher and her subjects have hope that an individual’s love affair with meth can come to an end.
Shukla’s work demonstrates the importance of the qualitative research process in understanding the
lives of people who abuse drugs. Her work prioritizes quotes from her participants, rather than deep
theoretical analysis, to accomplish the goal of understanding the lived experiences of meth users. The
rich insights allowed the participants’ stories to leap off the pages, offering an honest portrayal of the
reasons for initiation, persistence, and eventual desistence from the meth world. As the numerous
...