Sign In
    Wisconsin Lawyer
    August 01, 1999

    Wisconsin Lawyer August 1999: Book Reviews

     

    Wisconsin Lawyer August 1999

    Navigation

    Vol. 72, No. 8, August 1999

    Book Reviews


    This Month's Featured Selections


    Essential Criminology Essential Criminology

    By Mark M. Lanier and Stuart Henry
    (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998).
    Paper. 250 pgs. Retail $25.

    Reviewed by Michael L. Ernest

    This book presents an overview of the study of crime. It is not intended solely for lawyers; in fact, it is geared towards professors and undergraduate students of crime. Legal practitioners still will find it interesting and informational. Its interest lies in the many diverse theories it presents regarding the causation of crime.

    Authors Lanier and Henry begin with a definition of crime, taking care not to forget crimes of the white-collar variety. They then describe crime as a continuum, ranging in severity from terrorism to truancy. The authors present an original prismatic concept of crime that incorporates white collar and street crimes. They then delineate the various official and unofficial ways of gathering crime statistics, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each.

    The remainder of Essential Criminology discusses the many physiological, sociological, and economic theories regarding why people commit crimes. It often is difficult to keep the various theories from blending together. The authors solve this problem by providing many charts throughout the text and summaries at the end of each chapter. They also use flowcharts and graphs when necessary.

    The theories vary so greatly that it is impossible to reconcile them all. Thus, the reader must read critically. The theories range from insightful to barely plausible; from sound policy to naive; from credible to the downright laughable. Of particular interest are the theories on crime from the Marxist, feminist, radical feminist, Marxist feminist, abolitionist, and anarchist points of view. For example, the abolitionist theory calls for the abolition of the practice of incarceration and calls for the closing of all prisons. It does not, however, offer any realistic ways to deal with violent criminals.

    Essential Criminology is a wonderful introductory textbook, and should one desire a more in-depth study of criminology, it offers 43 pages of reference materials.

    Michael L. Ernest is a Marquette University Law School student with a projected graduation of May 2001.

    Countdown Y2K Countdown Y2K: Business Survival
    Planning for the Year 2000

    By Peter de Jager and Richard Bergeon
    (New York, NY: Wiley Computer Publishing, 1999).
    330 pgs. Retail $23.99.

    Reviewed by Terry F. Peppard

    The "Year 2000 Problem," also styled "the Millennium Bug," is so much in the news today that even those who might wish desperately to avoid the subject can't. Because of the media attention, a discussion of a Y2K-related technology meltdown can be about as inviting as another talking heads debate over a certain White House intern's impact on the fate of the nation. The difference is that Y2K genuinely has the potential to bring the country, indeed the world, to the point of crisis. Hence this book.

    The authors of Countdown Y2K are technology wonks who currently spend a good deal of their time filling the airwaves, and the Internet, with advice aimed at preparing businesses for the coming crunch. Their book, one among scores on the subject (an appendix to this one lists 29 others) was plainly written by nonlawyers for nonlawyers.

    The target audience is the community of business owners and managers, not themselves technologically initiated, who need to know enough about the topic both to ask the right questions of their technical staff and vendors and to understand the answers. The book succeeds in this objective in part because it's written in a pleasingly nontechnical style. It also indulges in just enough repetition and recasting of the authors' essential theses so that a newcomer to the field can find useful information in any of several chapters without much difficulty.

    The lawyer reader of Countdown Y2K will find it thin in its examination of the legal issues that will attend the arrival of the Y2K "event horizon," Jan. 1, 2000. In fact, only one of the book's 13 chapters is devoted to the legal implications of the problem. Still, this volume has value for lawyers who want to understand what their clients are, or should be, going through to exterminate the Millennium Bug.
    If there's a conspicuous omission in this work, it's the absence of even the most cursory mention of how business people and their lawyers might deal with the legal disputes that will inevitably arrive with Y2K. The authors fail to note, for example, that the very nature of the problem will likely make court-based legal solutions useless because they're simply too time-consuming.

    The book would have benefited from an explanation by the authors that, as business people and attorneys realize that Y2K legal remedies must be found within weeks, or even days, the solution may lie in fast-track mediation, supplemented as necessary by expedited arbitration.

    Terry Peppard, U.W. 1973, a former member of the State Bar's Technology Resource Committee, practices in Madison and serves on the American Arbitration Association's national panel of mediators and arbitrators for technology and Y2K-related legal disputes.

    Managing Notorious Trials

    By Timothy R. Murphy, Paula L. Hannaford,
    Genevra Kay Loveland, and G. Thomas Munsterman
    (Williamsburg, VA: National Center for State Courts, 1998).
    225 pgs. Retail $30.
    To order, call (888) 228-6272.

    Reviewed by Jason T. Studinski

    Despite innovative thinking coupled with the emergence of new techniques and technologies, the rules of trial law remain governed by established precedent. However, that precedent often is ill equipped to deal with the varied and considerable challenges of a notorious trial.

    Managing Notorious Trials provides a detailed examination of the special issues judges, court personnel, lawyers, parties, and the media face in high profile trials. In this text you will not find a philosophical debate about issues like the efficacy of cameras in the courtroom. Instead, Notorious Trials offers an easy-to-follow practical guide to dealing with pretrial matters, media coverage, jury considerations, and security.

    The authors present these substantive areas in a user friendly format. Each chapter begins with a listing of "Lessons Learned" that also serves as an outline of the chapter, thus allowing readers quick reference to topics of interest. The book concludes with multiple appendices, including sample forms that address topics including rules concerning media coverage, special juror questionnaires, and judge's instructions.

    The reader cannot help but conclude that taking part in highly publicized trials is the province of a select few, most of whom have only done so a few times. Given the high stakes, drama, and lack of experience in this setting, participants need to identify all the issues in advance and deal with them most advantageously. Managing Notorious Trials provides an excellent starting point for would-be actors in such a drama.

    Jason T. Studinski, U.W. 1998, is the founding member of Studinski Legal Group LLC, Madison, and practices plaintiff's employment, civil rights, and personal injury law.

    Next Page--->


Join the conversation! Log in to comment.

News & Pubs Search

-
Format: MM/DD/YYYY