Book Reviews
This Month's Featured Selections
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.
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.
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.
I Love the Internet But I Want My
Privacy, Too: Simple Steps Anyone Can Take to Enjoy the Net Without
Worry
By Chris Peterson
(Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing, 1998).
226 pgs. Retail $13.56.
Reviewed by JoAnn M. Hornak
Seven months ago, I purchased my first computer and started regularly
surfing the net. As a prosecutor, I frequently see the hazards of
criminals obtaining personal and financial information about law-abiding
citizens and cases of identity theft. I was interested in learning how I
could protect myself on the Internet. I Love the Internet
provides an excellent overview of the potential dangers you and your
family face when visiting Web sites, sending email, and entering chat
rooms. Complex technology is explained with easy-to-understand analogies
to the physical world. The book also provides an extensive list of
groups and resources monitoring Internet privacy issues.
The special section on protecting children gives practical,
common-sense steps every parent should take to safeguard their children
not only from pornographers and pedophiles but from a much more
insidious and wide-spread danger - advertising. Companies take full
advantage of the unregulated Internet by using seemingly innocent
devices such as interactive games that are cleverly disguised to provide
a technique for marketing products and gathering information about your
children.
I Love the Internet makes it clear that you expose personal
information every time you log on to the Internet, at home and at work.
Fortunately, there are concrete steps we can take to protect our privacy
such as purchasing blocking software and using anonymizers and
encryption, but many risks still exist.
The claim made in the title that the Internet can be used "without
worry" is a bit of a misnomer. The government, direct marketers, and
private database services will continue to collect and sell personal
information about us and we will continue to be bombarded with
electronic junk mail despite taking precautions. The author correctly
points out that industry self-regulation and possibly federal regulation
is needed to truly safeguard our privacy on the Internet.
Third Party and Self-Created Trusts: Planning
for the Elderly and the Disabled Client (Second Edition)
By Clifton B. Kruse Jr.
(Chicago, IL: ABA Real Property,
Probate & Trust Law Section, 1998).
271 pgs. $89.95.
To order, call (800) 285-2221.
Reviewed by Thomas G. Reynolds
This book is an excellent resource for attorneys who serve disabled
and elderly people in their practices. While of obvious interest to
estate planners and elder law attorneys, it will prove equally
beneficial as an introduction to this area for general
practitioners.
The author begins with a discussion of self-settled trusts. These are
trusts in which the trust creator retains a beneficial interest. Kruse
reviews the limited circum-stances under which such trusts may be
created without disqualifying the creator from receiving Medicaid
assistance. In addition, he reviews the various self-settled trusts used
in the past that are no longer viable Medicaid planning techniques.
He then discusses trusts created by third parties. This section is of
particular interest to general practitioners who occasionally have
clients who would like to provide for an elderly or disabled friend or
relative without jeopardizing their access to Medicaid benefits. Kruse
includes sample trust illustrations for creating these supplemental
needs trusts. The forms alone make the book worth owning.
Third Party and Self-Created Trusts is very well documented
throughout. It provides ample illustrations, charts, sample language,
and voluminous notes. My sole improvement would have been to place the
sample trust language on disk for ease of use.
Of special interest to Wisconsin practitioners is Kruse's discussion
of Wisconsin Statutes section
701.06(5m). This section provides statutory support for creating
supplemental needs trusts for the disabled that do not disqualify them
from receiving public support.
I highly recommend Third Party and Self-Created Trusts to
any attorney who works in or anticipates working in this area. Given the
demographic information in the book's introduction, this material will
become even more important as the population of the United States
ages.
The Legal 100: A Ranking of the
Individuals Who Have Most Influenced the Law
By Darien A. McWhirter
(Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1998).
396 pgs. Retail $27.50.
Reviewed by Kim Fenske
Lawyers contribute to the development and protection of individual
freedom, safety, and opportunity in our society. The Legal 100
provides scholarly highlights of lawyers who deserve historical
recognition for sacrificing personal comfort to attack poverty,
prejudice, and injustice in modern Western democracies.
McWhirter provides brief legal biographies arising from ancient
times, beginning with Babylonian ruler Hammurabi and including
Aristotle, Cicero, and Justinian. The author summarizes the
contributions of England and France through the works of King Henry II,
Francis Bacon, and John Locke. From the American Revolution, McWhirter
discusses the ideas of lawyers Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and
Alexander Hamilton.
McWhirter touches contemporary protection of privacy rights by
considering the decision of Justice William O. Douglas in Griswold
v. Connecticut, concerning the distribution of birth control
information. He also addresses the contributions of Earl Warren,
promoting racial equality in Brown v. Board of Education,
applying the exclusionary rule to states in Mapp v. Ohio, and
preventing forced confessions in Miranda v. Arizona. Including
the Thurgood Marshall dissent in San Antonio School District v.
Rodriguez and the swing-vote of Sandra Day O'Connor in
Mississippi Women's University v. Hogan, McWhirter addresses
the subtlety and power of lawyers influencing social change.
In the vein of The Black 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential
African-Americans Past and Present, by Columbus Salley, the latest
Citadel roster earns its place on a scholarly library shelf. However,
McWhirter's work suffers the weakness of its companion book by providing
only a skeletal reconstruction of each reformer, three pages in length,
rather than a more intensive tool to understanding great social
movements.
Wisconsin
Lawyer
