Vol. 8 No. 4 (April 1998) pp. 186-188.

SOCIAL CONTROL & JUSTICE: INSIDE OR OUTSIDE THE LAW? by Leslie Sebba (Editor). Jerusalem, Israel: The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University Press, 1996. 357 pp. Cloth $30.00. ISBN 965-223-948-8.

Reviewed by Kenneth L. Grambihler, Department of Public Management, Austin Peay State University.

This volume is a collection of articles by experts in the field of deviance and social control. The articles are the result of papers submitted under the auspices of the International Sociological Association, in particular, its Research Committee on the Study of Deviance and Social Control and Research Committee on the Sociology of Law. The articles are arranged in sections devoted to historical and theoretical studies; post-socialist societies; penal, welfare and psychiatric control; and community control. In addition, an overview, which examines competing views regarding social control and justice, uses labor law to illustrate private justice and the development of state law. The article on labor law by Stuart Henry contains a concise review of prevailing theories regarding law creation and a more detailed discussion of the theory of constructive legal pluralism. It also discusses current research in constructive legal theory and the state of the application of this theory in maintaining constructive normative order with regard to labor-management relations. This article is a wise selection as an introductory article. It is a good theoretical review and sets the tone for the remaining articles.

The introduction notes that the papers in this volume have been selected to reflect the varied views of the concept of social control. They are a nice mix of normative and empirical approaches to the subject and, from a comparative basis, reflect views from varied societies that give the volume an international perspective.

The section on historical and theoretical studies contains four articles. The first, by Ellen Dunbar, examines the development of social control and welfare policy using coercive, bureaucratic and economic strategies of 16th century Spain as a model. This is a very interesting historical analysis of an issue that is as much of a problem today as it was 500 years ago. What is remarkable is that the problems associated with defining and determining the causes of poverty and formulating solutions to control the problem have not really changed during this period of time.

The next article, by Herman Diederiks, is another historical analysis of social control in a segmented society that uses the Netherlands during the 19th and first half of the 20th century as a model. The Dutch population is segmented among Roman Catholic, Protestant, socialist, and liberal-bourgeois ideology. Diederiks conducts an analysis of the mechanisms of social control to demonstrate how the processes gave shape to modern Dutch society. In contrast to Spain, which used coercive, bureaucratic and economic strategies to separate the poor from the vagabond; the Netherlands used the power of the state to create a climate in which private associations could flourish and ameliorate the conflicts inherent in a segmented society.

The third article, by Nanette Davis, examines the issue of women and crime, the role of the state in defining criminal behavior by women, and the state's efforts at social control. Davis presents a very good review of the history of social control during the preindustrial period, industrial period, and the 20th century. She discusses the feminization of poverty, the sexualization of female crime, the law and family policy, and symbolic offenses. Davis does a good job of demonstrating how the power of the state has been used to coerce women into a preconceived role.

The last article of this section, by Richard Henshel, discusses the issue of police crime. Henshel presents a good discussion of police crime in the United States and several foreign counties. He makes a compelling case as to why police crime is ignored and why it is one of the most repressive forms of crime. Police crime is a long-term threat to democratic institutions and is the basis of terror in Latin America. It is a most coercive form of social control because the victims often have no recourse.

The next section dealing with post-socialist societies consists of four articles. The first article is this section, by David Shichor and John Heeren, examines the efforts by the state to exert social control in socialist and post-socialist societies. Shichor and Heeren discuss the theory of the state and the Marxist-Lenin doctrine of the development of the state. They also discuss the major themes of socialist social control and its recent changes in Eastern Europe. They conclude that socialist social control efforts have distinct characteristics. These countries use the crime control model as a defense against counter-revolutionaries and emphasize rehabilitation or reeducation and persuasiveness and mass participation as forms of social control.

The second article, by Louise Shelly, deals with formal and informal justice in the former Soviet state. Shelly finds that while the state monopoly on central social control has broken down with the demise of the Soviet Union, the formal mechanisms of control are still in place. Informal mechanisms have not yet been developed. The next article, by Maria Los, looks at the transition of law in Poland between communism and democracy. Los examines the role of legislators is formulating law enabling this transition to occur and concludes that many factors conspired to prevent the democratically elected senators form doing what they wanted to do.

The section on penal, welfare and psychiatric control also consists of four articles. The first article in this section, by Manfred Brusten, examines the expansion of "soft control" in the form of "mandatory supervision" in criminal justice policy in the Federal Republic of Germany. Brusten finds that new forms of "soft control" have resulted in widening the net of formal social control within the criminal justice system. The next article, by Minoru Yokoyama, examines the relationship between criminal and social welfare policies in Japan. Yokoyama concludes that Japan has developed many services within the criminal justice system based upon a rehabilitation model that provides services similar to social welfare laws. Social welfare policies in Japan are coercive in that they are based on the state's power to enforce these policies through the use of criminal punishment.

The third article in this section, by Dinesh Khosla and Gary Feinberg, is an empirical examination of judicial responses to minor crimes committed by senior citizens in the United States. They find a lack of any single response on the part of the judiciary toward elderly misdemeanants. Their study suggests the need for further study and reflection among legal scholars regarding sanctions against elderly delinquents. The fourth article in this section, by Jun Ayukawa, examines social control policies toward the mentally ill in Japan. Ayukawa finds that Japan has a policy of hospitalization, exclusion from society, and a lack of community care.

The last section of this volume consists of five articles dealing with community control. The first article, by David Nelken, examines community involvement in crime control. He finds mixed results regarding efforts at community involvement and suggests a need to clarify the diverse goals, which lie behind these efforts. The next article, by Leslie Sebba, examines informal modes of dispute resolution. Sebba concludes that informal dispute resolution must remain on the academic agenda for further consideration. The third article in this section, by Per Stangeland, examines informal modes of conflict resolution in Norway. Stangeland finds the Norwegian
model more developed than most informal modes outside the Scandinavian variety.

The fourth article, by Olufunmilayo Oloruntimehin, is an analysis of the status of informal social control and dispute resolution in African societies. The author concludes that it is necessary in contemporary African society to institutionalize informal social control policies. The fifth article, by Allan Shapiro, is an examination of law in the kibbutz found in Israel. Shapiro finds the control system of the kibbutz to be in transition. There is a tendency to circumvent adjudication by the adoption of rules that minimize the role of discretion. There is also an increase in the resort to external sanctions.

The articles in this volume present a wide range of social control issues. They are well arranged to provide for a coherent approach to the subject. This book should be considered for advanced level undergraduate and graduate level courses in several disciplines. It should fit well in courses in criminology, law and society, development of the law, political and legal studies and criminal justice.
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