Criminality in Context: The Psychological Foundations of Criminal Justice Reform

by Craig Haney

In this groundbreaking book that is built on decades of work on the front lines of the criminal justice system, expert psychologist Craig Haney encourages meaningful and lasting reform by changing the public narrative about who commits crime and why. Based on his comprehensive review and analysis of the research, Haney offers a carefully framed and psychologically based blueprint for making the criminal justice system fairer, with strategies to reduce crime through proactive prevention instead of reactive punishment. Haney meticulously reviews evidence documenting the ways in which a person's social history, institutional experiences, and present circumstances powerfully shape their life, with a special focus on the role of social, economic, and racial injustice in crime causation. Haney debunks the "crime master narrative"--the widespread myth that criminality is a product of free and autonomous "bad" choices--an increasingly anachronistic view that cannot bear the weight of contemporary psychological data and theory. This is a must-read for understanding what truly influences criminal behavior, and the strategies for prevention and rehabilitation that follow.

Genres: Nonfiction, Crime, Psychology

423 pages, Paperback

Published January 28, 2020

Reviews

[shalia ! · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good read for someone who is just entering the world of studying sociological and anthropological means of understanding law. This book is rather dry and redundant if you're even remotely aware of the concept of considering a person for all of their experiences and contexts.

A very interesting topic + very important points; but could have been about 90% shorter while still making the same impact.

Worth a read if you're wanting to test your deep understanding of sociological and holistic factors of personhood in assigning inherent "badness".

[Defaeco · Rating 5 out of 5]

3.25 for style; repetition, lots of it, and lack of inspiring prose.
4 for content; seems good when it comes to citation, needs more reference to opposing views.
and 5 for the fact it's probably the first fully Naturalistic account of crime written. It also contains some interesting observations and alternative conceptualizations, that will hopefully be further explored in the future.

[Amy Wark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written. A little wordy and redundant. Crime master narrative this crime master narrative that- we get it. Fundamental attribution error is a key takeaway from this piece of work.

[Leigh Horvath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read this for school, a lot of insight into the criminal justice system as someone who’s not well versed, but the point was redundant.