February issue includes Appendix entitled Directory of United States Government periodicals and subscription publications; September issue includes List of depository libraries; June and December issues include semiannual index

What do we know about the mental health of inmates? What are the implications of what we know? Nathaniel J. Pallone characterizes opinion on these questions as falling into two broad camps: the "tender-hearted," those who see an overlap between mental illness and criminal behavior, and are treatment-oriented; and the "tough-minded," those who have little confidence in psychiatric categories, do not really accept arguments about diminished responsibility, and who feel the emphasis should be on punishment. Which is closer to the truth? When this book was first published, the incidence of mental disorder among prisoners was nearly four times greater than among comparable groups in the general population in part because prisoners are disproportionately drawn from demographic groups with a high incidence of mental disorder—nonwhite and from lower socioeconomic strata. But other data is equally dismaying: mental retardation is 50 percent higher; alcohol and drug abuse is between five and eight times greater; and neurogenic disorders may be 1,700 times greater. In all categories of mental illness, the incidence among prisoners is far higher than among the general population. Pallone asserts that evidence suggests that the design and implementation of mental health care needs serious reevaluation, particularly in view of Supreme Court decisions mandating mental health care despite obstacles with implementation. Palone saw mental health care as the primary issue for those who manage prisons. Sadly, this remains as true as when this book was first published.

The authors refine, amplify, and extend the conceptual model for understanding tinder-box criminal aggression they first introduced in Criminal Behavior. This work integrates relative contributions made by such intrapersonal characteristics as the need for serial stimulation, impairment in foresight and planfulness, and the acquisition of a taste for risk on the one hand, with such factors as child-rearing practices, vicarious conditioning, sub-cultures of violence, and the availability of mood-altering chemical substances on the other hand

Even though youth crime rates have fallen since the mid-1990s, public fear and political rhetoric over the issue have heightened. The Columbine shootings and other sensational incidents add to the furor. Often overlooked are the underlying problems of child poverty, social disadvantage, and the pitfalls inherent to adolescent decisionmaking that contribute to youth crime. From a policy standpoint, adolescent offenders are caught in the crossfire between nurturance of youth and punishment of criminals, between rehabilitation and "get tough" pronouncements. In the midst of this emotional debate, the National Research Council's Panel on Juvenile Crime steps forward with an authoritative review of the best available data and analysis. Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents recommendations for addressing the many aspects of America's youth crime problem. This timely release discusses patterns and trends in crimes by children and adolescentsâ€"trends revealed by arrest data, victim reports, and other sources; youth crime within general crime; and race and sex disparities. The book explores desistanceâ€"the probability that delinquency or criminal activities decrease with ageâ€"and evaluates different approaches to predicting future crime rates. Why do young people turn to delinquency? Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents what we know and what we urgently need to find out about contributing factors, ranging from prenatal care, differences in temperament, and family influences to the role of peer relationships, the impact of the school policies toward delinquency, and the broader influences of the neighborhood and community. Equally important, this book examines a range of solutions: Prevention and intervention efforts directed to individuals, peer groups, and families, as well as day care-, school- and community-based initiatives. Intervention within the juvenile justice system. Role of the police. Processing and detention of youth offenders. Transferring youths to the adult judicial system. Residential placement of juveniles. The book includes background on the American juvenile court system, useful comparisons with the juvenile justice systems of other nations, and other important information for assessing this problem.

Crime Statistics suggest that Americans are not a notably law-abiding people. With some 13 million felonies reported every year, it is not surprising that few topics engage public attention and imagination more compellingly than the dynamics of criminal behavior. Volume and ubiquity alone might suggest the psychology of criminal behavior is well understood and there exists an integrated body of explanatory theory and empirical evidence. But in fact only fragmentary and incomplete accounts have thus far appeared. Criminal Behavior is virtually unique in providing a comprehensive psychological paradigm that fits across variant species of crime, while meeting the requirements of science and the needs of law enforcement and administration of justice in controlling criminal behavior.The authors begin this remarkable text by outlining a model for criminal behavior based not on abnormal psychology but on the tenets of social learning theory. They illuminate the processes by which criminal activity is initiated and repeated, including personal constructs, stimulus determinants, and behavioral repertoires. They define four process elements that interact in precipitating criminal behavior-inclination, opportunity, expectation of reward, expectation of impunity. They show how these process elements are regulated and confined by a series of complex and variable boundary conditions in specific criminal offenses. Conceptual, methodological, and operational constraints on the study of criminal behavior are defined, and statistically and behavioral science data bearing upon larceny and homicide, two crimes at diametric extremes, are examined in detail.Pallone and Hennessy locate and define those psychological variables that render comprehensible the process whereby formally criminal acts are construed as possible and desirable by individual actors and show how those actors self-select psychosocial environments that facilitate or at least do not impede the commission of crime. They identify and explain the phenomenon of 'tinderbox violence.'Its comprehensive perspective and balanced consideration of competing viewpoints make Criminal Behavior an ideal text for students and teachers of criminology and of the psychology of criminal behavior. It is also a pioneering work for psychologists, sociologists, criminologists, and law-enforcement official.