Praeger
Publishers This 115-page book is written by the former director of the Adelphi Resource Center for Crime Victims Advocates at Adelphi University. The book opens with an overview of crime victims' needs, followed by chapters on specific forms of victim reimbursement, including restitution, private insurance, social benefit programs such as welfare, and victim compensation programs. The last two chapters recommend ways of cutting costs and improving the system. Greed is a universal human experience and therefore may frequently be perceived as a ruling motivation of others, if not of self. This may be the reason behind the oft-voiced perception that there is a sexual abuse industry. It is easy to understand how people can be driven to exhibit specific behaviors by a lust for money because we know that about ourselves. Yet the claim that a sexual abuse industry explains the phenomena evident in the flawed way we deal with sexual abuse is not satisfying though it may be simple. There is more, much more, than simple greed active here. This small book gives both a framework and information to understand more fully the role of greed and making money in the way our society responds to crime. The framework begins with the concept of restitution, an ancient and honorable notion that those who commit wrong need to make it up somehow to those whom they wrong. There does not seem to be anything unfair about this. The information about how we set about doing this is where it gets disconcerting. The system of restitution is so fractured, complex, and often stupidly interpreted that not only is proper restitution never achieved, but greed may prevail. However, it can be effectively masked, concealed, and indeed justified by the cover of the original intent, restitution. This is how politicians are able to continue to fund, elaborate, and build ever more complexities into the system. This in turn makes it more destructive and tragic. This book shows how it all happens. For those who want greater clarity on the role of economics interacting with a bureaucratic system to produce great injustice, this book is the first source that lays it all out. The importance of this book also lies in the clear description of how false allegations and wrongful convictions cost a great deal of money for all of us. It is almost an aside, but the author also shows how this understanding of victim service delivery systems is applicable to the health care system and the huge costs it imposes upon our society. We highly recommend this volume to all those who are concerned about the tragedy of a system aimed at noble intents — reduction of the frequency of abuse — but gone wrong and out of control. There is now a general recognition that false allegations and wrongful convictions are a serious problem. This book gives information for the next step — finding out what needs to be done to fix it, and implementing change. There are not likely to be changes until the real costs of what we are doing become more clear. Then the politicians and professionals will see that it is in their interest to change the way the system works. Get this book and study it hard until you understand it. Reviewed by Ralph Underwager, Institute for Psychological Therapies, Northfield, Minnesota.
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