Confessions of a Dying Thief is an in-depth ethnographic study of the world of Sam Goodman, a long-time thief, fence, and quasi-legitimate businessman, based on continuous contact with him for many years, multiple interviews with his network of associates in crime and business, and a series of interviews with him shortly before he died. The book updates and greatly expands the case study of Sam Goodman's fencing activity found in Steffensmeier's award-winning 1986 book The Fence: In the Shadow of Two Worlds. The book combines Sam's colorful narrative accounts with substantive commentary by...

Many states and the federal system have embraced sentencing guidelines as a mechanism of sentencing reform. This book draws from interactionist theories of organizations, and James Eisenstein's depiction of courts as communities, to frame an investigation of sentencing disparity, case processing, and organizational relations under Pennsylvania's sentencing guidelines. The author provides a statistical analysis of statewide sentencing outcomes and a comparative statistical and ethnographic analysis of three different-sized county courts. The statistical data show that the major influences on...

A collection of contributions to theory, research and policy concerning crime, law and deviance. It deals with the core sociological concept of control, and aims to emphasize the breadth and diversity in theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches.