A Child's Guide to Crime
A Child's Guide to Crime: Get them started as young as possible; it's never too early to begin!
Just kidding. How could anyone resist that title?
This is really subtitled A Child's Guide to Crime: New Perspectives on Criminology. Written by New Zealander Allan Nixon, it's an interesting read due, perhaps, to his undoubtedly unique background as a former convicted prisoner, a psychologist and a criminal lawyer.
He approaches the subject in a down-to-earth, matter-of-fact way that is thought-provoking and clear for the layman. For example, his explanation of the absurdity of defining a criminal as one convicted of breaking the law rather than as one who breaks the law is illuminating (in other words, almost every one of us breaks the law somehow but unless we are convicted we don't count as criminals; that is often the only difference between us).
Given that this book was written in 1974, well before new research showing that young people's brains do not fully mature until their mid-twenties, it is remarkably accurate in its discussion of youth offending.
This is a very well written book and is accessible to the non-lawyer and lawyer alike. Give some of your prejudices a challenge and read it.
