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probation administrators and the difficulties of communication and offender management between these groups; (b) the effects of privatization on probation and prison services; (c) the fragmentation involved in a national service such as this one, including the disjunction that is likely to occur between administration, management, and line staff, given that each group may have conflicting goals (e.g., the administration wants to reduce recidivism and reoffending by incarcerating those most likely to reoffend, whereas line staff may think that the individuals on their caseload are victims of circumstances beyond their control and thus may overlook some less serious technical violations); (d) the pressure to reduce costs (perhaps at the expense of quality services) brought about by the competitive nature of the NOMS system; (e) the loose (and often nonexistent) relationship between increased incarceration and crime in the community; and (f) the resistance of sentencers to use all community sentencing options available under an offender management system, whose goal is to use incarceration as a last (rather than a first) resort. The authors provide a number of suggestions concerning how to deal with these difficulties, with the aim of making the transition to the offender management system as smooth as possible. An additional strength is the detailed history of the evolution of NOMS provided at the beginning of the book.Nevertheless, the major weakness of this book involves the redundancy of the arguments made by the authors throughout the book. This redundancy made the final chapters particularly difficult to finish and, as such, the papers at the end probably did not get the attention they deserved. I fear that my experience will be that of other readers as well. In addition, although the editors attempted to arrange the book in an intuitive sequence, I am still not convinced that all the papers presented were necessary. The book would have been improved by incorporating a thorough review of the literature concerning offender management systems currently being used internationally at the beginning of the book and then including a much "tighter" discussion of NOMS in the second and subsequent papers presented in the book.Given these caveats, however, the book does achieve its original purpose. The authors provide an intelligent discussion of a move toward a national offender management system in Great Britain and provide advice concerning how to deal with the difficulties this move is sure to bring about. In addition, this book also provides a reader who is largely unfamiliar with offender management in Great Britain (like myself) a good opportunity to learn about that system. Finally, this book is a necessary resource for anyone interested in national offender management systems in general. As such, it is a valuable addition to the library of anyone who fits into one of those groups discussed above.

In this book, Bonilla-Silva found Blacks indirectly internalized an ideology of color blindness that could taint explanations of behavior. Williams and Close concluded ''The resulting analysis of the perceptions shared by officers and residents alike elucidates the power, pervasiveness, and impact of stigma, even when the stigma of race is shared by the agents of the government' ' (p. 81).One of the central tenets of critical race theory includes the premise of a ''unique voice of color,'' which seeks to complement the existing perspective on race, crime, and justice. In curiosity, I attempted to discern the race and ethnicity of the contributors and editors of this book by looking at Web sites and vitas. The majority of the 18 contributors were White males (n ¼ 6) and White females (n ¼ 6), whereas 4 contributors were African American and 2 of unknown descent (Kavanaugh-Earl and E. Britt Patterson). Although, I am not sure any of the authors would agree with my placement of themselves into a racial category as highlighted by the chapter written by Mieczkowski titled ''The Things that Pass for Knowledge: Racial Identity in Forensics.'' From a standpoint perspective, it can be important to remember human beings are stratified into a racial hierarchy and this can influence what we research and how we interpret data.A clear setback for Racial Divide is that none of the contributors or chapter themes appeared to focus on Latinos, Native Americans, or Asians, which does not allow the discussion to move past the White/Black dichotomy. A few of the chapters that did include ethnicity presented the data in the form of ''Minority Olympics'' in which Latinos were portrayed as better off and Blacks oppressed. Therefore, the secondary title, Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Criminal Justice System, is misleading. My final criticism is a number of times certain theories were repeated throughout the chapters.Racial Divide offers an additional contribution to the increasing number of publications on racial inequality within the criminal justice system. It covers important themes of racial inequality involving theory, police, courts, corrections, and other unexplored areas. Together, the contributors examine an enormous number of studies pertaining to whether racism in the criminal justice system is a myth or reality. The book could be improved by incorporating additional voices of color and expanding beyond the Black/White dichotomy.

taken as a result of the Phoenix Program. Melzer also writes that targeted killing occurred when U.S. Forces carried out air raids against the Tripoli residence of Muammar Qadhafi. In spite of these acts, however, the author contends that the adoption of a policy that legitimized state-sponsored targeted killings would not have been acceptable prior to September 11, 2001. Melzer writes that after the 9/11 attacks, American policy makers quickly embraced statesponsored killings. In fact, the author writes that American policy makers consulted with Israeli officials to neutralize suicide bombers. Almost overnight, the officers were instructed to ''shoot to kill,'' rather than to disable. There was an increased tolerance for the use of deadly force in the United States, and public opinion generally supported this. Melzer attributes this change in policy and public opinion to the attacks, where more than 3,000 American lives were lost. He argues that since this new policy, there has been at least one instance where an individual has been mistaken for a terrorist and killed. This incident occurred in 2005, when U.S. air marshals intentionally killed a man who they believed was holding a bomb. After the fact, it was unveiled that the victim was mentally ill and may have had bipolar disorder. Still, under the new policy, the shooting was legally justified and no criminal charges were filed against the officers.Melzer writes that the United Kingdom also changed its attitude toward state-sponsored targeted killings following the 9/11 attacks. In fact, he contends that the Metropolitan Police officially adopted a ''shoot-to-kill'' policy shortly after the terrorist acts in the United States. According to the author, it is peculiar that the United Kingdom adopted this policy because historically targeted killing has never seriously been considered a legitimate law enforcement tactic. This attitude was prevalent, even in spite of terrorist acts perpetuated by Northern Ireland. In fact, ''shoot-to-kill'' policies were considered illegal and British police officers who engaged in targeted killings could often be subjected to a criminal trial. Nevertheless, Melzer argues that the 9/11 attacks seemed to be a turning point that would ultimately legitimize state-sponsored targeted killings in the United Kingdom.The author is very thorough in describing how state-sponsored killing is viewed across various parts of the world. It seems that, especially after the 9/11 attacks, the Western world is more tolerant of state-sponsored targeted killings than ever before. Melzer also provides a historical analysis of many of the various countries that he examines. For this reason, the book could have as much relevance to a historian as it would a political scientist. This book will also be of interest to anyone who is interested in studying or researching issues that are related to terrorism. The author demonstrates that state-sponsored targeted killing is a highly complex and controversial issue. Melzer, who is trained as a lawyer, also p...

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