Book Review of Understanding Violence and Victimization

Abstract

Understanding Violence and Victimization is an expertly crafted Seventh Edition textbook by Robert J. Meadows, a professor and Chair of Criminal Justice at California Lutheran University. When compared to previous editions, several improvements have been made, including the addition of a chapter on firearms and victimization (Chapter 9), a table in Chapter 10 that lists key federal victims' rights legislation from 1974 to 2015, and updated web sources and statistics throughout. In this review, I will specifically focus on Chapters 2, 4, 6, and 8 - and in doing so, provide an overview of the book in its entirety. Despite victimology being a relatively new science, this text presents a multitude of theories that touch upon subjects including victim-offender relationships, places where violence occurs, its overall impact and cost, and even explanations of causation.