I thought the book by Kappeler was horrible, i often found that the chapters in the book lead to no point and that often the chapters contridicted themselves. The book really only did good to give a politically biased idea of criminology with many random statisitcs that were from ten years ago or older.

This book has a mixture of great writing and interesting content. It's very easy to read, and enhances understanding of problems with propaganda and crime.

This is a good introduction to the misinformation and mythology that pervades our knowledge of crime and criminal justice. I have used this book as a required text when I teach CJ classes. It is perfect as a complement to traditional textbooks and a good read in itself. While I wish the authors would tighten up some sections and extend their coverage to more topics, this is the best book of its type available. The Mythology of Crime and Criminal Justice shows how much of what we think we know just isn't so!