Review of A Systematic Review of Recidivism

[Alicia Howell-Munson]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "A Systematic Review of Recidivism" by Alvin Brinson.]

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2 out of 5 stars

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A Systematic Review of Programs and Interventions to Reduce Recidivism Rates by Alvin Brinson is a literature review highlighting the known reasons for recidivism and looking at educational programs in the American prison system to rehabilitate inmates and reduce recidivism rates. Brinson is clearly passionate about the topic, organizes the subtopics well, and supports their points with well-cited resources. This book is a publication of Brinson’s doctoral dissertation and reads like academic journals typically do.
Unfortunately, due to its poor editing, I rated this publication two out of five stars. Brinson is likely a good academic writer, but this publication looks like a first draft that the author hasn’t reviewed for submission. The prose is littered with dependent clauses as full sentences, passages that seem to be notes that needed to be fleshed out, and paragraphs that were clearly different attempts to convey the same thing. An example is the section titled “Sample Participant Selection” in Chapter 4, which consists of three paragraphs. Each paragraph is a different version of the same content, including word-for-word repeated sentences.
I am unsure if it is due to the nature of this draft or if a polished version would be the same, but Brinson repeats similar themes and facts to the point that it feels like they’re trying to meet a specific word count, not that they are contributing new, meaningful information. The topic and literature review are extremely important, and Brinson lays out well-formed arguments. However, it is extremely difficult to read the prose and understand the author’s points. Another example of the incomplete nature of the work is Figure 1: Distribution of Crime amongst the Prison Population. This table has three blank columns and only one column with data. The table’s intended use is to show the split of types of crimes committed by three different population groups, but there is no data for the individual populations. The only column filled out is the split for the total prison population.
I look forward to a future version of A Systematic Review of Programs and Interventions to Reduce Recidivism Rates by Alvin Brinson after it has been reviewed and polished as a final publication. It is difficult to parse in its current state, and the likely valuable information is lost to the reader.

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A Systematic Review of Recidivism
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[Joe Alex 2]

What caught my attention from the review is the idea of using educational programs to address recidivism, as it’s a critical area often overlooked in discussions about criminal justice reform. However, the mention of poor editing and repetitive content makes me hesitant to pick up this version of the book. I’d be interested in a revised, polished edition where the valuable insights aren’t lost in unclear prose and incomplete data.