Multicontextual Criminal Opportunity Theory. New York: Aldine de Gruyter

Book Reviews 261
With Client Violence in Social Work Practice, Newhill elevates our understanding of
workplace violence for social workers and others in the helping professions far beyond
what it was before. In doing so, she elevates herself as a significant contributor to the field.
Mark S. Davis
Institute for the Study and Prevention of Violence
Kent State University, OH
Wilcox, P., Land, K. C., & Hunt, S. A. (2003). Criminal Circumstance: A Dynamic,
Multicontextual Criminal Opportunity Theory. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
DOI: 10.1177/0734016806292927
This book presents a review of theories of crime and proposes a new alternative crimi-
nal opportunity theory based on social disorganization and routine activities explanations.
The authors emphasize the importance of considering the ecology of crime in a full
explanatory model. They suggest that in addition to the single influences, the interaction
between individual and environmental influences also needs to be taken into consideration.
More specifically, they assert that crime must be understood in terms of the coming
together of motivated offenders and crime-conducive social and physical environments,
including disorganized communities. The coming together is central to explanation.
Much prior literature has identified characteristics of the offender as the most important
influence on crime, and opportunity frequently receives less attention. According to
Wilcox, Land, and Hunt, without opportunity, no one can commit crime. Put more simply,
if there is no bank, there can be no robbery. This book addresses the effects of opportunity
in great detail and thus makes its contribution to criminal opportunity theory. Numerous
examples are provided of how components of criminal opportunity explain criminal behav-
ior. Additionally, the authors consider fear of and public reactions to crime. They depict a
dynamic cause and effect process, in which, for example, individual-level opportunity
influences whether a person experiences a crime, which in turn influences the victim’s rou-
tine activities and subsequent risks.
Throughout the book, the authors try to elaborate on existing routine activities theory
and build an improved explanation for why people break the law. They first discuss the rou-
tine activities, social control, and disorganization theories, and they identify their basic
assumptions, concepts, and propositions. Then, they outline their multicontextual criminal
opportunity theory and suggest that there are many dimensions of criminal opportunity.
They developed a draft conceptual scheme and operationalized a multilevel criminal oppor-
tunity model. The model considers individuals in bounded locales (i.e., specific places).
Finally, the authors provide a theoretical framework for exploring the person-environment
interaction, and they discuss whether opportunity has any effect on crime across the life
course. They recommend a variety of methods to test their theory, with hierarchical regres-
sion modeling, large samples, and designs that collect data from people nested in neigh-
borhoods being the ideal; however, they also see value in cross-sectional surveys and
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262 Criminal Justice Review
qualitative ethnographic, focus group, and interview data as sources of information to shed
light on the validity of specified aspects of the theory.
As might be expected from the emphasis on the combined effects of individual activities
and the context, Wilcox, Land, and Hunt feel that policy must attend to how an interven-
tion at one level (e.g., the individual) will influence the other level (e.g., the environment).
Also, policies can perhaps be most effective when they make changes at both the individ-
ual and the contextual levels to interrupt illegal activity.
Despite the synthesis of much prior research and related theory, there are some disap-
pointments in the book. Individuals who think that human agency and the human character
are relevant to social science will be troubled to discover that the authors purposely ignore
individual differences and motivations that can lead to illegal behavior. In fact, they claim
that individual differences are causally irrelevant. Also, because the elaborated model is
untested, readers may find that the book raises questions but does not provide answers. It
may therefore be most useful for students and scholars who are looking for ideas for a
research project relevant to opportunity theory or who are sympathetic to the routine activ-
ities perspective to start with and want to see how far it can be taken given the existing lit-
erature. It also may be useful to people who want to think through policy interventions to
reduce crime and delinquency.
Kaan Boke
Michigan State University, East Lansing
Friedrich, W. N. (2002). Psychological Assessment of Sexually Abused Children and Their

Families. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
DOI: 10.1177/0734016806292899
Considerable research has established that sexual abuse contributes to a wide range of
negative behavioral psychopathology in children, including internalizing, externalizing,
and mixed syndromes. It is also evident that child abuse, and specifically sexual abuse, typ-
ically occurs in a familial context characterized by a multitude of adversities. The efficacy
of individual-level treatment, therefore, is often mitigated by factors beyond the individual
characteristics of the child. In Psychological Assessment of Sexually Abused Children and
Their Families, William N. Friedrich presents a comprehensive assessment process of not
only the sexually abused child but also the ecological factors that are necessary to address
to enhance the efficacy of treatment. This book is extremely useful in assisting and enhanc-
ing the ability of clinicians to apply innovative assessment strategies to treat sexually
abused children and their families. This utility is assisted greatly through Friedrich’s excel-
lent use of case studies to demonstrate his comprehensive assessment process.
Friedrich begins by outlining a theoretical framework for assessment based on the key
concepts of attachment, dysregulation, and self-perception. This approach provides a solid
conceptual framework for the reader as Friedrich then proceeds to elaborate on the assess-
ment process in the first half of the book. He also addresses the fundamental treatment issue
concerning the variability in psychopathology generally exhibited by sexually abused
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Book Reviews 261

Downloaded from cjr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on June 28, 2015

Friedrich, W. N. (2002). Psychological Assessment of Sexually Abused Children and Their

Downloaded from cjr.sagepub.com at Harvard Libraries on June 28, 2015

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