The Hoods: Crime and Punishment in Belfast

"The Hoods is a very readable book that will be of great interest to all who have worked in the criminal justice system in any capacity but particularly those who have worked with young offenders. The author's skill both in eliciting the views of young people and in presenting those views in a fair and accessible way allow the book to reach out to a wider readership beyond Northern Ireland."—Brian Stout, Policing

"This is a pathbreaking work, not only because of its range and depth of evidence but also because of the way the arguments of the book have been linked to the wider literature on criminology and the sociology of deviance. It is a brave endeavor, in that the fieldwork must have been extremely difficult, if not actually dangerous at times. In dealing with the draconian forms of punishment meted out to joyriders and other antisocial elements in West Belfast, Hamill is a dispassionate but acute observer. Moreover, there are some wonderful sayings, straight from the mouths of these disaffected youths who inhabit a social world of extreme violence—one where the shadow of the gunman is never far away."—Liam Kennedy, Queen's University, Belfast

"This is an interesting book on an important subject. Through description and analysis, Hamill uncovers the inner mechanisms of informal punishment in West Belfast and makes very clear the trade-off between its effectiveness and the greater legitimacy of state-sanctioned institutions. The picture of informal organizations and how they evolved over time is fascinating. And one can only commend Hamill's courage and industriousness in researching the community of 'hoods' who are the targets of both official and unofficial justice."—Marek Kaminski, University of California, Irvine