Who Are the Criminals?: The Politics of Crime Policy from the Age of Roosevelt to the Age of Reagan

"Oftentimes the early optimism of what one hopes to learn from a book ends in disappointment, but every once in a while a book lives up to its promise and you end with a refrain such as 'I wish I had written this book.' This phrase characterizes my feelings on John Hagan's Who Are the Criminals?."—John H. Kramer, American Journal of Sociology

"Hagan, one of the world's leading sociologists, explores the basis of modern US crime policy from the early 20th century to the present. . . . Thoughtful readers should reflect on the author's eminently sensible and workable suggestions for redirecting the nation's crime policies so that they are both more effective and less expensive. If someone has time to read only one book on contemporary crime and crime policy, this is the book."—Malcolm Feeley, Choice

"The strength of Who Are the Criminals? is that Hagan shows the reader that they do not exist in separate spheres and are interconnected. Although the author is a sociologist and a criminologist, this book should appeal to political scientists—especially those who are concerned about political framing and the building of the criminal justice state."—Megan Francis, Perspectives on Politics

"This critically important book offers an incisive analysis of the links between the increase in incarceration for street crime in the last several decades and deregulation of the business suites. It is simultaneously a scholarly tour de force and a sweeping indictment of the political uses of crime."—Kitty Calavita, University of California, Irvine

"John Hagan shows that the stories of street crime and white-collar crime are not separate, but interwoven. He also closely ties together the histories of politics, policymaking, criminal justice practice, and criminological thought. This book could only have been written by someone with the expertise that Hagan has amassed over many decades of intense and extremely productive research. This is a significant contribution indeed."—Joachim J. Savelsberg, University of Minnesota

"This is an important and in many respects brilliant book. The analyses of criminology in the ages of Roosevelt and Reagan are masterful. At its most ambitious, the book aspires to frame a new kind of criminology that breaks with the belief that government stands between society and the dangerous. This is an exciting vision."—Jonathan Simon, University of California, Berkeley