Decarceration: Community Treatment and the Deviant : A Radical View

goes unquestioned' although it cannot be said after the publication of their book which they maintain provides 'a dispassionate look at law from a Marxist point of view'. The passion, however, is there'we write polemically because this is the only way we can express what we think and feel.... The book is the statement of a position and not its detailed working out.' The latter sentence reflects both the book's strengths and weaknesses. For those for whom the Marxist critique of the liberal lawyer's approach is novel, this book is an excellent introduction; for those who are awaiting a more detailed working out of a position, this still points to the supposedly 'great leap forward'. Embedded in the centre of this book (Chapter 3 'Up Against The Law') there is the report of a substantive piece of research into a particular duty solicitor scheme. Although this research is used as a vehicle for their thesis, the material will also fascinate even those who are unsympathetic to their overall approach. Their material which suggests for instance, that the duty solicitor scheme 'was established and continues to draw strong support from most local solicitors was not a concern about "social service" but the outcome of an on-going struggle for power inside the local law society' all goes to indicate that these authors can make not only thought-provoking theoretical speculations but interesting and provocative analyses of their empirical work.