Christina McNamara Crabtree. (2014) Book Review of “5 Grams: crack cocaine, rap music, and the war on drugs”, Contemporary Justice Review 17(1), pp. 145–148. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10282580.2014.883839
There are a number of significant responsibilities to consider in offering reviews for books, movies, and media. The primary purpose obviously is that those works that are reviewed must offer value to the discussion and development of the social, transformative, and restorative justice culture. Second, they are works that the CJR audience should pay attention to and, if they have not had the opportunity to come across them, they should. A third is that the review should offer a reasonable critical examination of the work being reviewed. The review posted in Contemporary Justice Review 17/1 on Dimitri Bogazianos’s profound and otherwise critically lauded work, 5 Grams: Crack Cocaine, Rap Music, and the War on Drugs, was not successful in reaching this last goal.
5 Grams offers a scholarly analysis of popular culture, criminology, and public policy. It is unique in its construct and design in providing a serious examination of the intersection of mass incarceration, racism, the illicit drug trade, and effect these conditions have on specific communities in our society. It has been widely praised and is a worthwhile addition to any personal library or knowledge base.
While Contemporary Justice Review is peer reviewed for the articles that reach publication stage, a somewhat lesser standard is sometimes employed regarding reviews of books, movies, and media. A conscious attempt is made in these pages to allow all those who have something meaningful and relevant to say, to say it. In the review of 5 Grams, a young scholar whose potential is still being developed but who has not yet reached the level of peer, was afforded the opportunity to provide assessment and perspicacity to a reading of Bogazianos. While, I may have misconstrued the review as benign, its content held more criticism than insight. I should have done a better job of mentoring this review. Both Bogazianos and CJR readers deserve better consideration. I apologize.