"David Downes' fascinating comparative analysis takes us a great deal nearer to an understanding of the roots and strength of reductionism in the Netherlands...... powerful and scholarly enquiry" New Statesman and Society "Contrasts in Tolerance is expertly crafted and beautifully written. Professor Downes pinpoints the crucial theoretical issues regarding sentencing, imprisonment, and decarceration and uses original and rich data that addresses these issues in the Netherlands and in England. In persuasively demonstrating real effects of specific penal policies. Professor Downes is able to address real possibilites for specific penal change. Contrasts in Tolerance is ambitious, creative, and a model in comparative empirical scholarship. As such it will prove to be a significant and lasting contribution to several fields, including Criminology, Social Policy, Political Science, and Sociology" Richard V Ericson, University of Toronto.

Carefully researched, cogently argued, and written in a gently felicitous prose, David Downes's study is one which should be read not just by penologists and Home Office officials--for whom it will be essential--but by anyone who wishes to understand how institutions are shaped by the web of social and cultural relations in which they exist. * David Garland, British Journal of Sociology *
fascinating comparative analysis ... powerful and scholarly enquiry * New Statesman and Society *
expertly crafted and beautifully written ... ambitious, creative, and a model in comparative empirical scholarship. As such it will prove to be a significant and lasting contribution to several fields, including criminology, social policy, politial science, and sociology. * Richard V. Ericson, University of Toronto *