?This volume is the most comprehensive reference book on community sentiment available. The classic book about community sentiment is Norm Finkel's "Commonsense Justice: Jurors' Notions of the Law" (1995). A similarly influential book called "Justice, Liability, and Blame" was published at the same time, examining lay sentiment about a variety of criminal issues and suggesting ways in which the substantive criminal law could be reformed in light of such lay responses (Robinson & Darley, 1995). Although these books were influential and important for their time (and since), this Handbook expands significantly on them, both by updating research since that time and broadens the scope of topic areas to ones that are not limited to trial and criminal justice issues. Each chapter is original/unpublished and focuses on an area related to children/families, many of which are "hot topic" areas in the news and courts today. For instance, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a case in June 2012 about the constitutionality of "life without parole" for juvenile offenders-a topic discussed in the Fass and Miora chapter. Thus, it is of interest to those interested in family law topics as well.?

This in-depth investigation of community sentiment examines why and how community sentiment is studied, how it may change or be changed, and its reciprocal relationship with laws and policy. Laws affecting children and the family, for instance actual and proposed laws regarding marriage and divorce, campus safety, sex offender registration are used to  discuss the study of community sentiment. Yet, the book is broad enough to inform readers about sentiment toward issues beyond the law. The book also considers the relationships between community sentiment and individual attitudes, media, perceptions about justice, and negative legal, personal, and societal outcomes. This range of carefully chosen chapters condenses a broad knowledge base into a manageable and highly useful  "go to" book about the study of community sentiment toward any topic.

Among the topics covered:

• The reciprocal relationship between media, community sentiment and policy.
• Various measures and methodology used in gauging community sentiment toward law and other topics.
• Factors that influence or change sentiment.
• Relationships between attitude theory and community sentiment.
• Links between community sentiment and perceptions of justice.
• Unintended consequences of policy responses.
• Can community sentiment lead to ineffective laws?

The Handbook of Community Sentiment is an expansive resource of interest to a variety of practitioners and researchers-psychologists, sociologists, criminal justice professionals and criminologists, and political scientists--as well as students in these and related fields.