Andrew Goldsmith is Professor of Law at Flinders University of South Australia. Dr Colleen Lewis is a Senior Lecturer in Criminal Justice and Criminology,School of Political & Social Inquiry, Monash University, Victoria, Australia.

• Part one Entrenching civilian oversight: the politics of civilian oversight - serious committment or lip service?, Colleen Lewis; race, democracy and law - civilian review of police in Washington D.C., Cheryl Beattie and Ronald Weitzer; back to the future - the death of civilian review of public complaints against the police in Ontario, Canada, Tammy Landau. Part two Evaluating civilian oversight: institutional structure vs political will - Albuquerque as a case study in the effectiveness of citizen oversight of the police, Eileen Luna and Samuel Walker; evaluating the performance of external oversight bodies, David Brereton; evaluating the new civilian complaints board in Israel, Sergio Herzog; evaluating police complaints legislation - a suggested framework, Philip Stenning. Part three Extending civilian oversight: police accountability reform in Colombia - the civilian oversight experiment, Andrew Goldsmith; the South African independent complaints directorate, Bronwen Manby; confronting a culture of impunity - the promise and pitfalls of civilian review of police in Latin America, Rachel Neild; accountability and police complaints in Northern Ireland - leaving the past behind?, Mary O'Raw and Linda Moore; called to account - civilian oversigh in the Palestinian context, Beverley Milton-Edwards.

This book will help to stimulate debate and is a valuable and enjoyable read. Nick Taylor Public Law January 2001 Each of the contributors has produced clear and interesting discussions on their respective themes. More importantly, these are also very stimulating and thought-provoking chapters. This book constitutes a very useful addition to the existing wealth of information available on policingthose specifically studying the issue of police accountability will find this book invaluable.a well-focused and comprehensive study. The internal and external quality of this book is extremely good. Leonard Jason-Lloyd The Law Teacher January 2001