NCJ Number
84500
Editor(s)
G E Misner
Date Published
1981
Length
390 pages
Annotation
The applications of the following disciplines to criminal justice are discussed: anthropology, economics, law, political science, psychology, sociology, and system planning.
Abstract
In considering the roles of law and legal systems in justice studies, the topics covered are (1) the role of law in establishing the framework for justice systems, (2) the role of law in establishing the substantive rules that justice systems enforce, (3) law as a source of procedural rules that order justice system processes, and (4) law as providing the processes by which justice system operations are evaluated and changed. Principal elements of the law of criminal procedure are also discussed. Anthropology is examined as a discipline that can interpret the impact of cultural influences on the substance of law and criminal justice processing. In another presentation, major approaches to the study of politics--the power approach, the systems approach, and the group approach--are presented, and the involvement of politics in the criminal justice system and police productivity are considered. The application of the principles of economics to criminal justice activities is also outlined, and the economics of public and private behavior is reviewed, followed by a step-by-step use of economics to evaluate policy alternatives and descriptions of techniques of economic analysis. Sociology specializations that bear upon the study of organizations and how they apply to criminal justice organizations and their organizational environment are considered as well. Various aspects of the application of psychology to various criminal justice needs are described, including the prediction of human behavior, and counseling and treatment. The concluding chapter discusses the planning process as rational activity, the characteristics of effective planning, methodological issues in planning, planning in the criminal justice system, and shared jurisdictions of city planners and the criminal justice system. Notes and references accompany each presentation. For individual entries, see NCJ 84501-05.