NCJ Number
97196
Date Published
1985
Length
638 pages
Annotation
This criminology textbook contains 16 chapters on criminal justice, types of crime, and the criminal justice system. It is designed for an introductory criminology course.
Abstract
Part 1 (chapters 1-4) introduces a sociological perspective of crime and criminal justice, theories of crime and criminal justice, criminal law, and the social organization of official crime rates. Part 2 (chapters 5-10) describes all types of criminal behavior in American society: victimless, white-collar, organized, corporate, and political crime, as well as conventional street crime. Part 3 (chapters 11-15) discusses various aspects of the criminal justice system: policing, the criminal courts, punishment, and prisons. Also included is an examination of the recent 'crisis' or 'breakdown' in the justice system. The text focuses on the processing of criminals through the justice system, the biases of American criminal justice, and the consequences of crime and its justice, and the consequences of crime and its control -- or lack of control -- for individuals and society. The history of each type of crime and each component of the criminal justice system is explored in the individual chapters devoted to a particular crime or component. A final chapter examines the issue of controlling crime in the 1980's. The text includes a glossary, index, tables, photographs, footnotes, and a bibliography of approximately 850 references.