NCJ Number
185885
Date Published
2001
Length
542 pages
Annotation
This overview text explores the workings of the police, courts, and corrections and looks at policies and legal issues faced by criminal justice professionals on a daily basis.
Abstract
Chapters in the text are organized according to three parts: (1) concepts of crime, law, and criminology; (2) theories of crime causation; and (3) crime typologies. The first part presents a brief history of criminology and examines how criminologists view crime, criminal law and its processes, trial procedures, jury trials, the nature and extent of crime, crime trends, gun control, and victims and victimization. The second part reviews theories of crime causation, including choice, trait, social structure, social process, conflict, and integrated theories. In dealing with crime typologies, the final part specifically covers violent, property, white collar, organized, and public order crimes. The text also discusses community policing, crime mapping, high technology prisons, restorative justice, and juveniles in adult court. In addition, the text considers race, culture, and gender issues in criminal justice, along with zero tolerance aggressive policing tactics, the treatment of chronic drug offenders, and international crime trends. The text also contains a chapter on juvenile justice that highlights the current intense focus on juvenile crime. Notes, tables, figures, and photographs