NCJ Number
155286
Editor(s)
B Forst
Date Published
1993
Length
333 pages
Annotation
These 14 papers focus on crime causes and crime prevention and suggest that addressing crime effectively requires restoring a basic sense of compassion and strengthening the basic social institutions of the family, the school and the community, rather than relying so extensively on punishment.
Abstract
Individual papers consider the philosophical, economic, and legal foundations of crime and justice, including the standard justifications of the standard justifications for criminal sanctions, the economic model of crime and justice, and the limits of the criminal law. Further chapters focus on the processes that influence the individual's moral belief system, including the socialization practices of the family; the relationships among crime, ethnicity, and community; and the factors underling the differences in crime rates among males and females. Additional papers focus on specific categories of offenders, crime, and countermeasures, including juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice, community crime prevention programs, community responses to spouse abuse, and efforts to address school crime. The concluding section focuses on the role of the police, the relationship between the prosecutor and the public in the United States, and sentencing policies. Chapter notes, tables, and reference lists and subject and author indexes