Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction / Edition 11

by Frank Schmalleger

Overview

For courses in Introduction to Criminal Justice

The gold standard for criminal justice texts

Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction, Eleventh Edition offers a contemporary, authoritative look at crime in America with a focus on police, courts, and corrections. To make information resonate with students, Schmalleger asks readers to consider the balance between freedom and security issues and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the American justice system as it adapts to cultural, political, and societal changes. An interactive website along with author tweets (@schmalleger) extends chapter material and provides up-to-the minute information on this ever-evolving field. Its unifying theme, unmatched timeliness, and coverage of trends and technology make this text the standard by which all other brief texts are judged.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780133591316
Publisher:	Pearson
Publication date:	01/07/2015
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	528
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 10.80(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Frank Schmalleger, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame and The Ohio State University, having earned both a master's (1970) and a doctorate in sociology (1974) from The Ohio State University with a special emphasis in criminology. From 1976 to 1994, he taught criminology and criminal justice courses at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. For the last 16 of those years, he chaired the university's Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice. The university named him Distinguished Professor in 1991.

Schmalleger has taught in the online graduate program of the New School for Social Research, helping build the world's first electronic classrooms in support of distance learning through computer telecommunications. As an adjunct professor with Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, Schmalleger helped develop the university's graduate program in security administration and loss prevention. He taught courses in that curriculum for more than a decade. An avid Web user and website builder, Schmalleger is also the creator of a number of award-winning websites, including some that support this textbook.

Frank Schmalleger is the author of numerous articles and more than 40 books, including the widely used Criminal Justice Today (Pearson, 2015), Criminology Today (Pearson, 2015), and Criminal Law Today (Pearson, 2014).

Schmalleger is also founding editor of the journal Criminal Justice Studies. He has served as editor for the Pearson series Criminal Justice in the Twenty-First Century and as imprint adviser for Greenwood Publishing Group's criminal justice reference series. Schmalleger's philosophy of both teaching and writing can be summed up in these words: "In order to communicate knowledge we must first catch, then hold, a person's interest—be it student, colleague, or policymaker. Our writing, our speaking, and our teaching must be relevant to the problems facing people today, and they must in some way help solve those problems."

Read an Excerpt

PREFACE:

PREFACE

Criminal justice is a dynamic and fluid field of study. Ever changing crime statistics, newsworthy events involving American law enforcement, precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and rapidly breaking innovations in correctional practice all challenge instructors and students alike to keep pace with a field undergoing constant modification.

As the floodgates to the twenty-first century open wider, and accelerated change engulfs American society, it is appropriate that a streamlined and up-to-date book such as this should be in the hands of students. The information age and all that it has wrought is here, and the quick dissemination of information has become a vital part of contemporary life.

Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction results from the realization that today's justice students need to have the latest quality information available to them in a concise and affordable source. The paperback format of this book has made it possible to quickly translate the latest happenings in the justice field into a pragmatic textbook that is both inexpensive and easy to read.

Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction focuses directly on the crime picture in America and the three traditional elements of the criminal justice system: police, courts, and corrections. The text is enhanced by the addition of career boxes that can assist today's pragmatically minded students in making appropriate career choices. Colorful photographs, charts, graphs, and other visual aids help keep student attention and add variety to the text. Twenty-First Century Criminal Justice boxes, which are placed strategicallythroughout the book, draw attention to the many exciting possibilities facing the justice system as it realizes the possibilities held out by the new millennium. APB News! stories, an added feature in this edition, bring a true-to-life dimension to the text, and allow insight into the everyday workings of the justice system.

As the author of numerous books on criminal justice, I have often been amazed at how the end result of the justice process is sometimes barely recognizable to anyone involved in the process as justice in any practical sense of the word. It is my sincere hope that the technological and publishing revolutions that have contributed to this book will combine with a growing social awareness to facilitate needed changes in our system; and that will help supplant what have at times appeared as self-serving, system-perpetuated injustices with new standards of equity, compassion, understanding, fairness, and heartfelt justice for all.

Frank Schmalleger, Ph.D.
The Justice Research Association
March 2000

Table of Contents

PART 1 Crime in America

1. What Is Criminal Justice? 1

2. The Crime Picture 22

3. Criminal Law 61

PART 2 Policing

4. Policing: Purpose and Organization 90

5. Policing: Legal Aspects 124

6. Policing: Issues and Challenges 168

PART 3 Adjudication

7. The Courts 207

8. The Courtroom Work Group and the Criminal Trial 231

9. Sentencing 265

PART 4 Corrections

10. Probation, Parole, and Community Corrections 308

11. Prisons and Jails 337

12. Prison Life 364

PART 5 The Juvenile Justice System

13. Juvenile Justice 400

Preface

Criminal justice is a dynamic and fluid field of study. Ever changing crime statistics, newsworthy events involving American law enforcement, precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and rapidly breaking innovations in correctional practice all challenge instructors and students alike to keep pace with a field undergoing constant modification.

As the floodgates to the twenty-first century open wider, and accelerated change engulfs American society, it is appropriate that a streamlined and up-to-date book such as this should be in the hands of students. The information age and all that it has wrought is here, and the quick dissemination of information has become a vital part of contemporary life.

Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction results from the realization that today's justice students need to have the latest quality information available to them in a concise and affordable source. The paperback format of this book has made it possible to quickly translate the latest happenings in the justice field into a pragmatic textbook that is both inexpensive and easy to read.

Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction focuses directly on the crime picture in America and the three traditional elements of the criminal justice system: police, courts, and corrections. The text is enhanced by the addition of career boxes that can assist today's pragmatically minded students in making appropriate career choices. Colorful photographs, charts, graphs, and other visual aids help keep student attention and add variety to the text. Twenty-First Century Criminal Justice boxes, which are placed strategically throughout the book, draw attention to the manyexciting possibilities facing the justice system as it realizes the possibilities held out by the new millennium. Crime in the News! stories, an added feature in this edition, bring a true-to-life dimension to the text, and allow insight into the everyday workings of the justice system.

As the author of numerous books on criminal justice, I have often been amazed at how the end result of the justice process is sometimes barely recognizable to anyone involved in the process as justice in any practical sense of the word. It is my sincere hope that the technological and publishing revolutions that have contributed to this book will combine with a growing social awareness to facilitate needed changes in our system; and that that will help supplant what have at times appeared as self-serving, system-perpetuated injustices with new standards of equity, compassion, understanding, fairness, and heartfelt justice for all.

Frank Schmalleger, Ph.D.
Director, The Justice Research Association
and Professor Emeritus
The University of North Carolina at Pembroke
April 2001

Editorial Reviews

An introductory text for students and criminal justice professionals alike, focusing on police, courts and corrections, and highlighting the need to balance respect for the rights of the individual with the interests of society. Covers the Uniform Crime Reports program; sources and types of criminal law; police administration; adjudication and sentencing; the criminal trial; and prisons. Includes the complete text of the US Constitution. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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