Ethics and Criminal Justice: An Introduction

by John Kleinig

Overview

This textbook looks at the main ethical questions that confront the criminal justice system - legislature, law enforcement, courts, and corrections - and those who work within that system, especially police officers, prosecutors, defence lawyers, judges, juries, and prison officers. John Kleinig sets the issues in the context of a liberal democratic society and its ethical and legislative underpinnings, and illustrates them with a wide and international range of real-life case studies. Topics covered include discretion, capital punishment, terrorism, restorative justice, and re-entry. Kleinig's discussion is both philosophically acute and grounded in institutional realities, and will enable students to engage productively with the ethical questions which they encounter both now and in the future - whether as criminal justice professionals or as reflective citizens.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521682831
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/13/2008
Series:	Cambridge Applied Ethics
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	294
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

John Kleinig is Director of the Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics and Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Law and Police Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and he holds the Charles Sturt University Chair of Policing Ethics in the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, Australian National University.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. Criminalization: 1. Civil society: its institutions and major players; 2. Crime and the limits of criminalization; 3. Constraints on governmental agents; Part II. Policing: 4. Tensions within the police role; 5. The burdens of discretion; 6. Coercion and deception; Part III. Courts: 7. Prosecutors: seeking justice through truth?; 8. Defence lawyers: zealous advocacy?; 9. The impartial judge?; 10. Juries: the lamp of liberty?; Part IV. Corrections: 11. Punishment and its alternatives; 12. Imprisonment and its alternatives; 13. The role of correctional officers; 14. Re-entry and collateral consequences.

Editorial Reviews

"Many fine introductions to criminal justice are available, but no competing book rivals Ethics and Criminal Justice in the depth of philosophical sophistication it devotes exclusively to the ethical issues that govern the behavior of criminal justice practitioners. Kleinig demonstrates what can happen when an excellent philosopher turns his attention to the real world of criminal justice. ... it is hard to see how a better introduction could have been written."
— Douglas Husak, Rutgers University, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews


"...this book is an interesting and easy to read introduction to the ethical dilemmas prompted by the criminal justice system that is likely to generate vivid discussions in the classroom. The tension between security and liberty recently emphasized by the "war on terror," as well as the security concerns that an increasing number of societies face around around the world, make it also a timely contribution. In particular, the book can be an excellent complement in a course on judicial politics and judicial institutions that usually do not consider, or barely, ethical issues regarding the behavior of actors who populate the institutions of the justice system."
—Julios Rios-Figueroa, Division de Estudios Politicos, CIDE, Carretera Mexico-Toluca.


"Ethics and Criminal Justice: An Introduction, [John Kleinig] provides the reader with interesting and thought provoking insight... Intended as an introductory text, the readings are brief yet full of examples the reader can apply to the topic at hand... [recommend it] as a primary primary text for any comprehensive ethics course..."
—Amie R. Scheidegger, Brevard College, North Carolina, International Criminal Justice Review

From the Publisher