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Foundations of Criminal Justice asks important questions often ignored in the introdution to criminal justice course: Why is our justice system the way it is? How do we decide which actions are crimes? How is policy made? What is justice and is it achieved? Having tackled these concepts and understood the ideas and motivations underlying our justice system, students are better prepared to understand what the police, courts, and corrections do and why--and to think critically about the decisions they will face should they go on to work in the field.
List of contents
- Chapter 1 Introducing Crime and Criminal Justice
- Chapter 2 Criminal Justice, Society, and Morality
- Chapter 3 Criminal Justice, Legal Reasoning, and Legal Philosophy
- Chapter 4 Theories of Deviance and Social Control
- Chapter 5 Theories of Criminal Behavior
- Chapter 6 Concepts of Justice
- Chapter 7 Concepts of Justice Policy
- Chapter 8 Issues of Inequality in the Criminal Justice System
- Chapter 9 Concepts of Criminal Procedure
- Chapter 10 Criminal Law
- Chapter 11 Criminal Punishment
- Chapter 12 Core Concepts of US Policing
- Chapter 13 Core Concepts of US Court Systems
- Chapter 14 Core Concepts of US Correctional Theory and Practice
About the author
Stephen S. Owen: Professor and Chair of Criminal Justice, Radford University; Henry F. Fradella: Professor of Criminal Justice at Arizona State University; co-author of America's Courts and the Criminal Justice System, 11 /e (Cengage, 2013), Criminal Procedure for the CJ Professional, 11 /e (Cengage, 2012), and Forensic Psychology, 2/e (Cengage, 2007); Tod W. Burke: Professor of Criminal Justice and Associate Dean in the College of Humanities and Behavior Sciences at Radford University; a former MD police officer; Jerry W. Joplin: Professor of Justice and Policy Studies at Guilford College; former administrator and correctional counselor in the IL Dept of Corrections
Summary
Rather than simply giving students an overview of the elements of the criminal justice system--police, courts, and corrections--Foundations of Criminal Justice delves into the interdisciplinary ideas underlying those elements. With a new chapter on "Issues of Inequaility in the Criminal Justice System," this edition delves even deeper into the larger questions and themes that govern our criminal justice system: Why is our justice system the way it is? How do we decide which actions are crimes? How is policy made? What is justice and is it achieved?
The text features a robust pedagological apparatus to guide students in their learning: focusing and review questions appear throughout the text to focus student learning and solidify key concepts; chapter-ending Criminal Justice questions ask students to think critically and apply what they have learned to a real-life issue; and photo essays, which survey the broad range of issues in the chapters to come, open each Part.
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This is one of the most comprehensive, yet concisely written introductory texts that I have ever read. It is very detailed and provides students with a solid foundation of the key principles in the field. I highly recommend the text."
- Nathan E. Kruis, Penn State Altoona
