Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction / Edition 13

by Frank Schmalleger

Overview

For introductory courses in criminal justice.
The gold standard for criminal justice texts
Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction examines crime in the US with a focus on police, courts, and corrections. Students contemplate the fine line separating freedom from security, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the American justice system. A wealth of Internet resources along with author tweets (@schmalleger) build on central ideas in the text, while keeping pace with changes in a continually changing field. Emphasizing the need for systemic change, the 13th edition includes revised coverage of large-scale crimes pervasive in the US, as well as policing issues and challenges, sentencing guidelines, and state laws redefining the age of criminal responsibility.
Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction, 13th Edition, is also available via Revel^TM, an interactive learning environment that enables students to read, practice, and study in one continuous experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780135186268
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	01/31/2019
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	544
Sales rank:	884,798
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Frank Schmalleger, PhD, is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where he taught criminal justice courses for 20 years and chaired the university’s Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice for 16 of those years. In 1991 the university awarded him the title of Distinguished Professor, and the university named him Professor Emeritus in 2001.

Dr. Schmalleger holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame and Ohio State University, having earned both a master’s degree (1970) and a doctorate in sociology (1974) with a special emphasis in criminology from Ohio State University.

As an adjunct professor at 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 over a decade. Schmalleger has also taught in the online graduate program of the New School for Social Research, helping to build the world’s first electronic classrooms. Schmalleger is the creator of a number of award-winning websites, including one that supports this textbook.

Frank Schmalleger is the author of numerous articles and many books, including the widely used Criminal Justice Today (Pearson, 2019); Criminology Today (Pearson, 2019); Criminal Law Today (Pearson, 2016); and The Definitive Guide to Criminal Justice and Criminology on the World Wide Web (Pearson, 2009).

Schmalleger is also the founding editor of the journal Criminal Justice Studies. He has served as editor of 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?
2. The Crime Picture
3. Criminal Law

PART 2: POLICING
4. Policing: Purpose and Organization
5. Policing: Legal Aspects
6. Policing: Issues and Challenges

PART 3: ADJUDICATION
7. The Courts
8. The Courtroom Work Group and the Criminal Trial
9. Sentencing

PART 4: CORRECTIONS
10. Probation, Parole, and Reentry
11. Prisons and Jails
12. Prison Life

PART 5: THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM
13. Juvenile Justice

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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