Criminal Justice Today An Introductory Text for the Twenty-first Century

This introductory text on criminal justice provides a historical analysis of the field, an examination of the current operation of the criminal justice system, and discussions of current and future issues facing the criminal justice system. Individual sections focus on the nature of criminal justice, sources of criminal justice data, theories of crime causation, sources and issues in modern criminal law, the history and structure of policing, police administration, and police legal limitations. Other sections explain the role and procedures of the courts, sentencing, probation and parole, the development and current operation of prisons, and contemporary prison life. A section on special issues considers juvenile delinquency, drug abuse, international criminal justice, the relationship between technology and individual rights, and sociocultural change and its current and possible future impacts on the justice system. The text emphasizes issues relating to the balancing of individual rights and societal interests, the conflicts of interests and roles throughout the system, and the pervasiveness of discretionary decisionmaking throughout the system of modern American criminal justice.