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Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction, Fourth Edition Update

NCJ Number
194202
Author(s)
Frank Schmalleger Ph.D.
Date Published
2002
Length
480 pages
Annotation
This book focuses on the three traditional elements of the criminal justice system: police, courts, and corrections.
Abstract
Part I focuses on crime in America, with Chapter 1 describing what criminal justice is, Chapter 2 describing the crime picture, and Chapter 3 explaining criminal law. Highlights include the process of criminal justice, the emerging patterns of criminal activity, and the general categories of crime. Part II describes policing. Chapter 4 explains administrative, scientific, and contemporary police management. Chapter 5 describes the legal aspects of policing, including the abuse of police power, search and seizure, arrest, and the intelligence function. Chapter 6 explains the issues of policing. These include corruption, civil liability, ethics, professionalism, and private protective services. Part III describes adjudication, highlighting the courts, the courtroom work group and the criminal trial, and sentencing. Specific issues are pretrial activities, professional and nonprofessional courtroom participants, the philosophy of criminal sentencing, the different types of sentencing, and the victim. Part IV presents the elements of corrections, which include probation, parole, and community corrections, prisons and jails, and prison life. Highlights include the pluses and minuses of probation and parole, intermediate sanctions, private prisons, the realities of male and female prison life, and issues facing prisons today. The chapters of this study guide correspond directly to the chapters of the textbook. These study guide chapters contain learning objectives, chapter summaries, key terms, key cases, chapter outlines, discussion exercises, learning tips, web links, practice test questions, and crossword puzzles. Appendix, index