NCJ Number
130236
Date Published
1991
Length
674 pages
Annotation
After discussing the concept of crime, this book addresses issues associated with criminal-justice-processing institutions: police, prosecutor, defense attorney, courts, sentencing, and corrections.
Abstract
The first chapter discusses the definition, extent, and varieties of criminal activity, followed by a chapter that examines the rationale for punishing criminal behavior and the nature of various defenses to criminal charges. Another chapter profiles the processing of an armed robbery case to illustrate the criminal justice format for handling criminal behavior, followed by an exploration of the values underlying the criminal process. After an introductory review of the history of police in the United States, a chapter profiles what police do and discusses various means of managing police discretion. The exclusionary rule is examined as a means of enforcing the privilege against self-incrimination and the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. After profiling the adversarial system for resolving criminal cases and the roles of the prosecutor, defense attorney, and judge within this system, a chapter examines issues in the work of the prosecutor and the defense attorney. Other chapters discuss pretrial release and detention, trial procedures, the guilty plea and plea negotiations, the correctional enterprise, sentencing models, and the pros and cons of capital punishment. Chapter recommended readings and discussion questions