NCJ Number
103116
Date Published
1987
Length
416 pages
Annotation
Psychological concepts, methods, and findings are used to examine the implications of four dilemmas of the criminal justice system: individual rights versus the common good, equality versus discretion, discovery of the truth or resolution of conflicts, and science versus the law as a source of decisions.
Abstract
The discussion then turns to the psychologist's role in responding to conflicts. Legal and moral concepts that are bases for responses to the conflicts are analyzed. Implications of a psychological analysis of the conflicts are drawn for attorney socialization, training, and ethics and also for police selection, training, and behavior. Other topics extensively discussed include the use of polygraph findings and confessions as evidence, entrapment, masculine and feminine concepts of justice, the selection of jurists in capital cases, concepts of children's rights, inmates' rights, and recent views on biological explanations of criminal behavior. Discussions also cover rapists and their victims, pretrial procedures, trial procedures, the insanity defense, sentencing, appeal procedures, and crime theories and their implications. Chapter summaries, author and subject indexes, and approximately 700 references.