Unlike other textbooks on the subject, Criminal Justice Policy and Planning: Planned Change, Fifth Edition, presents a comprehensive and structured account of the process of administering planned change in the criminal justice system. Welsh and Harris detail a simple yet sophisticated seven-stage model, which offers students and practitioners a full account of program and policy development from beginning to end. The authors thoughtfully discuss the steps: analyzing a problem; setting goals and objectives; designing the program or policy; action planning; implementing and monitoring; evaluating outcomes; and reassessing and reviewing. Within these steps, students focus on performing essential procedures, such as conducting a systems analysis, specifying an impact model, identifying target populations, making cost projections, collecting monitoring data, and performing evaluations. In reviewing these steps and procedures, students can develop a full appreciation for the challenges inherent in the process and understand the tools that they require to meet those challenges. To provide for a greater understanding of the material, the text uses a wide array of real-life case studies and examples of programs and policies. Examples include policies such as Restorative Justice, Justice Reinvestment, Stop-and-Frisk, and the Brady Act, and programs such as drug courts, community-based violence prevention, and halfway houses. By examining the successes and failures of various innovations, the authors demonstrate both the ability of rational planning to make successful improvements and the tendency of unplanned change to result in undesirable outcomes. The result is a powerful argument for the use of logic, deliberation, and collaboration in criminal justice innovations.

Unlike other textbooks on the subject, Criminal Justice Policy and Planning presents a comprehensive and structured account of the process of administering planned change in the criminal justice system. Welsh and Harris detail a simple yet sophisticated seven-stage model, which offers students and practitioners a full account of program and policy development from beginning to end. The authors thoughtfully discuss the steps: analyzing a problem; setting goals and objectives; designing the program or policy; action planning; implementing and monitoring; evaluating outcomes; and reassessing and reviewing. Within these steps, students and policy-makers focus on performing essential procedures, such as conducting a systems analysis, specifying an impact model, identifying target populations, making cost projections, collecting monitoring data, and performing a meta-analysis, In reviewing these steps and procedures, readers can develop a full appreciation for the challenges inherent in the process and understand the tools required to meet those challenges. To provide for a greater understanding of the material, the text uses a wide array of real-life case studies and examples of programs and policies. Examples include policies such as Restorative Justice, The Second Chance Act, Three Strikes Laws, and the Brady Act, and programs such as drug courts, boot camps, and halfway houses. By examining the successes and failures of these innovations, the authors demonstrate both the ability of rational planning to make successful improvements and the tendency of unplanned change to result in undesirable outcomes. The result is a powerful argument for the use of logic, deliberation, and collaboration in criminal justice innovations.

Crime in the United States has fluctuated considerably over the past thirty years, as have the policy approaches to deal with it. During this time, criminologists and other scholars have helped to shed light on the roles of incarceration, prevention, drugs, guns, policing, and numerous other aspects to crime control. Yet the latest research is rarely heard in public discussions and is often missing from the desks of policymakers. This book summarizes the latest scientific information on the causes of crime and the evidence about what does and does not work to control it. As with previous editions, each essay reviews the existing literature, discusses the methodological rigor of the studies, identifies what policies and programs the studies suggest, and then points to policies now implemented that fail to reflect the evidence. The chapters cover the principle institutions of the criminal justice system (juvenile justice, police, prisons, probation and parole, sentencing), how broader aspects of social life inhibit or encourage crime (biology, schools, families, communities), and topics currently generating a great deal of attention (criminal activities of gangs, sex offenders, prisoner reentry, changing crime rates).

This textbook reader examines the concept of flawed policies in the criminal justice arena. The authors address the costs of bad criminal justice policy and offer suggestions for the creation of good, sound, evidence-based policy. Specific topics highlighted include: * The War on Drugs * Immigration Laws * The Patriot Act and Terrorist Laws * Sentencing Guidelines * Three Strikes Laws * Capital Punishment * Sex Offender Laws * "Get Tough" Juvenile Policy * Zero Tolerance in Schools * Policies for Mental Health Offenders * Policies with Pregnant Offenders Courses appropriate for this textbook reader include upper level undergraduate and graduate level criminal justice courses dealing at least in part with public policies, the media impact on law making, public fear of crime and the legislative response. Other disciplines will also find this book an excellent supplement to their courses in Psychology, Political Science, Public Administration and Policy. "As a policy-oriented coursebook in the social science arena, Flawed Criminal Justice Policies by Reddington and Bonham is unparalleled. The authors' proficiency in examining unsustainable criminal justice policies, the misguided public perception and the capricious nature of the media's portrayal of crime compels students to reexamine our nation's crime problem from a much more common sense approach. My students described the textbook as 'practical, real world and thought provoking'. I highly recommend this text and many of my colleagues have also adopted it. It will truly engage your students and elicit great debates and classroom discussion." -- Professor Joanne C. Metzger J.D, Temple University, Department of Criminal Justice The Teacher's Manual is available as a pdf via email or on a CD. Please contact Beth Hall at [email protected] to request a copy. PowerPoint slides are available upon adoption. Sample slides from the full, 153-slide presentation are available to view here. Email [email protected] for more information.

A CounterPunch Best Book of the Year A Lone Star Policy Institute Recommended Book “If you care, as I do, about disrupting the perverse politics of criminal justice, there is no better place to start than Prisoners of Politics.” —James Forman, Jr., author of Locking Up Our Own The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. The social consequences of this fact—recycling people who commit crimes through an overwhelmed system and creating a growing class of permanently criminalized citizens—are devastating. A leading criminal justice reformer who has successfully rewritten sentencing guidelines, Rachel Barkow argues that we would be safer, and have fewer people in prison, if we relied more on expertise and evidence and worried less about being “tough on crime.” A groundbreaking work that is transforming our national conversation on crime and punishment, Prisoners of Politics shows how problematic it is to base criminal justice policy on the whims of the electorate and argues for an overdue shift that could upend our prison problem and make America a more equitable society. “A critically important exploration of the political dynamics that have made us one of the most punitive societies in human history. A must-read by one of our most thoughtful scholars of crime and punishment.” —Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy “Barkow’s analysis suggests that it is not enough to slash police budgets if we want to ensure lasting reform. We also need to find ways to insulate the process from political winds.” —David Cole, New York Review of Books “A cogent and provocative argument about how to achieve true institutional reform and fix our broken system.” —Emily Bazelon, author of Charged

This current collection of essays on contemporary U.S. criminal justice policy is a timely response to the significant recent growth of policy-oriented research in the fields of criminology and criminal justice. "U.S. Criminal Justice Policy: A Contemporary Reader" addresses how criminal justice policy issues are framed, identifies participants in the policy process, discusses how policy is made, and considers the constraints and opportunities found in the policy process. Findings are linked to broader institutional, cultural and global criminal justice trends, and are used to determine what recent research reveals about crime policy and democratic governance. The main goal of this book is to encourage readers to engage in a dialogue about criminal justice policy, and to think about the potential for criminal justice reform.

In this revised edition of their concise, readable, yet wide-ranging book, Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox tackle a question students and scholars of law, criminology, and political science constantly face: what mistakes have led to the problems that pervade the criminal justice system in the United States? The reluctance of criminal justice policymakers to talk openly about failure, the authors argue, has stunted the public conversation about crime in this country and stifled new ideas. It has also contributed to our inability to address such problems as chronic offending in low-income neighborhoods, an overreliance on incarceration, the misuse of pretrial detention, and the high rates of recidivism among parolees. Berman and Fox offer students and policymakers an escape from this fate by writing about failure in the criminal justice system. Their goal is to encourage a more forthright dialogue about criminal justice, one that acknowledges that many new initiatives fail and that no one knows for certain how to reduce crime. For the authors, this is not a source of pessimism, but a call to action. This revised edition is updated with a new foreword by Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., and afterword by Greg Berman.

A book designed for both Criminal Justice Organization and Criminal Justice Administration classes, by two top scholars in the area. The text presents an organizational view of our Criminal Justice System that is structured into three sections: organizational theories, variation of such theories, and decision making. It features learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter, and a website with instructional materials including test banks and power points. "The opinions and experiences of the authors break up the content and engage the reader. The personal tone is a nice break from a strictly academic text!" --Cyndi Rickards, Drexel University

"Criminal Justice and the Policy Process develops a synthesized policy making model that explains how complex justice policy is developed, implemented, and evaluated. Unlike other texts, this study weaves together important aspects of several competing explanations of policy choice into a single model. Further, this text emphasizes the importance of implementing policy as an important component in the ultimate outcome of policy decisions. The book fills a void in introducing students to the policy making process coupled with the importance of justice administration as a component. Important themes throughout the book include the role of the media, special interests, elite policy makers, and discretion."--BOOK JACKET.

Providing cutting-edge coverage of modern management theory, CRIMINAL JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS: ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT, International Edition emphasizes the application of management techniques appropriate to each area of the criminal justice system. Known for its thoroughness, accessibility, and practicality, the book focuses on the both the “hows” and “whys” of management techniques, equipping readers with the skills, knowledge, and solid understanding they need to effectively deal with the management challenges they will face in their own careers. Completely current and relevant, the Fifth Edition includes thoroughly updated research, more statistics, and coverage of such key topics as civil liability, political power, ethics, budgeting, and more. Chapters begin with timely opening vignettes that immediately draw readers into management concepts and theory, while insight from actual CJ professionals is featured throughout the text.