Featuring chapters written by various experts in the discipline, Critical Issues in Criminal Justice: Historical Perspectives provides students with well-researched information regarding vital developments in the field of criminal justice, all the while framing these developments with historical context and insight. The book features five distinct sections. In Section I, chapters address the need for diversity in policing, the relationship between the economy, police staffing, and crime rates, use of force in policing, and terrorism. Section II offers chapters on the effects of mass incarceration on minorities and restorative justice. In Section III, students read about DNA evidence in court cases, the criminal justice system and the media, and the challenge of child pornography cases. Section IV addresses special topics, including criminal justice education, immigration policy, PTSD and healing in criminal justice personnel, and transitional justice. The final section provides perspectives on implicit bias in law enforcement, juvenile justice in California, and new standards and principles for policing. Critical Issues in Criminal Justice explores the history of the criminal justice system, both its trials and triumphs, in an effort to encourage future practitioners to learn from the past and move the discipline forward. It is ideal for criminal justice courses and programs. Ernest Uwazie is a professor and department chair of criminal justice at California State University, Sacramento. He holds a Ph.D. in justice studies from Arizona State University. Ryan Getty is an assistant professor of criminal justice and coordinator of the crime scene lab at California State University, Sacramento. He received his Ph.D. in criminology from the University of Texas at Dallas. Mercedes Valadez is an assistant professor of criminal justice at California State University, Sacramento. She earned her Ph.D. in criminology and criminal justice from Arizona State University. Jennifer Noble is an assistant professor of criminal justice at California State University, Sacramento. She is a former defense attorney and holds a juris doctorate from University of the Pacific.

New and recurring issues confronting the police service are explored. Among the topics covered are: the police and politics; police and minority groups; the role of courts in a statewide criminal justice information system; team policing; lateral entry; police review boards; the police and their problems (e.g., police community relations); the use of force; job performance evaluation; organized crime; police ethics; the traditional police organization; and police planning. The text combines theory with everyday police knowledge in addressing problems important to both police administrators and personnel. A bibliography is appended.

Human trafficking has moved from relative obscurity to a major area of research, policy and teaching over the past ten years. Research has sprung from criminology, public policy, women’s and gender studies, sociology, anthropology, and law, but has been somewhat hindered by the failure of scholars to engage beyond their own disciplines and favoured methodologies. Recent research has begun to improve efforts to understand the causes of the problem, the experiences of victims, policy efforts, and their consequences in specific cultural and historical contexts. Global Human Trafficking: Critical issues and contexts foregrounds recent empirical work on human trafficking from an interdisciplinary, critical perspective. The collection includes classroom-friendly features, such as introductory chapters that provide essential background for understanding the trafficking literature, textboxes explaining key concepts, discussion questions for each chapter, and lists of additional resources, including films, websites, and additional readings for each chapter. The authors include both eminent and emerging scholars from around the world, drawn from law, anthropology, criminology, sociology, cultural studies, and political science and the book will be useful for undergraduate and graduate courses in these areas, as well as for scholars interested in trafficking.

This reader features contributions from the best-known names in criminology today, commenting on modern theories of criminology and how the concept of justice is met (or not met) by our criminal justice system. Based on critical theories of criminology, each author presents a compelling vision of illustrations of the theory and shows how the theoretical framework relates to the nature and structure of our criminal justice system.

Over the past forty years, the criminal justice system in the United States has engaged in a very expensive policy failure, attempting to punish its way to public safety, with dismal results. So-called "tough on crime" policies have not only failed to effectively reduce crime, recidivism, and victimization but also created an incredibly inefficient system that routinely fails the public, taxpayers, crime victims, criminal offenders, their families, and their communities. Strategies that focus on behavior change are much more productive and cost effective for reducing crime than punishment, and in this book, William R. Kelly discusses the policy, process, and funding innovations and priorities that the United States needs to effectively reduce crime, recidivism, victimization, and cost. He recommends proactive, evidence-based interventions to address criminogenic behavior; collaborative decision making from a variety of professions and disciplines; and a focus on innovative alternatives to incarceration, such as problem-solving courts and probation. Students, professionals, and policy makers alike will find in this comprehensive text a bracing discussion of how our criminal justice system became broken and the best strategies by which to fix it.

Uniting forensics, law, and social science in meaningful and relevant ways, Forensic Science and the Administration of Justice, by Kevin J. Strom and Matthew J. Hickman, is structured around current research on how forensic evidence is being used and how it is impacting the justice system. This unique book—written by nationally known scholars in the field—includes five sections that explore the demand for forensic services, the quality of forensic services, the utility of forensic services, post-conviction forensic issues, and the future role of forensic science in the administration of justice. The authors offer policy-relevant directions for both the criminal justice and forensic fields and demonstrate how the role of the crime laboratory in the American justice system is evolving in concert with technological advances as well as changing demands and competing pressures for laboratory resources.

Drawing on contemporary issues ranging from globalization and neoliberalism to the environment, this essential textbook - ideal for course use - encourages readers to question the limits of the law in its present state in order to develop fairer systems at the local, national, and global levels.

The evidence that people are wrongly convicted in the American criminal justice system has been growing and is arguably a systemic problem. Westervelt and Humphrey (both in sociology, U. of North Carolina) present 14 essays that explore the causes and social characteristics of wrongful convictions, while also offering case studies and discussions of solutions to the problem. Among the topics explored are the role of informants, the reasons behind false confessions, police misconduct, racial bias , the effectiveness of counsel, and the death penalty. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

From the Foreword by Piers Beirne, University of Maine: "Because our world in the new millennium differs so profoundly from the twentieth-century one inhabited by Durkheim, recognition of this overwhelming difference is one of several organizing principles employed by editors Nick Larsen and Russell Smandych. As they rightly stress, a comparative approach to the understanding of crime and justice cannot properly capture the full complexity of globalization at the dawn of the twenty-first century. We need a global criminology now!" Global Criminology and Criminal Justice brings together 22 articles that constitute some of the most important recent literature in the field. Theory and research is situated within a broader discussion of the historical shift over the past three decades from comparative and international, to global criminology.

In recent years, justice-related and human rights issues have figured more and more prominently on the international political agenda. This expansion of the justice space is a product of a growing demand for accountability in world politics. Whether the issue is addressing heinous crimes such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in situations of armed conflict, confronting the inability or reluctance of governments to protect their own populations, or responding to the challenges posed by transnational terrorism; the international community has witnessed the proliferation of institutions and mechanisms, as well as the dynamic interplay between domestic and international processes, in the pursuit of justice-sensitive outcomes. International and hybrid tribunals, UN-led and domestic counter-terrorist initiatives, and the use of force for human protection purposes have demarcated the space within which ethical, political, and legal debates have unfolded in the quest for a more humane world order. The contributors of International Criminal Justice: Theoretical and Legal Perspectives address some of the most important issues and debates involved in this quest, and assess the merits of contending approaches to the promotion of international justice norms. This volume will contribute to the ongoing debate on the challenges, as well as opportunities, facing the justice agenda in its effort to shape developments in an increasingly interdependent world.