Comprehensive and engaging, Criminal Courts: A Contemporary Perspective deepens your students′ understanding by thoroughly examining the courts and their vital role in the criminal justice system. The Sixth Edition introduces updated content, including discussions on evolving marijuana laws, the balance between victims′ and defendants′ rights, court-administered bail, and domestic violence courts.

How are sentences for federal, state, and local crimes determined?Is this process fairly and justly applied to all concerned?How have reforms affected the process over the last 25 years?Offering a comprehensive overview of the sentencing process in the United States, How Do Judges Decide? The Search for Fairness and Justice in Punishment explores these questions and more. Author Cassia Spohn first discusses the overall concept of punishment a...

Research and advocacy aimed at understanding and ending violence against women had its beginning in the early 1970s, emerging as a central concern of the feminist movement. This work has expanded exponentially over the past three decades to influence practice and policy at the local, state, and federal levels. Many of the most influential articles in the field were published in Social Problems. This volume assembles twelve of these articles into a core text that covers such topics as wife ...

This book evolved from our interest in rape as feminists and as sodal sdentists. As feminists, we were concemed about the treatment of rape victims and the attrition in rape cases under traditional rape law, and we welcomed legal reforms designed to improve the situation. As sodal sdentists, we wondered about the efficacy of legal changes aimed at an inherently resistant court system. We also were curious about the lack of studies examining the impact of these changes; we were particularly...

Drugs, Crime, and Justice is an engaging, yet comprehensive, analysis of the interrelationships among drug use/abuse, crime, and justice. The first four chapters introduce readers to the interrelationships between drugs and crime, while the second later chapters provide readers with an overview of historical and contemporary policies, as well as a comprehensive review of research on policing drug markets, arresting drug offenders, and prosecution and sentencing of drug off...

Sentencing Policies and Practices in the 21st Century focuses on the evolution and consequences of sentencing policies and practices, with sentencing broadly defined to include plea bargaining, judicial and juror decision making, and alternatives to incarceration, including participation in problem-solving courts.This collection of essays and reports of original research explores how sentencing policies and practices, both in the United States and internationally, have evo...

When news breaks that a convicted murderer, released from prison, has killed again, or that an innocent person has escaped the death chamber in light of new DNA evidence, arguments about capital punishment inevitably heat up. Few controversies continue to stir as much emotion as this one, and public confusion is often the result. This volume brings together seven experts--judges, lawyers, prosecutors, and philosophers--to debate the death penalty in a spirit of open inquiry and civil discu...

Criminal law rules and procedures, explained in plain English. The criminal justice system becomes increasingly complex each year as new laws and decisions can change legal standards dramatically. And at a time when even law enforcement is being affected by hiring freezes and budget cuts, the result is fewer resources and public programs for those accused of crimes, and their friends and families. That's why it's crucial that you have access to clear and complete explanations of all aspect...

For Richard Posner, legal formalism and formalist judges--notably Antonin Scalia--present the main obstacles to coping with the dizzying pace of technological advance. Posner calls for legal realism--gathering facts, considering context, and reaching a sensible conclusion that inflicts little collateral damage on other areas of the law.

With the popularity of crime dramas like CSI focusing on forensic science, and increasing numbers of police and prosecutors making wide-spread use of DNA, high-tech science seems to have become the handmaiden of law enforcement. But this is a myth,asserts law professor and nationally known expert on police profiling David A. Harris. In fact, most of law enforcement does not embrace science—it rejects it instead, resisting it vigorously. The question at the heart of this book is why....

Introduction to Forensic Psychology, Third Edition, has been completely restructured to explain in greater detail how courses on forensic psychology are taught, making it more applicable as a textbook than previous editions. It also features more figures, tables and text boxes, making it a true textbook. What this book has that others do not is equal representation of criminal behavior, the court systems, and law enforcement/prisons. It also has equal representation of criminal and civil f...

In each of the first three editions of the bestselling Law 101, Jay Feinman gave readers an upbeat and vivid examination of the American legal system. Since the third edition was published in 2010, much has happened: several key Supreme Court cases have been decided, we've seen sensational criminal trials, and the legal system has had to account for the latest developments in Internet law. This fully updated fourth edition of Law 101 accounts for all this and more, as Fei...