Themes and Organization of the Book

AUNIQUEAPPROACHFamed educator John Dewey advocated the “learning by doing” approach to education, or problem-based learning. This book is written, from start to finish, with that philosophy in mind. Its approach also com-ports with the popular learning method espoused by Benjamin Bloom, known as “Bloom’s Taxonomy,” in which he called for “higher-order thinking skills”—critical and creative thinking that involves analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

This book also benefits from the author’s having more than 35 years of combined practitioner’s and academic experience, including several positions as a criminal justice administrator and working in both policing and corrections. Therefore, its chapters con-tain a palpable, real-world flavor that is typically miss-ing for college and university criminal justice students. The book’s subtitle—Practice and Process—reflects this pervasive applied emphasis.

Hopefully readers will put into use the several fea-tures of the book that are included toward accomplish-ing this overall goal: in addition to chapter opening questions (which will allow students to assess their knowledge of the chapter materials), learning objec-tives, and a chapter summary, each chapter also con-tains a number of boxed features such as case studies, “Focus On,” “Learn by Doing,” “You Be the Judge” (or prosecutor, defense attorney, and so on, as the case may require), and “Going Global” exhibits and exercises. Also provided are “Practitioner’s Perspectives” (with people in the field describing their criminal justice occupation) as well as brief glimpses into comparative criminal justice systems, law, and practice in selected foreign venues. Taken together, these supplemen-tal materials should also greatly enhance the reader’s critical analysis, problem-solving, and communication capabilities, and allow you to experience the kind of decisions that must be made in the field.

In today’s competitive job market, students who possess these kinds of knowledge, skills, and abilities will have better opportunities for obtaining employ-ment as a criminal justice practitioner and succeeding therein. While the book will certainly delve into some theoretical, political, and sociological subject matter, it

attempts to remain true to this practical, applied focus throughout and to the extent possible.

Distinctive Chapter Contents This book also contains chapters that are devoted to topics not normally found in introductory criminal justice textbooks. For example, Chapter 4 is devoted to criminal justice ethics. These are certainly challenging times in terms of crime and corruption in our society, and perhaps nowhere is there a need for accountabil-ity and transparent ethical behavior than among those who work within our criminal justice system. For that reason, a complete chapter on ethical issues and chal-lenges is warranted. Chapter 16 also describes three unique and contemporary issues that are demanding serious consideration on the U.S. criminal justice policy-making agenda: terrorism, gun control, and marijuana laws. Finally, several chapters also include technologies that are employed in the system.

In sum, this book will introduce the student to the primary individuals, theorists, practitioners, processes, concepts, technologies, and terminologies as they work within or are applied to our criminal justice system. Furthermore, the concepts and terms learned in this introductory textbook will serve as the basis for more complex criminal justice studies of police, courts, and corrections in later course work.

Chapter Organization To facilitate the above goals, we first need to place the study of criminal justice within the big picture, which is accomplished in the four chapters compos-ing Part I. Chapter 1 generally discusses the major theme and organization of this book, foundations and politics of criminal justice, an overview of the criminal justice process and the offender’s flow through the system, and how discretion and ethics apply to the field. Chapter 2 generally defines many legal terms and concepts as they apply to crime, and includes the sources and nature of law (includ-ing substantive and procedural law, common law, and criminal and civil law), the elements of crim-inal acts, felonies and misdemeanors, offense defi-nitions and categories, and legal defenses that are allowed under the law. Chapter 3 reviews some of the prevailing explanations concerning why people commit crimes, and the three methods now used for trying to measure how many crimes are committed in the United States. Chapter 4 concerns ethics and includes definitions and problems, with emphases on the kinds of ethical problems that confront the police, the courtroom work group, and corrections staff. Included are legislative enactments and judi-cial decisions involving ethics at the federal, state, and local levels.

PREFACE

Part II consists of four chapters that address federal law enforcement and state and local policing in the United States. Chapter 5 discusses the organization and opera-tion of law enforcement agencies at the local, state, and federal levels; included are discussions of their English and colonial roots, the three eras of U.S. policing, and local (municipal police and sheriff’s offices), state, and selected federal law enforcement agencies. Also included are brief considerations of Interpol and the field of private security. Chapter 6 focuses on the kinds of work that police do, particularly with respect to the broad areas of patrolling and investigating; after beginning with their recruit-ment and training (including the need for more women and minorities in the field), we then look generally at the patrol function, including the dangers of the job, the traffic function, the use of police discretion, community policing, and the work of criminal investigators. Chapter 7 broadly examines several policing issues that exist today: use of force, corruption, civil liability, and selected tech-nologies. Chapter 8 examines the constitutional rights of the accused (as per U.S. Supreme Court decisions) as well as limitations placed on the police under the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments; the focus is on arrest, search and seizure, the right to remain silent, and the right to counsel.

Part III consists of three chapters that generally exam-ine the courts. Chapter 9 generally looks at court organi-zation and functions at the local trial court, state court, and federal court systems. Included in the chapter are discus-sions of the courts as hallowed places in our society, their use of the adversarial process, the trial process (including pretrial motions and activities), and the jury system. Chap-ter 10 considers the roles and functions of those persons who compose the courtroom work group: judges, prosecu-tors, and defense attorneys. Finally, Chapter 11 discusses sentencing, punishment, and appeals. Included are the types and purposes of punishment, types of sentences con-victed persons may receive, federal sentencing guidelines, victim impact statements, capital punishment, and selected technologies in the courts.

Part IV includes three chapters and examines many aspects of correctional organizations and operations. Chapter 12 examines federal and state prisons and jails generally, in terms of their mission, evolution, and organization; included are general discussions of prison life, to include inmate classification, supermax prisons, and selected technologies. Chapter 13 considers gener-ally the lives led and challenges faced by both corrections personnel and the inmates; included are selected court decisions concerning inmates’ legal rights; administra-tive challenges with overseeing executions, inmate liti-gation, drugs, and gangs; and the work of personnel in local jails. Chapter 14 reviews community corrections and alternatives to incarceration: probation, parole, and several other diversionary approaches. Included are discussions of the origins of probation and parole,

functions of probation and parole offices, several inter-mediate sanctions (e.g., house arrest, electronic moni-toring), and community corrections at the federal level.

Finally, Part V contains two chapters that consider methods and issues that span the criminal justice sys-tem. Chapter 15 examines juvenile justice—an area where the treatment of offenders is quite different in terms of its overall philosophy, legal bases, and judicial process. Included are the history and extent of juvenile crime, the case flow of juvenile courts, and juvenile rights. Chapter 16 provides an in-depth view of several particularly challenging and problematical problems and policy issues confronting today’s criminal justice system: terrorism (including a companion issue: gov-ernment use of unmanned aerial vehicles), gun control, and legalization of marijuana.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSAn introductory book of this level and scope cannot be successfully developed and published without the input from a large group of instructors teaching the course at two and four year colleges and universities. We were mindful that the book must be a good teaching and learning tool for both traditional ground classrooms and the increasing number of online introductory criminal justice course offerings. The book and its accompanying ancillaries benefited from comments from a wide vari-ety of people across the country. We would like offer our sincere thanks to the following people for their candid and thoughtful feedback through manuscript reviewing, class testing, and focus group participation.

George AckermanPalm Beach State College

Rosemary ArwayHodges University

John AugustineTriton College

Ken AyersKentucky Wesleyan College

Lee AyersSouthern Oregon University

James BeeksPiedmont College

Dianne Berger-HillOld Dominion University

Joanne BlackSalem College

xxv Preface

xxvi IntroductiontoCriminalJustice:PracticeandProcess

Heidi BonnerEast Carolina University

Patrick BradleyUniversity of Maryland University College

Kathryn BranchUniversity of Tampa

Christine BroekerSeminole State College

James ChapmanWake Technical Community College

Amy CookVirginia State University

Michael CretacciBuffalo State College

Patrick CundiffEast Carolina University

Melchor de GuzmanThe College at Brockport

Steven EggerUniversity of Houston–Clear Lake

Mary Beth FinnHerzing University

Charlene FreybergBellevue College

Julie GlobokarKent State University

Jill GordonVirginia Commonwealth University

Ginny HatchBoise State University

Vincent HunterTexas A&M Commerce

Joe KuhnsUniversity of North Carolina at Charlotte

Rebecca LoftusArizona State University

David MackeyPlymouth State University

Jon MaskalyEast Carolina University

Henry MeadeUniversity of Texas at San Antonio

Robert MellinUniversity of Maryland

Eric MetchikSalem State University

Patricia MillhoffUniversity of Akron

Robert MorinWestern Nevada Community College

Jacqueline MullanyTriton College

James NessUniversity of Phoenix

Christopher O’ConnorUniversity of Wisconsin–Superior

Patrick PattersonEastfield College

Nicole PiqueroUniversity of Texas at Dallas

Michael RamonMissouri State University

Cassandra ReyesWest Chester University

Melissa RyanSam Houston State University

Shannon SantanaUniversity of North Carolina at Wilmington

Kim SchnurbushHodges University

Cindy StewartCollege of Mount Saint Joseph

Jerry StinsonSouthwest Virginia Community College

Richard StringerOld Dominion University

Jason WallerTyler Junior College

Franzi WalshUniversity of Phoenix