Myths and Realities of Crime and Justice

by Barkan, Steven E.

• ISBN13: 9780763755744
• ISBN10: 0763755745
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-30
• Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning

Summary

Americans are fascinated with crime, criminals, and criminal justice. For all the public interest, however, relatively little is known about these topics that dominate newspaper headlines each and every day in the United States. This book provides readers with an accurate and up-to-date picture of crime and justice in the United States. Myths and Realities of Crime and Justice: What Every American Should Know addresses the major topics in this broad field and presents recent findings from criminologists and criminal justice practitioners in a reader-friendly manner. Combining up-to-date facts with an engaging narrative, this book will dispel many of the preconceived notions and distorted pictures about crime and justice that continue to perpetuate in the United States. This one-of-a-kind criminal justice book offers everything you need to know about crime, criminals, police. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Steven E. Barkan, PhD, Professor of Sociology, The University of Maine, Orono, Maine George J. Bryjak, PhD, Former Professor of Sociology, University of San Diego, San Diego, California

Table of Contents

Preface	p. iii
Acknowledgments	p. iv
What No One Is Telling You About Crime and Justice	p. 3
Crime, Criminals, and Why We All Need to Know About Them	p. 4
Getting Tough? The U.S. Criminal Justice System in Crisis	p. 5
Who We Are and Why We Wrote This Book	p. 6
The Crime Problem	p. 9
Fear and Loathing: Don't Believe Everything You See in the Newspapers or on Television	p. 10
If You Build It, They Will Come (and Then Leave): The War on Crime and the Growth of Prisons	p. 15
Dirty Secrets of Criminal Justice	p. 17
How Much Crime Is There and Who Commits It?	p. 25
How Crimes Are Counted	p. 26
Who Commits Crime?	p. 31
Robbers, Rapists, and Serial Killers: Violent Crime in America	p. 43
Homicide	p. 44
Serial Killers	p. 47
Mass Murder	p. 53
Rape: A Crime of Power, Not Sex	p. 57
Robbery	p. 62
The Churches and Sexual Abuse	p. 68
Hookers, Dopers, and Corporate Crooks: Economic, Exploitive, and Consensual Crime	p. 75
Burglary	p. 76
Motor Vehicle Theft	p. 78
Corporate Crime	p. 81
Identity Theft	p. 83
Illegal Drug Use	p. 87
Prostitution	p. 101
Victims and Victimization: Will You Be Next?	p. 111
Victim Characteristics	p. 112
The Cost and Consequences of Victimization	p. 116
Victims and Offenders	p. 117
The Victims Movement	p. 126
Crime Victims' Rights Act of 2004	p. 132
Crime and Criminal Law: Order, Liberty, and Justice for All?	p. 137
Order Versus Liberty in American Democracy	p. 137
Types of Crime: Felonies and Misdemeanors	p. 138
When Is an Act a Crime and When Is It Not a Crime? The Elements of Criminal Behavior	p. 139
When Is a Defendant Not Responsible for Committing a Crime? Legal Defenses to Criminal Charges	p. 141
The Rights of Suspects and Defendants: Controversy and the U.S. Constitution	p. 145
Why They Break the Law	p. 157
Rational Choice and Deterrence	p. 158
Biological and Psychological Explanations	p. 161
Sociological Explanations	p. 165
Theory and Policy, or How to Reduce Crime and How Not to Reduce It	p. 173
Taking It to the Streets: Cops on the Job	p. 179
The Organization of Law Enforcement	p. 180
Police: White, Black, Male, Female, Straight, and Gay	p. 181
The Police and Crime Rates	p. 183
Doing Police Work	p. 184
Police Discretion	p. 190
The Police and Profiling	p. 191
Militarizing the Police	p. 193
Police Deviance: When the Good Guys Are Bad Guys	p. 195
Sexual Predators in Blue	p. 198
Police and the Use of Force	p. 200
Policing the Police	p. 205
Pretrial Procedures and Plea Bargaining: From Arrest to "Let's Make a Deal"	p. 211
Pretrial Procedures	p. 212
The Courtroom as a Clubhouse	p. 220
Plea Bargaining	p. 221
Criminal Trials and Courtroom Issues: Convicting the Innocent, Exonerating the Guilty	p. 233
The Criminal Trial	p. 234
Jury Nullification	p. 246
Wrongful Convictions: Factually Innocent but Legally Guilty	p. 249
Fingerprints: Proof Positive?	p. 257
"Is That All the Evidence You Have?" The CSI Effect	p. 258
Prisons and Jails: Punishment at Any Cost?	p. 263
Such an Ordeal: Prisons Yesterday and Today	p. 264
Life Behind Bars: Myths Versus Reality	p. 271
Women in Prison: Sexism in Captivity	p. 276
The Death Penalty Debate	p. 279
Community Corrections and Juvenile Justice	p. 285
Probation and Parole	p. 285
Juvenile Justice: Youths at Risk?	p. 292
Conclusion: What Every American Should Know	p. 303
What Do We Know About Crime?	p. 303
What Should We Do About Crime?	p. 306
How Can We Help Crime Victims?	p. 306
How Can We Improve the Justice System?	p. 307
Keeping Your Family Safe	p. 308
Keeping Your Family Off the Police Blotter	p. 309
References	p. 311
Index	p. 347
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.