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About the Project and Adaptation Notes
Courtney A. Crittenden
Preface
Wesley B. Maier, PhD and Courtney A. Crittenden
1.0 Essentials of Criminal Justice
1.1 The Evolving System of Justice
Wesley B. Maier, PhD; Kadence Maier; William M. "Bill" Overby, MCJ; and Terry D. Edwards
1.2 Views of Crime
1.3 The U.S. Criminal Justice System
1.4 Perspectives of Justice
1.5 Criminal Justice Process
1.6 Criminal Justice Funnel
1.7 Wedding Cake Model
1. Summary
2.0 Crime Measurement and Statistics
2.1 Introduction to Crime
2.2 Crime Statistic Data Sources
2.3 Crime Trends
2. Summary
3.0 Constitutional and Criminal Law in the U.S. Criminal Justice System
3.1 What is a “Body of Law” and which bodies of law are most relevant to the U.S. Criminal Justice System?
3.2 Constitutional Law Issues in the U.S. Criminal Justice System
3.3 Criminal Law Issues in the U.S. Criminal Justice System
3.4 Current Developments in Constitutional/Criminal Law
3.5 Employment Opportunities Related to Law
3. Summary
4.0 Criminology - Explaining Criminal Behavior
4.1 Concepts of Criminology
Brian Fedorek
4.2 The Discipline of Criminology
4.3 Impacts of Criminology on the Criminal Justice System
4.4 How to View Crime as a Criminologist
4.5 Theories, and How to Tell if the Theory is Good
4.6 Theories of Crime and Causation
4.7 Ethical Issues in Criminology
4.8 Typologies of Crimes
4.9 Typologies and Profiling of the Offender
4. Summary
5.0 Victimology
5.1 Concepts of Victimology
5.2 History of Victimization
5.3 Ideologies of Victimology
5.4 Crime Victims and Media Treatment
5.5 The Media and the Victim: Examining Accuracy and Ethics
5.6 Theories of Victimology
5.7 Typologies of Crime Victims
5.8 Non-Criminal Victims
5. Summary
6.0 Criminal Justice Policy
6.1. Importance of Policy in Criminal Justice
Alison S. Burke
6.2. The Myth of Moral Panics
6.3. The Stages of Policy Development
6.4. Importance of Evidence Based Practices
6.5. Re-Evaluating Policy
7.0 Early American Policing
7.1 Early History of American Policing
7.2 English Policing
7.3 The Political Era
7.4 The Professional Era
7.5 The Community Era
7. Summary
8.0 Issues in Modern-Day Policing
8.1 What Makes Something an "Issue"?
8.2 Recruitment and Retention of Law Enforcement Officers
8.3 Society's View of Law Enforcement
8.4 Police Misconduct, Corruption, and Accountability
8.5 The Impact of Technology on Policing
8.6 Militarization of the Police
8. Summary
9.0 American Criminal Courts and Sentencing
9.1 Introduction to American Courts
9.2 Dual Court System
9.3 Courtroom Actors
9.4 Trial Process
9.5 Sentencing
9. Summary
10.0 Punishment and Corrections
10.1 Introduction to Punishment
10.2 Eras and Evolution of Corrections
10.3 Modern Jails and Prisons
10.4 Prisons
10. Summary
11.0 Community Corrections, Probation, and Parole
11.1 Alternative to Incarceration: Intermediate Sanctions
11.2 Probation
11.3 Incarceration: Intake and Release
11.4 Parole
11. Summary
12.0 Juvenile Justice and Beyond the Basics (Current Issues in Criminal Justice)
12.1 Youth Crime
12.2. Juvenile Justice
12.3. History of the Juvenile Justice System
12.4. Delinquency
12.5. Juvenile Justice Process
12.6. Due Process in the Juvenile Court
12.7. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974
12.8. Getting Tough: Initiatives for Punishment and Accountability
12.9. Returning to Rehabilitation in the Contemporary Juvenile Justice System
12.10. The Structure of the Juvenile Justice System
12.11. Juvenile Institutions
12.12 Current Issues: Mass Incarceration
David Carter and Brandon Hamann
12.13 Current Issues: The War on Drugs and Gangs
David Carter; Kate McLean; and Brandon Hamann
12.14 Current Issues: Aging and Overcrowded Prisons
12.15 Current Issues: Transcarceration
Brandon Hamann and Kate McLean
12.16 Current Issues: The Revolving Door
Brandon Hamann and David Carter
12.17 Current Issues: Terrorism in America
Brandon Hamann
12.18 Cybercrime
12.19 Homeland Security
12. References
About the Editor
Glossary
Change Log
2025-11-11: First publication.
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Introduction to the Criminal Justice System Copyright © 2025 by Courtney Crittenden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.