Order under law: Readings in criminal justice

The record rates of imprisonment seen in America in the 1990s reflect not only a willingness to use imprisonment as a punishment, but a general approach in which social problems are seen as crime problems to be dealt with by police, the courts, and corrections. Although the public seems to demand simple solutions, there is nothing simple about the crime problem. Readers of criminal justice must come to grips with some of the most emotional and complex questions confronting our society. The editors have assembled a group of articles which illustrate some of the complexities of criminal justice in a way that is accessible to the general reader. Scrutiny over the issues and controversies in the field of criminal justice has resulted in a massive body of literature. The editors of this collection have focused on some of the major issues which have emerged from this literature. The six new articles in this Fifth Edition (and two which have been updated) reflect a heightened awareness of issues related to victims, career criminals, illegal drugs, police practices, an overloaded court system, and current dilemmas facing prisons.