The Mythology of Crime and Criminal Justice

This refreshing, illuminating volume offers students of crime and justice an innovative alternative to traditional criminal justice texts. Each of the authoritative, well-written chapters questions our most basic assumptions of crime and justice, covering relevant issues such as juvenile crime, the death penalty, and serial murder. Each crime problem is carefully traced from its creation to society's integration of a myth into popular thinking and eventually social policy. Refined through two best-selling editions, the Third Edition continues to offer broad applications in the classroom. Its provocative viewpoints challenge habitual perspectives, thus making this text an excellent starting point for understanding the realities of criminal justice and an engaging alternative to reinforcing crime myths.