Criminal Justice Policy Issues

Criminal Justice Policy Issues provides students with information that helps them better understand the complexities of American criminal justice system and its agencies. The text features timely and thought-provoking readings that deal with the philosophical, historical, functional, developmental, current, and future issues that influence the criminal justice system.

Section I provides readers with an introduction to key policies and practices within the criminal justice system. In Section II, students learn about challenges related to law enforcement, including police service and liability insurance, the use of body cameras, nonverbal communication in law enforcement, the militarization of the police, and more. Section III speaks to the courts and judicial system, featuring articles that examine judges, litigants, and the design of the courts; Stand Your Ground laws; the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010; the death penalty; and bio-criminology. The final section features readings about corrections with discussion of mass incarceration and its relationship with the War on Drugs, the effects of mass incarceration on communities of color, border security, punishment, corrections in sustainable communities, and career paths in criminal justice.

Criminal Justice Policy Issues is an ideal collection for undergraduate and graduate-level courses in criminal justice.

Noel Out is an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He holds a Ph.D. in criminology from Florida State University and M.A. from Texas Woman's University. Dr. Otu's criminology and criminal justice research has been published in Law Enforcement Executive Forum, Salus Journal, Journal of Social Sciences Research, and The Police Journal, among others. He has published numerous book chapters and encyclopedia entries in the field of criminal justice and criminology.