This important new book on criminology is a major attempt to evaluate actual victim compensation programs as well as their political and economic contexts, through the eyes of the victims themselves.Elias traces the experiences of violent-crime victims throughout the entire criminal justice process, comparing New York's and New Jersey's victim compensation programs. He shows how programs differ when compensation is viewed essentially as welfare and when it is viewed as a right. The study uses extensive interviews with officials and with violent crime victims.The study indicates victim compensation programs largely fail to achieve their stated goals of improving attitudes toward the criminal-justice system and the government. The programs produce poor attitudes toward government and criminal justice.

This important new book on criminology is a major attempt to evaluate actual victim compensation programs as well as their political and economic contexts, through the eyes of the victims themselves. Elias traces the experiences of violent-crime victims throughout the entire criminal justice process, comparing New York's and New Jersey's victim compensation programs. He shows how programs differ when compensation is viewed essentially as welfare and when it is viewed as a right. The study uses extensive interviews with officials and with violent crime victims. The study indicates victim compensation programs largely fail to achieve their stated goals of improving attitudes toward the criminal-justice system and the government. The programs produce poor attitudes toward government and criminal justice.

The second edition of Sexual Assault provides a broader overview of the crime of sexual assault by adding new chapters on drug facilitated sexual assault, child sexual abuse, sexual abuse of the elderly, sex offender treatment and public policy concerning sex offenders. In addition, the second edition provides more Special Features which truly compliment the academic sections of the book. Also, this new edition completes each of the six parts of the text with a page of suggested discussion questions, videos to show and class activities. Authors Reddington and Kreisel approach the topic of sexual assault in a unique way by examining it from a criminal justice perspective. In giving an overview of sexual assault, examining its victimology, discussing the sexual offender, and looking at the role the criminal justice system plays, this book presents a comprehensive and thoroughly informative study of the crime. The Instructor's Resource Manual is available electronically on a CD or via email. Please contact Beth Hall at [email protected] to request a copy. PowerPoint slides available upon adoption. To see sample slides from this 229-slide presentation, click here. Email [email protected] for more information. "The editors did a good job fitting together the different articles on this important subject in a relatively seamless manner. This well-written, straightforward book should be easily read and understood by anyone with an interest in the subject. Summing Up: Recommended." -- CHOICE Magazine, on the first edition "I read every other textbook out there. This is the BEST!" -- Elizabeth Dineen, Bay Path College Department of Criminal Justice Chair

Recent years have seen a heightened awareness of the plight of victims of crime and their neglect by the traditional criminal justice system. Many jurisdictions have adopted a "Bill of Rights" for the victim; public funds have been established to compensate victims; courts have been enjoined to order offenders to make restitution; welfare agencies have developed programs to provide victims with assistance; and courts are inviting victims to testify at the sentencing hearings of their offenders. These reforms have been accompanied by a growing body of literature. What has been lacking until now is an overview that looks at their philosophical underpinnings and considers how these different proposals are conceptually related to one another and to other prevailing criminal justice doctrines and ideologies. Leslie Sebba fills this gap in Third Parties. Sebba first establishes a set of criteria by which to evaluate reforms by identifying the parameters of an optimal criminal justice system. From this perspective, he then discusses individual victim-related reforms. What emerges most clearly from Sebba's timely and encyclopedic work is the need to rethink many of the issues involved. The first book-length study of its kind, this volume is recommended reading for policy makers in the field of victim reform and is essential for scholars and students in victimology, victims and the criminal justice system, the sociology of law, criminal justice policy, and law and social policy. Leslie Sebba is professor of criminology on the faculty of law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the coauthor of "Rehabilitation as Punishment: The Treatment of Drug-Addict Offenders" and "Punishment under the "Service Work" Law: An Evaluation" and the co-editor of "Criminology in Perspective: Essays in Honor of Israel Drapkin." He is one of the founding editors of "The International Review of Victimology."

If the goal of our justice system is to reduce crime and create a safer society, then we must do better. According to conventional wisdom, severely punishing offenders reduces the likelihood that they’ll offend again. Why, then, do so many who go to prison continue to commit crimes after their release? What do we actually know about offenders and the reasons they break the law? In Crime & Punishment, Russell Marks argues that the lives of most criminal offenders – and indeed of many victims of crime – are marked by often staggering disadvantage. For many offenders, prison only increases their chances of committing further crimes. And despite what some media outlets and politicians want us to believe, harsher sentences do not help most victims to heal. Drawing on his experience as a lawyer, Marks eloquently makes the case for restorative justice and community correction, whereby offenders are obliged to engage with victims and make amends. Crime & Punishment is a provocative call for change to a justice system in desperate need of renewal.