Covering some of the most hotly contested topics in crime and criminal justice, including proposed sentencing and prison reforms, controversial developments like Stand Your Ground laws, and Supreme Court decisions, this work supplies essential background, current data, and a range of viewpoints on these important issues. Should people be able to use lethal force before retreating? What are the arguments for and against executing mentally ill inmates? Should police always need warrants to search individuals or their property? How can we best hold accountable white collar offenders? Why do men perpetrate crime at higher rates than women? This two-volume set grapples with the answers to these complex questions and many more, enabling readers to better understand current crime/punishment issues within the context of America's ever-evolving culture, economy, and politics. This multidisciplinary reference work offers a current and thorough compilation of the most important and hotly contested topics related to crime and criminal justice. Organized alphabetically, each entry presents scholarly research and authoritative sources to inform readers about the subject.

Two centuries ago, American criminal justice was run primarily by laymen. Jury trials passed moral judgment on crimes, vindicated victims and innocent defendants, and denounced the guilty. But since then, lawyers have gradually taken over the process, silencing victims and defendants and, in many cases, substituting plea bargaining for the voice of the jury. The public sees little of how this assembly-line justice works, and victims and defendants have largely lost their day in court. As a result, victims rarely hear defendants express remorse and apologize, and defendants rarely receive forgiveness. This lawyerized machinery has purchased efficient, speedy processing of many cases at the price of sacrificing softer values, such as reforming defendants and healing wounded victims and relationships. In other words, the U.S. legal system has bought quantity at the price of quality, without recognizing either the trade-off or the great gulf separating lawyers' and laymen's incentives, values, and powers. In The Machinery of Criminal Justice, author Stephanos Bibas surveys the developments over the last two centuries, considers what we have lost in our quest for efficient punishment, and suggests ways to include victims, defendants, and the public once again. Ideas range from requiring convicts to work or serve in the military, to moving power from prosecutors to restorative sentencing juries. Bibas argues that doing so might cost more, but it would better serve criminal procedure's interests in denouncing crime, vindicating victims, reforming wrongdoers, and healing the relationships torn by crime.

Researchers at US universities and various institutes explore the impact that developments in information technology have had on the criminal justice system over the past several decades. They explain that computers and information technology are more than a set of tools to accomplish a set of tasks, but must be considered an integral component of

David Nelken is the 2013 laureate of the Association for Law and Society International Prize The increasingly important topic of comparative criminal justice is examined from an original and insightful perspective by David Nelken, one of the top scholars in the field. The author looks at why we should study crime and criminal justice in a comparative and international context, and the difficulties we encounter when we do. Drawing on experience of teaching and research in a variety of countries, the author offers multiple illustrations of striking differences in the roles of criminal justice actors and ways of handling crime problems. The book includes in-depth discussions of such key issues as how we can learn from other jurisdictions, compare ′like with like′, and balance explanation with understanding – for example, in making sense of national differences in prison rates. Careful attention is given to the question of how far globalisation challenges traditional ways of comparing units. The book also offers a number of helpful tips on methodology, showing why method and substance cannot and should not be separated when it comes to understanding other people′s systems of justice. Students and academics in criminology and criminal justice will find this book an invaluable resource. Compact Criminology is an exciting series that invigorates and challenges the international field of criminology. Books in the series are short, authoritative, innovative assessments of emerging issues in criminology and criminal justice – offering critical, accessible introductions to important topics. They take a global rather than a narrowly national approach. Eminently readable and first-rate in quality, each book is written by a leading specialist. Compact Criminology provides a new type of tool for teaching, learning and research, one that is flexible and light on its feet. The series addresses fundamental needs in the growing and increasingly differentiated field of criminology.

"Project of the American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Standards Committee, Criminal Justice Section"--T.p. verso.