Advancing Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy
Advancing Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy

Author: Thomas G. Blomberg

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-03-10

Total Pages: 503

ISBN-13: 1317572009

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Advancing Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy is a definitive sourcebook that is comprised of contributions from some of the most recognized experts in criminology and criminal justice policy. The book is essential reading for students taking upper level courses and seminars on crime, public policy and crime prevention, as well as for policy makers within the criminal justice sphere. There has been a growing recognition of the importance of evidence-based criminal justice policies from criminologists, policymakers, and practitioners. Yet, despite governmental and professional association efforts to promote the role of criminological research in criminal justice policy, political ideologies, fear, and the media heavily influence criminal justice policies and practices. Bridging the gap between research and policy, this book provides the best-available research evidence, identifies strategies for informing policy and offers direct policy recommendations for a number of pressing contemporary issues in criminal justice, including: Delinquency, intervention programs and community crime prevention, Problem-oriented policing and the science of hot-spot policing, Sentencing and drug courts, Community corrections, incarceration and rehabilitation, Mental illness, gender, aging and indigenous communities.

Advancing Qualitative Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice
Advancing Qualitative Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice

Author: Heith Copes

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-02-25

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1317995066

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For several decades qualitative research has been under-represented in criminological and criminal justice research. This book is designed to promote the understanding of qualitative research designs and to encourage their use among those seeking answers to questions about crime and justice. To this end a number of top qualitative scholars have been assembled to provide their insights on the topic. The chapters that appear delve into the state of qualitative methods in the discipline, the potential ethical and physical hazards of engaging in ethnographic research, how to make sense of and interpret participants’ stories, innovative ways to collect data, the value of using mixed methods to understand crime and justice issues, effective strategies for teaching fieldwork, and the inherent rewards of a career spent speaking with others. This book will be an ideal introduction for students and scholars of Criminal Justice, Criminology, and Sociology, regardless of whether their primary methodology is qualitative or quantitative. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Criminal Justice Education.

Experimental Criminology
Experimental Criminology

Author: Brandon C. Welsh

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-09-09

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 1107434556

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Experimental criminology is a part of a larger and increasingly expanding scientific research and evidence-based movement in social policy. The essays in this volume report on new and innovative contributions that experimental criminology is making to basic scientific knowledge and public policy. Contributors explore cutting-edge experimental and quasi-experimental methods and their application to important and topical issues in criminology and criminal justice, including neurological predictors of violence, peer influence on delinquency, routine activities and capable guardianship, early childhood prevention programs, hot spots policing, and correctional treatment for juvenile and adult offenders. It is the first book to examine the full scope of experimental criminology, from experimental tests - in the field and in the laboratory - of criminological theories and concepts to experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations of crime prevention and criminal justice interventions.

Criminal Justice at the Crossroads
Criminal Justice at the Crossroads

Author: William R. Kelly

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2015-05-05

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 0231539223

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Over the past forty years, the criminal justice system in the United States has engaged in a very expensive policy failure, attempting to punish its way to public safety, with dismal results. So-called "tough on crime" policies have not only failed to effectively reduce crime, recidivism, and victimization but also created an incredibly inefficient system that routinely fails the public, taxpayers, crime victims, criminal offenders, their families, and their communities. Strategies that focus on behavior change are much more productive and cost effective for reducing crime than punishment, and in this book, William R. Kelly discusses the policy, process, and funding innovations and priorities that the United States needs to effectively reduce crime, recidivism, victimization, and cost. He recommends proactive, evidence-based interventions to address criminogenic behavior; collaborative decision making from a variety of professions and disciplines; and a focus on innovative alternatives to incarceration, such as problem-solving courts and probation. Students, professionals, and policy makers alike will find in this comprehensive text a bracing discussion of how our criminal justice system became broken and the best strategies by which to fix it.

Crime Prevention Policies in Comparative Perspective
Crime Prevention Policies in Comparative Perspective

Author: Adam Crawford

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-05-13

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1134027583

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This book brings together a collection of leading international experts to explore the lessons learnt through implementation and the future directions of crime prevention policies. Through a comparative analysis of developments in crime prevention policies across a number of European countries, contributors address questions such as: How has 'the preventive turn' in crime control policies been implemented in various different countries and what have its implications been? What lessons have been learnt over the ensuing years and what are the major trends influencing the direction of development? What does the future hold for crime prevention and community safety? Contributors explore and assess the different models adopted and the shifting emphasis accorded to differing strategies over time. The book also seeks to compare and contrast different approaches as well as the nature and extent of policy transfer between jurisdictions and the internationalisation of key ideas, strategies and theories of crime prevention and community safety.

Statistics in Criminal Justice
Statistics in Criminal Justice

Author: David Weisburd

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-12-11

Total Pages: 801

ISBN-13: 1461491703

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Statistics in Criminal Justice takes an approach that emphasizes the application and interpretation of statistics in research in crime and justice. This text is meant for both students and researchers who want to gain a basic understanding of common statistical methods used in this field. In general, the text relies on a building-block approach, meaning that each chapter helps to prepare the student for the chapters that follow. It also means that the level of sophistication of the text increases as the text progresses. Throughout the text there is an emphasis on comprehension and interpretation, rather than computation. However, as the statistical methods discussed become more complex and demanding to compute, there is increasing use and integration of statistical software. This approach is meant to provide the reader with an accessible, yet sophisticated understanding of statistics that can be used to examine real-life criminal justice problems with popular statistical software programs. The primary goal of the text is to give students and researchers a basic understanding of statistical concepts and methods that will leave them with the confidence and the tools for tackling more complex problems on their own. New to the 4th Edition · New chapter on experimental design and the analysis of experimental data. · New chapter on multi-level models, including growth-curve models. · New computer exercises throughout the text to illustrate the use of both SPSS and Stata. · Revision of exercises at the end of each chapter that places greater emphasis on using statistical software. · Additional resources on the text’s web site for instructors and students, including answers to selected problems, syntax for replicating text examples in SPSS and Stata, and other materials that can be used to supplement the use of the text.

Key Ideas in Criminology and Criminal Justice
Key Ideas in Criminology and Criminal Justice

Author: Travis C. Pratt

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2010-10-20

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 1412970148

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By focusing on key ideas in both criminology and criminal justice, this book brings a new and unique perspective to understanding critical research in criminology and criminal justice -- heretofore, the practice has been to separate criminology and criminal justice. However, given their interconnected nature, this book brings both together cohesively. In going beyond simply identifying and discussing key contributions and their effects by giving students a broader socio-political context for each key idea, this book concretely conceptualizes the key ideas in ways that students will remember and understand.

The Future of Crime and Punishment
The Future of Crime and Punishment

Author: William R. Kelly

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2016-07-14

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 1442264829

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Today, we know that crime is often not just a matter of making bad decisions. Rather, there are a variety of factors that are implicated in much criminal offending, some fairly obvious like poverty, mental illness, and drug abuse and others less so, such as neurocognitive problems. Today, we have the tools for effective criminal behavioral change, but this cannot be an excuse for criminal offending. In The Future of Crime and Punishment, William R. Kelly identifies the need to educate the public on how these tools can be used to most effectively and cost efficiently reduce crime, recidivism, victimization and cost. The justice system of the future needs to be much more collaborative, utilizing the expertise of a variety of disciplines such as psychology, psychiatry, addiction, and neuroscience. Judges and prosecutors are lawyers, not clinicians, and as we transition the justice system to a focus on behavioral change, the decision making will need to reflect the input of clinical experts. The path forward is one characterized largely by change from traditional criminal prosecution and punishment to venues that balance accountability, compliance, and risk management with behavioral change interventions that address the primary underlying causes for recidivism. There are many moving parts to this effort and it is a complex proposition. It requires substantial changes to law, procedure, decision making, roles and responsibilities, expertise, and funding. Moreover, it requires a radical shift in how we think about crime and punishment. Our thinking needs to reflect a perspective that crime is harmful, but that much criminal behavior is changeable.

Desistance from Crime
Desistance from Crime

Author: Michael Rocque

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-04-25

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 1137572345

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This book represents a brief treatise on the theory and research behind the concept of desistance from crime. This ever-growing field has become increasingly relevant as questions of serious issues regarding sentencing, probation and the penal system continue to go unanswered. Rocque covers the history of research on desistance from crime and provides a discussion of research and theories on the topic before looking towards the future of the application of desistance to policy. The focus of the volume is to provide an overview of the practical and theoretical developments to better understand desistance. In addition, a multidisciplinary, integrative theoretical perspective is presented, ensuring that it will be of particular interest for students and scholars of criminology and the criminal justice system.