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Examines the most prominent criminal justice policies, finding that they fall short of achieving the effectiveness that policymakers have advocated.

How to think about, conduct, and evaluate research is fundamental to the study and understanding of criminology and criminal justice. Students take methods, statistics, theory, and topic-specific classes, but they struggle to integrate what they learn and to see how it fits within the broader field of criminology and criminal justice research. This book directly tackles this problem by helping students to develop a 'researcher sensibility', and demonstrates how the 'nuts and bolts' of criminal justice research - including research design, theory, data, and analysis - are and can be combined. Relying on numerous real-world examples and illustrations, this book reveals how anyone can 'think like a researcher'. It reveals, too, why that ability is critical for being a savvy producer or consumer of criminological and criminal justice research.

Understanding and Improving Prisoner Reentry Outcomes Prisoner Reentry is an engaging and comprehensive examination of prisoner reentry and how to improve public safety, well-being, and justice in the “era of mass incarceration.” Renowned authors Daniel P. Mears and Joshua C. Cochran investigate historical trends in incarceration and punishment policy, the salience of in-prison and post-prison contexts and experiences for reentry, and the importance of understanding group differences in offending, punishment, and social context. Using extensive reliance on both theory and empirical research, the authors identify how reentry reflects criminal justice policy in America and, at the same time, has profound implications for crime prevention and justice. Readers will develop a diverse foundation for current policies, identify the implications of reentry for families, community, and society at large, and gain a conceptual and empirical toolkit for analyzing and improving the lives of those released from prison.

First articulated more than 250 years ago, deterrence remains a central theory in criminology and continues to be the bedrock of the vast bulk of criminal justice policy. But few updates to the original theory of deterrence have been made, and crime-based punishment has only grown tougher, resulting in a historically unprecedented growth in imprisonment and an even greater reliance on deterrence to justify all kinds of punishment. These changes have occurred despite consistent or strong evidence to show that such punishments actually deter crime. In this book, renowned criminologists Daniel P. Mears and Mark C. Stafford provide an in-depth understanding of the classical account of deterrence theory, its limitations, and a reconceptualized version that establishes a more complete and powerful picture of how legal punishments can deter crime. Thorough and corrective, Comprehensive Deterrence Theory gives readers a new way of thinking about and understanding legal punishment.

We offer these texts bundled together at a discount for your students! Barry Krisberg, American Corrections: Concepts and Controversies This comprehensive introduction to corrections presents an incisive view of every aspect of corrections (including jails, probation, sentencing, prisons, and parole), prompting students to think critically about the complex issues involved in responding to the current crisis in the U.S. correctional system. Incorporating theory, research, and the most recent available data, the book takes a contemporary and issues-oriented approach as it explores the most interesting and progressive developments in correctional policy and practice. Students will come away with practical knowledge, as well as a framework for thoughtful analysis of a subject that can seem mysterious or impenetrable. In addition, the book covers subjects many corrections texts treat only minimally, including women in corrections, the death penalty, and special populations. Perhaps most importantly, the book offers a point of view on what is plaguing the American correctional system and a realistic look at the solutions that offer real promise. Daniel P. Mears, Prisoner Reentry in the Era of Mass Incarceration Prisoner Reentry is an engaging and comprehensive examination of prisoner reentry and how to improve public safety, well-being, and justice in the "era of mass incarceration." Renowned authors Daniel P. Mears and Joshua C. Cochran investigate historical trends in incarceration and punishment policy, the salience of in-prison and post-prison contexts and experiences for reentry, and the importance of understanding group differences in offending, punishment, and social context. Using extensive reliance on both theory and empirical research, the authors identify how reentry reflects criminal justice policy in America and, at the same time, has profound implications for crime prevention and justice. Readers will develop a diverse foundation for current policies, identify the implications of reentry for families, community, and society at large, and gain a conceptual and empirical toolkit for analyzing and improving the lives of those released from prison. Please contact your Sales Representative for more information.

A fundamental introduction on how to think about, do, and evaluate research in the criminology and criminal justice field.

Written in an accessible style, this book provides a historically grounded critique of American policing and offers implementable solutions, providing students a comprehensive understanding of modern policing. Contemporary policing is in crisis, a situation that has led to persistent calls to reform it. Unfortunately, many proposed solutions focus on piecemeal changes that ignore a fundamental problem—policing relies on a largely reactive approach that does not in any systematic or comprehensive way focus on crime prevention. Most of what the police do, such as responding to 911 calls for service and employing directed patrols or hot spots policing, fails to address the causes of crime. Compounding this problem is the absence of any institution or agency charged with prioritizing the prevention of crime and for ensuring that police efforts support this goal. A central distinguishing feature of this book is its comprehensive approach and the emphasis on policing as part of a much broader set of changes that must occur both to improve policing and to improve public safety and justice. This approach includes retaining what works, eliminating what does not, drawing on evidence-based policy from around the world, and creating systemic changes that institutionalize better policing, accountability, and evaluation processes for ensuring that the police are effective. The Reinvention of Policing can be used in courses focused on policing policy and practice, specifically when discussing the nature of policing, how policing may reflect and contribute to inequality and injustice, or how it might improve these social problems.

Understanding and Improving Prisoner Reentry Outcomes "Mass imprisonment and mass prisoner reentry are two faces of the same coin. In a comprehensive and penetrating analysis, Daniel Mears and Joshua Cochran unravel the causes of this pressing problem, detail the challenges confronting released prisoners, and provide an evidence-based blueprint for successfully reintegrating offenders into the community. Scholarly yet accessible, this volume is essential reading—whether by academics or students—for anyone wishing to understand the chief policy issue facing American corrections." Francis T. Cullen Distinguished Research Professor, University of Cincinnati Prisoner Reentry is an engaging and comprehensive examination of prisoner reentry and how to improve public safety, well-being, and justice in the "era of mass incarceration." Renowned authors Daniel P. Mears and Joshua C. Cochran investigate historical trends in incarceration and punishment policy, the salience of in-prison and post-prison contexts and experiences for reentry, and the importance of understanding group differences in offending, punishment, and social context. Using extensive reliance on both theory and empirical research, the authors identify how reentry reflects criminal justice policy in America and, at the same time, has profound implications for crime prevention and justice. Readers will develop a diverse foundation for current policies, identify the implications of reentry for families, community, and society at large, and gain a conceptual and empirical toolkit for analyzing and improving the lives of those released from prison.

This book shows how to reduce out-of-control criminal justice and create greater public safety, justice, and accountability at less cost.

September 11, 2001, focused America's attention on the terrorist threat from abroad, but as the World Trade Center towers collapsed, domestic right-wing hate groups were celebrating in the United States. "Hallelu-Yahweh! May the WAR be started! DEATH to His enemies, may the World Trade Center BURN TO THE GROUND!" announced August Kreis of the paramilitary group, the Posse Comitatus. "We can blame no others than ourselves for our problems due to the fact that we allow ...Satan's children, called jews (sic) today, to have dominion over our lives." The Terrorist Next Door reveals the men behind far right groups like the Posse Comitatus - Latin for "power of the county" -- and the ideas that inspired their attempts to bring about a racist revolution in the United States. Timothy McVeigh was executed for killing 168 people when he bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995, but The Terrorist Next Door goes well beyond the destruction in Oklahoma City and takes readers deeper and more broadly inside the Posse and other groups that comprise the paramilitary right. From the emergence of white supremacist groups following the Civil War, through the segregationist violence of the civil rights era, the right-wing tax protest movement of the 1970s, the farm crisis of the 1980s and the militia movement of the 1990s, the book details the roots of the radical right. It also tells the story of men like William Potter Gale, a retired Army officer and the founder of the Posse Comitatus whose hate-filled sermons and calls to armed insurrection have fueled generations of tax protesters, militiamen and other anti-government zealots since the 1960s. Written by Daniel Levitas, a national expert on the origins and activities of white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups, The Terrorist Next Door is painstakingly researched and includes rich detail from official documents (including the FBI), private archives and confidential sources never before disclosed. In detailing these and other developments, The Terrorist Next Door will prove to be the most definitive history of the roots of the American militia movement and the rural radical right ever written.