American Criminal Justice Policy


Book Description

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




Practical Program Evaluation For Criminal Justice


Book Description

Practical Program Evaluation for Criminal Justice shows readers how to apply the principles of fiscal responsibility, accountability, and evidence-based practice to criminal justice reform plans. Unlike other policy-based texts, which tend to focus more on implementation than assessment, this book provides applicable, step-by-step instruction on determining an initiative's necessity prior to its adoption (reducing the risk of wasting resources), as well as how to accurately gauge its effectiveness during initial roll-out stages. The book gradually introduces basic data analysis procedures and statistical techniques, which, once mastered, can be used to prove or disprove a program's worth. Lastly, the book introduces the types of stakeholders who should review evaluation results for quick action, as well as how to best structure reports to ensure their buy-in. Individually examines every major evaluation type (as well as the benefits, concerns, and constraints of each), including needs, theory, process, outcome/impact, and cost efficiency Defines the precise data points each evaluation type requires, and the exact manner in which this data can be collected Demonstrates how different types of evaluations can be used together to provide clear information regarding a program's overall performance level Cites and makes use of real-world policy evaluations and vetted programs




Criminal Justice Policy


Book Description

Criminal Justice Policy provides a thematic overview of criminal justice policy and its relationship to the American criminal justice system. Scholars, practitioners, and politicians continually debate the value of these policies in their evaluations of the current system. As the nature of this subject involves a host of issues (including politics, public sentiment, research, and practice), the authors expertly highlight these concerns on criminal justice policy and address the implications for the overall system and society at large. This text is organized into three parts: Foundations of criminal justice policy focuses on the role of politics, best practices, and street level bureaucracy in criminal justice policy. Criminal justice policy in action provides an analysis of fifteen different policy issues in criminal justice, such as immigration, drugs, mental health and capital punishment. Each section begins with a basic summary of the policy, accompanied by a brief synopsis of the framing issues. This brief, but informative summary, draws students’ attention to essential concepts and ideas, provides a roadmap for what they can expect to learn, and ensures continuity throughout the text. The text concludes with a discussion about the future directions of criminal justice policy.




Criminal Justice Policy and Planning


Book Description

Unlike other textbooks on the subject, Criminal Justice Policy and Planning: Planned Change, Fifth Edition, presents a comprehensive and structured account of the process of administering planned change in the criminal justice system. Welsh and Harris detail a simple yet sophisticated seven-stage model, which offers students and practitioners a full account of program and policy development from beginning to end. The authors thoughtfully discuss the steps: analyzing a problem; setting goals and objectives; designing the program or policy; action planning; implementing and monitoring; evaluating outcomes; and reassessing and reviewing. Within these steps, students focus on performing essential procedures, such as conducting a systems analysis, specifying an impact model, identifying target populations, making cost projections, collecting monitoring data, and performing evaluations. In reviewing these steps and procedures, students can develop a full appreciation for the challenges inherent in the process and understand the tools that they require to meet those challenges. To provide for a greater understanding of the material, the text uses a wide array of real-life case studies and examples of programs and policies. Examples include policies such as Restorative Justice, Justice Reinvestment, Stop-and-Frisk, and the Brady Act, and programs such as drug courts, community-based violence prevention, and halfway houses. By examining the successes and failures of various innovations, the authors demonstrate both the ability of rational planning to make successful improvements and the tendency of unplanned change to result in undesirable outcomes. The result is a powerful argument for the use of logic, deliberation, and collaboration in criminal justice innovations.




Advancing Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy


Book Description

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.




Criminal Justice at the Crossroads


Book Description

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.




Out-of-Control Criminal Justice


Book Description

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










Locking Up Our Own


Book Description

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR GENERAL NON-FICTON ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWS' 10 BEST BOOKS LONG-LISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST, CURRENT INTEREST CATEGORY, LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZES "Locking Up Our Own is an engaging, insightful, and provocative reexamination of over-incarceration in the black community. James Forman Jr. carefully exposes the complexities of crime, criminal justice, and race. What he illuminates should not be ignored." —Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative "A beautiful book, written so well, that gives us the origins and consequences of where we are . . . I can see why [the Pulitzer prize] was awarded." —Trevor Noah, The Daily Show Former public defender James Forman, Jr. is a leading critic of mass incarceration and its disproportionate impact on people of color. In Locking Up Our Own, he seeks to understand the war on crime that began in the 1970s and why it was supported by many African American leaders in the nation’s urban centers. Forman shows us that the first substantial cohort of black mayors, judges, and police chiefs took office amid a surge in crime and drug addiction. Many prominent black officials, including Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry and federal prosecutor Eric Holder, feared that the gains of the civil rights movement were being undermined by lawlessness—and thus embraced tough-on-crime measures, including longer sentences and aggressive police tactics. In the face of skyrocketing murder rates and the proliferation of open-air drug markets, they believed they had no choice. But the policies they adopted would have devastating consequences for residents of poor black neighborhoods. A former D.C. public defender, Forman tells riveting stories of politicians, community activists, police officers, defendants, and crime victims. He writes with compassion about individuals trapped in terrible dilemmas—from the men and women he represented in court to officials struggling to respond to a public safety emergency. Locking Up Our Own enriches our understanding of why our society became so punitive and offers important lessons to anyone concerned about the future of race and the criminal justice system in this country.